Any suggestions for a good home gym $700-$1200 range?

I would like to stay with an American made unit. With the usual features and a leg press.



Tell me what you have and how good it is.

Sanguine

I would go with a power rack, adjustable incline bench and an olympic weight set.

That will give you all you need. If you want more, you can always add to it.

I think a power rack might take up more room than I have. I have to try and fit it in a room with a home office.

... Why don't you just ducky up membership to that nice gym to the west of you.

I would like my boys to be able to exercise as well.

Hello!

I would go to your local library and research this with Consumer Reports.  IIRC, they do a "shape up" themed edition every March or so.  The index in the back of each magazine goes back for a years worth of issues.

In general, look for old-fashioned weights instead of the bowflexes, soloflexes, or anything by golds gym or weider.  You might find that these gyms have a larger footprint than the power rack and olympic bar.

I posted once the Consumer Reports recommended models but that data is now 3 years out of date.

HTH,
James

check out Men's Health Home Workout Bible. Better to spend $14 on research before $1300 on equipment that might not be useful. I really like the book with 400 exercises to do at home and discussions about different equipment, dumbells, barbells, power rack, machines, pulleys, swiss balls, and more.

I don't know how to add an Amazon link, but here are the details:

Men's Health Home Workout Bible: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Burning Fat and Building Muscle
by Lou Schuler (Editor), Michael Mejia (Contributor)

Thanks for the feed back. I'm going to the library to do some research and see if Barnes & Noble has that Men's Health Home Workout Bible. I'm assuming that it is put out by Men's Health Magazine?

How much room do you have? Any decent set up is going to take up space and not be something you can just tuck back in a corner or roll under the bed when you are done with it.

I have a bedroom I will convert to offfice & work out. about 130sqft. so plenty of room for both.

My workout equipment takes up 3/4 of a single car garage and I still had to leave my chinup/dip machine at my parents house.  

I'd be weary of using heavy weights on the first floor of a house.  Dropping a weight could do a good bit of damage to a floor...unless you put down some decent rubber mats.

You might also want to look at the "Total Gym". It's the thing that Chuck Norris & Christie Brinkly sell on those hokey infomercials.

I saw one yesterday, and it was a solid unit that seems to be pretty well thought out. Didn't take up much room at all.

Originally Posted By KC-130 FLT ENG: You might also want to look at the "Total Gym". It's the thing that Chuck Norris & Christie Brinkly sell on those hokey infomercials.

Yeah, "hokey" is right. Basically ANY of those "all in one" machines are useless. The Total Gym is a friggin joke, as it uses your body weight as resistance, and that's it. What happens when you can move more than your bodyweight? The BowFlex is another joke. Ever actually try one out? Notice how jittery you move the cables, instead of a fluid motion?

Obviously a free weight sytem would be best, but you have already stated that space is a major issue. Free weights are also time consuming to change from one exercise to another and awkward for a lot of people due to having to change plates.

Luckily, there are a few excellent home gyms on the market that allow quick exercise and weight changes by using pins and stacks of weight.

I myself have this system from Keys Fitness.

www.keysfitness.com/KeysFitness/Template.cfm?id=kps1800.html&CFID=87722&CFTOKEN=56228930  

It is extremely smooth, has every exercise you can imagine (bench, incline bench, tricep, biceps, seated rows, pec deck, leg curl, leg extension, shoulders, etc. and then some(easy to alter movements for different isolations), has a LIFETIME warranty on the machine AND the upholstery, takes up about a 6'x6' space, and has an optional leg press. Price is at the upper end of your range.

PowerTec also makes a great and very reasonable in price system but it uses free weights on a pivot system and a larger floor plan.

www.egymequipment.com/womusy.html

There are other very good home gyms (Nautalis, Universal), but they are out of your price range.

I use a combination of free weights and a Marcy Pro One I bought years ago. With my schedule, its tough to make it to the gym, and I hate sharing equipment

First ask yourself if you're really sure you're going to use your new home gym enough to justify its cost.

Exercise machines are one of the most common things I see people throw out in their trash piles...and most of them are barely used.

Do you have a regular schedule for going to a gym, and do you really stick to that schedule?

If you do, you MIGHT be doing the right thing by thinking of buying your own equipment,  but even then, consider  whether that equipment can provide you with the full range of motions and exercises that you do when you're at the gym, and consider how convenient it is to set up your home gym for all of these different exercises.

There is a lot to be said for the convenience of going to a local gym that has some 20-odd Nautilus machines in a full workout circuit, plus a free weights room that's well equipped.  How easily can you duplicate that range of exercises with a home gym?  Are you motivated enough to actually change your home gym machine 20 times in one exercise session?

I'm not saying don't do it.  I'm saying that you should consider this carefully before spending enough money on a home gym to pay for membership at a fully equipped gym for several years.


It might be a better deal for you to just find time in your schedule to hit the gym on a regular basis, even if it's very early in the mornings.

CJ

I thought I'd add my 2 cents worth to this conversation.

First, although the advertising would lead you to believe it's American made, the Bowflex products are made overseas and imported. The box says 'designed' in the USA.

Bowflex is a division of Nautilus, and the experience they have shows in the documentation and construction.

It is not easy to start out on. It helps if you have previous experience with cable systems (Like Nautilus).

It's easy to try to do too much at first. I've settled into a regimen where I do 5 different exercises per day. That doesn't change the machine setup too much per day, but it does offer enough variety that I don't get bored.

The 'jerkiness' that JH225 mentioned is more a matter of your unfamiliarity with the equipment than a failing of the equipment. As you use the equipment you 'learn' how to smooth out the motions.

I bought a Bowflex Ultimate last January. I've gone from 447 to 391 pounds since then. I've hurt myself several times mountain biking or hiking since then, but never injured myself on the Bowflex.

Every person finds different excercise regimens better for themselves. I'm glad I got the Bowflex as my 'Christmas Present' last year.

Anyone who is interested in the Bowflex, keep in mind that they are not the fastest to deliver the product. It takes 2-4 weeks for delivery from date of order. They don't charge your credit card until they ship, so you have an idea of when to expect the equipment.

The reason I chose home exercise equipment over a membership in a gym has to do with being self conscious of my size, and having angry reactions to careless and unkind comments from the gym rats. It only takes one jerk making a comment about the fat man to ruin an otherwise pleasant workout.

-tachyon

I would choose a quality brand doing the mentioned research.  List 3-4 brands that fit.  Then read the for sale ads.  Barely used home gyms are in every newspaper for cheap.  Provided you got  a truck and some friends to move it you can  get a $2000 setup for less than half that.

Here is the AZ Republic for today:


Hoist 1000SE. Multi function Gym. Finest Gym ever built. bench press, lat pull down, leg ext/curl, abs, low-row, mid-row, dip, petro fly. Cost new $3800 Used barely $1300  

One of many examples.  Hoist makes good stuff too.

All good advice. Thanks. My quest for an affordable US made gym may be dead. I'll keep looking though.