Home Gym Thingys

[Ali C]

its winter (booo!) and as such I am not riding quite as much, especially since doing my ankle in.

I am wanting to keep fit over the winter to get me ready for the UCI comps next year, I feel I am already lagging behind.

I was tempted to join a gym, but work will use up most of my time and I dont fancy late nights and high costs of gym membership. I have seen on ebay some home gym machines that have multible training positions on them. I think that would be perfect for me, I have a fairly large bedroom that could fit one in and I can listen to music/watch tv as I do it (I tend to get a little bored otherwise).

Now! My question is this....are those machines actually any good in the real world? I am wanting better overall strength (especially in the legs for more powerful runups) and power. I think I saw somwhere that these machines do a better job of making your muscles look bigger, but free weights actually give better strength. I am not fond of free weights as I find them difficult to use/loose balence or generally use them wrong. Plus I wont be sitting down like on a home gym and wont be able to watch tv/dvds etc.

What do you fitness buffs recken? a home gym would be better than me doing nothing right?

a quick answer would be cool as I am wanting to buy one soon (tonight maybe, but I could wait a day)

[manxrider]

You would be so much better just getting a simple weight bench, squatting rack and a pull up bar. Or although I don't know anything really about it but look up plyometrics that will deffinetly help with explosivness.

[Ali C]

they would be good, but dont do the leg strength I am after.

I am wanting to do plyometrics, but I have heard that first you need muscle, otherwise plyometrics is a bit wasted.

at the moment I am on the endurence side of strength/power I think I got it off my parents as they were marathon runners (dads best was 2h.24 back int day). I weigh about a little over 10 stone last time I checked and am 5 11, so a bit more muscle would be handy before I go all plyometric on my ass.

[Muel]

I'm wanting to start doing something as well, I have no idea what to do, but I want my top half to be generally bigger, my legs are still beasty from my old XC days.

I think I might start swimming again, I did regularly until I was about 14 and it really helped. I'm now 5'10" and nearly 11 stone, I have quite a bit of fat on me now.

I want to generally get fitter and stronger, but I'm not sure where to start, swimming maybe 3 times a week? Some weights from Argos? I'll probably over do it if I decide to do it myself, and end up joining the gym, buying my own weights and giving up.

Going swimming is going to be tricky, I am not good with mornings and I have to be in college or work 6 days a week.

Any ideas where a formally fit swimmer can return to former glory?

[Fish-Finger-er]

erm..... gets a bit complex this(at your level ali, id really consult a personal trainer whos knows what there talking about, not some fresh out of college, couldnt make the grade to be a p.e teacher youll get at your local fitness first wholl give you some generic plan)

best thing to build leg strength would obviously be squats, calf raises, leg extensions/curls etc, but since on most multi gyms all youll get is leg extensions and curls legs wise, its not giving you the full range of exercises. you can do calf raises on a step/sturdy box.

the whole loosing balance thing/finding them difficult to use is the exact reason you should use them, build up stabilizing muscles etc, a machine will make you strong to push a bar/handle up/down, in one dimension only, but in the real world/with free weights(Talking real world =biking wise here as well) the pressure/movement you make isnt just in one direction,and you have side/front/back forces acting on you. hence the reason free weights are better.

trouble is, many of the exercises youll be wanting to do requires expensive equipment and/or a training partner. take squats for example, cant really push yourself on squats/do heavy weights, without a rack(getting the bar onto your shoulders/back onto the floor once your done isnt possible with much more than 30kg even with a desk or something to help you)

leg extensions/curls, can do extensions on most cheap weight benches(as they have an extension below the seat you can place weights on) but youll have to get a dedicated machine to do curls/ a top end multigym, which is expensive.

just how much where you looking at payin for a multigym, and examples of it. because to be honest, most of the multigyms ive seen with a decent amount of exercises on/a decent amount of weight resistance, that are built to last more than a few days, have exceeded a years gym membership several times over.

youll be suprise how cheap some gyms are, theres a gym in altrincham my mate goes too, cost him £12.50 to join/get an induction, then its £1.50 every time he goes, so its like less than £20 a month assuming you go 3 times a week. even a cheap multigym would cost well over a years worth of that(and bear in mind, if he dont go, he dont pay anything for the gym, so like in summertime it doesnt cost him a penny, nor if hes got a week when hes ill, but that multigym will of cost you the equivalent of £30 a month for the year,even if you use it twice)

[Ali C]

very useful info, cheers.

Thats kinda the impression I had with the balance thing but thats clarified it for me. I hadnt settled on a particular home gym yet, if they were worth getting I would ask for some opinions on models, but I was willing to spend roughly £200 (there seem to be lots in that price range).

I am really not into the whole going to a gym, I got a membership to a local gym for my birthday in feb, it was ok, but I didnt like the whole having to spend ages getting ready with food and washing up stuff, driving there and then having the feeling of people watching you. I would much rather have somthing at home that I can do whenever I feel like it in private.

I may get some standard freeweights (anything to look out for?) as I could do with getting my balance up too. Is there anything I can use in conjunction with weights to help with some exersises (leg moves?) ? Like I said I have a bit of space in my room to have somthing.

Can plyometrics be done at home? I presume they involve jumping/rigerous movments? My floor might not like that

[Ali C]

seen some of these that seems like it would do that legs (like I was shown at the gym) but is it that sort of bench you were talking about where you wouldnt get the benefit of keebing balance and getting the core strength up?

[Fish-Finger-er]

very useful info, cheers.

Thats kinda the impression I had with the balance thing but thats clarified it for me. I hadnt settled on a particular home gym yet, if they were worth getting I would ask for some opinions on models, but I was willing to spend roughly £200 (there seem to be lots in that price range).

I am really not into the whole going to a gym, I got a membership to a local gym for my birthday in feb, it was ok, but I didnt like the whole having to spend ages getting ready with food and washing up stuff, driving there and then having the feeling of people watching you. I would much rather have somthing at home that I can do whenever I feel like it in private.

I may get some standard freeweights (anything to look out for?) as I could do with getting my balance up too. Is there anything I can use in conjunction with weights to help with some exersises (leg moves?) ? Like I said I have a bit of space in my room to have somthing.

Can plyometrics be done at home? I presume they involve jumping/rigerous movments? My floor might not like that

plyometrics can be done with little to no equipment, its how its generally done, its probably more what youd be after, it works by having an open ended movement(i.e the movement doesnt stop due to the length of your arms/length of your muscles, more it carries on past that, using the inertia youve created) and then once the movement is past its peak its using the downward pressure/weight to act like a spring.

suppose in a trials sense, itd be like youd crouch as for a sidehop, explode up (forget the sideways motion), past full extension, with the bike jumping into the air, pulling yourself up, tucking the bike, then extending so your fully extended on landing(similar to the exact moment of take off) and using your body weight coming down to force you into another crouch, as soon as you hit the bottom of it, jumping back up. kind of pogo stick style.

as for standard freeweights, as your going to likely be swapping weights round etc, id suggest getting some with metal spin lock clamps, the whole reason i rarely use my freeweights (i bought them cheap off someone) are because theyve got plastic collars that slide over, with a plastic bolt going through them, they constantly loosen.

exercise wise, theres not a lot you can do to build leg power using freeweights other than squats, in one of tra's old old videos(like back in the days of the echo es-4 and the like, and the big 120mb echo 4 and 5 vids) hes doing plyometric squats, which i assume is what gave him beasty sidehops for the time.

u can kind of do leg extensions and curls(sitting on a chair, and lying face down on the floor/bed respectively) with a dumbbell clamped between ur legs, but its not very effective, as by the time your working your quads, the barbell will of slipped out from between your feet.

[Ali C]

ok cool, thanks again.

I think I might just get some quality weights and take it from there. I did talk to TRA a bit ago about the whole weights thing, but he takes it very seriously and had some good advice, but it was a bit too advanced/serious for me.

I remember him doing the jumping with weights, thats where I got the impression plyometrics was with weights, but its useful to hear it can be done without.

[Si-man]

Get bar with the spring locks, sooo much better and less fiddly.

Buy decent bars to with abit of weight in them.

The bars i have weigh around 15kg to start with, without anything on them...

Not to fond on multigyms as you end up lifting about half of the weight it says it is. (pulleys, wires etc)

This site is quite good for weights etc, used it a couple of times now... UKFitnessSupplies

Take a look, have a read, see what you think.

Site with some leg excercises...there you go

Edited November 11, 2007 by Si-man

[Muel]

I'm gonna get some and get not so skinny.

[Fish-Finger-er]

seen some of these that seems like it would do that legs (like I was shown at the gym) but is it that sort of bench you were talking about where you wouldnt get the benefit of keebing balance and getting the core strength up?

nah thats ideal for doing the leg extensions/curls, theres not much you can do to replicate that without restricting the movement. thatd be a wise purchase, that, a 6 foot barbell, and 2 dumbells, and a selection of weights, would be far better than a multigym.

i was more referring to i dont think the cable kind of multigyms with leg press boards, and bench press/pec fly machines that all pivoted.

[ogre]

thinking about buying this just wondered what the bit it has that this one doesn't have is/does :$

[Fish-Finger-er]

thinking about buying this just wondered what the bit it has that this one doesn't have is/does :$

pectorl fly's

lie flat on your back, arms oustretched crucifix style, then without bending your elbows, lift your arms up, keeping your hands inline with your chest, till they meet to make a clapping position in front of your chest.

that my son is a pectoral fly. of course you add might amounts of weights and make beefy grunting sounds when doing it properly

[Bondy]

A good website for learning exercises + finding out exercises and what they involve etc is

Linkage

Ignore the pictures of the scary man and even scarier woman and select a muscle to find out exercises for it, that website is also extremely helpful for those interested in basic weight training, cardiovascular routines, dieting etc and how weight training actually works what is really involved and needed and shows that its not just about lifting a weight lots of times.

For building up leg muscle as has already been said try squats which are probably the best, leg ext/curls, then theres also the lunge which is a really good exercise for your quads and can be done with dumbbells.

Your best bet is to simply buy a bench with a rack, a barbell (preferably a 6ft one) with some weights and dumbbells. Simply because youre not really limited with exercises you can do and its more than likely alot cheaper.

as for standard freeweights, as your going to likely be swapping weights round etc, id suggest getting some with metal spin lock clamps, the whole reason i rarely use my freeweights (i bought them cheap off someone) are because theyve got plastic collars that slide over, with a plastic bolt going through them, they constantly loosen.

Lucky for you, i had spinlock clamps and they are just as bad as your plastic collars sound, they always came loose, a solution i found were these things (cant remember what they are called) but they look like those handgrip strengthers the things with two handles that you squeeze, basically you just squeeze it to make the metal thing in the middle bigger then slip it over the barbell, then release and its keeps them on pretty neatly.

<<<< those kinda things

Anyway, if youve not really done weights before, then id suggest starting off with simple routines you will find on most websites (look at the one ive put at the top of the post for some), whereby it will more than likely involve compound exercises (exercises which will involve many muscles at one time) rather than isolating muscles (such as the pec fly isolates the pec only), this is it to build up a good foundation basically, then you can move onto creating routines involving split days whereby you would do exercises for chest/biceps one day, then back/shoulders/abs another day, then legs and triceps another day.

[Ali C]

cheers guys, very helpful. Mr Universe competition here I come (in my mind).

[manxrider]

hows your diet?

[Ali C]

good lots of pasta, lots of veg, some meat. My breath is fishy from my daily cod liver iol tablet though

Had 12 differnt types of veg for tea the other day!

[hugh_b]

make sure you don't go over board on the weights though bud, you can become too muscly (sp) for trials if that makes sense. A protein shake after working out and after riding should help quite a bit.

Edited April 19, 2017 by hugh_b

[Ali C]

Yeah, I am a bit worried about putting on un needed weight, but its basicly somthing for me to do if I dont get to ride, doing some weights will be better than doing nothing. Anyway, look at vince, I am sure he has used steroids, he's huge!

[Bionic Balls]

didn't vincent get banned for using steroids?

i'm more of a gilles physique...f**king skinny b*****d

[Ali C]

I heard he had somthing to do with them, but I thought it was just a rumur.

[Joe_Elding]

Thought i should bump this, im looking at asking for a bench/multigym type thing for christmas, wheres the best place to shop for them?

i used to go to my school gym a lot but now ive moved to a college where theres a very small gym with people queueing to use the weights and i dont like them all watching and 'judging' how strong i am ( i know i shouldnt but hey). so im looking for something i can just use at home when im in the mood.

any suggestions? would it be better to buy the bench and weights/bars seperate, or buy one of those 'all in one machines' that look pretty cheap and shit to be honest.

thankssss

edit: o yeh and budgets probably like £200 - £250 depending on how much overtime im working in the holidays...

Edited December 12, 2007 by Joe_Elding

[Fishy]

Argos seem to have some cheap stuff. Check that out.