{"id":361,"date":"2010-07-06T14:00:38","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T21:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leanmeanvirilemachine.com\/?p=361"},"modified":"2010-08-01T10:12:39","modified_gmt":"2010-08-01T17:12:39","slug":"a-guide-to-cheap-exercise-equipment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/06\/a-guide-to-cheap-exercise-equipment\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Cheap Exercise Equipment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"cheap<\/a>Ever since I was in high school, I have been fortunate enough to have free gym memberships. If not at school, then onsite at my job. But a few months ago, I found myself for the first time ever needing to actually pay to work out if I needed to!<\/p>\n

I damn near joined a Globo Gym. I went and did the free trial and everything. I had my wallet out. But I slept on it and had a change of heart.<\/p>\n

Do I really want to have another monthly payment to go to an overcrowded rec center with only ONE power rack? One that I would need to drive out of my way for? Plus paying first and last month\u2019s fees?<\/p>\n

Hell no!<\/p>\n

I went renegade and got a few basic pieces of cheap exercise equipment for my apartment to stay fit this summer. What follows is a barebones list that can get you in great shape for less than $100. (And it’s worked fantastic for me.)<\/p>\n

Jump Rope: $5<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ah, the jump rope. How I grow to love it more and more each day. For pennies on the dollar, it gives you a much better workout than any treadmill ever could. It\u2019s low-impact, portable, and also trains your agility, balance, accuracy, speed, and coordination. (Take THAT, hamster wheels!)<\/p>\n

Like most exercise equipment, you don\u2019t need anything fancy. A $5 speed rope will get you a ton of mileage. Oh yeah, and you can check out my earlier post to put together a jump rope workout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pull Up Bar: $30<\/strong><\/p>\n

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You see \u2018em everywhere. Sports Authority, Target, even the checkout lane of Walgreen\u2019s. A basic pull up bar that quickly attaches to a doorway with no drilling whatsoever is one of the best investments you can make.<\/p>\n

If you are doing bodyweight exercises (which you should if you are looking to save some green), your pushing muscles such as your triceps, pecs, and shoulders will be getting plenty of work doing push ups, dips, and handstand push ups. It\u2019s crucial that your pulling muscles get exercised as well.<\/p>\n

A pull up bar is an excellent way to increase your pulling power and give you an excellent upper-body workout. In an earlier post I went over the kind of back strengthening exercises<\/a> you can do with a pull up bar.<\/p>\n

Kettlebell: $40-$55<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Barbells get a lot of love around these parts. They help you focus on pure strength and let you easily move up and down in weight. Excercises such as deadlifts<\/a>, cleans, squats<\/a>, and presses<\/a> boost HGH production and allow you to easily burn fat and gain muscle.<\/p>\n

But barbells are bulky. And a power rack takes up a lot of space, not to mention will set you back at least $1,000. What\u2019s a thrifty guy supposed to do if he wants to get the benefits of moving a lot of weight around?<\/p>\n

Enter the kettlebell.<\/p>\n

Essentially a cannonball with a handle, the kettlebell is an old-school strength training tool perfect for your tight budget. With exercises such as the swing, clean and press, and the Turkish get up, you can get a killer full-body exercise with a single portable weight.<\/p>\n

If you are just starting with kettlebells, you should get a 35 lb-er (aka 16 kg or 1 pood). The best way to save some serious cash on kettlebells is to go through Craigslist. Especially if you live in a major metropolitan area, you should be able to snag one for a fraction of what it would cost to buy direct.<\/p>\n

Rocky Balboa Doesn\u2019t Need Expensive Equipment, Why Should You?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know it’s just a movie, but I couldn’t risk NOT showing you the training montage from Rocky IV! It’s the one where Balboa trains in a cabin out in the wilderness with basic gear while the Russian works out in a state-of-the art facility with lots of high-tech equipment.<\/p>\n

I think this scene is the perfect metaphor for what LMVM exercise is all about: focus on low-tech, functional, and efficient workouts. Forget about all the fancy machines that are all show and no go!<\/p>\n

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Get In Shape on the Cheap<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Despite the initial investment, you will come out ahead in the long run if you pick up this cheap exercise equipment. Here at LMVM, it\u2019s all about making health, fitness, and wellness as accessible as possible to the Average Joe!<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since I was in high school, I have been fortunate enough to have free gym memberships. If not at school, then onsite at my job. But a few months ago, I found myself for the first time ever needing to actually pay to work out if I needed to! I damn near joined a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[14,79,68,36,46],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exercise","tag-confusion","tag-frugality","tag-jump-rope","tag-kettlebells","tag-pull-ups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}