I prefer the floor standing punching bags over ceiling hung bags for a couple of reasons. First, you can put them anywhere and they are easy to move around and store. Ceiling hung bags require that you have a solid beam to and a large dedicated space. Next, free standing varieties have more flexibility. You are able to more easily raise or lower the bag and which allows you to have a more varied workout.

Punching bag workouts can be very taxing and strenuous and they build fantastic cardio. They also happen to give you a fabulous upper body workout. Many cardio programs focus on the lower body which is fine but incorporating the upper body is very beneficial as well. Hitting a bag for 2 minutes will give you a new appreciation for what boxers and MMA fighters do on a regular basis.

Many people when confronted with a bag are not sure how to proceed. I know I was a little confused at first. Coming from a more traditional endurance type workout bag training required that I shift gear. What you must realize is that punching bag training is more like sprinting than jogging. It is also much more cerebral than simply repeatedly hitting a bag.

It can help to have some traditional fight training but it is certainly not essential. What is important is that you make the differentiation between different punches and kicks. There are jabs, hooks, upper cuts, elbows along with many more punches and just as many if not more different types of kicks. Spend some time learning the finer points of the different maneuvers and practice each punch or kick.

When you have developed a good understanding of the different techniques for each kick and punch it is time to start putting them together. Combinations are key to any fighting technique and also the key to successful punching bag training. Start with two punch combos and repeat until you are comfortable with your technique and flow. Focus one improving each shot, small improvements in placement and body mechanics are the difference between throwing knockout punches and duds.

Once you have mastered simple combinations start working on more complex combos and putting some of them together. At this point you may want to start timing yourself or finishing a set number of combos before a short breather. People will often hit the bag for 2 – 3 minutes followed by a 30 second rest, then repeat.

When you are starting out flow is more important than power. Hit slowly and methodically and focus intently on small adjustments and getting the move exactly right. As you progress start increasing speed and power. Keep in mind that a hit that is properly placed can be very powerful without you expending a tremendous amount of energy. Think about it like hitting a golf ball or tennis ball. Expertly controlled shot that are properly placed do not need to be that hard to be effective. As soon as you start swinging your heart out you loose your effectiveness.

The only other required equipment for punching bag training is a good pair of sparring gloves. You may think yourself tough but if you spend longer than a few minutes on a bag you will shred your knuckles and be out of the game for at least a couple of days. A good pair of sparring gloves will protect your knuckles and your wrist and can be had for less than $30.

Punching bag training is a great way to mix up your training and a fabulous way to get out aggression. If you are looking for something different this is a great option that will push your physical endurance and help train your mental dexterity. Punching bag training is also a lot of fun and highly addictive.

The most common reason that people sight for using an elliptical trainer is that it is easier on your joints. There is very little if any impact and virtually no jarring motion. The motion on an elliptical trainer is smooth and fluid and will not leave your joints and back sore after a workout.

An elliptical machine unlike many other pieces of exercise equipment will give you a full body work out. Take for instance a treadmill, you may be moving your arms while you run but you are not getting much if any resistance training for your arms. An elliptical on the other hand forces you to use your arms and legs. The motion is more similar to cross country skiing, which has been shown to be one of the highest calorie burning exercises in existence. So if you want to maximize your returns and minimize your time in the gym hop on an elliptical.

Elliptical trainers offer more variation. This is because of the upper and lower body aspect of the training but also because you can reverse the movement pattern on your lower body. This may feel a little strange at first but your body will quickly adapt to the new movement. This will allow you to target different muscles, keep you body guessing, and reduce boredom. Try this on a treadmill and see what happens.

Elliptical trainers are for the most part fairly quiet. Contrast this with many other machines that are motor driven and you have a big difference. The reason that this is important is because many people listen to music or watch TV while on exercise equipment. If you are trying to hear over the whine and pound of a treadmill you may have to turn your earphone volume up to a level that could cause hearing damage.

If you are considering buying an elliptical the maintenance on them is much lower than on many other types of fitness equipment. Elliptical machines are really pretty simple and as long as you keep them properly lubricated there isn’t much else to worry about. This means that you will have to spend much less time worrying about trying to fix a broken piece of equipment.

Exercise equipment such as an exercise bike supports your weight while you are doing the exercise. This severely reduces the caloric burn of an exercise. Sure it makes it easier but any time you are supporting your weight you are burning more calories. Elliptical trainers make it virtually impossible to lean or slouch while on the machine. This means that in addition to getting maximum calorie burn from doing a full body workout you will also get maximum burn from supporting your own body weight.

Elliptical trainers are very popular among the home gym crowd and if you decide that you ever want to sell your elliptical trainer there is always a second hand market. Because maintenance cost are low and there is not a motor involved you are more likely to get a higher price for resale.

Because you have dedicated handles for the arm portion of the workout you will usually have a heart rate monitor built into the machine. Having a heart rate monitor will allow you to get the most out of your workout. If you have never gotten used to exercising with heart rate monitor you will need to determine your target heart rate. Once you know this you can increase or decrease your work load to stay within your target and achieve the maximum amount of fat burning.

There are many more reasons to use an elliptical trainer. Doctors will often prescribe exercise on an elliptical long before other types of self supported exercise. So if you really want to get in shape and take the extra weight off an elliptical is the way to do it.

One of the reasons that exercise bikes work so well is because they allow you to work for a long time without being as draining as other exercise equipment that requires you to support your body weight. You can hit an exercise bike hard and make your heart rate skyrocket or you can ease off and take your time and have an active recovery.

There are a number of different types of exercise bikes. One that is growing in popularity if the spinning bike, which is modeled after a road bike. It has a more aggressive down in the drops configuration and a friction crank that allows you to control the intensity. You can go from virtually effortless spinning to a leg cramping level of near impossibility. The spinning exercise bike is often used in a class setting but can also be good for solo training.

The recumbent bike is also a common type of exercise bike. It has an actual set with a back support and requires that your feet be out in front. These bikes are more comfortable to sit on for longer periods of time and usually have computerized programs for you to follow.

A word of caution on a exercise bikes is that you need to make sure you adjust the set correctly or you are not getting the full muscular benefit from the exercise. You need to make sure that your leg is nearly straight, with just a slight bend, at the bottom of your stroke. You don’t want your leg to hyper extend, but you want to make sure that your leg goes through a full range of motion.

If you are going to use an exercise bike make sure that you are not doing it because it is easy. Because you are not supporting your body weight it is easy to think that you are getting a workout when you are really barely exceeding your resting heart rate. Vary the intensity and find something to hold your attention besides the countdown clock.

An exercise bike can be a great way to warm up, cool down or get a great cardio workout. Out of all of the different types of cardio exercise equipment and exercise bike is probably the least likely to cause aches and pains after the workout.

Find a good place to put your exercise equipment, outside does not count, this will ruin even solid iron barbells and dumbbells. Garages are not really ideal, because they are often not conditioned and the intense heat and cold, not to mention humidity do a number on equipment. The best place is a dedicated room in the house where you will be likely to use your equipment and it will be out of the way.

Do not keep weights on the floor. If you put them in the garage you are already compromising so do yourself a favor and put them on a rack. Weights on the floor, especially a concrete floor can absorb moisture directly from the ground. Stubbing toes, kicking, and tripping over weights is also common. And, reaching down to get heavy weights can also wreak havoc on your back. Do yourself a favor and build a rack for barbells and dumbbells.

Keep any machines clean and well oiled. Gyms have maintenance people that wipe down, dust, and oil machines every day. They also give them a look over to make sure that there is nothing wrong. You should do the same. Sweat is very corrosive and dust can cause plates to stick together or slides to jamb. Take care of your exercise equipment and it will give you a much better workout for years to come.

Don’t use your exercise equipment for other things. I realize that if you have your equipment in the garage and you need a hammer it is easy to use the 5 lbs dumbbell but this is not suggested. It will lead to your equipment degrading and it could lead to an accident. Get the ladder out instead of using your weight bench as a stepping stool. It will make your job easier in the long run and cause you not to ruin you investment.

Exercise equipment is a great investment that if cared for properly can serve you for many years to come. But it is essential that you take simple steps to make sure that you are taking proper care of your exercise equipment.

Personally I have watched my weight fluctuate based on how far I have to walk in a given day. Not so much based on my diet or exercise but based on my lifestyle of walking. No wonder Americans are fat, we attempt to remove walking at every turn. Drive throughs, walkscelators, and remote controls. I realize that walking or running is not always practical and in those cases treadmills can come in very handy. There will never be a substitute for hitting the trail or the sidewalk, but a treadmill is the next best thing.

I know from experience that treadmills can be one of the most boring pieces of exercise equipment out there, that is why you have to make it interesting. Don’t stare at the wall while you are on a treadmill, watch TV, listen to podcasts, do something. Technology makes this easy. If you need a bluetooth headset get one, if you need a noise canceling headset so you can hear get one. If you are still bored change it up. I find that I need to be watching a certain type of TV show to hold my interest. Music doesn’t do it for me, podcast on occasion, but they have to be exceptionally interesting.

I am the poster child for someone who gets bored on a treadmill but I haver figured out that there is a way around that boredom and that has lead me to train for a marathon almost exclusively on a treadmill.

So, in my opinion treadmills rock. I know many people think I am crazy but when I compare my waist line with theirs I know who the crazy ones are. Treadmills can be your best friend or your worst enemy, what you do with this exercise equipment is up to you.

One reason is that body weight workouts are very effective. They won’t pack on the muscle but they can lean you out and make you crazy strong. Many body weight workouts use large fully body movements that utilize large muscle groups as well as the core. This is essential for real functional strength.

Anther reason they will be here for awhile is that they don’t hurt the same way some workouts using fitness equipment can hurt. Bodyweight is much easier on the joints and tendons and is much less likely to do lasting damage than weighted workouts.

So, my original question, is fitness equipment important. It really depends on what you are trying to do. If you want to pack on muscle you will need so form of resistance training, and you will need to lift heavy. This means exercise equipment and lots of it. If you are doing yoga, you need a mat.

I think that it is important to rotate through a variety of different workouts, so the full answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. At times you need to lift heavy and really challenge your body and other times you need to do high intensity body weight exercises.

I think that it is important to keep your options open in this arena. A home gym can be very effective at giving you the ability to workout whenever you want but do not limit yourself to your home gym. It should be used as a supplement. I think it is important to join different gyms from time to time to mix things up and keep things interesting, not to mention to keep learning new things.

If you have the time join a gym that has a vast array of fitness equipment because I guarantee at some point you will not have the time. Use this as an opportunity to dust of the home gym and take advantage of that opportunity.

Leverage your time and money to get the most out of the fitness equipment you have available.

Contrary to what many people seem to think it is easy to loose weight or even get in shape. Just eat less and workout a little bit every day. The hard part is maintaining the level of fitness you desire.

One thing that many people do not take into account is that a new fitness regime will through their life out of balance. You must spend time exercising, you have to change your schedule, you must eat differently, you have to sleep differently, you look at things differently, and you interact with people differently. Often times all of these changes are not recognized or acknowledged and this leads to problems. Often times these changes are made to quickly and the new lifestyle is too hard to sustain.

It is often said that id you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit but is it is also very easy to break artificial habits that are not cemented into your regime. It is also easy to break habits that take will power to maintain. Exercise hurts and takes some serious motivation, so it is not hard to cut it out of a busy schedule.

Recognizing that fitness is a new way of life and that you must strive for balance is important in achieving life long fitness. It also applies to many other areas of life. When you are doing one thing you cannot be doing another. If you are at work you cannot be at home, if you are watching TV you cannot be spending time with your family, if you are running 30 miles per week you will not be able to put on muscle mass. Striving for balance is difficult because we all want instant gratification and it takes a long time to develop proper balance.

Think about what happens if you are trying to balance a stick on your finger and you make a sudden movement. The stick falls, if you make numerous small fluid corrections you are much more likely to hit your target of balance. This also applies to all other areas of life including fitness.

I have been doing body weight workouts for years and I have maintained an excellent level of fitness using just body weight but sometimes that just isn’t enough. We must, after all keep challenging ourselves if we want to continue to get better and it reaches a point where you are just doing too many reps with a body weight workout. When you get to this point I suggest that you add a weighted vest into the workout.

These come in all different weights and many of them have interchangeable weights so that you can continue to challenge yourself or change weights for different workouts. These vests can make push ups and pull ups what they were when you started exercising and they can also assist with muscle gain. Body weight workouts are not famous for adding muscle because they are usually so high rep and low intensity. The vest allows you to drop the reps and increase the intensity while still doing an incredibly flexible home workout with limited exercise equipment.

Weight vest can be used for cardio vascular exercise as well but I would caution you not to add to much too fast. If you are going to run with a vest, start with the lowest weight possible and slowly increase the weight. It would also be wise to slow your pace until you are conditioned for the new weight. Adding weight will significantly increase the pressure in your knees and if overloaded bad things happen to knees. There is a reason why many overweight people experience significant knee problems.

Go ahead give this piece of exercise equipment a try and see where it takes you. This is also a very wise investment in your future and while it may not last as long as a hunk of steel it still has a pretty good life expectancy and is not as expensive as some other pieces of gym equipment.

For a home gym machine setup my answer is absolutely NO!!!  These all end being clothes hangers and getting in the way, they don’t get used and you will sooner or later sell it in a garage sale for pennies on the dollar.  If you have your heart set on getting one, go find a used one.

First Reason

Unless you are in the top one percent of people out there you can’t afford a gym quality machine.  These things cost thousands of dollars for a machine that does maybe 2 exercises.  If you get something that does multiple exercises and has lots of bells and whistles for a reasonable price it is most likely going to be a piece of junk.  Even the expensive stuff breaks, and your home gym set up from the infomercial is no grade A piece of equipment.

Second Reason

Where are you going to put it?  The living room, the extra bedroom, if you are lucky enough to have a good place to put something like this and you can afford it congratulations, you should be able to afford a good gym membership.  Do you really what to effectively shut off an entire room in your house and turn it into a single use room that you only use for an hour a day a couple days a week?

Shall I continue

These pieces of equipment usually focus on the isolation type of muscle building moves.  This is an outdated approach that offers no flexibility of variation, these two themes are very important in building an all around healthy physique.  A machine like this will limit you and you will get bored with it very quickly, most likely before you finish paying for it.

What you should get

I am not going to go into too much depth here because the rest of the site discusses these things but here is a list of the main pieces of exercise equipment.  Dumbbells, a barbell with numerous plates, a pull up bar, an adjustable bench, a good pair of shoes, a bike, kettle bells, a jump rope, and if you really want to go big, a power rack.  These things alone can get you well on your way to a killer home gym and offer hundreds if not thousands of different exercise variations and circuits.  It would not surprise me one bit if you were able to get all of this exercise equipment for less than you would spend on one machine setup.  Spend your money wisely and get only the exercise equipment that will offer the most bang for the buck.