Home gym equipment get a great workout at home

There are many reasons why one may decide to have a home gym in addition to a commer cial gym membership:

1-Variety 2- In case you miss your training at the commercial gym, you always have your home gym available. 3- No excuse to miss a workout when the commercial gym is closed. With all of the fancy expensive gadgets that appear on TV it may seem very confusing for somebody that is looking to set up a home gym to know what to get. Since I like to keep things simple and cheap, I believe that all you need to have an awesome home gym is a strong and stable adjustable bench and a set of adjustable dumbbells. With this limited equipment you can perform the following basic mass building exercises:

◆ Back: One Arm Dumbbell Rows (Palms facing your body), Two Arm Dumbbell Rows (Palms facing forward as if you were doing regular barbell rows), Two Arm Dumbbell Rows (Reverse Grip), Pullovers.

◆ Chest: Incline Bench Press, Flat Bench Press, Flyes (Incline and Flat).

◆Thighs: Dumbbell Squats (hold each dumbbell by your side), Wide Stance Dumbbell Squats, Lunges (press with toes). ◆ Hamstrings: Stiff Legged Deadlifts, Lunges (pressing with heels)

◆ Shoulders: Dumbbell Press, Upright Rows, Lateral Raises, Bent Over Lateral Raises.

◆ Traps: Dumbbell Shrugs, and Upright Rows.

◆ Biceps: Dumbbell Curls, One Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curls (using the bench in its incline posi tion), Incline Dumbbell Curls, Concentration Curls, Hammer Curls.

◆ Triceps: Dumbbell Lying Triceps Extensions, Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions, Close Grip Bench Press, Triceps Kickbacks.

◆ Calves: Two-Legged Dumbbell Calf Raises (you can point your toes in, out or forward for variety) & One Legged Dumbbell Calf Raises

◆ Abdominal: Sit-ups, Crunches, Leg Raises, Knee- Ins, V-Ups.

If you also get yourself a squat rack with a chin-up bar in it, and a dip station along with an Olympic set then you have just added more exercises to your arsenal. Also, if the weight bench you bought has a good Leg Extension/Leg Curl attachment to it and a Pull-down bar, those are even more exercises added to your list. These are additions that I would recommend for the very serious bodybuilder.

Somebody that is trying just to firm up and get in great shape however can certainly just get by with the dumbbells and bench alone. The key here is the quality of the equipment. Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of crappy things out there on the market. The best sets of dumbbells that I recommend for home use are the Powerblocks and the IronMaster Quick Lock Dumbbells. The reason for this is that they save a lot of space, they are easily adjusted in weight and very safe.

If you choose to go for a different set of adjustable dumbbells, then my next best recommendation is that you look for those that secure the weights on the sides on a very reliable manner. As far as the bench, go for a strong one that is stable and does not wobble when you start adding some serious weight. Again, safety in this matter is key. If you try to save some money by buying crappy weightlifting equipment it may turn out to be more expensive on the long run. To the right, I have listed a few routines that can be built using this limited equipment.

Conclusion

Successful advanced bodybuilders are able to determine how much volume they need in order to stimulate muscle growth while avoiding overtraining. Therefore, the later routine may be modified according to the needs of the advanced bodybuilder. In other words, someone more genetically gifted who can tolerate higher amounts of volume may be able to handle 5 sets per exercise while another bodybuilder with less than optimal recovery capability may handle3.

I hope that with the routines above have provided enough ideas on how to setup a weight training program with minimum home equipment. Note that even if you have a gym membership, you can still use these routines for those days that you cannot make it to the gym. Also, since what these routines require are only dumbbells and a bench they are great to follow at the gym when such is crowded. You just need to secure a bench and then the dumbbells.

Finally, don’t feel restrained to following my routines exactly as laid out. Feel free to make up your own as well based on the knowledge that you now have. So there you have it. No more excuses to miss workouts and no more waiting in line at the gym for equipment.

Good luck to all of you!