A Cheap, Convenient Workout at Home

By Bruce Cohn
Boston Globe, January 29, 2004
 
With the start of the New Year you've resolved to get in better shape for 2004 and lose the weight you gained over the holiday eating season. The bad news is that most of us never lose our "winter fat" and tend to accumulate an added pound each year. Over 20 years, this pattern — often referred to as "creeping obesity" — leads to a host of health problems. No wonder so many people look to begin an exercise program in January.

Health clubs are accustomed to seeing this swelling of membership after the first of the year. However, there is a cheaper and more convenient alternative. For a relatively modest investment - only $300 - you can buy or make all the equipment you will need to get a total body workout at home.

To ensure that I did not omit anything, I conferred with a friend who first convinced me of the efficacy of building a home gym. Myron Mentis is the head athletic trainer at the Rivers School in Weston and a fitness instructor at Robert Giorgio's Tae Kwan Do and Fitness in Sudbury. Using a budget of $300, we came up with a home gym shopping list. You won't need a large room dedicated to bulky equipment; in fact, you can store these items in a closet and take them out to use them.

Not only is working out this way as effective as using expensive health club equipment, you can do it around your schedule instead of someone else's.

Fitness ball. These large, versatile, vinyl balls can be used for core training, lower- and upper-body strength training, and stretching, and they replace the more bulky and expensive weight bench. Look for a burst-proof ball that enables you to sit on it with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle. You should be able to buy one for less than $40 at a sporting goods store or online at www.performbetter.com.

Barbell. Make your own barbell with a 6-foot piece of PVC pipe that is 2-2 1/2 inches in diameter. Buy this at a hardware store along with a 50-pound bag of sand, two end caps for the piping, and a roll of electrical tape. Fill the bar with sand, cap off the ends and tape them. You now have your own 12-pound body bar — like the ones they use in body shaping classes — for about $10. If you want to upgrade slightly, order an actual body bar, complete with soft foam exterior, for $30-$60 instead.

A number of strength-training exercises can be done on the ball or standing with dumbbells. A 40-pound set of adjustable, plate-loaded dumbbells with a carrying case is $40 at www.thesportsauthority.com, or check any sporting goods store. To add weight, buy an additional 25 pounds of plates for $16.

Exercise tubing can be used for a host of pushing and pulling exercises. Buy three tubes with varying levels of resistance and attach them to door anchors at three different heights along a door jamb. Not only will this let you vary the resistance and the angle of your exercises, it lets you move seamlessly from one exercise to the next.

Lifeline Professional Exercise Tubing is available at www.performbetter.com.
Start with a pink (Level 3), an orange (Level 5), and a green (Level 8). Throw in three carabiners (an oval metal ring with a spring clip available at most hardware stores) to place in the loop of the door anchor outside the room to secure the tubing in the door frame. Cost will be around $50.

Medicine balls. These weighted balls are great for rotational exercises as well as standard core and strength training. Again, I would go with varying weights. Pick up a 2 kilogram ball (4.4 pounds) and a 4 kilogram ball (8.8 pound) for about $70. They are available online and in many sporting goods stores.

That's it: the basics of a home gym for less than $300. You can do squats, lunges, presses, rows, pulls, crunches, back extensions, and torso stabilizing exercises without leaving home or waiting in lines to use the equipment. Both your waistline and your wallet will thank you.

Bruce Cohn is the Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Middlesex School in Concord. He runs FIT-TO-GO Total Sports Conditioning and is a nationally certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Bruce can be reached at 781-781-316-0061 or brucegym@rcn.com.