Home Gym

[Emil]

hi all
Im building an exercise room in my house for me and my family. My wife and son prefer to have one of those multi-gyms. You know, the ones with a central weight stack and several work stations.
I tend to favor a set of dumbells, a bench and a maybe a lat pulldown machine. I guess I can go either way but Im concerned about long term satisfaction with one of those machines. Has anyone purchased one only to regret it later? If so, why?
Thanks for your time,

Emil

[Kumkuat]

my friend bought a power cage and he loves it. The only complaint is that it took up too much room though.

[Silumkid]

I have always been a advocate of free weights and machines...love them both. However, if you don't have the room or budget for both, I personally would go with free weights. A good bench and an extensive set of adjustable dumbbells are more than sufficient.

Amitabha!

We are trained in wushu; we must protect the Temple!

[dumog93]

Well,just to add my two cents,i think a power rack,a bench to lay on,and a 315 pound weight set is a cheap way to go for a beginning weight set.You can squat,bench,deadlift,curl,lying triceps extensions,and even do pull-ups on most.I'm not talking about investing $500 in a preppie rack either.I found my rack fourth-hand from a weight room in my area that was getting rid of it(not pretty enough).I painted it up and built a new plywood base for it and it's good to go now.The rack ran me $65,the weights,$115.I have surely got my money's worth since i have been using them 5 years now.If i didn't want to go with free weights i always thought the bowflex looked pretty versatile,though i thought it might be a bit on the light end for working my legs.

-Devildog

[IronFist]

Get a squat rack. You can do everything in there. Bench, squats, DL's if you want, pullups. Oh yeah, buy a bench, too, so you can lay on it while you bench press :)

I personally don't like those multistation things (the home variety). My neighbor's mom has one, and I can max out the whole stack on everything, and this was before when I wasn't very strong. My point is, they are devised for women who don't exercise much. That, and the fact that it's a machine... which leads to obvious drawbacks.

But hey, my answer is influenced by the fact that the only thing i've been doing this summer is bench, squat, and weighted pullups, and I've gotten much stronger. As of now I'm a firm believer in the basics.

Iron

[ged]

if u got a bench, make sure its strong enough to support a lot of weight.

its probably obvious to a lot of you, but mum got me one for a birthday about a year ago, and im benching more than its max weight... waste of good money.

[buddhamonkrich]

I agree with the gang...a squat rack, a sturdy bench and a safe olympic set is a simple, basic, effective and affordable way to go. Providing you have the room. If space is a problem...check out the 'Powertblocks' dumbbell set. If you're in Canada, just call a Fitness Depot and they'll hook you up. If you're in the U.S., check them out at www.powerblock.com (http://www.powerblock.com)

you won't be disappointed.

Peace,
RichMan :cool: