- Feb 14, 2004
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I do mainly calisthenics & cardio at home. For diet, I like IIFYM. With IIFYM, a lot of people skip cardio. However, I have a stomach problem with digestion & basically have to self-regulate my gut; I've found splitting up my cardio to be working pretty well lately, so I'm mixing it up with a treadmill, exercise bike, etc. I've found that calisthenics works great for light aesthetic bodybuilding (get ripped yeaaaaaaah!) without having to go to an actual gym or lift weights. I think I'm still a couple years away from perfecting my ideal workout, so I'm still trying out different workouts & equipment from time to time. This is what I'm currently using:
1. Carpeted open floor space: This is a spare bedroom where I do calisthenics. Pushups, squats, crunches, etc. I also have my VR gear setup in here & store my spinner bike, dip bar, and pullup bar in this room.
2. Pull-up bar: Just one of those cheap doorframe models, works great. I did see a cool fold-up doorframe model recently that you can throw in your bag for traveling; I'm on the road more recently with work, although I'm usually not gone for more than a week, so I haven't pulled the trigger yet. The one I have now isn't a fancy multi-grip model either, but it was cheap (under $30) & solid:
https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Gym-Total-Upper-Workout/dp/B001EJMS6K/
3. Dip station: I got this on an Amazon sale recently for like thirty bucks shipped. It's kind of crappy (extremely uneven & the nuts & bolts tend to slice your skin open if you're not careful when using barefoot...I recommend wearing shoes!) but it does the job. For the current $90 price, I would consider a different brand. I've been wanting a dip station for ages & haven't really had the room available until recently. It's nice because I was just using a chair before & this lets you do more stuff with it:
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Mountain-Stand-3000-Pound-Dip/dp/B00EPKRUGS/
4. Treadmill: I traded my elliptical & manual stepper to my brother for his inclining treadmill recently just to shake things up. It folds up, so I just keep it in my living room so I can watch TV while walking. The nice thing about this is that you can get some exercise in even on the days when your motivation & energy are low, because unlike an exercise bike or elliptical machine, you don't have to force yourself to go...it makes you respond to the moving platform, so it's fairly easy to use consistently even if you're tired & don't feel like working out. Plenty of stuff to binge-watch on Netflix to keep you entertained while walking or running to make the time go by faster.
5. Indo Board: This is like a little surfboard on a roller. Pretty pricey ($180); you can build your own for a lot cheaper fairly easily, if you're handy. I opted for pre-made since it looked pretty strong & durable OOTB. I've never done skateboarding or surfing, so balancing was a new thing for me. I've had it about a year or so now & not only have mastered regular rolling, but also have a few tricks down as well. I used to use it whenever I was watching TV, although the treadmill has replaced that, but I still use it for a few minutes every day just to play with. Also useful for planking & doing wobbly pushups, haha. Review here:
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/picked-up-an-indo-board.2473014/
6. VirZoom VR exercise bike: This is a fold-up spinner bike, not much in the way of resistance, but fun for cycling indoors. It connects to a virtual reality (VR) system (i.e. Playstation or PC with a Vive or Oculus VR headset), which basically lets you play video games in 360 degrees, which is super awesome. The current crop of games are pretty basic, but the immersion makes it way fun...you can cycle an F1 race car or a tank, for example. I snagged it on their kickstarter for half off, but the retail price is $400, plus you need a relatively expensive VR system to hook it into. So it's not really all that different from buying a really expensive bike; the Peloton Cycle goes for two grand by itself, so if you'd rather play video games than do studio-style classes, it's not a bad investment. I really like mine a lot, just hoping they get some more (and better) games! They also have an adapter coming out later this year for a hundred bucks that lets you adapt your existing exercise bike to the system; I think that's great because a things like the fan-blade metal bikes give you waaaaaaaay more resistance than these little portable spinners do. Anyway, review of the Virzoom is here:
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/virzoom-virtual-reality-exercise-bike-review.2480499/
7. HTC Vive: This is a PC-based VR system. Extremely expensive ($800), plus requires a high-end gaming PC ($800+). The Oculus Rift is like half the price right now, FYI. Anyway, I originally ordered this for playing VR video games & it's turned into more of an exercise system than a gaming system for me. I use this with the Virzoom bike, but also for doing cardio. It has cameras that track your movement around the room, so you can jump, dodge, squat, and walk around with your movements mimic'd in the game. There are a handful of games that actually make you sweat like a pig...AudioShield, where you punch flying musical notes to whatever songs you want, HoloPoint, where you shoot a bow & arrow at targets that shoot back at you & requires you to dodge their bullets, Rise of the Jumbotron, where you shoot evil robots & have to hide behind barriers (oh man, that killed my thighs for days, I've never had anything murder my upper legs as bad as this game did at first lol), etc. This is basically the most fun way to exercise I've ever used. I am very curious to see where they go in the future with virtual reality exercise systems, as the immersion can make you forget you're doing exercise and just have fun while working up a sweat & raising your heartrate.
7. Hand Gripper: One of my buddies has an insane, bone-crushing handshake; he told me his secret was that he kept a hand gripper in his car & would use it while waiting at stoplights. I switched it up & started using it in my right hand for my morning commute & my left hand for my evening commute. I have pretty insane finger strength now compared to where I started. I'm currently using a $12 Gripmaster, which lets you do individual fingers, lower palm, or all of the fingers at once. Nice investment if you have a car commute or sit on a bus or train and have time to work your fingers mindlessly:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006GCBL4/
Other thoughts:
Like the gripper, I like to look for little pockets of time to take advantage of to try new exercises. For example, I've rolled my ankle twice in the past year, so I looked up some tricks for increasing ankle strength. One trick I found was standing on one foot for minutes at a time; someone on reddit suggested doing it while you were flossing & brushing your teeth, so I do that in the morning & evening now and have improved my balance a bit as well (they recommended starting out with one foot, then adding a folded-up towel underneath to make it more wobbly to increase difficulty, then doing it with your eyes closed...I haven't nearly mastered the eyes closed one lol). Dunno what the actual scientific results are, but I'm getting better at it at any rate, haha.
I used to have a cheap DDR pad that I used for DDR games, then switched to Stepmania & Crypt of the Necromancer for PC, although my rhythm is awful & I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it. They make a really nice metal pad that they sell online that is a lot more stable & durable that I'd like to pick up eventually when I move into a place that has more room available. I really like the idea of combining video games with exercise because anything you can do to (1) motivate yourself to actually get started every day, and (2) distract yourself from the "work" of working out is awesome in my book!
Another interesting piece of gaming exercise equipment I've had my eye on is the Stealth Core Trainer, which a Kickstarter project I missed (I say missed because the Early Bird price was $99 & it's $300 retail now). It's kind of like the Indo Board, except for rolling around in the planking position. I use my Indo board like this sometimes & it really kills your abs. Video here:
https://stealthbodyfitness.com/
I've actually used the game on my Indo Board using the spiked ball instead of the tube roller & it works just fine, although it's not very comfortable since the board is made out of hard wood & has a grippy surface. But for a $300 savings using equipment I already have, eh...
I think the one piece of cardio equipment I wish I had was a Stairmaster, but those are like six grand & require a pretty big amount of space. But they do a good job kicking your rear & working your legs & calves especially.
How about you, what do you have at home?
1. Carpeted open floor space: This is a spare bedroom where I do calisthenics. Pushups, squats, crunches, etc. I also have my VR gear setup in here & store my spinner bike, dip bar, and pullup bar in this room.
2. Pull-up bar: Just one of those cheap doorframe models, works great. I did see a cool fold-up doorframe model recently that you can throw in your bag for traveling; I'm on the road more recently with work, although I'm usually not gone for more than a week, so I haven't pulled the trigger yet. The one I have now isn't a fancy multi-grip model either, but it was cheap (under $30) & solid:
https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Gym-Total-Upper-Workout/dp/B001EJMS6K/
3. Dip station: I got this on an Amazon sale recently for like thirty bucks shipped. It's kind of crappy (extremely uneven & the nuts & bolts tend to slice your skin open if you're not careful when using barefoot...I recommend wearing shoes!) but it does the job. For the current $90 price, I would consider a different brand. I've been wanting a dip station for ages & haven't really had the room available until recently. It's nice because I was just using a chair before & this lets you do more stuff with it:
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Mountain-Stand-3000-Pound-Dip/dp/B00EPKRUGS/
4. Treadmill: I traded my elliptical & manual stepper to my brother for his inclining treadmill recently just to shake things up. It folds up, so I just keep it in my living room so I can watch TV while walking. The nice thing about this is that you can get some exercise in even on the days when your motivation & energy are low, because unlike an exercise bike or elliptical machine, you don't have to force yourself to go...it makes you respond to the moving platform, so it's fairly easy to use consistently even if you're tired & don't feel like working out. Plenty of stuff to binge-watch on Netflix to keep you entertained while walking or running to make the time go by faster.
5. Indo Board: This is like a little surfboard on a roller. Pretty pricey ($180); you can build your own for a lot cheaper fairly easily, if you're handy. I opted for pre-made since it looked pretty strong & durable OOTB. I've never done skateboarding or surfing, so balancing was a new thing for me. I've had it about a year or so now & not only have mastered regular rolling, but also have a few tricks down as well. I used to use it whenever I was watching TV, although the treadmill has replaced that, but I still use it for a few minutes every day just to play with. Also useful for planking & doing wobbly pushups, haha. Review here:
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/picked-up-an-indo-board.2473014/
6. VirZoom VR exercise bike: This is a fold-up spinner bike, not much in the way of resistance, but fun for cycling indoors. It connects to a virtual reality (VR) system (i.e. Playstation or PC with a Vive or Oculus VR headset), which basically lets you play video games in 360 degrees, which is super awesome. The current crop of games are pretty basic, but the immersion makes it way fun...you can cycle an F1 race car or a tank, for example. I snagged it on their kickstarter for half off, but the retail price is $400, plus you need a relatively expensive VR system to hook it into. So it's not really all that different from buying a really expensive bike; the Peloton Cycle goes for two grand by itself, so if you'd rather play video games than do studio-style classes, it's not a bad investment. I really like mine a lot, just hoping they get some more (and better) games! They also have an adapter coming out later this year for a hundred bucks that lets you adapt your existing exercise bike to the system; I think that's great because a things like the fan-blade metal bikes give you waaaaaaaay more resistance than these little portable spinners do. Anyway, review of the Virzoom is here:
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/virzoom-virtual-reality-exercise-bike-review.2480499/
7. HTC Vive: This is a PC-based VR system. Extremely expensive ($800), plus requires a high-end gaming PC ($800+). The Oculus Rift is like half the price right now, FYI. Anyway, I originally ordered this for playing VR video games & it's turned into more of an exercise system than a gaming system for me. I use this with the Virzoom bike, but also for doing cardio. It has cameras that track your movement around the room, so you can jump, dodge, squat, and walk around with your movements mimic'd in the game. There are a handful of games that actually make you sweat like a pig...AudioShield, where you punch flying musical notes to whatever songs you want, HoloPoint, where you shoot a bow & arrow at targets that shoot back at you & requires you to dodge their bullets, Rise of the Jumbotron, where you shoot evil robots & have to hide behind barriers (oh man, that killed my thighs for days, I've never had anything murder my upper legs as bad as this game did at first lol), etc. This is basically the most fun way to exercise I've ever used. I am very curious to see where they go in the future with virtual reality exercise systems, as the immersion can make you forget you're doing exercise and just have fun while working up a sweat & raising your heartrate.
7. Hand Gripper: One of my buddies has an insane, bone-crushing handshake; he told me his secret was that he kept a hand gripper in his car & would use it while waiting at stoplights. I switched it up & started using it in my right hand for my morning commute & my left hand for my evening commute. I have pretty insane finger strength now compared to where I started. I'm currently using a $12 Gripmaster, which lets you do individual fingers, lower palm, or all of the fingers at once. Nice investment if you have a car commute or sit on a bus or train and have time to work your fingers mindlessly:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006GCBL4/
Other thoughts:
Like the gripper, I like to look for little pockets of time to take advantage of to try new exercises. For example, I've rolled my ankle twice in the past year, so I looked up some tricks for increasing ankle strength. One trick I found was standing on one foot for minutes at a time; someone on reddit suggested doing it while you were flossing & brushing your teeth, so I do that in the morning & evening now and have improved my balance a bit as well (they recommended starting out with one foot, then adding a folded-up towel underneath to make it more wobbly to increase difficulty, then doing it with your eyes closed...I haven't nearly mastered the eyes closed one lol). Dunno what the actual scientific results are, but I'm getting better at it at any rate, haha.
I used to have a cheap DDR pad that I used for DDR games, then switched to Stepmania & Crypt of the Necromancer for PC, although my rhythm is awful & I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it. They make a really nice metal pad that they sell online that is a lot more stable & durable that I'd like to pick up eventually when I move into a place that has more room available. I really like the idea of combining video games with exercise because anything you can do to (1) motivate yourself to actually get started every day, and (2) distract yourself from the "work" of working out is awesome in my book!
Another interesting piece of gaming exercise equipment I've had my eye on is the Stealth Core Trainer, which a Kickstarter project I missed (I say missed because the Early Bird price was $99 & it's $300 retail now). It's kind of like the Indo Board, except for rolling around in the planking position. I use my Indo board like this sometimes & it really kills your abs. Video here:
https://stealthbodyfitness.com/
I've actually used the game on my Indo Board using the spiked ball instead of the tube roller & it works just fine, although it's not very comfortable since the board is made out of hard wood & has a grippy surface. But for a $300 savings using equipment I already have, eh...
I think the one piece of cardio equipment I wish I had was a Stairmaster, but those are like six grand & require a pretty big amount of space. But they do a good job kicking your rear & working your legs & calves especially.
How about you, what do you have at home?
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