The Advantages of Home Exercise Gyms

As membership fees of fitness clubs soar higher and higher, more and more people are beginning to realize the practicalities of simply having their own home gyms. There are many benefits for owners of home gyms to enjoy, and if you don?t believe us, we?ll give you all the reasons you need to feel otherwise.

HOME EXERCISE GYMS ARE YOURS FOR LIFE

Yes, of course, fitness clubs offer lifetime memberships too, but there?s always a chance that the company would go bankrupt and just as easy as that, your membership is completely gone. And it?s surely non-refundable, too!

NO NEED TO TRAVEL FAR

If you?re exercising in the local gym or a la-di-dah fitness club, you?d no doubt need to travel even just a few minutes to reach the place. And when your destination is an hour away and traffic?s worse than usual, you tend to lose interest and postpone your trip for the next day and the cycle goes on and on. With your own gym at home, however, there?s no excuse for you not to exercise everyday, and you?ll surely be in better shape in no time!

NO NEED TO CONTEND WITH WORKING HOURS

Unless you?re lucky enough to have the money to pay for 24-hour-fitness centers, there?s a very good chance that you?re still subjected to the working hours of a typical fitness center. But what happens when you have to work overtime, and you still feel the urge to exercise?

HOME EXERCISE GYMS ARE LESS EXPENSIVE

Rather than pay the monthly fees that fitness clubs charge ? we?re assuming you can?t afford the super expensive lifetime membership dues ? why not purchase exercise equipment that you can use anytime and as long as you wish because they?re YOURS?

And you know the best thing about this? Everyone in your family can make use of your home gym! No need to pay membership fees per person!

Home Gyms provides detailed information on Home Gyms, Cheap Home Gyms, Best Home Gyms, Home Gyms Review and more. Home Gyms is affiliated with Fitness Equipment Financing.

Considerations for Home Gyms

Joining a local gym does have some benefits - you may get inspired from the people there, and there are instructors around to make sure you are using the correct techniques. However, a lot of people do not have access to a local gym. For people who fall into this category and perhaps do not have much time due to work or home commitments (a new member of the family for example) a gym at home is a good solution.

So what are the things that you need to know in order to set up a gym at home? Well, if you have used the gym before to train then you will understand what exercise needs you have and this makes things a lot easier. If you have never used a gym before and are a complete novice it might be worth your while going to a public gym to see what it has to offer. Alternatively you could employ a personal trainer, if budget permits, who can advise you on what you need for your home gym and also check that you are using the equipment properly - as using the wrong technique can be harmful. Otherwise, there are books or videos on offer and you could learn what to do with a friend so as to check your respective techniques are correct.

The next question is where are you going to put this gym? If you have the option you should set it so it can remain permanently set up - all these pack away and folding things might seem like a good idea, but it is just one more obstacle in the way of your training. Besides this, the folding stuff is not always the greatest quality! So if you have a garage or a spare downstairs room (downstairs is a better idea than upstairs if you will be using weights), so much the better. If the weather is favorable in your neck of the woods you might consider a set up in the yard - your very own little muscle beach!

Okay, we've decided on a setting for our gym, now it is time to equip the place. All workouts should include a cardio session, and this may be the hardest thing to accommodate in a home setup. Low cost stationary bikes and treadmills are often not worth the money. A more costly running machine might do the trick if your pockets are deep, but they are also large items. A rower has the advantage of being easily stow-able - just tip it upright. These can be quite good value, but rowing is not everyone's cup of tea. Compact but expensive are the Nordic Ski and the Step. If you cannot decide then why not take a half hour jog at the start of each session instead?

One of the main things to consider is the weight training machinery. Multi-gyms often appeal as they seem to offer all you need, but you might regret it. Knowing what you want to achieve and what you enjoy doing helps with this decision. Sometimes a long bar and a set of dumbbells with a selection of different size weights may be a good choice and certainly it is cheaper. If you decide on this, then spend any money saved on a good bench that has a attachment for legs and so enables you to work hamstrings, quads and calves etc. In addition, get a cover for the floor so you can stretch and do floor exercises such as press ups and sit ups. And that's it, a great gym in the convenience of your own home.

Copyright 2006 Sian Quaid. All rights reserved. Sian Quaid's internet site Home Gyms Home is a great help to get you started on home gym topics on the internet. For further details please go take a look at her archive of articles: http://www.homegymshome.com/articles/

Should You Set Up Your Own Home Gym?

Gyms are increasingly popular and as a result public facilities are usually stretched to the limit and as a result offer poor service leaving most users frustrated. Then there are those people who are just not comfortable working out in a public setting. The result is that they usually get very uncomfortable in the gym and are not able to work out enough. Still there are those who prefer to go into the high initial cost of purchasing exercise equipment knowing fully well that in the long term it will end up being a lot cheaper than the increasingly high gym memberships being charged.

These are just three of the most compelling reasons why somebody would want to set up their own home gym. The truth is that home gym can be a good investment for anyone wanting to set up one in their basement or workout room.

A good place to start when looking for equipment for your home gym is with used exercise equipment. These can be picked up at a very good price, more so because their demand is still limited. Your local newspaper classified ads and Ebay are some good places where you can start your search.

It is important to pick up as much knowledge as you can on the different types of home gym equipment. This is the only way you will be able to figure out the advantages and disadvantages of buying the different types of exercise machines and equipment. This will help ensure that whatever equipment you end up spending money on will not be underutilized or even prove to be useless or a duplication because of some other equipment that you had earlier purchased.

Apart from home gym equipment, you should also seriously consider buying commercial fitness equipment, which will be much closer to the stuff that you are already used to at your local gym or fitness center.

These are the key aspects to take into consideration when looking into the possibilities of setting up your very own home gym.

Andrew McNaught runs the website: http://www.home-gym-info.com which aims to help people decide whether to install a home gym and if so, what equipment to go for.