From Health magazine
Want to amp up the strength portion of your Feel Great Weight exercise plan? Buying a home gym could help you achieve your weight-loss goals and sculpt your body. Unfortunately, many home gyms are expensive and can take up as much room as their fitness-club counterparts.
But you don’t have to break the bank or have lots of space to see results. Here are four space-savvy, low-tech, low-cost ($200 or less) home gyms. We put them to the test to see if they really work.
TRX Suspension Trainer
Cost: $150
How it works: Anchor the contraption to a beam or door, then adjust the straps depending on the exercise you’re doing. Your body weight provides the resistance.
What we like: The most portable of all the options, it can be stashed in its own small mesh pouch when not in use. It’s easy to put up and take down, comes with a helpful laminated workout guide and instructional DVD, and offers a dozen moves that, together, cover all your muscles.
What we don’t like: You need a lot of room to be able to do all the exercises, and if you don’t have a beam to loop it around, you’ll need to buy a door anchor ($25). Plus, doing moves with your feet in the straps can be tricky at first.
Workout 180
Cost: $200
How it works: Use the base as an exercise step or balance board, or flip the frame over and use it for push-ups. There are seven levels of resistance to choose from; attach the handle to the bands you want for a wide variety of moves.
What we like: Our favorite among the bunch for its versatility—plus, it’s the only option that helps you get your cardio in (just use the platform as a step). It comes already assembled, with a workout poster, booklet, and DVD to guide you through the 75-plus moves.
What we don’t like: It’s hard to store—too tall to fit under most beds.
Comments (3)
I purchased the GoFit Gravity Bar about a month ago. I installed it in about 10 minutes in my house with no problems. All I can say is WOW! I created a nine exercise circuit that I did with timed intervals and it is a Killer workout! I road bike as well for my cardio and I hve found my back doesn’t hurt anymore because the Gravity Bar exercises strengthen my core which really helps on long training rides.
I have the TRX and frankly it’s the best fitness investment I ever made. I am building more muscle faster than I ever did with free weights, I assume because the instability principles it encorporates work your core and accessory muscles while you do all your traditional lifts using your body weight to provide the resistance. It’s faster for me as well, because when I reach muscle failure I can lower my resistance by just shifting my foot placement as opposed to having to stop and swap out weight plates. I suppose it wouldn’t be ideal if I were a power lifter, but as most of the rest of us don’t routinely lift more than our body weight while training, anyone else should be able to get a full strength workout.
I do respectfully disagree with the author of this article that it requires a lot of space to use. I live in a very small apartment and can do all the exercises in about a 6′x 3′ area in front of my door. It is very, very simple to set up and use, just throw it over the door and go and I can fit it in my carry on bag when I travel. The foot straps do take some getting used to, but the versitility is worth it. Also, I got the door attachment as part of a bundle when I bought it. I am in the Army and currently working 9 1/2 hour days, so anything that lets me PT at home in limited time is a huge help for me.
These types of workout equipment aren’t doing anybody any real good. Especially for those looking to lose weight, a program involving barbells and free weights is the best bet. A squat rack + bench + barbells is often more than $200, but it’s an life-long investment. This type of resistance program, while in a caloric deficit, allows people to lose dominantly fat and allows them to greatly improve their strength. Granted, most females say that they don’t want to work out with big weights because they’ll get big… It doesn’t work like that. You need adrogens (i.e. testosterone) to do something like that. The female body has a very hard time getting big and in a caloric deficit, it’s impossible. I think that people over-complicate weight loss, weight management, and fitness. Get a barbell, put some weight on it, complete a movement, get stronger. You don’t need to do a million crunches or work out with some weird contraption. Simplicity has always worked best and if that method clearly isn’t broken, why would you try to change it?