锘? So you've got some space set aside in your home for a gym. You're ready to take the plunge and get some equipment so you can train without having to wait for equipment Roman Weidenfeller Borussia Dortmund Jersey , listen to music you can't stand or wipe other people's sweat off machines. But where do you start? What equipment should you get in order to maximize what you can do in the space you have available? Should you get a multi-station machine? Maybe a Bowflex? What's all this talk about being able to do more than 50 "club quality exercises?" Right now, put that all out of your head. The equipment you need in order to maximize your space is simple and very basic and it will allow you to do literally hundreds of exercises! And the best part is, you can get it cheap if you know the right sources... Essential Home Gym Equipment #1 - Adjustable Dumbells If I could only have one single type of equipment in my home gym, it would be a good set of adjustable-weight dumbells. You can do a huge variety of exercises for every single bodypart with just a simple pair of dumbells. Getting adjustable dumbells means you can very easily change the weight you're working with while still not using up a whole lot of space in your home gym. If you have pre-made dumbells, you have to set aside space (or get a good dumbell rack) for rows of individual dumbells. If you've GOT the space (and the money!), pre-made dumbells are certainly more convenient to use. But if you're tight on room Roman Burki Borussia Dortmund Jersey , lining up your dumbells may not be an option. And, of course, the pre-made dumbells are going to be a lot more expensive to get a decent range of weight for. When it comes to adjustable dumbells, you've got several options. By far, the most convenient are the Powerblock style of dumbells (Bowflex and Nautilus also have products like this). With this style, all you have to do is basically flip a switch to set your weight on the dumbell. The whole thing is interlocking - they fit into the space of just two dumbells and give you a good range of weights to work with. The other main options are the "make it yourself" free weight dumbells. With these Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Borussia Dortmund Jersey , you've basically got weight plates and posts. With a good selection of weight plates, you can make a great range of weights. This style of dumbell will be a good deal cheaper than the Powerblock style but, on the downside, it does take more time to put the dumbells together and the weight posts sticking out can be a bit awkward. But overall, for the money, this style is still a very good investment Pascal Stenzel Borussia Dortmund Jersey , especially if you're looking to make some heavy dumbells. Heavy Powerblock dumbells can be quite expensive (they have expansion sets that go up to 130 lbs) but even then, are still a substantial savings over the equivalent amount of pre-made dumbells. Essential Home Gym Equipment #2 - Adjustable InclineFlatDecline Bench Once you've got the dumbells, the next thing to get for your home gym is a solid bench. Ideally, you want a bench that is easily adjustable to incline, flat and decline settings. The more versatile it is, the more use you'll get out of it and the more exercises you'll be able to do with it. And when I say solid Park Joo-ho Borussia Dortmund Jersey , I mean SOLID. Don't skimp on this piece of equipment. You don't want a bench folding up under you when you're in the middle of a hard set (or ever for that matter!). The adjustable bench will open up a wide range of exercises for you to do with your dumbells. On a side note, you might wonder why I place a bench in front of a barbell set in order of "must-have." To be honest, it's a toss-up. Ideally, it would be best to get all four of these pieces of equipment that I'm going to talk about in this article at the same time! You would do just fine getting the barbell set before the bench as well. Essential Home Gym Equipment #3 - 300 lb Olympic Barbell Set So you've got your dumbells and a bench. Now it's time to get your barbell set. The nice thing with barbell sets is that at most sporting goods stores you can get a decent set for a good price brand new. When you're getting a barbell set, I HIGHLY recommend going for the Olympic bar set (the 7 foot long bar). The thinner bar (known as a Standard bar) has a much smaller capacity and will start to bend if you load it with more than 200 pounds or so. The thicker bar will be easier to grip as well. Once you've got the basic barbell set, you can very easily get more weight plates as you need them. One very important thing to note about free weight...if you can Oliver Kirch Borussia Dortmund Jersey , always get it at a local place. If you buy it online, shipping charges will just about DOUBLE the price of your order (they charge for shipping by the pound). Essential Home Gym Equipment #4 - The Power Rack You've got resistance (the dumbells and barbell)...you've got apparatus (the adjustable bench)...now you need a "framework" to really maximize the number of exercises you can do. When you have a rack, it opens up not only a much wider range of exercises, it also dramatically increases the safety and potential productiveness of your training. Because here's the bottom line with training at home by yourself...if you don't have a power racksafety cage, it is not in your best interests to do barbell bench press or heavy barbell squatting. If you get stuck under a bench press bar with no help around, you're in big trouble! If you have to bail out on a heavy squat with no power rack to catch the bar Nuri Sahin Borussia Dortmund Jersey , you have to release the bar, let it roll down your back and try and get out of the way as it crashes to the floor. And as fun as THAT sounds, it's no picnic (especially if your home gym isn't on a concrete floor)! To be honest, I even recommend people who train at commercial gyms to do their barbell bench pressing in the power rack. It's an exercise that has the potential to injure you pretty seriously if you get stuck under it with no help around! Training it in the rack is much safer and allows you to really push yourse锘? .