“Do I have to join a gym in order to build a strong, muscular body?”
No. With the right equipment and proper planning you can have an effective bodybuilding program with the comfort of never leaving your home.
Actually my first years of bodybuilding were spent working out with the most simple equipment in my own home, and the results I saw were incredible!
- Gym memberships are too expensive.
- Save time by training at home.
- Don’t be embarrassed or uncomfortable to train in a regular gym.
Whatever your reason, don’t worry!
Don’t worry about the travel time to and from the gym. Simply Train whenever and however you want from home.
Listen to whatever music you want to, as loud as you want to without having to worry other people around you.
You can grunt, yelp and scream through your sets if you are in the mood without disturbing anyone (hey, squatting to failure isn’t easy okay?) or train shirtless if you feel like it.
When the workout is over, sprawl out on the floor in exhaustion and know that your post workout shakes are just a few steps away, and you don’t have to worry about hobbling to your car and spend anymore time driving home.
The greatest disadvantage to an in-home gym is that your exercise selections is limited by what equipment you have in your house. You may not have access to certain pieces of machinery such as a leg press or calf machine. You can purchase certain machines if you have the money to spend and plan on training at home over the long term, but for most of use in-home Muscle-Builders this may not be possible.
However planning out a proper bodybuilding routine does not require the use of fancy or over priced equipment, and all of the machine exercises that you would regularly perform at the gym can be switched-out for free-weight substitutions.
Here is the basic equipment that your home gym should contain:
1) An adjustable barbell with free-weight plates – A cast iron set is probably a good idea, and you must also make sure that you purchase enough weight so that you can continually progress from week to week.
2) Adjustable dumbbells – This is much more efficient and cost-effective than purchasing an entire set of dumbbells. You should be able to buy the barbell and dumbbells together in a single set.
3) A bench with incline adjustments – A good sturdy bench is a must-have for performing bench presses and other seated movements. If possible you should purchase a bench that can be set on an incline and that also contains safety catches if you plan on training alone.
4) A chin-up bar – These can usually be purchased for 15-20 dollars and can be placed inside of a door frame.
5) A squat rack – This is usually the trickiest piece of equipment to purchase, as a full squat rack can be pricey. Squats are an irreplaceable movement and should always be a part of your workout routine, especially if you don’t have a leg press machine handy.
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.
Don’t ever squat without a safe place to drop the bar! Most full squat racks will also provide a chin-up bar on top, so you can kill 2 birds with one stone if you decide to purchase one.
So there you have it; the 5 pieces of basic equipment that are needed to set up a home gym. As long as you have these basic tools in your arsenal you can perform an equally effective workout without ever having to join a traditional gym.
