I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me if they can get as good results working out at home as they would if they worked out in a gym. My answer to this question is always "Yes you can, as long as you spend your money on the right home exercise equipment and not on some waste of time useless product." The next question is always "So then what type of home exercise equipment should I get that will allow me to save as much money as possible and only buy the stuff that is really needed." I decided to dedicate this page to answering that question. Here goes...

I'm sure you've seen those commercials and infomercials on T.V. for all kinds of home exercise equipment and weightlifting products. So, the first thing you need to do, is forget about EVERY one of those, because the majority of the products and pieces of weightlifting and exercise equipment in those ads are completely useless. Everything from those fancy machines with celebrities "recommending" them, to all of those ab workout products like the Ab Lounge and the Ab Doer or whatever they call those stupid things, they are all a waste of money. (Click here for more information on ab workouts and abdominal infomercial products) Even though everyone in those ads all have perfect bodies, the product they are trying to get you to buy is a waste of money. Even if Chuck Norris tells you it is a great product and that you must buy it, he is lying. If your going to spend your money on home exercise equipment, spend it on the good stuff, not this stupid crap. Now, what exactly is the "good stuff?" Keep on reading...

First, if you are a male or female looking to build lots of muscle and increase strength, then you need free weights. If you are a male/female just looking to get in shape and add some muscle, maybe just get "lean and defined," then you still need free weights. Free weights should be #1 on your home exercise equipment list. Why? Because they do everything you need. Every weightlifting type of exercise that you need to do can be done with free weights. You can NOT say that about any machine, even if Chuck Norris himself says it, he is lying. Free weights are the all in one workout. The most effective exercises, no matter what your goals are, are done using free weights. What exactly are "free weights?" I'll tell you...

Your home exercise equipment of free weights should include dumbbells, barbells, plates (weights that go on the barbells) and weight benches. These are the main free weights that you will need. I'd suggest buying only Olympic weightlifting size home exercise equipment, which is the stuff that is used in actual gyms. As far as types of bars, at least one plain Olympic size barbell would be fine, plus maybe an EZ curl bar (which I love to use for both bicep and tricep exercises).

As far as weight benches go, you might only need one adjustable bench. There are weight benches that can be adjusted into as many as 4 different positions (flat, incline, decline, and sitting straight with your back against the pad), and this would allow you to save money instead of buying 4 different weight benches. Those are also the only positions you will really need. With the flat, incline and decline positions you can bench press, dumbell press, dumbell flyes, laying tricep french presses, bent over dumbell rows, and a whole bunch more. With the seated position you can do shoulder dumbell or barbell overhead presses, seated bicep curls and much more.

If your goal is weight loss and losing fat, then you will need to do some cardio, and I would recommend buying a treadmill or bike. Even though I do my weightlifting workout at a gym, I do cardio at home on my treadmill. Other than that, there really isn't too much more home exercise equipment that you need to buy. You might want to look into getting a power rack. This is used to hold the barbell before and after your set. When you are ready to start an exercise you take the bar off the rack (for example on an exercise like squats or barbell shoulder presses) and after your last rep, you put it back. The power rack is adjustable so you can use it for any barbell exercise. There are some other good things you can buy like a combination pullup/dip station, which personally would be one of the first things on my own list if I was building a home gym. However, it's not quite as needed as free weights.

Well, now you know what home exercise equipment and weightlifting products you really "need" to buy. Hopefully reading this has allowed you to not only save money, but also allowed you to know the most effective stuff to buy, so you get the best results you can get.

Questions, comments or feedback? Feel free to e-mail me at:
IntenseWorkout@gmail.com

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