When I moved to my new home, there were no health clubs in the immediate area that tickled my fancy. I decided to set up a home gym in my spare bedroom to keep fit. Unfortunately, space in that room is tighter than a frigid nun.
After my body went to hell recovering from back surgery, health and fitness are more important than ever now. Except for times that I have been unable to exercise due to injury or illness, I’ve been working out consistently for over 25 years, always belonging to a health club. The challenge was to continue to maintain my current level of fitness with the limited amount of equipment that I could fit in my spare bedroom. This was going to require a complete paradigm shift.
Since my back surgery, I’ve been focusing on core and functional exercises. This made my transition to a minimalist home gym much easier. My minimalist home gym equipment consists of the following:
- Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells (pictured above)
- Stamina 1690 Power Tower (pictured to the right)
- Life Fitness X1 Go Cross-Trainer
- BOSU Standard Balance Trainer
- Gaiam Total Body Balance Ball Kit
- Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Pro
My total expenditure for all of this equipment has been under $3,000, the Life Fitness X1 Go Cross-Trainer being the most expensive piece at a little over $2,000, which included delivery and in home assembly. If your budget is less than mine was, you could economize on the cardio equipment and come in under $1,000. Considering that I was paying over $60 per month at my last health club, I will start realizing savings after a little over four years, not counting the car expenses commuting to the gym. Guess what? No more waiting in line for machines or putting up with rude, sweaty douchebags at the gym. That’s worth something, don’t you think?
I exercise five mornings per week before work. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I do my weight and functional exercises, followed by a 30 minute cardio routine on the elliptical. I use my elliptical for 60 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday.
I will get into more specifics about my exercise regimen in future articles. However, I can honestly say that the results of my efforts have been excellent thus far.
