Strength Training At Home: What You Will Need

Ugh! Get up. Get dressed. Gather the gym clothes, find the gym bag. Scrape the ice off the car. Thread your way through the traffic. Hunt for a parking place. Dig out your gym card. Then off to the locker room to change your clothes and cram your stuff into a tiny locker. Wait for your turn on a bench. And that's all before you can start your workout.

Or you can get up, grab your shorts, pick up your dumbbells, start your workout.

Which would you prefer? Is there any question? Doing your strength training at home is way more pleasant. But is that a viable option? If you are an Olympic hopeful, probably not. But for everybody else, it can be fantastic. Save time, gas, energy, gym fees, and frustration.

OK--what do I need? Some space where you can swing a cat. As a beginner, you only need yourself and maybe a floor mat. A way to watch DVDs or online videos will be helpful, too, as many home workouts are available--often free.

Not far down the pike, however, you will want some equipment. A good place to start is with the light, compact, and effective resistance bands or tubes. Begin with the lightest colors and gradually collect the rainbow--the darker, the stronger resistance. Some hooks can keep them untangled and quickly accessible.

Most likely, you will also want dumbbells, which come in graduated weights, and are sometimes sold as sets. As your strength increases, you will need an more of dumbbells and more space to keep them in.

A highly effective alternative to multiple dumbbell pairs are the Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells or their bigger brothers the Bowflex SelectTech 1090s. One pair of these gives you as many weight options as at least 15 pairs of regular dumbbells. These high tech plate sets change weights with the twist of a dial--about 20 seconds to change it. A metal clip moves to pick up exactly what you dialed. Click and go. This one set will last most non-professionals throughout a weight training career.

Barbells at home can give you a larger weight range than the SelectTech 1090s, but they take more space and are expensive and dangerous. It is easy to lose control of barbells. You need a spotter to prevent injury, and you are more likely to have one available at a gym than at home.

You will also generally need an incline/decline bench to use the barbells most safely. It would not hurt to use a bench with dumbbells and bands. You just don't need it for the smaller equipment.

Home exercise machines, too, exist. Sure, consider them if you have a large space and budget. Try to get a home trial option to make sure it fits you and your space. They are also widely available used from people who got them before being sure they would use them. Remember, there can be serious maintenance costs as well as initial purchase price for such equipment.

Can you do strength training at home? Of course! A gym may motivate you by having classes or competitors, but look at how easy it is to just do the strength training at home--especially in winter!