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Do you think home gyms are very effective?(With pic)

Geagle

Banned
My dad decided to buy a home gym(Weider 9635) in January, but I didn't have much time to use it until summer started. Now I've been using it for about 9 weeks and I dont see much of a difference. The most noticeable difference for me was my chest. Its not that good for abs, so I have to do many variations of crunches. My arms are stronger, but I haven't noticed much change. Legs? LOL, just forget about them. I guess I cant blame the machine for this one since I'm too lazy to work on my legs.

So what do you guys think about home gyms? I heard the Blow Flex was pretty good, but I can't see it doing that much better than the model I already have.

Weider 9635
 
Weights are weights, regardless of where they are. Some of the biggest guys I work with never stepped foot in a gym, they just pour concrete all day.
 
Man I've worked for years on my abs and haven't yet been able to cut my body fat down. The problem is diet. You can work your abs to death and they will be solid but if you've got too much bodyfat then you'll never see them 🙂

I think the only way to do that is to change your diet. Which is a pain for a single guy.

You may just have to try different excercises/activities to target your legs.
 
giant paper weights...unless you have discipline

better work you're whole body or else you will look like joe piscopo
 
Originally posted by: AShadeOfClear
They say you need to do both upper and lower body. Don't know how important it is, though. Maybe somebody can chime in about that.


Your lower body contains some of your most powerful and large muscle groups. Working your lower body expends lots of calories.

Besides, nothing looks worse than a guy who is all buff up top, walking around on stick legs.
 
Yeah, I heard about the importance of working on legs a few days ago. Some doctor said that it is extremely important to work on the legs since they have extremely large muscles.

Some other questions:

1. How long is the average work out?

2. How many sets and reps should you do?

3. Do these machines also help your cardio?
 
search the net a little, you'll find a lot of info. But like others have said, your diet is just as an important factor. need protein to be buildin mass if that's what your lookin for. You didn't really comment on it, so i'd figure i'd push it further 😉
 
Yeah, I've heard it all.

-Try not eating carbohydrates
-Be moderate with the meat
-drink low fat milk
-Lots of fruits and veggies

ITS TOO DAMN HARD!!!!!!!!

😛
 
Originally posted by: AShadeOfClear
They say you need to do both upper and lower body. Don't know how important it is, though. Maybe somebody can chime in about that.

Let me put it this way: most women do not go into mating overdrive when we see "chicken legs"
 
Free weights are better, but you can make gains with machines too.

9 weeks is not a lot of time, and if you never change your eating, you can expect to gain maybe 5 lbs of muscle total. You have to eat above maintenance, you can't make muscle out of nothing.

 
You have to eat above maintenance, you can't make muscle out of nothing.

Eat more, eat less, or eat more healthy food?

That sentence sure has a lot of different interpretations.

🙂
 
Originally posted by: Geagle
You have to eat above maintenance, you can't make muscle out of nothing.

Eat more, eat less, or eat more healthy food?

That sentence sure has a lot of different interpretations.

🙂

First you have to satisfy protein requirements. The rule of thumb is 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Chicken, fish, lean beef, dairy products, protein supplements, etc.

Then you have to be sure you're eating more calories than you burn in a day. You can estimate your maintenance level of calories (metabolic rate + daily activities) from online calculators. Eat 500-1000 calories above that amount. You have to overeat to gain weight, but the more you overeat, the more fat you put on. It's a tradeoff, you have to find a reasonable amount of overfeeding, and accept a little fat gain along with the muscle gain. You will diet it off later, and conserve the majority of the muscle you built.

For your diet, eat the protein, get 20-30% from fat (unsaturated sources like nuts, flax oil, fish oil) and get the rest from complex carbs.

 
get this book advertised in muscle and fitness mag: weider bodybuilding system, its good. also the first thing about diet is just dont eat more than you need to burn, to regimen it only worth it if you are huge. also you arent going to get bg unless you train properly and use big weights properly.
 
i'm not going to give you any advice on how to workout or what to eat because everyone has their own routine and theories. What may work for someone might not work for you.

All i can say is:
#1) use free weights.
#2) 9 weeks is not enough. Consider 1-2 years.
 
Yeah I know that 9 weeks is not a lot of time, but I'm kind of surprised since all these companies have one thing in common......."Expect results in 6 weeks".

The food thing is still very confusing. I'm completely lost about it. At first I thought that you were supposed to eat less.

:Q
 
Home gyms? At my house, we just have a bench set that can become an incline, some dumbells, and one of those tower thingies where you can do leg raises and pullups.

I started workng out when summer started and i've gained about 5 lb's and my bench max went up about 30. Of course, I was a runner in high school so didn't have any bulk muscles and during the first year of college I was a lazy computer geek. 🙂
 
I have a home gym and used it a bit. It was only really a bench tho with a bendy things for your legs. I find free weights work best, you don't even need a weights bench. Use chairs etc. I use free weights for my arms (Curls) and I use the bench for my chest (Well, used, until it broke). I don't do my legs, as they are already really good, from sports I play. Play cardiovascular stuff, it rocks. If you want to lose weight, do cardio, eat less than you burn. If you want to gain mass, eat more.
 
Originally posted by: Geagle
Yeah I know that 9 weeks is not a lot of time, but I'm kind of surprised since all these companies have one thing in common......."Expect results in 6 weeks".
:Q

They said expect results, not expect to be in the kind of form that you dream you were in. You will see results in 6 weeks. Heck, when I first started I saw some results in like 3 weeks...and I?m not nearly in the kind of shape I wish I were in.

Anyway, when I clicked on the product link, the image was broken. my friend has a home gym, and it has these cheap feeling plastic parts and pulleys. The thing is a piece of garbage. My girlfriend's dad has a bowflex. That thing is awesome. I'm not saying just go out and buy a bowflex, but at least shop around a bit so that you don?t spend a bunch of money on a relatively worthless piece of equipment.
 
Don't work around just your upper body, u gotta do legs also. You'll look like an idiot with just upper body.
 
Originally posted by: Geagle
Let me put it this way: most women do not go into mating overdrive when we see "chicken legs"

*Runs off and does 300 squats*

Happy now?

use large weights and keep it up for 3 months and then ask me again 😉
 
Originally posted by: Geagle
Yeah I know that 9 weeks is not a lot of time, but I'm kind of surprised since all these companies have one thing in common......."Expect results in 6 weeks".

The food thing is still very confusing. I'm completely lost about it. At first I thought that you were supposed to eat less.

:Q

You WILL see results in 6 weeks, but your body will not be completely transformed (depending on many factors). If you need to lose a lot of fat, focus on restricting your diet about 500 calories below maintenance (whatever you normally eat and don't gain weight). Avoid empty foods like soda and space your meals throughout the day (smaller meals, more often). It is very hard for anyone other than beginners to both lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, but if you are on a mild caloric deficit diet and lifting weights you will minimze the amount of lean tissue (i.e. muscle) that you lose from weight loss and will also gain strength and definition as the fat begins to drop. Once you are not trying to lose fat, you can increase your calories and keep working out (then you will gain mostly muscle, not fat). You will never lose only fat or gain only muscle -- the trick is to lose a much greater ratio of fat or build a much greater ratio of muscle.

edit: while you WILL see some short-term results, you must thing of this as a lifestle change (long-term). Be patient, you will get good results.

 
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