Get 'em while they're hot!

How is everyone doing out there?  Are you eating and exercising on plan or are you waiting until the infamous 1st to start/re-start?

This is the time of year when people flock to the gyms like mad.  Stores begin selling workout items and people that work out regularly start replacing stuff.  So now is a PERFECT time to begin getting items for yourself to workout at home if you don't want to go to a gym.  A search through Craigslist is a great place to start.  But also keep your eye out at places like Dick's and Walmart for deals on items. 

I thought today I would show you what I have in my workout room.  It might give you some ideas.  We have a fairly large basement so what we did was build an exercise room down there.  We actually are looking to expand it - I guess we had no idea we would get this into working out.  Some of the stuff that I'm going to show you is expensive and some you can get on the cheap.  And like I said, this is the time of year that you can get good quality stuff on places like Craigslist.

The most expensive item we have is our treadmill.  One piece of advice - if you're going to get a treadmill, buy a quality one - a cheap one will begin falling apart, especially if you use it for running.

 We've been pretty happy with this.  It's a Sole we got from Dick's.

Here is my stability ball.  These are cheap and great for increasing core strength and improving balance.  I highly recommend getting one of these!

This is our Bowflex which I LOVE!  I know there are a lot of haters of machines like this, but it is a great way to build muscle and poses less risk of injury then free weights.  I got this DIRT CHEAP on closeout from Bowflex 2 years ago, right around this time.

This is an Ab Roller.  This works great to teach yourself how to do crunches if you have back/neck issues, or if your core is not strong enough to do crunches yet.  PLUS, you can flip it up and do tricep dips which I do ALL the time, AND you can also use it to do pushups on when you are learning on how to do pushups!

This is an old rowing machine that Marc had.  I don't use it yet, but it is a great low impact workout.  We hang it up to save space.

Marc made this for me to use as a stepper.  You can use for aerobic workouts, but I also use it for things like dumbbell step ups.  You can buy adjustable plastic ones - I'm going to be buying one to bring to work for my noon workouts.

Free weights!  These are so expensive, IMO, but you need these for a good workout.  I have 5 pounders that I use for most of the DVD's that I work out with.  If you are not used to weights, you might need to start with 3's.  I prefer the vinyl ones for DVD's, but I use metal ones for regular lifting.  We have up to 25 pounds.  They also make adjustable ones that I wish I had know about when we started!

I only have one kettlebell and will be getting more.  You can get a great strength and cardio workout in one doing kettlebell exercises!

Finally we get to my favorite part of the workout room LOL...

In all seriousness, I can't run for over an hour on the treadmill without being distracted by television or music - it makes the time go so much faster!  We also have a DVD player down here to do various workout DVD's. 

We have a couple of resistance bands, as well which you can see the purple one next to the stepper Marc made.  Resistance bands are a great workout tool as well and are MUCH cheaper then free weights.

So there you go!  We have more to add - Marc would like an exercise bike and I would like an elliptical, but both of these are expensive and we need more room.  Our next addition will probably be a punching bag - boxing is a GREAT full body workout.

What do you have at home that you love to work out with?