Last week we had a look at some of the pitfalls one might face upon embarking on the journey to better health and fitness, and a more attractive body. The right choice for you will depend largely on your personality.
If you require constant supervision, personal training is the best option for you. If you can progress with minimal supervision and assistance, then you will get the most out of a gym membership. If, however, you are highly self-motivated and prefer go solo, then the home gym could be your best ticket to lifelong physical activity.
When a DIY problem in the household needs solving, out comes the toolbox. As we cast our diagnostic eye over our available tools, we plan exactly what is required for efficient execution of the specific task at hand. Kitting out your home gym is pretty much the same. First we must decide what exactly you would like to achieve, and only then can we select the right fitness tools for the job.
Let’s imagine a continuum where on one side we have weight loss, toning up in the middle, and weight gain on the other. Most goals will fall somewhere along this continuum, determining which tools must be selected for your DIY fitness tasks.
Most of the training possible in a commercial gym can be classified into the following categories, sequenced according to our weight loss/toning/weight gain continuum; cardiovascular machines, body weight, resistance machines and free-weights.
Keep in mind that a home gym doesn’t necessarily need to resemble a kit explosion. Indeed, a home training regimen could actually be performed quite successfully without any equipment at all. So remember, more is not necessarily better.
Let’s begin with the cardiovascular machine, if we had to choose just one, which would it be? The most popular cardiovascular machines are treadmills, rowers, stationary bikes, stepper, and cross-trainers. Running and rowing engage most of the body without isolating upper or lower body.
No other cardiovascular exercise can match the range of motion exploited by rowing through almost all the major joints of the body, and in percentage of total-body musculature targeted and calories burned.
Running on the other hand is hard to beat from a functional perspective. It is performed in an upright position involving direct contact with the ground, or treadmill bed in this case, and stimulates bones with a certain degree of impact forces upon every foot strike.
It also involves a degree of spinal and hip rotation unlike any other cardiovascular movement, and will prepare you for practical situations in everyday life where you might be required to run or sprint. Our choice need not be based exclusively on physiological concerns, but also logistical. Good quality treadmills are notoriously expensive to purchase and maintain. Also, Malta has recently been determined as one of the best climates on the whole planet. If we like to run, can we really justify a Maltese nation of fitness enthusiasts running indoors?
We have safe and scenic locations ideal for running that have to be among the most beautiful in the world. The benefits of running are open to us all. Rowing on the other hand, is not something you can get up and do quite so easily.
A rowing machine can therefore help you enjoy benefits not so readily available by other forms of cardiovascular exercise. A point to note with rowing machines however; those with pulleys are far more effective than those with fixed hydraulic arms.
Let’s move on to body weight training. A simple body weight training set-up requires no more than a floor, aka ‘Yoga’ mat. This allows you to perform core training on the floor, bigger moves like press-ups or burpees, and stretching.
An advanced body weight training set-up would also include a chin/dip station. The chin/dip station is basically a frame that incorporates a chin-up bar on top, allowing the performance of close and wide grip pull/chin-ups for working the back and biceps, as well as two parallel bars at about chest height to perform parallel bar dips for the chest and triceps, similar to those performed by Olympic gymnasts. The chin/dip stations on the market today also include the facility to perform leg raises, another great exercise for the core.
The popularity of resistance machines has faded somewhat lately. However, an all-in-one multi-gym still has its place in any top notch home gym set-up. The best multi-gyms should tick all the following boxes: chest press, lat pull down, leg extension and leg curl, and high and low cable pulleys. With these features, you can perform most of the resistance training exercise you would see in a commercial gym.
A practical suggestion here: if you purchase a multi-gym, ensure the resistance comes not from a weight stack, but from free weight discs that can be slid on and off. This means you will be able to use the same discs for your resistance machine, your dumbbells, and your barbell, should you choose to purchase all three.
If you’re really serious about sculpting a chiselled figure/ physique, then a basic free weights set-up should include a pair of adjustable dumbbells and an adjustable bench that will serve all your free weight training needs.
With dumbbells you can perform almost any free weights exercise imaginable. To address the final stop on our continuum of fitness goals and build serious amounts of muscular size and strength, nothing comes close to the barbell (which can be used with the same weight discs as your resistance machine and adjustable dumbbells), and a bench press/squat rack combo.
A good bench press will have adjustable uprights which can double up as a squat rack. With enough weight discs (which you can purchase more of as you get bigger and stronger), you can increase your muscular body weight by performing the big barbell moves like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and rows.
In short, if you would like to lose weight, then your home gym could contain a cardiovascular machine and a basic body weight training set-up. If you would like to tone up, then your gym could contain a good body weight training set-up, a resistance machine, and a basic free-weights set-up.
If you would like to sculpt a chiselled muscular physique, your home gym could contain a good body weight training set-up, a resistance machine, and a good free-weights set-up.
If you would like to gain weight, a good free-weights set-up is all you need.
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