My Home Gym. Share Yours.

[AlexG]

Last and only time I ever signed up and paid for a gym membership was back in 2001. That was complete waste of money. I went for 1 month and never went back. For the last 7 years I have been working out at home. As of right now I am in best shape of my life.

You do not need a gym membership to be in shape, to build muscle and to be healthy and fit.

You can definitely forget about all the infomercial machines you see on TV. All you need is space in your own home and discipline to work out every day. I have gone through a lot of machines and weight sets only to find the best and most efficient way to work out is with your own body, few homemade accessories and perhaps a dumbbell or two.

Simplicity.

I workout pretty much everyday. My workouts have a lot of variety and different intensity. This way I can guarantee that I will never be bored. I workout 30-60 minutes at high intensity.

Only way that I can see needing a gym membership is if I live in a small room and have no space to move around or I am a bodybuilder. Since I am neither, home workouts work great.

The key is to be resourceful.

My Home Equipment

Body Weight Exercises
Your own body is perfect resistance. Never ever underestimate the workouts you can use with your own body. Push-ups, squats, jump squats, handstand pushups, chair pushups, regular pushups and the list goes on. Do them in a circuit. Focus on upper body or lower body. Time based. Fast or slow. The ways you can combine them is limitless.


Stability Ball
I use this for balancing. This works great for grappling. I do Brazilian jiu-jitsu so it works out for me very well when I don’t have time to go to class.



Dumbbells
Pair of regular dumbbells.



Pull Up Bar
I bought this at Wal-Mart for 20bucks. Pull ups are single best exercise for upper body. Varying hand position, speed and you can combine it with weighted vest for extra resistence.



Weighted Vest
Another piece of equipment I bought at Wal-Mart. This was 50 bucks. I jog with it on. I do variety of body weight exercises with it on for extra resistance.



Sandbag
Once I started using sandbag instead of barbell, my strength, my conditioning and my overall explosivness went through the roof.

I made this using Ross Enamait method and I use his workouts. Single best book you will ever need for training and becoming a beast. Simply I can’t say good enough things about sandbag and its workouts.

I bought a bag at Target and regular sand at Home Depot. I put the sand inside freezer bags and duct taped them for safety. You can do all the exercisesyou did with barbell but the difficulty will increase. You will not be able to lift the same amound of weight with a sandbag asyou did with a barbell.





Punch Bag
This is my beat up punch bag. I do various boxing drills, kickboxing drills. I also use it as substitute to sandbag. Also, I carry the bag on my shoulders for time and punch it on the ground using mma/nhb drills for positioning.



Wheel
Hard core exercise for your upper body. Works everything from your abs to shoulders to chest.



Jump Rope
Regular Jump rope. Very effective for conditioning.

Buy some equipment for home. Build yourself a sandbag. Hardest workout you’ll ever do.

Resources:

Ross Enamait

Ross's Blog

Youtube 300 Workout

Youtube Frank Shamrock MMA Training (has Stability Ball drills)

Youtube BodyWeight Workout

Youtube BodyWeight Workout 2

Youtube Ross's HardCore Workout


Share where you workout and what do you use.

[TimJ]

Completely agree with you. You absolutely don't need a gym membership. I picked up a second hand set-of various free weights and a weight bench for less than $80 15 years ago and they are still going strong. I get the impression people feel like they have made a commitment if they pay a lot of money for something, but the decision to get fit hasn't been made until someone actually starts to exercise and acts on their decision, where ever they choose to do so.

And lets face it your body doesn't know the difference between a run around the park or a run on a treadmill... but your wallet sure does!

[Doku]

Bowflex (owned by my workout partner)

300lb olympic set (going to buy another 300 soon as we are past the 405 on squats on the bowflex)

dumbells (10 - 40)

Kettlebells (sets of 4, 8, 16kg)

Image-512 multifunction system (cables, etc. just taking up space, came with the house because the owner didn't want to move it)
We actually use it simply as a place for doing dips.

2 balance balls

xbox w/ Yourself Fitness, and DDR. Also use it for workout DVDs.

pullup bar

Of all of this, I would say that the kettlebells are the most useful.

[ilovetoday]

I am not as into working out but i enjoy my daily exercise. I love jogging, walking and using aerobics dvds. They are fun and inexpensive.

Also when I had horses, it was excellent a full body workout! Not just riding but feeding and carrying buckets of water, grooming. That was the fittest I had ever felt in my life.

[AlexG]

Originally Posted by Doku

Bowflex (owned by my workout partner)

300lb olympic set (going to buy another 300 soon as we are past the 405 on squats on the bowflex)

dumbells (10 - 40)

Kettlebells (sets of 4, 8, 16kg)

Image-512 multifunction system (cables, etc. just taking up space, came with the house because the owner didn't want to move it)
We actually use it simply as a place for doing dips.

2 balance balls

xbox w/ Yourself Fitness, and DDR. Also use it for workout DVDs.

pullup bar

Of all of this, I would say that the kettlebells are the most useful.

Nice.

I can't wait to purchase kettlebells. Any recomendations on where to buy them?

[Dedekind]

My gym consists of a single floor mat. More than enough
for me. It's incredible how many useful exercises (both
physical and mental) can be done with only that.
I'm proud of my gym.

[andyf1702]

I have a Wii and a Wii Balance Board.

Before buying this I did very little exercise if any.

Now I spend at least 30mins each day, doing various activities and have just brought some ankle weights to make the exercises 'more intense'

Andy

[Doku]

Originally Posted by AlexG

Nice.

I can't wait to purchase kettlebells. Any recomendations on where to buy them?

I have purchased them from Dick's Sporting Goods, Sports Authority, and Dragondoor.com.

My suggestion:
1) Don't get the coated ones. A friend of mine had some of the cute green plasticized ones. After about three weeks, they not only looked bad from being banged around, but the cracked/dented plastic had also developed sharp edges.

2) Get two of a comfortable size, and one that is heavier to start with. Then in the future, get one of your "heavier" size so that you have a set, and get one of the next weight up.

3) Kettlebells are, for the most part, kettlebells. You don't need to go for name brand, etc. Just get the cast iron bells.

4) Don't get the "select-a-size" ones. They don't feel right in the hands, don't feel right against the arm in a lift, etc. It's more expensive to get the individual bells, but much better in the long run, IMnsHO.

As for where to buy... Online, if you can get free shipping. If not, go into a large brick and mortar sports store, order it there, and have them ship it to the store.

Don't expect to see the cast iron ones in a store 'though. I have been looking for literally years to be able to tell people "go to XXX and check them out." instead of having them come over to my house to see what they are like.

--Doku

[BalancedExistence]

Originally Posted by AlexG

Nice.

I can't wait to purchase kettlebells. Any recomendations on where to buy them?

I just wrote a post on my blog - A kettlebell buyers guide for kettlebell beginners - in case you're interested. See my signature for the link to my blog.

My gym consists of one 20kg and one 32kg kettlebell. Beyond that I have a heavy bag for boxing and kicking, some students for that as well and I use the cricket nets at the park for pullups. Oh and the ocean. I like to swim


Stephen

[DayInTheLife]

Yes!... simplicity is key. My home gym is now just a 16kg kettlebell. I do swings, cleans and presses, and turkish getups with it, and everything else I do is bodyweight exercise. I don't use my weight bench anymore, because of how great the results have been with the kettlebell/bodyweight only routine.

I do fewer exercises, but I choose ones that work multiple muscle groups. I find I can focus now on mastering those movements rather than jumping from one thing to the next, and I feel stronger and healthier than ever.

I can't recommend kettlebells enough.

[AlexG]

Thanks for the feedback on the kettlebells. I'll be getting them soon. I can't wait.

Thanks for the article Balanced. Informative.

[BalancedExistence]

My pleasure AlexG.


Stephen

[amandalynne]

You do not need a gym membership to be in shape, to build muscle and to be healthy and fit.

^I agree.

My "home gym" is pretty ghetto though. I have a yoga mat, a stability ball, some light weights (which I never use), a set of various DVDs, a beach to run on, some stairs, and two 8-foot resistance bands that I bought in bulk from a medical supply company and cut in half. (Don't ask.)

I used to have a treadmill, too...but I left it at my other house (which is now overseas).

I don't think you need a gym membership to stay in shape... but I could definitely use my own elliptical and reformer. If I had one of each, my life would be complete.

[ChaosKiwi]

Hey AlexG I like the sandbag Idea, thanks for sharing.

[Nasir]

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