HowUCanDoIt2 - How to set up a home gym

By Marjie Gilliam
DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Monday, January 12, 2009

Convenience is the biggest reason people opt to work out at home. Here are some things to keep in mind if you've been thinking about setting up your own home gym:

• The quality of a workout is not dependent on how much room is available. Decide where you plan to work out and make note of the size of the area. This will help you to make a wiser choice when it does come time to purchase equipment. Remember that bulkier pieces can take up a considerable amount of space and tend to look smaller in the store than they do at home.

• One of the greatest benefits of exercising at home is that it saves time. You can work out when the mood strikes you, no gym bag to pack and unpack, no waiting for equipment or driving back and forth to the gym. Having the phone ringing next to you, or people coming in and out of the room, however, can interfere with your workouts, so try to choose a space where you're less likely to be distracted.

• The most durable, inexpensive, compact, portable and versatile pieces of exercise equipment usually include resistance bands, jump rope, wrist weights and dumbbells. Resistance bands weigh only ounces and take up practically no space and so are also great for traveling. Dumbbells also fit neatly into a small area. Wrist weights are ideal because you can use them alone or as a way to increase resistance when doing dumbbell exercises without having to purchase additional sets.

For aerobic conditioning indoors, treadmills, stair steppers, elliptical trainers and stationary bikes are great choices. The downside is that these machines take up a lot of space and can be expensive.

If you want a good cardio workout but lack the money or space for bulky equipment, step benches are inexpensive, lightweight and don't require much space.

A new product you might want to try is FitDeck (ww.fitdeck.com), invented by Phil Black. Black got the idea from a card game that he played while attending Yale University. He and his roommates would shuffle a deck of playing cards and do pushups that matched the card that was selected, such as doing 10 pushups if drawing the 10 of spades. He took this deck-of-cards workout and created FitDeck, incorporating dozens of exercises he later learned as a Navy SEAL.

There are many decks to choose from, each containing illustrations and instructions describing dozens of exercises, stretches and movements. The current line consists of 24 FitDeck titles ranging from Pilates to a Navy SEAL workout.

Another great product is the GoFit Gravity Bar, which allows you to do suspension training at home. In suspension training, your body weight is all the resistance you need to perform exercises that build overall strength and increase balance and core stability. The Gravity Bar mounts in any standard doorway and is especially good for toning the abs and lower back. For more information, visit www.gofit.net.

• Decide how much money you wish to invest. If you are unaccustomed to exercise, start with basic equipment, until you are certain you are going to stick to your exercise program. Typically, its best to wait until you have at least six to eight weeks of consistent training under your belt before expanding your gym to include more expensive equipment. If the items you want are over your budget, consider buying them used.

Article from: www.statesman.com