I have always wondered about what to get for home gym use. I don't get great benefit when I'm a member of a gymnasium -- too many excuses not to go, too many nerdy jerks when you get there -- so I prefer to workout while watching my own TV, for example.

Currently, I own two dumbbell handles, a good set of 8 clips for them, and a relatively small assortment of plates: 4 x 5lbs, 12 x 10lbs. This allows me to combine anything from (disregarding negligible handle weight) a pair of 10lb dumbbells, to a pair of 60lb dumbbells. (Dumbbells are smaller, single-handed weights; barbells are the larger version. I don't have barbells.) When these are combined with a high-quality floor pad and a piano bench (and the lintel above my bathroom door, for pullups), I can do at decent workout.

But not great. I'm wondering if people have their own system they'd like to recommend.

And I'm also wondering if anyone owns a Bowflex, a Cyberflex, a Weider Crossbow, a Soloflex, or any other form of "all in one" station in their home. Do they work? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

My next item on the shopping list is (still) a decent flat-back bench-press bench, preferably a hinged one so I can do delines and inclines.

I would stay away from the all-in-ones and just stick to a good bench with some dumbells on the side.

As far as CV, even though I don't use them all the time at the gym, elliptical machines are pretty damned good at building up the legs and burning calories. They burn at least double the calories per minute as treadmills and you get a prett full CV workout in about 12 minutes or so.

I have had a Soloflex for 7 years and love it. I use it in combination with free weights. Before that I used strictly free weights at school gym facilities.

Advantages:

1) Compact design, does not take up much space.

2) Chin up, dips and inverted sit-ups station built right in. If you only have time for three exercises in your life, these 3 will rock you out.

3) Wide variety of exercises. I don't use even a fourth of the possibilities.

4) Quick change ability (once you get used to it), allows you to have minimal rest between exercises and keeps the heart rate up. The most difficult changeovers take about 1:20 ... most can be done in under a minute.

5) No danger of weights falling on you/dropping them on your foot. No need for a spotter on heavy benches. Free weights can easily be added to the bench press straps.

6) Much easier on the ligaments than free weights.

7) Can work out at home, while watching TV. Makes it easy to stick to your workouts.

Disadvantages:

1) Straps crack and break over time and need to be replaced, and they are not cheap.

2) Probably just a personal problem, but I don't like doing curls or up right rows on it. I use a curl bar and dumbbells for those exercises.

3) Some things can be hard to get used to at first, like getting under the bench press, but once you're used to it it's a breeze.

Since the day I bought it, I've added 30 pounds of muscle, and my bench press went from 225 to 305, so it definitely works.

I've never tried any of the other machines ...

-Superman-

I've got dumbells and barbells in my garage and picking up my bench with dip, pull up etc from the store in the next few days. Go to the gym too but having those things at home is convenient. I run, bike and swim so I don't built myself up big.

Curls and upright rows resistance increases on the soloflex as the range of motion decreases, so it just doesn't feel that right. Bench 305 lbs, no wonder you were complaining Toby Macguire had no muscles.

-Dick

Has anyone ever tried Russian Kettlebells in an exercise routine?

What is a 'kettlebell'?
A 'kettlebell' or girya (Russ.) is a traditional Russian cast iron weight that looks like a cannonball with a handle. The ultimate tool for extreme all-round fitness.

The kettlebell goes way back, it first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704 (Cherkikh, 1994). So popular were kettlebells in Tsarist Russia that any strongman or weightlifter was referred to as a girevik, or 'a kettlebell man'.

"Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as kettlebell athletics," reported Russian magazine Hercules in 1913.

www.DragonDoor.com

It's a very intense workout program, very technical, and its an all around program. Meaning it will help build strength and help
burn fat.

If anyone has any experience, or information on this, please share. I am about 75% sold on trying this out. Just need a little push.

thanks comrades