But what do you need to train at home? Our Personal Trainer, Riccardo Borgacci, a personal trainer with a degree in Exercise Science and Dietetics, guides us in selecting the essential tools to organize a functional home gym.
Borgacci explained to us that obtaining a gym in the comfort of home may not be easy. The domestic walls offer several advantages, first of all the logistical convenience, but also several disadvantages such as: the space limits (if for example you want to buy machines such as the total crunch and the multifunctional fitness station), the possible incompatibility with condominium rules on noise thresholds, initial costs, etc.
Ultimately, almost all the disadvantages of building a home gym converge in the limited choice of equipment. For this, Borgacci points out, it is essential to be clear right from the start how to design our fitness room, which depends above all on the objectives and the starting performance level.
However, Borgacci concludes, there are some tools that anyone who aspires to this purpose should buy - man or woman, young or old, beginner or advanced. Below is the list, a brief description and the reasons supporting our thesis.
If you want to learn more, read also what are the accessories and small tools recommended by our personal trainer to train.
To learn more: Best Exercise Bikes 2020 according to Amazon user reviews , Riccardo Borgacci explains, is a set of machines for aerobic fitness training. These machines can be divided according to: technological level (presence or absence of the computer, applications, etc.), functions (training programs, rear pedaling) , type of adjustment (manual or electronic), size / length, operation, materials and resistance, brand, price and range. Borgacci continues:
'Allowing to move the whole organism at the same time, they are excellent both for initial general warm-up purposes (cardiovascular, respiratory and musculoskeletal), and for the terminal cool-down of each session. For the same reason, ellipticals lend themselves to motor therapies for overweight subjects or individuals with metabolic pathologies and, in many cases, for those with mild or medium functional limits (post-traumatic or surgical recovery, joint aging without serious pathologies , sedentary lifestyle, etc.). The elderly who do not have balance problems can also be used effectively to lose weight, to improve metabolic health, to maintain basic muscle tone and joint function'.
Those who don't have a lot of space at home might consider buying a walking pad.
'Let's start by specifying that the purchase of TRX does not require you to try your hand exclusively in the TRX System; on the contrary, this tool is extremely versatile. It allows you to train in calisthenics - free body - with a superior choice of exercises and movements, and a greater possibility of modulate its intensity. It is used with great success for the training of all the abdominals and the back but not only. The TRX is therefore a sort of wild card that can be used by anyone and in all circumstances. Nevertheless, it is decidedly economical, has no maintenance costs and the level of wear could be defined almost nil - if known how to use'.
"In a home gym, you can really do without barbell and modular dumbbells. This is especially true for those who want to keep fit at home without sacrificing the effectiveness of a professional gym. Indeed - underlines our personal trainer - barbell and dumbbells purchased for home fitness have the same effectiveness as those in paid gyms; obviously you have to use them correctly. Moreover, if many tools - such as various cables or multifunction benches - have the problem of quality / price ratio, these absolutely not, there may be qualitative differences in the type of alloy used, which affects the resistance to oxidation, and on the handles; but nothing particularly relevant. It is logical that a person wishing to train on strength should focus on a 20 kg Olympic barbell - designed to also load bumpers discs - while those who are beginners could be satisfied with a normal 5-10 kg barbell. the possibility of performing all the basic muscle and strength training exercises, subjectively adjusting the load. This detail, which seems fairly obvious for those who already use barbells, is anything but obvious in the case of dumbbells. We do not forget - underlines Borgacci - that if the barbells satisfy the need to perform multi-joint complexes, such as squats, deadlift, military press, bench press, rowing, etc., the dumbbells allow you to perform numerous variations of the same, often targeting more the affected muscles, or to perform the so-called complementary exercises and those of isolation - for deltoids, biceps and triceps ".
"The one with discs, deserves a paragraph of its own. Their importance is crucial, both for the effectiveness of training and for the comfort of home. Because? First of all, because each training system has a different training load. Depending on the method and the ability to express the force, the choice of discs will change. The first criterion is obviously the type of barbell and modular dumbbells chosen. Recall that the Olympic mounts discs with a large hole, while traditional barbells and modular dumbbells use discs with a narrow hole. The second, on the other hand, is their own strength capacity. Consideration at the time of purchase. Both the shape and the coating material can change. The simple ones are obviously circular and simply painted. Others have a handle, a very useful feature for those who want to use them instead of the handlebars. Some have a coating rubberized, which drastically reduces the possibility of damage by impact that can be caused to the house - for example to the floor. The last category is that of bumpers - generally Olympic barbell - which are specific for the execution of exercises of pure strength such as deadlifts, jerk and momentum, and all the intermediate preparatory executions. They are clad in a thick s synthetic cushioning material, which gives it considerable dimensions and exponential cushioning properties compared to common bare or lightly coated cast iron discs ".
Dumbbells are also among the most used tools for training at home by our fitfluencers.
'When it comes to multipurpose, a world of its own opens up. The solutions are so numerous that they are almost misleading. The question that must be asked is therefore: what do I need? Taking stock of the situation, we said that the legs can be trained with a simple barbell, arms and shoulders with dumbbells, the TRX offers us numerous possibilities for what concerns the abdominal girdle and a part of the lats. The pectorals and part of the back remain. The main criterion in choosing the multifunction bench will concern the possibility of stretching - the cables for the crosses are less of a priority - and tractions. In this regard, it would be optimal for the bench to have the possibility of tilting and declining, to gain different working angles, but also that the pull-ups can be performed on a cable - not on a bar. In the event that an optimal solution is not found, it may be advisable to purchase a multifunctional one mainly for "chest training, and another" instead equipped with a pull-up cable - also useful in exercises for triceps, biceps and shoulders ".
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