I have always worked out at home despite some of the companies I worked for either subsidized or basically paid for a gym membership.
Perhaps it is the introvert in me, but I find comfort working out alone. I also get to multi task and work on other things during my rest period. (Honestly though I would not recommend this because you will get distracted and the workouts end up going from 45 min to an embarrassingly longer amount.)
But let us just imagine that my company does not provide any gym membership benefits because well, I do not take advantage of this benefit anyway.
I play tennis on the weekends and I do weight training with a dumbbell set. I absolutely hate running so there is none of that going on outside of tennis.
My workout set up is very simple. The money I spent compared to the value I got from these items have been well worth it.
Adjustable weight bench
I have this weight bench by CapStrength and I have been using this for the past 4 years. Not a bad investment for $60. However, I have noticed that the back support gets a bit wobbly and unstable. I am highly considering buying this Amazon best selling weight bench.
I did go on OfferUp and Craigslist, but the used benches were just bleh because they were overpriced, noticeably used, or not adjustable benches.
Adjustable dumbbell set
I have this Bowflex SelectTech 1090 adjustable dumbbell set, which is the upgraded version of the 552 series. Basically the dumbbell set I have goes up to 90lbs per dumbbell while the 552 series goes up to 52.5lbs per dumbbell.
I am lazy enough not wanting to adjust each dumbbell so imagine what I would be like if I had the full dumbbell set.
Although I bought the weight bench new from Amazon, I bought the Bowflex dumbbell set used on Craigslist. I was easily able to test whether the dumbbells were in working condition and have had the set for years. Very durable. Just do not drop the dumbbells.
P90X
For cardio, I think P90X works just fine. I tried P90X…multiple times because I was able to get a very discounted price on the DVDs. After a couple weeks, I realized that 1) I cannot commit to the schedule and 2) I am more interested in building muscle than the cardio P90X focuses on. Should I want to mix in cardio, P90X is an arms length away.
Other home gym and fitness items you should consider
- Yoga mat – highly recommend you buy this new. I personally use one strictly for ab workouts, but I suck at sticking to my ab workout schedule.
- Push up bar – you can buy these used. If you have wrist issues, consider buying one. Personally I have simply changed the way I do a push up by using the military pushup form instead.
- Pull up bar or total workout bar – mine was used. If you do not mind used, then I would go that route. I love to use the pull up bar as a warm up routine, but the pull up bar can be used as a legitimate total body workout.
