Working out
I used to have a fitness club membership. That's how I messed up my knee, ages ago. I was showing off to impress friends & strangers.
When I lived in Houston, I made a point to work out and take a long walk often. My apartment made doing this convenient. I had a workout bench and some dumbbells, and the narrow kitchen made doing dips easy. I got rid of the bench before I moved.
When I moved to Augusta, dips weren't easy. Once I got my boxes unpacked, I bought a new bench. The floor was not level, which made using the bench dangerous at times. The air conditioning in that apartment was a joke. There was a fish pond where I could take walks if it hadn't been raining too much lately. My level of fitness decreased.
When I moved to my house, I dedicated a space in my garage to working out. There's a track across the street from me where I can walk. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick to it. The track is boring to walk along compared to the sidewalks in Houston, and between my knee and other health issues, I kept making excuses not to work out. My bench became covered with things I'd put on it "just for right now" and then never cleared off.
I had knee surgery in April. My knee feels much better now. I have cleared off the bench and started working out again.
On Thursday, I had an accident in the gym. I wasn't showing off. There was nobody to impress. I was just clumsy. I fell into my bench from the side and knocked it down, and my fingers (especially the right index finger) got caught under it. It's a nasty bruise that made typing and using a mouse uncomfortable for a day or two. I came to the realization that the design of the bench was not good for stability, and that the 8' by 6' area of floor padding I had wasn't big enough.
I bought more pads on Friday night. I now have a padded area that is 10' by 10', and when I move some other things around in my garage, I will have a 14' by 10' padded area. I might be able to buy a few more pads and make it 16' by 10', but that is for another day. The dimensions of my garage and the shared need for parking, storage and exercise will not let me make it larger than that.
Here is my wishlist for exercise equipment to make use of this space and create a more complete home exercise area:
1) A new workout bench with better stability. It should be able to be used flat, inclined, or declined. It should not have a leg exercise attachment, nor a built-in barbell rack, nor a pad for preacher curls. It will be primarily used for exercises with dumbbells. Its supports must be more stable than the bench I currently have.
2) Storage solutions for the dumbbells and plates I have, with room for expansion should I feel the desire for heavier ones.
3) A power tower that can let me do vertical knee raises, dips, pull-ups and chin-ups without worrying about falling over.
4) A home gym with a stack that can let me do lateral pull-downs. If this also includes a leg exercise and/or preacher pad, that's fine.
5) A barbell rack that can go around the bench.
That should fit into my workout space and provide me with a variety of exercises that I can do. Each item can be had for less than $450 with some smart shopping. I am not going to buy all of it at once, but that is the order in which I intend to acquire it. It's probably going to take me a while.
When I lived in Houston, I made a point to work out and take a long walk often. My apartment made doing this convenient. I had a workout bench and some dumbbells, and the narrow kitchen made doing dips easy. I got rid of the bench before I moved.
When I moved to Augusta, dips weren't easy. Once I got my boxes unpacked, I bought a new bench. The floor was not level, which made using the bench dangerous at times. The air conditioning in that apartment was a joke. There was a fish pond where I could take walks if it hadn't been raining too much lately. My level of fitness decreased.
When I moved to my house, I dedicated a space in my garage to working out. There's a track across the street from me where I can walk. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick to it. The track is boring to walk along compared to the sidewalks in Houston, and between my knee and other health issues, I kept making excuses not to work out. My bench became covered with things I'd put on it "just for right now" and then never cleared off.
I had knee surgery in April. My knee feels much better now. I have cleared off the bench and started working out again.
On Thursday, I had an accident in the gym. I wasn't showing off. There was nobody to impress. I was just clumsy. I fell into my bench from the side and knocked it down, and my fingers (especially the right index finger) got caught under it. It's a nasty bruise that made typing and using a mouse uncomfortable for a day or two. I came to the realization that the design of the bench was not good for stability, and that the 8' by 6' area of floor padding I had wasn't big enough.
I bought more pads on Friday night. I now have a padded area that is 10' by 10', and when I move some other things around in my garage, I will have a 14' by 10' padded area. I might be able to buy a few more pads and make it 16' by 10', but that is for another day. The dimensions of my garage and the shared need for parking, storage and exercise will not let me make it larger than that.
Here is my wishlist for exercise equipment to make use of this space and create a more complete home exercise area:
1) A new workout bench with better stability. It should be able to be used flat, inclined, or declined. It should not have a leg exercise attachment, nor a built-in barbell rack, nor a pad for preacher curls. It will be primarily used for exercises with dumbbells. Its supports must be more stable than the bench I currently have.
2) Storage solutions for the dumbbells and plates I have, with room for expansion should I feel the desire for heavier ones.
3) A power tower that can let me do vertical knee raises, dips, pull-ups and chin-ups without worrying about falling over.
4) A home gym with a stack that can let me do lateral pull-downs. If this also includes a leg exercise and/or preacher pad, that's fine.
5) A barbell rack that can go around the bench.
That should fit into my workout space and provide me with a variety of exercises that I can do. Each item can be had for less than $450 with some smart shopping. I am not going to buy all of it at once, but that is the order in which I intend to acquire it. It's probably going to take me a while.