Which piece of equipment do you prefer

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Replies

  • agentphantom
    agentphantom Posts: 30 Member
    Freemotion Incline Trainer. The 30% is beast!!!
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    tumblr_m5wvg5X1OV1r7lxg0o1_500.jpg
  • ZoeLifts
    ZoeLifts Posts: 10,347 Member
    With free weights there's no real "one"-piece, it would have to be at least a simple set of something.

    EliteEFS Power Rack, incline / decline bench, olympic barbell with elieko bumper plates.

    I am in agreement.

    Ditto!
  • ZoeLifts
    ZoeLifts Posts: 10,347 Member
    tumblr_m5wvg5X1OV1r7lxg0o1_500.jpg

    Jelly of her gams!!
  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
    tumblr_m5wvg5X1OV1r7lxg0o1_500.jpg

    Isn't it bad to arch your back like that?

    *shot*
  • NicoleR1980
    NicoleR1980 Posts: 66 Member
    an elliptical for sure:smile:
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    If I had to have only one piece of equipment it would have to be my own body. You can do all exercises that exist with it.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    If I had to have only one piece of equipment it would have to be my own body. You can do all exercises that exist with it.

    tries to do a pull up without a bar and dies
  • A gym.
    that is not a option for me at this time.. if it was I would not be looking to purchase equipment of my own.

    What sort of space and budget are we talking here ?
    And what are your goals ?

    The power racks, barbell and plates are great but take up a lot of space (and will pizz your neighbors off too, so you''l need a platform as well). It will cost $$$$ Elieko is friggen expensive too and probably a complete waste of money for someone on a budget who is not competitive and does not need to have zero bounce with 0.000001gm tolerance (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you don't need it).. Go with hi-temp and if no snatches, cleans or jerks are going to be done, then go with steel. (juts put your deadlifts back down - don't drop).
    Same as the bowflex etc - no idea how good it is but I suspect it is expensive.

    For less than $100 you could go kettlebells (get two so you can do both one arm and two arm stuff). It depends on how much weight you want to use.

    Simply getting an "olympic bench" will be worthless too because I don't ever recall there being a bench used in the Olympics, so I don't know what that is, but without any other useful pieces of equipment to go with it, a bench is simply a chair or a step.

    You can find all sorts of cheap stuff on craigslist.
    But even cheaper is going for a run and stopping at a playground. There you can do dips, swings, pullups, situps, pushups (decline incline) all that stuff for free ... and if you run too, you'll bump your heartrate up. A jump ropre is also cheap and very useful.

    It really depends on your goal. Strength or conditioning or both?
    lol I agree a lot of what you mentioned are of no use to me.. I have little space. enough for about the size of a treadmil .and about $300 to send. I want something I can do year round..in my house if the weather is bad. I am looking to tone and shed weight.. that is really all.. nothing competitive.

    Perhaps not one piece of equipment, but a small collection ?

    Some ideas for equipment.
    - some sort of weight, be it kettle bell or dumbell (They are interchangeable, but it is easier to swing etc a KB than a DB, so I'd do KB).
    - some sort of step (to jump on, step on and even dip on)
    - some sort of resistance bands (these are good for all sorts of things, stretching or even resistance training)
    - Swiss/Bosu ball (plenty of different stuff to be done here)
    - Pull-up bar (If you can do a pull-up, you're getting strong, it's pretty raw to be able to pull-up as opposed to moving something on a pull-down. Loosing lbs help here too. The resistance bands can be used to "learn" pull-up)


    There's literally 1000's of bodyweight exercises to do in that space that will condition you (tone and burn)- just "superset" them where you do 10-10-10-10-10-10 back to back. Like 10 squats, 10 burpees, 10 step ups, 10 situps, 10 push-ups. Don't rest in between each exercise and ramp up your intensity. Then perform a few rounds of this (you can rest between rounds, but make sure it's specific like only a minute so you don't stand around for 10 minutes). To keep it interesting, mix the exercises, reps and rounds up. Don't fall into the trap of doing favorites either - if you don't like push-ups coz they're hard ... that's exactly what you should be doing. Do 20 of 1, then 10 of another, then 30 of something else - it doesn't have to be uniform.
    You can then add some weight to these exercises, like two DB/KB and do a squat with the weight held up your shoulders, stand it up, then press. Rinse and repeat.

    If you want to get really creative, then you can make some sand bags too. There's a plenty of tutorials out there on doing this. It's such an awkward weight to move around that it's extremely beneficial for you. e.g. Try doing Russian Twists with a 20# moving sand bag vs the same thing with a 20# medball.

    For the "treadmill area" go and buy one of the "equipment mats" that would ordinarily go under the treadmill, and lay that down on the floor. It's large and doesn't move so you workout on that, rather than your floor.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    A gym.
    that is not a option for me at this time.. if it was I would not be looking to purchase equipment of my own.

    What sort of space and budget are we talking here ?
    And what are your goals ?

    The power racks, barbell and plates are great but take up a lot of space (and will pizz your neighbors off too, so you''l need a platform as well). It will cost $$$$ Elieko is friggen expensive too and probably a complete waste of money for someone on a budget who is not competitive and does not need to have zero bounce with 0.000001gm tolerance (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you don't need it).. Go with hi-temp and if no snatches, cleans or jerks are going to be done, then go with steel. (juts put your deadlifts back down - don't drop).
    Same as the bowflex etc - no idea how good it is but I suspect it is expensive.

    For less than $100 you could go kettlebells (get two so you can do both one arm and two arm stuff). It depends on how much weight you want to use.

    Simply getting an "olympic bench" will be worthless too because I don't ever recall there being a bench used in the Olympics, so I don't know what that is, but without any other useful pieces of equipment to go with it, a bench is simply a chair or a step.

    You can find all sorts of cheap stuff on craigslist.
    But even cheaper is going for a run and stopping at a playground. There you can do dips, swings, pullups, situps, pushups (decline incline) all that stuff for free ... and if you run too, you'll bump your heartrate up. A jump ropre is also cheap and very useful.

    It really depends on your goal. Strength or conditioning or both?

    I believe the original topic was centered around your preference or "if", not necessarily reality. Not a single thing in your last topic helps me with my goals, so yes goals are important. "If" I had the room for the home gym I wanted and the money to invest in one that's what I would buy. Don't be a douche'.
  • AnnACnd
    AnnACnd Posts: 72 Member
    Treadmill for sure!
  • Love my elliptical and it is one of the BEST investments I made this year. It's a cardio-core elliptical that works the core in addition to the other benefits of using an elliptical. Wouldn't trade this thing for anything else!
  • hrouns
    hrouns Posts: 9
    I would get an elliptical! One with the moving handles too. I'm always on the elliptical at the gym, it's my favorite machine!
  • A gym.
    that is not a option for me at this time.. if it was I would not be looking to purchase equipment of my own.

    What sort of space and budget are we talking here ?
    And what are your goals ?

    The power racks, barbell and plates are great but take up a lot of space (and will pizz your neighbors off too, so you''l need a platform as well). It will cost $$$$ Elieko is friggen expensive too and probably a complete waste of money for someone on a budget who is not competitive and does not need to have zero bounce with 0.000001gm tolerance (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you don't need it).. Go with hi-temp and if no snatches, cleans or jerks are going to be done, then go with steel. (juts put your deadlifts back down - don't drop).
    Same as the bowflex etc - no idea how good it is but I suspect it is expensive.

    For less than $100 you could go kettlebells (get two so you can do both one arm and two arm stuff). It depends on how much weight you want to use.

    Simply getting an "olympic bench" will be worthless too because I don't ever recall there being a bench used in the Olympics, so I don't know what that is, but without any other useful pieces of equipment to go with it, a bench is simply a chair or a step.

    You can find all sorts of cheap stuff on craigslist.
    But even cheaper is going for a run and stopping at a playground. There you can do dips, swings, pullups, situps, pushups (decline incline) all that stuff for free ... and if you run too, you'll bump your heartrate up. A jump ropre is also cheap and very useful.

    It really depends on your goal. Strength or conditioning or both?

    I believe the original topic was centered around your preference or "if", not necessarily reality. Not a single thing in your last topic helps me with my goals, so yes goals are important. "If" I had the room for the home gym I wanted and the money to invest in one that's what I would buy. Don't be a douche'.

    Only one of us is trying to help here. And when did I ever become concerned with your goals.
    Thanks for the words of encouragement.
    God bless you.

    Clearly the "if" is reality too.
  • elliptical, i have a small one, it's nice, fairly small and has wheels so that i can move it up against the wall when i'm not using it
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    A squat rack that also comes with a bench and a barbell and plates. LOL. It counts as one piece of equipment!
  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member
    $300 won't get you a decent rowing machine (which would be my choice of machine-type cardio as well).

    I'd go for like a set of BBs and DBs, which is about $300 most places. Here's why:

    - No matter which cardio machine you pick, if you do the same thing every day, you could get overuse problems. With weights, there's a huge variety of movements you can choose from, no matter what you have (or develop). (If you could afford TWO machines, plus weights, I'd be like, yeah, rower & probably bike. And then - not a machine - just stairs, that a lot of buildings have. Not nec yours :) )

    - You can work lighter weights into calisthenic movements to get more of a cardio workout, or lift heavier, to lose fat & gain muscle.

    - Non-impact weight-bearing activity is good for bones. The only impact on offer by machines is running (treadmill), and that's not great (or quickly becomes not great) for a lot of people.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    For only $300 I'd go with a set of adjustable DBs and a bench. Can do just about any exercise with DBs when it comes down to it. You'll max out fast on squat and DL but it's a good start.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    A power rack. So long as it has a decent pin layout, there's nothing more you need, other than the barbell and plates to go with it. All other weight training equipment is just fluff.
  • itsbakertime
    itsbakertime Posts: 85 Member
    The elliptical is the only machine that doesn't kill me. It seems like I'm on it forever...but I stay on!
  • trimom10
    trimom10 Posts: 388 Member
    Elliptical. I wouldn't know what to do with many free weight things that others have mentioned.
  • midschool22
    midschool22 Posts: 1,267 Member
    Road bike.
  • As much as I hate them, a treadmill (aka dreadmill). Takes away any excuse for not running (weather, gyms too far, something on tv wanting to see,etc.)
  • Sarah_Wins
    Sarah_Wins Posts: 936 Member
    That huge, long rod-shaped thing you put these big, gray plate thingies on until it's super heavy, then you pick it up and put it back down. Yeah, that one.