What's the best home gym?

[pumpster]

I loved working out at home back in the day , have a meal cooking while your own music is blearing , no travel time and to be honest id train more and more consistently

would look at it again when i have a bigger home

but like people have said the problems are variety which means you have to buy more than just a bench and rack and legs/calves

i cant do squats and deads cos of my back and nothing seems to beat leg curl/extn and leg press

lunges and one leg squats with db's just dont seem to cut it to a leg press

also doing calves effectivly i found quite a mission compared to using the seated calf machine at the gym


i think its only worth it if u can buy alot of equipment including dumbbells , if so then youd be set for life and itd probably be a saving overall minus the travel and gym costs.

There are ways to get lots of variety in small spaces with today's equipment. Takes some patience to consider all the possibilities.

[Cap]

All I know is if people think that one piece of home equipment is the end all be all of home training then they need to evaluate how they train in general.  Machines and free weights and other pieces of equipment are all valuable and a balance of both will make it easier to store.  If you try to a free weight gym like Metroflex in your house, then you will need to contact a builder soon.  Or just call the guys at West Coast customs.  They can do anything.

"Check this out, we gonna put an encyclopedia Britannica in yo pen cap."

[buffbong]

i would get a powerrack with bench and dumbells from www.ironmaster.com and some mats from wallmart to deadlift and for under the bench if u drop the bells.

[LT]

You guys have been really helpful this is a good forum.

[JackCheze]

I met one of those model dudes who was in a big bowflex commercial a few years ago in The Yardhouse, he wasn't huge, but big and really ripped. I asked him if he ever worked out on a blowflex and he laughed, then said he couldn't answer because of a confidentiality agreement

[pumpster]

I met one of those model dudes who was in a big bowflex commercial a few years ago in The Yardhouse, he wasn't huge, but big and really ripped. I asked him if he ever worked out on a blowflex and he laughed, then said he couldn't answer because of a confidentiality agreement

Actually the guy seen in a lot of their commercials uses a Bowflex, an Olympic bar and weights, and a punching bag.

[JackCheze]

let's give this one more try without trying to insinuate that other posters lead alternative lifestyles.

Bowflex models (and other fitness equipment models) sign confidentiality agreements so they are not allowed to say what they do for a workout, they can lead you in a direction but if they don't use a certain piece of equipment they don't use (like a bowflex) they can't say they don't use it.

Bowflex like other pieces of equipment give resistance in purely one direction, you don't need to balance a blowflex or get the same benefit from say bouncing a bowflex...

it's just not the same, not saying it's worthless... just not a good choice for serious strength athletes

no comedy or insults

[pumpster]

let's give this one more try without trying to insinuate that other posters lead alternative lifestyles.

Bowflex models (and other fitness equipment models) sign confidentiality agreements so they are not allowed to say what they do for a workout, they can lead you in a direction but if they don't use a certain piece of equipment they don't use (like a bowflex) they can't say they don't use it.

Bowflex like other pieces of equipment give resistance in purely one direction, you don't need to balance a blowflex or get the same benefit from say bouncing a bowflex...

it's just not the same, not saying it's worthless... just not a good choice for serious strength athletes

no comedy or insults

Except this is incorrect. Resistance is in both directions. And plenty of balance is required-it's not like the typical machine in this respect. Anyone who has actually used one already knows this. In fact it appears that other weight-based machines have copied some of the features based on the efficacy of the ROM and use of stabilizer muscles.

As far as confidentiality agreements, this is standard for many products, has been for ages. Only makes sense.

[JackCheze]

lemme break this down barney style...

resistance is in ONE direction:

you only fight the pulley whether lifting or resisting there is no work done by stabilizing muscles (with a soloflex or bowflex or you get the picture)

[pumpster]

lemme break this down barney style...

resistance is in ONE direction:

you only fight the pulley whether lifting or resisting there is no work done by stabilizing muscles (with a soloflex or bowflex or you get the picture)

Nope...Resistance in "one direction"...no idea what this means or how it's any different from weights or pulleys,  'Barn...

Stabilizing muscles are one of it's selling points actually, in fact other manufacturers have copied their features as a result. Stabilizing muscles are used as much if not more than with free weights, from my experience, to the extent that it takes a while to aclimate to it. I'd say you don't comprehend how it works.

[JackCheze]

you're right, I dunno shit

[pumpster]

you're right, I dunno shit

So much for a reasoned discourse. 

Good to have brought it up though, Bowflex thanks you.


The funniest thing is that some of the most experienced and biggest BBs on getbig-Chick & gh15-have no probs with a Bowflex, but a lot of the smaller guys are still stuck on free weights largely due to the macho element. This is true on most BB sites BTW.

[JackCheze]

You are fighting against a pulley period, you might change the angle of attack but you never fight gravity

it's no different than other pulley systems that's why pulleys are always ancilliary to free weights (ie. everyone works freeweights, and the people who work pulleys (not everyone does) works them second)

Not saying that a bowflex or whatever the new one will be named is worthless but... what was the name of the last Mr. O or World's Strong Man who trained only on a bowflex?

[pumpster]

You are fighting against a pulley period, you might change the angle of attack but you never fight gravity

it's no different than other pulley systems that's why pulleys are always ancilliary to free weights (ie. everyone works freeweights, and the people who work pulleys (not everyone does) works them second)

Not saying that a bowflex or whatever the new one will be named is worthless but... what was the name of the last Mr. O or World's Strong Man who trained only on a bowflex?

Trying putting aside the preconceptions. Pulleys are often better or comparable, for those with open minds. In certain exercises, gravity is a negative not a positive factor-exactly why Sergio said Nautilus machines were often superior to free weights.
http://www.getbig.com/articles/biceps2.htm

[JackCheze]

listen, I'll be 40 this year... I've done a triathlon, bicycle centurys (100 mile), Karate tournaments, and got a 295 out of 300 on the US Army Physical Fitness test (running was never my thing)

I've done soloflex, bowflex, nautilus, you name it...

not to say their bad, but nobody has won anything by training with only them, if that's all you got, go for it.

[pumpster]

listen, I'll be 40 this year... I've done a triathlon, bicycle centurys (100 mile), Karate tournaments, and got a 295 out of 300 on the US Army Physical Fitness test (running was never my thing)

I've done soloflex, bowflex, nautilus, you name it...

not to say their bad, but nobody has won anything by training with only them, if that's all you got, go for it.

Middle-aged and utterly unable to refute anything i've laid out. 

Faulty logic; just because less numbers of BBs have won using something does *not* prove it unworthy. Sergio was in his best ever shape in '72 and deserved to win. He attributed his condition both to the superiority of Nautilus machines and the training of Jones. Coleman's won 8 times and just confirmed what i've said about cables. Vince Taylor relies heavily on cables.

Their use is less widespread precisely because a lot of BBs think inside the box-sound familiar?

[dontknowit]

The bowflex doesn't has much value.

Maybe if you have some musclepain and want the blood going, but I don't see much value in the gym.
Like the famous fitnessball . If you're totally bored by the training you could try it, otherwise leave it in the corner.

[pumpster]

The bowflex doesn't has much value.

Maybe if you have some musclepain and want the blood going, but I don't see much value in the gym.
Like the famous fitnessball . If you're totally bored by the training you could try it, otherwise leave it in the corner.

What's remarkable is the extremely low level of discourse; absolutely nothing to back up any of the vindictive assertions made, as per usual on getbig. "Nice job". Basically confirms the large number of testosterone-laden kids on here who associate free weights with masculinity.

All these threads do is confirm how little knowledge and open-mindedness exists.

[JackCheze]

Middle-aged and utterly unable to refute anything i've laid out. 

Sergio was in his best ever shape in '72 and deserved to win. He attributed his condition both to the superiority of Nautilus machines and the training of Jones.

Their use is less widespread precisely because a lot of BBs think inside the box-sound familiar?

Sorry, just got back from Afghanistan and didn't have much time to respond. Sergio had awesome genetics, Sergio probably had something else going for him. Dr. Elliot Darden who was a huge proponent of nautilus (back then) figured something out. Nautilus machines are great IF you fit them. Everyone's body geometry is pretty different so angles of attack change, sure you can adjust the seat, the back, or both but what he found was that the nautilus machine are built for an average person, and that average person really doesn't exist.

Do you really think that a bb or strongman (or woman) who wants to be the best would NEVER try a promising new technology to win? You said it yourself Sergio did, and no one else. Maybe Sergio is THE average person

[freakfestMD]

Putting together a home gym has been, without a doubt, the TURNING point of my middle age.

I started simple:

1. BodySolid Smith Press, with upper/lower cable attachments (absolutely the bomb)
2. PowerBlock dumbells (thought I'd hate em, now I like em even better than standard dumbells)
3. Preacher bench/curl bar/free weights

Next, I got a Nautilus Nitro leg curl and a Nautilus leg extension, BodySolid seated calf. 

Then, an elliptical.

Last week, a Hammer Iso lateral row, Icarian hack squat and LifeFitness adductor.

My wife asked when we were going to finish the basement.  I told her:  "I just DID!"

[pumpster]

Putting together a home gym has been, without a doubt, the TURNING point of my middle age.


My wife asked when we were going to finish the basement.  I told her:  "I just DID!"

Nice one! LOL

[rockyfortune]

take a look at powerblocks...google it...i think you can get a set up to 120 pounds...less room taken up if you have dumbbells lying all over the place..

[pumpster]

take a look at powerblocks...google it...i think you can get a set up to 120 pounds...less room taken up if you have dumbbells lying all over the place..

They're the best quick-change DBs that go over 100 lb., along with the Ironmaster ones.

[nodeal]

TOTAL GYM BECAUSE CHUCK NORRIS SAYS SO