Weight Lifting Equipment VS. Bodyweight Exercises

Conventional wisdom says that in order to get ripped, you need to life weights.  While it's true that muscles need to work against resistance to develop, there are many ways to achieve this effect.  Even within the realm of weight lifting equipment, there are many choices of not only gear, but the exercises you can do with the gear.  And even though there are some expectations in terms of the standard commercial weight lifting equipment a gym is expected to have, in a home gym the choice is entirely up to the individual.  As a general rule, I would advise that you not be fooled by fancy machines claiming they're the best chance you have of getting a buff bod.  Especially for the home gym, where self discipline is more important than any piece of equipment could be, an honest assessment of how well you can stick to a workout schedule as well as a solid, realistic plan for achieving to this schedule are the key to getting results.  If you can't muster up the will to work out, any piece of home weight lifting equipment you buy will only be good for gathering dust.  In this article, we will discuss some of the popular types of weight lifting equipment as well as lesser known but probably more effective (and cheap) ways to build muscle and strength.  It doesn't take much equipment at all to work out, as you will see.

Let's discuss conventional weights for weight lifting first.  It is my opinion, shared with many bodybuilding experts, that free weights are much preferred to weight machines, especially if you only have enough money or space for one or the other.  The reason for this is that free weights are relatively inexpensive and can be used in   many, many exercises targeting different areas of the body.  There are many exercises that can be performed with just one set of dumbbells that will give great bodybuilding results.  If you're just starting out and are not sure of what you need, I would recommend one set of lighter dumbbells and one set of heavier ones.  You will also need a bench or some other similar surface to allow you to do a greater variety of exercises.  My advice is to forego the bench altogether in favor of a yoga ball.  Using a yoga ball as a bench means having to bring your core muscles into play when lifting weights, which means you are working more muscles of the body and engaging the "powerhouse", which consists of the abs, glutes, and lower back.  A yoga ball is cheaper than a bench, and it makes workouts much more interesting because it forces you to use your whole body as opposed to completely isolating one part of the body.  To summarize, I would recommend two sets of dumbells, a yoga ball, and an instructional DVD that shows how to use a yoga ball for weight training as the bare minimum that can yield great results, improving health and building muscle. 

As simple as the minimum is, I would go even further and suggest that the person looking for weight training go even simpler and go for a method of weight lifting that is cheaper than buying used weight lifting equipment or discount weight lifting equipment.  It's actually cheaper than the most cheap weight lifting equipment you can find, because it's free.  It's weight training using the weight of your own body.  Just in case you think that it's impossible to get the same or better results with bodyweight exercises as you would if using actual weights or weight machines, consider that gymnasts have awesome physiques with which they can perform amazing feats of strength and skill- and they rely almost exclusively on bodyweight exercises.  Check out the book "Building the Gymnastic Body" for both scientific and anecdotal explanations as well as the specific exercises that can be done to get you in better shape than lifting weights ever could.  While there is some equipment that you need to do all the exercises, like gymnastic rings and parallel bars, there are also many exercises that don't require anything more than a floor and a wall to perform.  Either way, the costs for the equipment would a fraction of what you could expect to pay for professional weight lifting equipment.  Since coming across the book, I've been doing L-sits, dips, and handstand pushups with nothing but the floor, the wall, and sometimes two chairs back to back.  I also have a pull up bar, which is excellent for building strength and muscle mass.  In fact, my Weider weight lifting equipment (consisting of two dumbbells) has been basically sitting completely neglected.  However, I've noticed an increase in muscle mass and strength which also feels much more functional than what I experienced with weight lifting.  There's less risk of injury with bodyweight exercises because it's more difficult to use too much weight and each workout is custom tailored to you because it's your body.  Resistance can easily be adjusted to account for level of physical fitness just by varying body positions.  Give it a fair try, and you're sure to see the benefits of bodyweight exercises.