Your Own Gym, In Your Own Home

I receive emails everyday from aspiring lifters all over the world, and one of the most common questions I’m asked is “Do I have to join a gym in order to build a strong, muscular body?” The answer, my friend, is no. With the right equipment and planning you can follow an equally effective bodybuilding program from the comfort of your home without ever having to set foot in a gym.

Maybe you can’t afford a gym membership due to your financial situation. Maybe you lead a busy lifestyle and would prefer to save time by training at home. Maybe you’re simply too embarrassed or uncomfortable to train in a regular gym setting at the moment. Whatever your reason, don’t worry!

Actually, there are a lot of people who think that there’s no better place to workout than their own houses. You don’t waste your time going to the gym and back. All you have to do is walk the stairs anytime you feel in the mood for some exercise.

I could listen to whatever music I wanted to, as loud as I wanted to without having to worry about those around me. I could grunt, yelp and scream through my sets if I was in the mood without disturbing anyone (hey, squatting to failure isn’t easy okay?) or train shirtless if I felt like it.

And, at the end of the workout, you don’t have to get into your car to go back to your place to rest.

Ok, there’s not only good news. It’s almost impossible to have in your home to have certain pieces of machinery such as a leg press or calf machine. And because of that, there’ll be some exercises you could not do there.

But, even if you can’t afford that machinery, you can plan out a proper bodybuilding routine. All that fancy equipment is not crucial, and you can swap some of that exercises for freeweight substitutions.

The basic equipment that your home gym should contain is: a) An adjustable barbell with freeweight plates. b) Adjustable dumbbells. c) A bench with incline adjustments. d) A chin-up bar. e) A squat rack.

If you can’t afford a squat rack then you’ll have to be creative. The bottom line is that you must have some sort of apparatus that will allow you to safely unrack a loaded bar and drop the bar onto a safety catch (or the floor) if your strength gives out during the lift.

Filed under: Health

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