Need starting equipment advice.

[Very_Yogurt]

Aderall wearing off..ADD coming back, I'll have to be as short as I can.

1) Tired of living life like a slob, watching my body decay while I'm still alive. I'm really worried about my health now.

2) I need to know what minimal, recommended equipment I can buy that would allow me to.

a) Work out everything, and not end up having gigantic arms but tiny legs..ect.
b) Not have to spend $2000+ to get the equipment.

3) When It comes to nutrition, I'll just be trying to keep a balanced diet, I have a lot of religious dietary restrictions(Muslim) and I'm not sure if I can buy this whey stuff and start drinking shakes from it, I'll have to look into that later.

4) AFTER I get the equipment, I'll find a workout that utilizes it well, I perfer freeweights and such, I hear often that pulley machines don't properly work muscles.

My Idea is to first lose a lot of fat by running and doing high reps, then start building muscle, I don't know whether that's already the common sense idea or if some people actually just start building a ton of muscle underneath fat.


5) "Why don't you just join a gym?" Is not the answer I'm looking for.

I'm trying to change my life here, trying to live a life of discipline. Living without discipline is living worse than an animal, you don't see any animals just lying around obese not doing anything, unless they're owned by humans.



EDIT: Here's the advice Abyss gave me

1) Bench Press
2) Row Machine
3) squat Rack

I can't remember anything else, he just said one more thing I think, and that's it.


6) (no I don't have diabetes)

[buffbrown21]

Lots of info that will help you in the stickies and if you do a search.


The short of it is this:
Dont bother with the bench press/squat rack that you mentioned. Get a power rack (and adjustable bench) and you will have both of those covered SAFELY.

Minimums for what you mentioned:
1) Power rack
2) Olympic barbell set
3) FID bench

You mentioned doing some running for your cardio/fat loss, so that keeps it simple.

You can always buy additional/complimentary things later, but #1-3 will cover your compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, pullups, rows, bench press) and then some.

Craigslist is your friend-you definitely will NOT need to spend $2,000 to get set up with something good, strong and versatile. I have no clue what CL is like in your area, but check the larger surrounding areas as well (be willing to drive an hour or two in order to save hundreds of dollars).

[iiijay743iii]

Buff summed it up.

Search craigslist for a power rack, a bench and some weight. Thats all you NEED to get in shape. Everything else is a luxury and/or accessory.

If you don't want to wait then you can buy all of that new for about $700-3000, depending on the quality of the items you want.

If you prefer to buy everything new then I would start by figuring out your budget then researching power racks, and benches that are within this. You can get a 300lb weight set new for 150-250$ @ any big box sports store.

Glad to hear your making a positive lifestyle change!



P.S.-- 150$ 300lb barbell set http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1774976

There is also a mention of Sears having it for 199.99$

[RHINO240]

Aderall wearing off..ADD coming back, I'll have to be as short as I can.

1) Tired of living life like a slob, watching my body decay while I'm still alive. I'm really worried about my health now.

2) I need to know what minimal, recommended equipment I can buy that would allow me to.

a) Work out everything, and not end up having gigantic arms but tiny legs..ect.
b) Not have to spend $2000+ to get the equipment.

3) When It comes to nutrition, I'll just be trying to keep a balanced diet, I have a lot of religious dietary restrictions(Muslim) and I'm not sure if I can buy this whey stuff and start drinking shakes from it, I'll have to look into that later.

4) AFTER I get the equipment, I'll find a workout that utilizes it well, I perfer freeweights and such, I hear often that pulley machines don't properly work muscles.

My Idea is to first lose a lot of fat by running and doing high reps, then start building muscle, I don't know whether that's already the common sense idea or if some people actually just start building a ton of muscle underneath fat.


5) "Why don't you just join a gym?" Is not the answer I'm looking for.

I'm trying to change my life here, trying to live a life of discipline. Living without discipline is living worse than an animal, you don't see any animals just lying around obese not doing anything, unless they're owned by humans.



EDIT: Here's the advice Abyss gave me

1) Bench Press
2) Row Machine
3) squat Rack

I can't remember anything else, he just said one more thing I think, and that's it.


6) (no I don't have diabetes)

Only need your fingers to start........................SEARCH!

[HardKore79]

Read this thread very carefully. Everything you need to know is there. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121256061

[Keeptryin]

Really,self motivation man...just do it,dont just talk about it and think about it.Just do it,its about the best advice I can muster.Equipment is everywhere,dont waste money going to sears for that cool lookin weider getup,the above posts says it all.Go right now and buy some olympic weight set there on sale everywhere.There are tons of thing you can do with that,start using bodyweight to get your body ready while you order or till you find a bench..
A friend of mine lost his legs in Iraq,hes a diabetic and hes all screwed in the head,he trains more than I can dream...

[Very_Yogurt]

Really,self motivation man...just do it,dont just talk about it and think about it.Just do it,its about the best advice I can muster.Equipment is everywhere,dont waste money going to sears for that cool lookin weider getup,the above posts says it all.Go right now and buy some olympic weight set there on sale everywhere.There are tons of thing you can do with that,start using bodyweight to get your body ready while you order or till you find a bench..
A friend of mine lost his legs in Iraq,hes a diabetic and hes all screwed in the head,he trains more than I can dream...

Thanks for all the replies above, I'll read all that info very carefully.


That's inspirational, it's amazing how you'll find some people who have such little resources, but they can do so much with it. At the same time, you have people who are given everything, but waste it all away. I want to be like that friend of yours(doing a lot with less to work with), just for the sake of being grateful for what I have really.

[triplechris]

Good info here:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=113942001

Good luck! Never too late to make a positive change.

[JohnnyDestroyer]

power rack
adjustable bench
olympic bar
plates, buy as needed.


Thats about it.

You can set the pins in the power-rack low, slide the bench in there, bam, gotta bench press, slide the bench out you can squat and dead. You can do pull ups on the power rack too.

If your serious you need a rack, but if money is tight and/or really outta shape a simple no weight program could be a good start to bide your time with.

I started off with unweighted lunges, push ups, sit ups, and shadow kick boxing in a basement.

I like the gym though, and you might wanna look around for something really cheap. Always tour em, just walk in and say "I wanna look around and talk money" and settle with a cheap one with a ton of free weights. Cardio is so much better outside, dont let a bunch of elipticals and lycra-bunnies con you into joining an 80$ a month gym with 2 benches.

[RiceNuts]

Buy some dumbbells, Barbells,Weight Plates for your barbells, and a bench