What To Look For
Look for essential exercise equipment that can give you an overall body workout, including an exercise mat, dumbbells or free weights, a pull-up bar and a stability ball for abdominal exercises. If you're looking for a single machine, a home gym can give you an overall body workout.
When choosing a home gym, select models that are made with high quality and durable materials like heavy steel, nylon-reinforced fiberglass pulleys, chrome or enamel finish, steel cables and sufficient padding. Look for a home gym with stations for various exercises like chest presses, shoulder presses, leg lifts and lateral pulls.
Common Pitfalls
Measure the available space in your home before purchasing a big machine such as a home gym system. As a general rule, you should be able to reach your arms above your head without touching the ceiling. Home gyms with adjustable components are ideal. This gives you a range of measurement so that it can fit in your home or in another space in case you decide to move it.
Home gyms can be difficult to assemble and individual parts may not be labeled. Installation services may cost a bit more, but can save you a lot of time and effort.
Where To Buy
Athletic and sporting goods stores such as Sports Authority and Dick's Sporting Good Stores carry a wide range of exercise equipment including home gyms. These stores carry home gyms in many brands that offer varying height range and number of stations.
Aside from home gyms, other fitness equipment include treadmills, elliptical machines, dumbbells, fitness balls, mats, resistance training tools and rowers.
Cost
Basic home gyms such as the ab crunch and tricep pull-down machine can cost as little as $150, while large, extensive home gyms with many stations can cost as much as $6,000.
For other items like treadmills, a basic machine can be as low as $129 and one with many additional features like a built-in 15-inch LCD TV can cost as much as $2,800.
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