I have a 300lb weight set at the house with a bench. haven't used it in over a year. collecting dust in the garage. might sell it.

I prefer going to the gym. makes me feel like I'm doing something.

anyway, I want to get a set of dumbbells and possibly a boxing stand with a heavy bag and speed bag.

the dumbbells are because I've been using barbarian body vids to get my arms/chest going. this is way better than doing the heavier lifts since I'm by myself normally.

where do you get your equipment?

you can set up guards/stoppers on the cage so you dont need a spotter on heavy lifts like bench, squats, etc. on bench i just set up the guards right above my neck so i can lay the weight down low enough not to choke me. on squats i just set em below the lowest point of my squat and lean back into the cage and lower the weight when i fatigue.

got a curl bar, triceps bar, and hex bar too.

mostly free weight exercises except for the lat/pec dec stack on the cage. all you really need.

built the plate, bar, and dumbbell collection for cheap from craigslist and those sporting goods store penny-for-pounds clearance sales.

where do you store everything? my stuff is in the garage. we don't have a basement. only downside is we can't put the cars inside. we don't really mind that tho.

I've never used a hex bar, but want to. seems better than regular deadlifts.

I need to hit up craigslist. completely forgot about them.

one of the best investments of my life. just being able to work out any time any day and not pay a gym membership, worry about what to wear, deal with waiting on someone to finish, etc.

and yeah hex bar is great for deadlifts, shrugs, and mixing up the squats.

if youre looking to round out your equipment...def hit craigslist. dirt cheap and most gym stuff doesnt really degrade.

thanks.

I used the dumbbells during the polar vortex. they belong to my son.

I need to go some place to get it done.

If I ever do get a set up at home

power rack, adjustable bench and a couples bars and I'm good

prollem is I'm already out of space. need to get rid of something.

I got an awesome upper and lower body day in with the dumbbells.

other than that, I like going to the gym.

downside is mine is at the office. so its not available on weekends. usually not a big deal since I can go running or biking early before the rest of the house awakens.

good part tho, is I almost never have to wait for anything. its a pretty stocked gym and very few folks take advantage of it.

since my job changed, I don't have as much free time. I may have to cancel this membership and do things at home.

...speed bag, a few sets of 20# & 25# dumbbells. I have a few bars for the weights also. Also a vest that holds about 80lbs of weights (haven't used this yet), and some sort baseball-on-pulley-string that I haven't figured out yet.

Next up for me is a bench (been doing pushups) and a squat cage (been using the bench rack for squatting).

I'm the opposite... I was going to the gym regularly until I got these weights, and now I don't even have a membership anymore. I like being able to work out around my schedule. Everything except for the heavy bag is in the basement (Too short to hang it down there... gonna hang it in the backyard on workout days when it warms).

is I'm too easily distracted. I focus less at home. gym makes me feel like I'm there for a purpose.

If I end up cancelling this membership, I'll need to get my mind right for the home workout.

It helps me to stay consistent when it's not a huge time investment. It also helps with the weights being in the basement, because I have a separate area away from everything else. Not gonna front tho, many days I don't really feel like working out until I'm halfway done. The hardest part for me is getting started.

I mainly do one core, and a few ancillary exercise for three days, rest for one, then three more, ad infinitum.

About to go knock out these deadlifts now/

in philly we had a gym in the building, pretty basic (good number of machines, cardio stuff and dumb bells) that was the best. i had no excuse not to go: weather, time, transit, nothing. having the shit IN my garage (like I did for a bit in California) was actually less conducive than having it upstairs in a common space for some reason.

in medellin we had a gym across the street and that was similar, no excuse to bag it. once i have to get in the car or walk any significant distance i am more prone to saying fuck it and also it takes extra time to budget.

now at home all i have are some dumbbells and a medicine ball, but i have a couple places i can go work out, hoop, etc. my main problem is that i have stretches when i am gone all the time (or at home between trips finishing stuff from one and preparing for another), so i'll get in a nice rhythm and then squander all the progress.

pair of 16kg & 26kg kettlebells
Pair of 10lbs &15lbs Steel mace bells
Neuro grips and pair Indian clubs,
14kg Bulgarian Bag....

half the fun of working out is the communal aspect of it for me.

shit is taking up mad space in my man cave. My wife bought that shit shortly after we moved into our crib. Its too big to move to the storage area of the basement without disassembling and reassembling it.

We had a treadmill at our old crib that she bought and never used. We couldnt even get it out of the house when we moved. Just left it there.

I go to Fitness 19 (a small chain of gyms), but when I can't make it the dumbbells will suffice.

They're heavy enough to be a challenge, but not so heavy that I get discouraged...or injured. LOL

I copped 'em at Big 5 when they were having a sale, but you could check for discount places, or places in your area that sell used equipment probly.

aside from dumbells, pull up bar, and yoga stuff, it just seems like a total waste of space and money unless you have a room set aside just for working out and nothing else.

I don't use my basement for storing junk (only stuff I use), so there's a lot of space. it. Unfinished basement too, so it will always be a work area.

Kinda recently realized that many places in the US have houses that are built without basements. Every house has one up here, so it's something I take for granted.

if you got a room set aside, its way easier to get your mind in the space

but ideally you want a high enough ceiling to do stuff overhead and to be on a concrete slab if you want to move some heavy weight.

My workout space is maybe 200 sq ft and fits in a corner of my basement. That fits a rack + a couple accessories, bar, 400 lbs of weight, some plastic mats and a rower.

I'm pretty consistent about working out whether at the gym or at home but I've found that I'm more inconsistent with my intensity when I'm at home.

Getting up and out of the house takes more effort than just going downstairs but it also means I"m more invested in making a good use of my time. Unfortunately, I just can't get to the gym like I used to so investing in more equipment at home made sense.

>Getting up and out of the house takes more effort than just
>going downstairs but it also means I"m more invested in making
>a good use of my time. Unfortunately, I just can't get to the
>gym like I used to so investing in more equipment at home made
>sense.

once you can transfer the mindset outside of the space, it makes sense
most people just can't do that.

I'm trying to get away from pumping iron and go the functional fitness route. I'm getting up there in age and all these years of throwing around heavy weights aren't kind to my joints.

I've got kettlebells at 25lb and 35lb.

I want to pick up a battle rope, when it warms up, so I can take it to the local park and throw it around a fence post to do work.

I've been lifting consistently for around a year and have been fortunate enough to not have any injuries. Yesterday while squatting heavy (it was a rep PR) I hurt my back on my last set. It was a mental thing - I was lifting the weight fine but on the last set my mind kept yelling at me "it's heavy!!!" I lost focus of properly bracing my core during the descent, and let my back round out a bit - just enough to feel a tweak in my lower back.

It wasn't bad - I was able to complete the workout with no pain. I was feeling it later though so I went and got a massage. Today I'm still feeling it, which has me worried.

So - how do you know if you have a real injury or just a "tweak"? Should I just let it rest until I don't feel any pain at all? Keep training while avoiding a load on my back? Or just do my normal routine with lower weight?

it can easily tweak the lower back. lower backs are the worst. mine wasn't injured perse, but those muscles tightened. makes you feel old as shit. everything becomes difficult. it wouldn't normally show up til a day or two after the tweak.

for me, it means not doing the free weight squats. I would do a bunch of stretching for the lower back. I'd do some back extentions. for squats, I'd go to the squat machine that would force my form, but still allow me to get low. this would help me with stretching that muscle too.

aside from any of that, I'd suggest resting before getting back into the gym. backs are nothing to play with and you could run the risk of a more severe injury by going back too soon. resting will give you a chance to see how sore you really are.

Same as you, I lost concentration when putting the weight on the floor. Was like 60lbs. It got really stiff for a few days and tweaked like hell when I turned the wrong way, but since stretching helped, I knew it was a muscle injury. Took about a week for the pain to go away, and I worked out every day doing reps (nothing close to max weights). Stretching really helped.