Home Gym Ideas ??!!

richardvc

Hi Everyone

I love going to the gym but it seems to eat up a lot of my time and because I do shift work (earlies one week, then lates the next and all shifts have variable start and finish times) I cannot always find the time to visit:(

Because of my job I must rest and the gym commitment sometimes means I occasionally go to work a little tired, which is not ideal.

I also pay approx. £500+ per annum to be a member so my OH said "how about a home gym?"

I don't have a spare room available for this but have a large lounge with a high sloping ceiling.

I am already in possession of a Vipr (6kg) and wouldn't mind picking up a few other bits but do not want anything that cannot be put away easily / hidden !! Ie no treadmills, bikes etc etc

I am open to ideas but to really be true MSE it needs to be much cheaper than my annual membership to make the lack of sauna / pool / a sacrifice worth making !!

Finally, I have a big tv / stereo in the room so have access to dvd, youtube or pc to follow any fitness vids / exercise routines / music !

I would be interested in anything anyone has to say as I am totally open to ideas !!

Over to you............

Thanks
Richard

Danjames

Hi Richard, I would recommend either installing a chin up bar or getting one of those ones that is removable and just sits in your door frame. Chin ups/pullups work a whole host of your upper body muscles. Between that and a VIPR (squats and lunges) you can cover most of your muscle groups.

wesleyad

Hey rich.

I second Dans suggestion of chin up bar, easily my favourite piece of equipment. If you want to add a little to that, I bought a couple of olympic rings I hang from the bars, this allows for all sorts of upper body exercises such as dips, flyes, presses etc (and doing these exercises on rings is great for core work)

If you wanted to splash out I would recommend getting some variable dumbells. The fancy ones tend to be about £300, I got some cheaper ones of amazon at £200 (made by marcy i think) and they can go from 2.5Kg to 25Kg per bell. With these you have a million exercises you can do and they would last you a long time before you "out muscled" them.

If you want videos I would recommend p90x. I'm not a huge fan of the second one. Insanity is good for the more high intensity stuff. The new one, focus T25 is good for short bursts (gf likes that one).

But I mainly do my own workouts and try to keep things changing and interesting, recently bought a nice bench and some decent cast iron weights, but that might be a little too much for small space.

Oh and a stability ball is great as you can use it as a bench for dumbbell exercise and do a tom of core work on it as well, but does take up a bit of room.

terra_ferma

I found these very versatile, they have ankle straps and a door anchor so they can replace a lot of other bulkier equipment as well (the bigger sets have an anywhere anchor as well, handy for outdoor use).
They have different sets, I suggest buying the biggest you can afford because buying separate pieces is expensive, and it's handy to have different strength for different types of exercises.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Bodylastics


Here's some video workouts: http://www.youtube.com/user/bodylastics/search?query=bodylastic

andydiysaver

I don't pay for a gym - have weights at home and a bench, and I run


To me that's as simple as it needs to get - I don't think cardio is a realistic option at most homes, I think that's for outside ( or at the gym) although that said I do have a cross trainer that's fairly compact and very good at what it does, got that on ebay perhaps £80


stacked weights and folding weight benches keep the floor space at home open - decent pair of running shoes and preferably a grass verge so you don't end up with rickets, and job done!

heartbreak_star

Bear in mind if you want to go to a reasonably heavy weight with barbells, you may be better going to the gym - I think most of the home bars only hold about 70kg.

HBS x

culpepper

A skipping rope!
I use mine in between running if the weather is bad.
They are very portable and you could take it to work to use in break time of you wanted. Don't get one that is light weight nylon,they constantly twist and tangle, you need a pvc or leather rope or if you are pushed for cash, you can make quite a good one using an old electric flex.
We have a pull up bar too that sits on the door frame. They are more expensive than the fixed on type but you can unhook them and put them away. Ours can be used for push ups or to hook your feet on for sit ups too.

worriedindebt

Don't think you can go far wrong with kettle bells for total body workout. Can pick them up very cheap in Argos for example, and if you want inspiration for workouts there are plenty on YouTube as well as DVD's.
You can have a complete home gym for under £50 and every muscle can be toned and worked.
Hope that helps

thor

I would be really interested in one of those doorway chin up bars but the two types on offer both appear to have serious setbacks.
The one which presses into the doorway must damage the frame otherwise how could it get the traction it needs to hold your bodyweight? While the bar which rests on top of the door frame won't work unless the frame protrudes out enough to hold the bar.
For these reasons I have not bought them yet and would be very interested in the anyone's experiences of them.

heartbreak_star

We've got the one that rests on top of the doorframe - they only hold about 12st but they're OK

HBS x

thor

heartbreak_star wrote: »

We've got the one that rests on top of the doorframe - they only hold about 12st but they're OK

HBS x

How far out does the frame of your door stick out from the wall? Mine only has a 10mm ledge for any chin up bar to rest on:(