Tour of My Workout Area

Here's my home workout area. Below's my explanations of the various equipment. The workout area in our basement.


1 Bench and #110 weight set that I bought back in 1976 and still use today. I don’t use the dumbbells with this set, but underneath the bench you can see a #5 weight that I put on the dumbbell bar and use as an ab-wheel. Works great.
2 Dumbbell set and rack that I bought five years ago. These hexagonal rubber weights were on sale for 50 cents/pound and the deal included a free rack. Weights range from 5 to 25 pounds. For resistance training, it's the best and most versatile investment I've made--and still for way under $100.
3 One of several stationary bikes that we’ve purchased for cheap (like maybe $30) at garage sales over the years. Always keep the best one and get rid of the others.
4 Bought this adjustable weight bench at garage sale for $30. Is designed for Olympic style barbell but, since I don’t have one of those, I don’t use it for bench pressing. I use it with dumbbells and I’ll put the support bar up high and use it for reverse rows too. Bench also works for prone stick-ups.
5 Mat. Was given to me for Christmas one year but not expensive. Call me wimpy, but I even like to use it for push-ups to give my arms a little more cush.
6 Stability Ball. I like stability balls and use them regularly, but this one seems to need more air once a week. Got it from local sports store chain. Will get a better one next time.
7 Mirror. Another garage sale find. Would be better mounted, but just haven’t decided where I want it permanently yet. Mirrors are great for two reasons in my opinion. A) they provide a way to check your form. B) just seeing oneself doing exercises becomes it’s own form of encouragement as in proof that “I can do this!”
8 Treadmill—you guessed it, from a garage sale! I did replace the tread on it once which was like $60 or so and a pain to do. But now that that's done it works just like new.
9 Not sure what you call this machine, and I seldom use it. Got it given to us for free. My wife likes it.
10 Flooring. Probably the most expensive part of my set-up. Was a gift from my wife for Christmas another year. You’ll notice a small strip of a different material just below and to the right of the #10. That’s just a sample from another type of durable athletic flooring. The sample was free and is big enough for me to use as added cush for jumps and squats.
11 You can’t find #11 can you? But if there was a #11, it would be to show you the I-beam on the ceiling that I use for chin-ups and pull-ups. Nothing fancy, but it works.

Hopefully this helps you see that it doesn’t take a lot of money to get started. It does take a little bit of space, but you wouldn’t need this much. Just work with what you have. And remember, the most important piece of exercise equipment is simply your own body. In many cases it's all you really need!