Setting up a Home Gym

One of the first things to ask yourself when deciding on what to include in your home gym set is “what am I lacking?”. For example, if you jog outside regularly, you may want to consider adding a weight machine to your set up to balance things out with strength training. Likewise, if you already have weights, consider adding a treadmill to give you an effective cardio workout. Lacking flexibility? Try adding Pilates-type exercise equipment.

Across this site, we make some solid recommendations about where to go to buy fitness equipment. All of the gym machines and related equipment that we promote here have been personally-tested and evaluated by us, and couldn’t come any more highly recommended.

Know that when selecting home gym machines, there’s a few things you want to consider:

* Look at built-in features, such as monitors that give you information about distance, time, calories burned and more – all which can help you monitor (and improve) your progress. Some machines include programmable fitness routines, which many find helpful.

* Notice the weight limit of the machine (all gym machines include this information). You want to make sure that your selection will safely support you.

* Space is an important consideration: you want to not only consider fitting the machine into your home space, but also how you’ll fit when you’re on it.

* Know that often, assembly is required for most home gym machines. If you don’t think you have the ability to put it together yourself, find a helper or ask the store if it can be built for you.