I hear ya. I'm really looking forward to being in your position. Having your own home gym seems like it would be a nice little sanctuary. On top of that, you can put up your own artwork on the walls and play your OWN music. Not to mention, you can even work out naked! Something that definitely comes in handy if circumstance lends you to not have any clean gym clothes. Just make sure to do it clean and fresh though :D
And in truth, I feel like I have managed - with some creativity and plenty of referring to exrx.net - to put together decent routines for almost everything. The thing I was most worried about was legs, but I feel I'm getting as good a workout now as I used to at the gym - without traditional squats, large amounts of weight, or fancy equipment. The only thing I have NOT been able to do on my equipment is find something to replace lat pull-downs... and in truth a pull-up bar would have sufficed for the time being, had I been so inclined.
Maybe for your lat pull downs you could find a rafter or something and run some resistance bands over it and try pulling them down. Oh yeah, about getting better equipment and weights, the place I'm going to to buy most of my stuff, has a pretty large stock of gear and equipment and their prices are pretty descent.
For example, I just got 24 interlocking 2x2 foot foam floor tiles for $99.98 and they sell 300 lbs weight sets (plates and bar) for something like $280 bucks.
They're out in the Dufferin and Finch area and their equipment looks pretty good from what I've seen.
So, based on my couple of months of trial, I think I shall very soon be purchasing some equipment to get myself more properly set up at home. I'll be interested to hear how yours comes together and how much it costs and etc. I recommend getting a large mirror in there - I use the door in my shower because I don't have one. That is all!
I would recommend it, because the money you'd end up spending in the gym isn't an investment outside of the results you get from going there. At least with your own equipment, the money you put into it leaves you with something you can actually own :)
The music! I forgot about the abysmal crap that inevitably gets played at gyms... Gah! So horrible! I have actually cut a workout short because the music was so painfully awful! And I've never found headphones comfortable/convenient enough to work out with... so glad I don't have to deal with that anymore, too.
I'm actually working out for mass myself, though I'm at a point where I don't need a lot of weight just yet... only something like squats required more weight, and I'm doing one-legged squats with a fraction of the weight on dumbbells, and getting the same intensity of workout. Part of this trial was intended to see what equipment I could do without, and what equipment I would still need in order to get a full work-out... and at this point I'm thinking that two of those dial-a-weight dumbbells (the ones that go up to 90lbs each, I think made by BowFlex), an inclining bench, and some sort of cable-pull-down thing, will be all I need for a while. At $50/month or more for a gym membership, if you spend $600 on a gym and use it for a year, you've broken even... and after that you work out for free. :)
I am reminded that I should print out all of my workouts, and my schedule, and put up a chart on the wall, so I can track my progress right there.
I hear ya. I'm really looking forward to being in your position. Having your own home gym seems like it would be a nice little sanctuary. On top of that, you can put up your own artwork on the walls and play your OWN music. Not to mention, you can even work out naked! Something that definitely comes in handy if circumstance lends you to not have any clean gym clothes. Just make sure to do it clean and fresh though :D
And in truth, I feel like I have managed - with some creativity and plenty of referring to exrx.net - to put together decent routines for almost everything. The thing I was most worried about was legs, but I feel I'm getting as good a workout now as I used to at the gym - without traditional squats, large amounts of weight, or fancy equipment. The only thing I have NOT been able to do on my equipment is find something to replace lat pull-downs... and in truth a pull-up bar would have sufficed for the time being, had I been so inclined.
Maybe for your lat pull downs you could find a rafter or something and run some resistance bands over it and try pulling them down. Oh yeah, about getting better equipment and weights, the place I'm going to to buy most of my stuff, has a pretty large stock of gear and equipment and their prices are pretty descent.
For example, I just got 24 interlocking 2x2 foot foam floor tiles for $99.98 and they sell 300 lbs weight sets (plates and bar) for something like $280 bucks.
http://fitnessavenue.ca/
They're out in the Dufferin and Finch area and their equipment looks pretty good from what I've seen.
So, based on my couple of months of trial, I think I shall very soon be purchasing some equipment to get myself more properly set up at home. I'll be interested to hear how yours comes together and how much it costs and etc. I recommend getting a large mirror in there - I use the door in my shower because I don't have one. That is all!
I would recommend it, because the money you'd end up spending in the gym isn't an investment outside of the results you get from going there. At least with your own equipment, the money you put into it leaves you with something you can actually own :)
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I'm actually working out for mass myself, though I'm at a point where I don't need a lot of weight just yet... only something like squats required more weight, and I'm doing one-legged squats with a fraction of the weight on dumbbells, and getting the same intensity of workout. Part of this trial was intended to see what equipment I could do without, and what equipment I would still need in order to get a full work-out... and at this point I'm thinking that two of those dial-a-weight dumbbells (the ones that go up to 90lbs each, I think made by BowFlex), an inclining bench, and some sort of cable-pull-down thing, will be all I need for a while. At $50/month or more for a gym membership, if you spend $600 on a gym and use it for a year, you've broken even... and after that you work out for free. :)
I am reminded that I should print out all of my workouts, and my schedule, and put up a chart on the wall, so I can track my progress right there.
B.
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