free weigths at home

i am getting bored of my gym and the always busy free weights so i want to get a set to use at home.
what i was planning was 1 hour sessions five days a week in the morning to complement cardio and muay thai in the evenings. My goal is to just increase my fitness and toning as i am under the impression a resistance and cardio programme gets the best results.
i plan to get a barbell and dumbbell set and use a gym ball, although i can get a bench if needed. i have an idea of the sort of exercises and reps i need to use, but what i was curious was how to break the workouts up, what muscle sets to focus on together and all that
if any one has any advice, there own workouts, decent websites etc then i would be greatful!

cheers

 

I have to admit as much as I hate anything with the words "Bow" and "flex" in conjuction with eachother, those dumbell things really have to be some serious space savers. I think there are non Bowflex versions of the same thing that were actually out before the Bowflex one. I can't remember where you get them from, but they have more weight overall.

 

YEah but what are you going to do with 50's? I'm not immensely strong but all I would be able to do with those are rotator cuff work and lateral raises. Not, ecven curls, except maybe concentration curls. too light.
If you are serious about training (i.e. actually plan on getting stronger) buy adjustable dumbells w standard weights.
Remember, you shouldn't buy weights that you are able to lift, you should buy weights that you will be able to lift in a not so close, not so distant future.

 

I also suggest you get a squat rack/trap bar/hip belt. It's hard to work legs w/ just barbell and dumbells.

 

Why not just get an adjustable, plate loadable DB handle from a sporting goods store and buy a bunch of 10's, 4 5's and 4 2.5's for plates and use that? I don't understand why you would spend so much money on an adjustable DB. you can buy second hand plates for like 40 cents a lb and they weigh just as much as new plates.

 

All you really need is...

-a power rack
-a barbell
-dumbells (or buy the ones that's like a mini-barbell that you can add weights)l
-plates
-more plates
-a bench - the one that can do both incline and decline.

 

I believe there are other "All in one" Dumbell sets that go up to about 100lbs.

Te BowFlex Select Tech 552 goes to 52.5 lbs and runs about 350 - 400 shipped

 

if you get a rack, get a tall rack...

 

cheaper to just buy adjustable spinlock dumbell handles and a bunch of weights

 

Look in your local new's paper and if your lucky enough to have a craigslist look on that...hell even ebay.

I've seen full eleiko sets go for 600bucks, full powerracks go for 200bucks...just keep looking until you find a good deal!

 

If got the powerblocks and they are great. Simple contruction and they go up to 100+ per hand. Also they don't say bowflex

 

I agree that the home cage is expensive, but the cost of 3-4 year gym membership = enough for a home set up good for 10 years +.

 

power rack: $200-400
300 pound oly set: $100-200
bench: $100-200
adjustable dumbells: a few dollars
standard plates: about $1 per pound

 

Sean, I've seen those ones too. I remember when they first came out, I thought they were awesome (actually I still do). They went far above 50lbs. If you are going to get dumbells I would recomend getting ones that can go above 50lbs as you are limiting yourself quite a bit with such small weight, especially if you are only using dumbells for all bodyparts.

 

I like the blonde on the bowflex extreme commercial.