home gym equipment

[maize]

What equipment do you like best for your home gym? Especially for strength training?

 

I worry about safety with barbells and such.

[Pawz4me]

What do you mean about your safety worries? Is it about exercising with the proper form or the potential for dropping heavy barbells? Or are your concerns about having heavy weights around young kids? I think I probably worry much less about proper form than many people. I figure humans have been lifting heavy weights since time began and most have managed to figure it out w/o doing any lasting harm to themselves.

[maize]

What do you mean about your safety worries? Is it about exercising with the proper form or the potential for dropping heavy barbells? Or are your concerns about having heavy weights around young kids? I think I probably worry much less about proper form than many people. I figure humans have been lifting heavy weights since time began and most have managed to figure it out w/o doing any lasting harm to themselves.

I think it is fear of dropping heavy things. I've only ever used weight machines at the gym so free weights seem a bit intimidating.

[Guest]

We have a treadmill, an elliptical, and a Bow Flex. My husband loves the Bow Flex for strength training.

[Kassia]

I have a spin bike, power tower, heavy bag, barbells, dumbbells, an aerobic step, stability balls, resistance bands, and a medicine ball.  When you lift at home, you have to be careful not to go too heavy if  you don't have the proper equipment (squat rack or bar for bench presses) or a spotter.  

[maize]

I have a spin bike, power tower, heavy bag, barbells, dumbbells, an aerobic step, stability balls, resistance bands, and a medicine ball. When you lift at home, you have to be careful not to go too heavy if you don't have the proper equipment (squat rack or bar for bench presses) or a spotter.

This is part of what I am wondering about--safety equipment such as racks. What should I be looking for?

[nansk]

If you are worried about heavy weights, start with an exercise mat, resistance bands, and an exercise ball. You can get a good workout with just these items.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I used to have a universal gym.  Admittedly it mostly collected dust though. 

 

Even though it's not free weights, it's easy for kids to pinch their fingers in the weights.  So it's not necessarily safer.

 

 

[Greta]

We have an adjustable bench that's kind of like this one.  

 

And this rack to hold a variety of dumbbells.  

 

With those, you can do a pretty impressive variety of exercises.  

 

My husband would also really love to have a barbell with plates and a "cage" for doing back squats and a variety of other exercises (like this) but we have no where to put it!

 

Weights can be intimidating at first, but as your strength and experience grow, so does your confidence!  You will be fine.  Are you worried about small kids getting into trouble messing around with the equipment?

 

 

[Kassia]

This is part of what I am wondering about--safety equipment such as racks. What should I be looking for?

 

A friend of mine uses these and highly recommends them.  They don't take up as much space as the link above plus you can push them in a corner when not in use, but the cage is definitely more useful!  

 

ETA:  I forgot the link!  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006CW02ZS/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_25?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Edited March 19, 2017 by Erica H

[wintermom]

We have a Wave Master for kicking and punching; a pull-up bar (which I never use, but my boys like); a yoga mat; some light hand-weights.  The boys play basketball on the pad in front of the house.

 

Everything else is cycling, running, skiing, tennis courts (though I'd LOVE my own court in the backyard).

 

ETA: Oops, I missed the part about strength training equipment. I don't have anything except my body for that. 

Edited March 19, 2017 by wintermom

[Paige]

I have a set of adjustable dumbbells I use and like. They come with their own sort of rack and take up very little room. I think they can go from 5-50lbs and if I use two, that gives me up to 100lbs. I'm a small person, so I doubt I'd need more than 100lbs for free weights. Most people use lower weights for free weights than machines.  I combine that with a step/bench and I'm good for strength training.

 

I also like to have a cardio machine. I have an elliptical now, but I would be fine with a bike, treadmill, or stairmill. We have a Total Gym and I used to use it a lot but I have forgotten how to do stuff. I used one years ago and then sold it. When we bought the new one I thought it would all come back to me and it didn't. My DD uses it for her PT so it doesn't collect dust. 

 

 

[Guest]

We have an adjustable bench that's kind of like this one.  

 

And this rack to hold a variety of dumbbells.  

 

With those, you can do a pretty impressive variety of exercises.  

 

My husband would also really love to have a barbell with plates and a "cage" for doing back squats and a variety of other exercises (like this) but we have no where to put it!

 

Weights can be intimidating at first, but as your strength and experience grow, so does your confidence!  You will be fine.  Are you worried about small kids getting into trouble messing around with the equipment?

 

We have a cage. My husband loves it. It's massive- and not the greatest decor, but so are the compromises of life. :)  He also has the Bowflex (I think) adjustable barbells as his hand weights. He locks them in place up to the heaviest weights when not in use so the little kids can't mess with them. Other than me tripping over them with vacuuming we have no incidents to date! :) 

 

We have a treadmill and a rowing machine too. The rowing machine probably makes me the most nervous, because of the chain- I worry about little fingers getting caught or pinched, but we just have been very constant and vigilant with them about not touching it, and so far so good. The treadmill I just unplug each time and keep the magnet thing up where they can't turn it on. 

[Guest]

Sidenote- I asked DH if he still liked his Bowflex hand weights and he said he wouldn't buy them again. Apparently the clicking/adding weight feature isn't the most reliable and sometimes takes multiple tries. Pretty annoying for how much they cost.  :glare:  

[Greta]

We have a cage. My husband loves it. It's massive- and not the greatest decor, but so are the compromises of life. :)  

 

If we had a bigger house, I would want one too!  We don't park in our garage - he converted into his "equipment room".  So it has the bench and weights, plus all of his skis and bikes (yes, multiples of each!), and boxes upon boxes upon boxes full of tents, backpacks, cookstoves, gloves, coats, climbing ropes, every piece of outdoor equipment and clothing you ever imagined and then some!  :D  Since there is no room left in the equipment room for any more equipment, the stationery bike and the rowing machine are in the living room!  Which I HATE, but, as you said, so are the compromises of life.  I do, however, seem to be completely out of compromises on this issue.  :lol:

 

My dream home would have a full-sized basement that would fit all of that stuff, plus a cage and either an AMT machine or a step mill.  But very few houses where we live have basements.  (I think it's a radon issue.)

[extendedforecast]

We have an assortment of dumbbells, ankle weights, weighted balls, and plates. For lifting, we have a typical bench with a stand for an Olympic sized bar and another side for doing curls/leg extensions. We also have a squat stand that hasn't been used as much since we got a Smith machine. And the last piece of equipment is a combo pull-up/dip stand. My husband has a special bar that he uses for shrugs and sometimes deadlifts. I don't use it, because I don't like it and because it has hard to grab and move bumper plates. Oh and I have a big exercise ball that I got for a class a long time ago that I only use to sit on now.

ETA I forgot about the treadmill and stationary bike. And yoga mats! All of this equipment takes up exactly two bays of our garage.

Edited March 19, 2017 by extendedforecast

[gardenmom5]

I prefer resistance training with elastics - the more you move, the greater the resistance.  weights reach a peak - and then go down as you go through the arc.

 

you can do full a complete workouts with bands - working every muscle group.  there are a number of books or websites that have what exercises work what group.  I have the ones with carbiners on the end so you can hook them to a link on the wall at the right height for the exercise.

 

and if you want similar but an actual piece of equipment (and more spendy) that can't wander off (because - kids) - a bowflex.

 

I also do a nordic track skier (which I really like).  2ds has a treadmill.  dh has a gym we got for free on craigslist. . . .(the weights come off to move it.)  he uses is regularly - I don't like it.

[Carrie12345]

My dream she-shed would have a full rack and elliptical.

 

(I may or may not be strongly encouraging dh to buy mega power tools in hopes of getting that she-shed built...)

[trulycrabby]

I have a full set of weights but more often use elastic bands, bodyweight exercises, and a pull-up bar because they take so much less time to set up, use, then put away.

[Guest]

If we had a bigger house, I would want one too!  We don't park in our garage - he converted into his "equipment room".  So it has the bench and weights, plus all of his skis and bikes (yes, multiples of each!), and boxes upon boxes upon boxes full of tents, backpacks, cookstoves, gloves, coats, climbing ropes, every piece of outdoor equipment and clothing you ever imagined and then some!   :D  Since there is no room left in the equipment room for any more equipment, the stationery bike and the rowing machine are in the living room!  Which I HATE, but, as you said, so are the compromises of life.  I do, however, seem to be completely out of compromises on this issue.   :lol:

 

My dream home would have a full-sized basement that would fit all of that stuff, plus a cage and either an AMT machine or a step mill.  But very few houses where we live have basements.  (I think it's a radon issue.)

 

I wish we had somewhere to hide ours, but nope. Right in the sunroom where everyone can see it with the other equipment. The funny thing to me is, no one ever mentions it or asks what it is. They just gaze past it into the pasture! But I figure it's worth not having an Architectural Digest house to have sanity every evening. If he couldn't work out here, he'd have to go to the gym either in the morning or after work and I would be left alone more with the kids!  :scared:

[Kassia]

I wish we had somewhere to hide ours, but nope. Right in the sunroom where everyone can see it with the other equipment. The funny thing to me is, no one ever mentions it or asks what it is. They just gaze past it into the pasture! But I figure it's worth not having an Architectural Digest house to have sanity every evening. If he couldn't work out here, he'd have to go to the gym either in the morning or after work and I would be left alone more with the kids!  :scared:

 

Same with our house...about half of my equipment is right in the family room.  The other half is in our basement.  When I take family pics in our family room, I forget all about my workout stuff and the background is full of free weights and my step.  

[Greta]

I wish we had somewhere to hide ours, but nope. Right in the sunroom where everyone can see it with the other equipment. The funny thing to me is, no one ever mentions it or asks what it is. They just gaze past it into the pasture! But I figure it's worth not having an Architectural Digest house to have sanity every evening. If he couldn't work out here, he'd have to go to the gym either in the morning or after work and I would be left alone more with the kids!  :scared:

  

Same with our house...about half of my equipment is right in the family room.  The other half is in our basement.  When I take family pics in our family room, I forget all about my workout stuff and the background is full of free weights and my step.

 

We don't have a sunroom or a family room, just the one living room. He does move the stuff out when we have company, which isn't very often. I would like to have the living room look more like a living room even when it's just us, but what can you do? Our health is more important than a pretty living room, right?

[Laurie4b]

What equipment do you like best for your home gym? Especially for strength training?

 

I worry about safety with barbells and such.

 

Weights: Some years back, we bought a ds an adjustable bench with a barbell set (Really cheapo barbell and plates). He moved out and I now use it. I am not doing heavy back squats, so don't need a rack. (I can't get a bar on my back because of shoulder mobility issues so that's a moot point for now.) We have a collection of dumbbells that we've picked up over the years (pairs of 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, and 25lbs.) We have a couple of adjustable ones, too---the kind with the twirl on collars. 

 

I have resistance bands and an exercise ball and exercise mats as well. And the boys have a chin up bar which I've also started using. (Not anywhere close to a chin up!)  I also found those aerobic step things at the thrift shop a couple times so I have two of them. 

[Kassia]

  

We don't have a sunroom or a family room, just the one living room. He does move the stuff out when we have company, which isn't very often. I would like to have the living room look more like a living room even when it's just us, but what can you do? Our health is more important than a pretty living room, right?

 

Definitely more important!  Our family room is our living room and it's where we have company (which isn't that often).  I forget the workout equipment is even there most of the time because I'm so used to it.  I guess I'd move it all if someone special was coming - that would be a workout in itself!