Fitness Equipment is an important part of a weight loss schedule for many people. During the summer we always get a chance to get out and exercise but in the winter we really have to rely on our home or gym fitness equipment. I have dealt with joining extensively in the past so now I will just assume that you are interested in doing weights and cardio at home with your own fitness equipment.

Cardio Equipment

I thought I would start with Cardio equipment as that is the most common equipment that someone thinks twice about before trying. The first piece of fitness equipment that I bought years ago was a stair machine, actually it was a stepper. When the fad in the late 80’s for stair machine started that is exactly what I got and to be perfectly frank the think sucked. A good quality stair machine should be smooth to use and this stepper was not very good, it was clunky and uncomfortable. After a few weeks out stepper turned into a clothes hangar and just collected dust.

About five years ago my wife and I bought a good quality stair machine and treadmill as our first pieces of fitness equipment! We found a great place that sold new and used fitness equipment and we bought the first two pieces of one year old cardio equipment for about 1600 dollars! (I know this is a bit much for most people) and then each year for the next two years we traded one in and bought a different piece of fitness equipment we would lose about 100 dollars a year on the equipment this way. We now have a good 3 year old stationary bike and a good three year old elliptical trainer. To us this has been the best way to buy fitness equipment that we would actually use. No matter what your budget it is a real treat to have tow pieces of fitness equipment in the house that changes every year.

Weight equipment

Weights and weight equipment is a pretty easy purchase. You need the following:

Weight Bench
Weights
Barbell
Dumbbells

My weight bench inclines so that I can have it flat to do my flat bench exercises and then I can angle the back up to do incline bench presses and incline flyes. My bench is pretty stable which is important because the weight exercises are hard enough that you do not want to worry about your fitness equipment falling over while you are using it.

The way that I have done this is that I have two short bars with screw ends to put the weights on and a old barbell that has slip collars that screw in (the generic ones you see everywhere). I bought weights that I could add at any time to either the dumbbells or barbells and in addition to this I have a few rubber dumbbells of 15, 20, 25 and 30 pounds. With these rubber dumbbells I have most of the common weights that I need so that I am not constantly having to set up the bars.

OK, the buying part of the weights is where you can really save money on fitness equipment. Look in your local buy and sell or bargain finder or newspaper and also try garage sales. Remember the last thing that people want to move when the move are weights that they never use. New weights cost almost a dollar a pound so never buy weight new but instead buy them used.

Bill Nadraszky is passionate about health and fitness. To learn more read the fitness book review. Or visit the greatest Fitness Tips weblog.