If you have a busy work and social life, struggle to find time to get to the gym or simply dislike training in a public place, then building a home gym is exactly what you need. Having a home gym means that there's no travelling time to the gym, no competition for equipment and no excuse not to train. While you may think that a home gym is expensive, CNN ranked unused gym memberships at number eight out of ten on its 10 biggest money-wasters list, and you can acquire your home gym gradually, making it much more cost-effective than a gym membership.
Space
To fully focus on your training, you need somewhere to train. Training in your lounge or study may be okay to start with, but pretty soon you'll get distracted. Clear out a small amount of space in a spare bedroom, garage, utility room or even in your garden, and use this area for training. Try training here for two weeks, using just body-weight exercises. This will give you a feel of what training at home is like, and whether it's for you or not, before you spend any money on equipment.
First Purchases
As you're still fairly new to home training, it's a good idea to buy some slightly cheaper, yet effective training tools. Set yourself a budget of $150 dollars for your first lot of equipment. Good investments with this money would be a set of resistance bands, which can be stored easily and used on their own, or to add extra resistance to many body-weight exercises. An ab wheel, chin-up bar, skipping rope, exercise mat and medicine ball allow you to do literally thousands of exercises, without having to spend a fortune.
Weights
If you find that you enjoy training at home, your next purchase should be a set of weights. While weight training is usually more associated with bodybuilders and athletes, according to MayoClinic.com, it also helps to strengthen bones and joints, boosts your metabolism and burns fat. If money is tight, then buy an adjustable dumbbell set that lets you have dumbbells up to 30 lbs. If you want to spend a bit more, then look for fixed dumbbells, and purchase a set from 5 to 50 lbs.
Final Purchases
For your final purchases, you will be spending a bit more money. One great addition to any home gym is a power rack and Olympic weight set. Training in a power rack means you can train safely, without the risk of being pinned under the bar during squats and bench presses, and also means you can use heavier weights. You may want to consider cardio machines as well, although bear in mind that going bicycling or running outdoors is a lot cheaper than purchasing an expensive treadmill or exercise bike that takes up large amounts of space.
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