Building Your Own Home Gym

In the current economic climate it is painful to hand over tens of dollars every month in gym fees. Regular exercise has many health benefits, both physical and psychological, so giving up the gym entirely is a poor option if it can be avoided. There is an alternative, build a home gym!

Instead of spending a fortune on gym fees, use it to buy a few pieces of equipment that you can use at home.

Once your gym membership has expired the money you have paid is gone forever, but if you spend that money on equipment it could give you years of benefit! Your home gym will always be open when you want it, you will never have to wait whilst someone else is using the equipment you want, and you get to choose the music!

You can tailor your gym to the amount of space you have available, and your personal goals whilst training. It does not need to cost a fortune, you can start off with a couple of basic bits of equipment and add more as and when finances allow it.

When deciding on what to purchase for your home gym, you need to think carefully about what you are hoping to achieve from your exercise. The home gym of a person who is training to keep fit and healthy will differ somewhat from that of someone who is training for a sport.

Another consideration is whether your training will consist of mostly aerobic exercise, weight training, or a combination of the two. In the majority of cases, whether training just for health or for sports performance, a combination of aerobic, and weight training exercises is used, and so that is what will be focused on here.

To start with for a person who is looking to train for health, an adjustable dumbbell set, and a stationary bike would be good initial purchases. This will allow you to get some cardiovascular exercise, and perform a variety of weighted exercises. As funds and space allow it, add a barbell, some more weights, and an adjustable bench with stands that you can also use for squatting. This will give more flexibility to your training, by allowing a wider range of weighted exercises. A chin-up bar would be a nice addition, and is cheap to buy. You can get chin up bars that fit into doorways and can be removed when not in use, very useful when space is limited.

For those of you who would be looking to build strength and fitness for sports performance, the number one priority should be a good quality Olympic barbell set. This will allow you to perform a whole-body weight workout, and allows heavier weights to be used that standard barbell sets. As funds allow it, an adjustable dumbbell set, an adjustable bench, and either some free-standing squat stands, or a power rack should be added. Cardio can be done by hitting the road or the track to start with, so hold off buying some cardio equipment such as a stationary bike, until you have the free weight equipment you need. Again a chin-up bar would be a nice addition to this set-up.

For those on a tight budget you don't have to buy everything new, bargains can be had if you search around for used equipment. It is sometimes possible to pick up used commercial gym equipment very cheaply at auctions. Garage sales, classified ads, and the Internet are other good places to look. You can sell your used equipment yourself when you can afford something better.

For the cost of a one year membership at a health club, you could easily buy some good quality exercise equipment to use at home. This would give you years of benefit, and the convenience of having the gym available at any time, with no travel involved.