How to Create the Perfect Home Gym Experience

If you want to work out at home, without a trainer to supervise, there are important things to consider so that you can avoid injury, properly prepare for the workout, know how to recover properly post-workout, and so you can buy the right kind of equipment to get the body you envision (big muscles = weights, for a long, leaner physique you might consider Pilates or yoga based workouts. For intense cardio, you might consider exercise bikes, rowing machines, or treadmills. Let’s talk about how to work out at home and get the home gym of your dreams. 

First, Buying the Right Equipment for the Body You Want 

If you want to build a home gym that will provide you with a wide range of exercise options for years to come, you want to think about your priorities when it comes to fitness goals. If you want to improve strength, flexibility, and endurance, you might buy a treadmill, some adjustable free weights, and a yoga mat with a TV and some good yoga mat workouts you can stream and watch. You could also get some Pilates-based workouts to help you build long, lean muscle mass and enhance your core strength and flexibility. 

If your primary goal is building a whole lot of muscle, you might consider an all-in-one universal home gym that allows you to do a variety of weight lifting exercises from lat pulls, to chin ups, chest presses, pectoral presses, leg extensions, and leg curls with weights. 

If you want to build a cardio-focused gym, you can select pieces that help strengthen various parts of the body while you improve your cardiovascular health such as exercise bikes, which tone the legs and glutes while you build VO2 max and endurance. Rowing machines help build up your pecs and arm muscles while you build endurance and cardio health. Treadmills help you tone the core, legs, back, and arms while you jog or walk. 

Focus on building your gym slowly with good, quality pieces that will last years and years. 

You might talk to a representative at the store you are buying your gym equipment from and get them to help you pick the correct equipment for your fitness goals. Fitness equipment retailers train their sales reps in fitness and equipment very stringently, and they will be well informed in helping you select great home gym pieces. 

Preparing for the Solo Workout Experience 

Some people like to be alone when they work out. They might suffer from gym-timidation or you might already know proper form and want to pursue your perfect body in peace and quiet. Whatever your reasons for wanting to work out at home, you want to make sure to supply your body with enough nutrition to make it through more grueling workouts because you don’t want to pass out and hit your head on heavy metal weights of any kind. That could be deadly! 

Protein powder shakes and pre-workout energizer are great ways to fuel your body with all the nutrients, amino acids, and proteins you need to stay maintain energy during workouts and to build lean muscle mass. Amino acids found in proteins like whey protein powder are the building blocks of muscle, so you want to ingest plenty of these both pre and post workout as well. You have to give your body the compounds it needs to make muscle. The body cannot synthesize amino acids on its own. According to the recommended daily allowances established by nutritionists and the set FDA, all individuals should consume at least 0.36 grams of protein for every pound of body weight. This means a 160 pound person needs at least 57.6 grams of protein daily – and you can add more if you want to put on even more muscle. 

Pre-workout protein shakes give you a boost in energy that can power you through a really grueling workout. Post-workout shakes ensure that you have enough proteins and amino acids in the system to make those muscles you’ve worked so hard for. 

Whey protein powder has a long list of health benefits and is a great choice for a pre or post-workout shake. In addition to helping you build healthy lean muscle mass, whey protein powder also helps to fight cancer and prevent it, to lower cholesterol, and promotes weight loss too!1 

Reference: 

Nordqvist, J. (2017). What are the benefits of whey protein powder? Medical News Today. 

 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263371.php