Building Your Home Gym

You are a fitness freak but don't have the time to go to a gym. The next best alternative is to build a gym inside your home. This will help you achieve your fitness goals right inside the comfort of your home and save you precious time that you would have normally spent in commuting.

Advantages of a home gym:

• You can plan your schedule easily and keep it flexible.
• You don't have to think twice before actually starting your workout everyday.
• You feel more comfortable while working out at home. Other family members may also get motivated to achieve a better fitness level.
• You workout with full privacy and ease.
• You save time and money after setting your own home gym.

Before setting your own home gym think about a few things:

First of all you should have a clear idea about your fitness goal. What exactly do you want to achieve from your gym? Is it general fitness, better body shape, strengthening of muscles, cardiovascular fitness, weight loss or gain etc? To get the most of your home gyms, it is really important to set your specific long and short-term goals.

Secondly, you should have a clear idea about the amount of money you want to spend on this. Remember, setting up a gym is a cost-intensive exercise, so determine how much you want to spend and stick to that. Make optimum use of your money and get the best within your limits.

Thirdly, have a look at the space you have chosen for your gym. Although home gyms are not huge but still, you need some minimum space to call it a gym. Be it your old guest room, living room or your garage, make sure that it is roomy and comfortable.

What you need for a home gym

Here are some essentials that you need for your home gym. Again depending on your pocket, you can go in for branded and expensive stuff or settle for cheaper substitutes.

A padded stretch mat: You need it for most stretching exercises, pushups and other free hand exercises.

Treadmill or a skipping rope: Cardiovascular workout is an integral part of fitness and hence you need a treadmill or stationary bike to achieve this target. However, if you don't have enough cash you can do the same with a skipping rope.

A mirror: You need a good big mirror for your gym to monitor yourself. Exercise is effective if done with a proper technique and you can check this yourself if you have a mirror.

Dumb bells: A useful gadget, good for many muscles and exercises. Buy a complete set if possible or have adjustable dumbbells, which allow you to increase or decrease weights.

Barbells: A long steel bar with free weights is one of the most important things you need for your gym. Though you can strengthen many muscles with dumbbells but effective strength training is possible with a barbell only.

A diary: Always maintain a diary and pen to keep a record of your own progress, schedule, workout details like number of repetitions, weight used. This will help you monitor your progress and also keep you focused and enthusiastic.

A home gym can be a good test of your seriousness and commitment towards fitness, as most of your excuses for not working out will vanish once your home gym becomes a reality.