I don’t live very close to a good gym and I have been considering purchasing a home gym. I have looked at Bowflex, but last night at Dick’s Sporting Goods I ran across the Proform Recoil system. This looks like a Bowflex, but it is priced at $499.99. Any opinions or advice on the BEST home gym?
Thanks!
if you want the BEST home gym you could spend a whole lot of money.
Whatever you do do not get a bowflex power rods are stupid and ineffective.
Use free weights.
if you want the best home gym for the buck get a bodysolid power rack you can find one with a high low pulley for lat pulldowns and rows, etc. for around 600-700 bucks or without lat attachment for around 300.
get an adjustable bench and a olympic weight set.
for dumbells you can get a set of powerblocks. www.powerblock.com
this will be far better than a cheesy cheap bowflex.
Go to Dick’s or Sports Authority and get the standard 300lb weight set w/ barbell. It’s something like $100. Then look around for a decent power rack. That’ll set you back another $300 or so. Add a bench and some dumbell handles and you’re set.
[quote]Eagle316 wrote:
I don’t live very close to a good gym and I have been considering purchasing a home gym. I have looked at Bowflex, but last night at Dick’s Sporting Goods I ran across the Proform Recoil system. This looks like a Bowflex, but it is priced at $499.99. Any opinions or advice on the BEST home gym?
Thanks![/quote]
Take into consideration how much square footage you can use for this gym.
I have a friend that has a bowflex, loves it, and he looks great.
I have a PARAbody gunrack with bench and 550 lbs of weight w/olybar that take up the same amount of room as the bowflex.
Purchased for under $500.
Take into consideration injuries. Have you googled bowflex and injuries?
I have hurt myself in the past by being a dumbass using freeweights. Lessons learned.
Cost? For the price of an average bowflex, I bought the aforementioned items along with a latpulldown/row machine, romanchair/hyper, curl bar, bands, and some platemates…commercial grade.
You can buy a kickass freeweight setup since a bowflex can cost $899-$2299
So, if you like a machine go for it; otherwise, stick with free weights for the versatility.
Best of luck
[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
Go to Dick’s or Sports Authority and get the standard 300lb weight set w/ barbell. It’s something like $100. Then look around for a decent power rack. That’ll set you back another $300 or so. Add a bench and some dumbell handles and you’re set.[/quote]
I agree, you can get a decent rack for pretty good price over at midwestbarbell.com.
Home gym was the best thing that happened to my training.
Somebody else had another thread similar to this and I’ll say the same thing here I said there. After 8 months of training in my basement with freeweights I could manhandle the full set of standard power rods on the Bowflex at Sears and I ain’t no excessively strong guy.
You may find you really like training and be stuck with a sizable investment you grew out of in relatively short order.
I’m with these guys. I was shocked what I could buy for the same price as a higher end Bowflex.
Think about how long you plan to use the equipment and then the price for higher quality equipment doesn’t appear as high. You can pay a little now and then a little more later when you need to replace the lower quality pieces or just get the good stuff to start with.
I am in the process of putting together a home gym myself. After wasting a ton of time e-mailing and calling various product reps without any follow-ups I looked to Elite Fitness (www.elitefts.com). Should have started there in the first place!!!Requested pricing information and within 12 hours got a reply with exactly what I asked for plus exact product specs and dimensions (very helpful). These guys treat you like they would like to be treated (unless you read their article about being sick of your gym: the gift).
Anyway, start with their 2x2 rack, build your own with what you need, they offer customization. Get your olympic set and you are good to go. Build a box and you are set for box squats and step ups. I also will be adding their lat pulldown/low row and the 0-90 DB bench.
Free weights are far superior. Don’t waste your time and money on any machine.
I’ve put together a really nice home gym mostly thru craigslist and ebay.
“All I want for Christmas is a dumbell rack, a dumbell rack, a dumbell rack…”
3 racks? That’s a lot of DBs
Power Hooks baby, best 50 bucks I ever spent. If you train at home usually without a partner. The gym approved model fer sher.
I never got that. As opposed to what? The disapproved model? The approved model uses a padded velcro handle and the “other” model snaps onto the handle BTW.
I found this:
And I am considering picking one up for at home when I just don’t feel like dealing with the New Year folks.
Just say no to Bowflex. The free weights are the way to go. Check on any body building forum. Bowflex quality is on par with Yugo.
[quote]tweaker wrote:
I found this:
And I am considering picking one up for at home when I just don’t feel like dealing with the New Year folks.[/quote]
Hey, I have that exact same one.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Hey, I have that exact same one.[/quote]
Do you like it? I just wanted something for doing pull-ups and dips at home.
[quote]MrCritical wrote:
Just say no to Bowflex. The free weights are the way to go. Check on any body building forum. Bowflex quality is on par with Yugo. [/quote]
Funny. They worship Bowflex at www.DrDarden.com. I guess ALL all-in-one gym suck? I’d like to have the money and space (I live in an apartment) to have a home gym eventually, but I definitely would go for a free weights set, a rack, and a bench at the very least.
[quote]tweaker wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
Hey, I have that exact same one.
Do you like it? I just wanted something for doing pull-ups and dips at home.
[/quote]
As long as you have a ceiling high enough where you’re going to put it it’s fine for the money. I had to cut the upper chin bar part off. I have other ways to do chins and I wanted it mainly for dips and occasional leg raises. I weigh the better part of 220 now and it shows no signs of failure for me.
Like I say it’s cheap, but made well enough for my purposes and what it costs.
The Bowflex isn’t worthless. It’s fine for a casual person who just wants to stay in shape, but for anything that could be called bodybuilding or true strength training no way, though it will make an average untrained person stronger than they were.