Weight Benches - Workout Benches for Your Home Gym

Safety, convenience and a weight bench gets you off the floor

Weight benches, or workout benches, are a necessary part of any exercise room. It doesn't matter if you have a small or large layout of equipment, without a proper bench to work with, you are not just not doing it right. Not to mention that without proper equipment there is the danger of injury. Not counting the basic flat bench, there are basically two types of weight benches. The pivot point will either be level with the bench or several inches above the bench. Depending on the type of exercises you plan on doing and which muscle groups you want to concentrate on, will determine the type you should get.

When doing leg extensions, the workout bench with the low pivot point concentrates on the muscles around the knee. The other bench works on the whole front thigh. As a bit of advice, when doing leg extensions, stop short of a completely straight leg. Doing this will take a lot of stress off your knees and you will still have all the muscle building benefits you want.

For leg curls, the low pivot bench allows for a "full curl". If you purchase the high pivot point weight bench, you should not curl as far as this would put strain on the back.

Any bench you purchase should be rated as to how much weight it will hold. This weight includes you. So when doing bench presses, consider your weight into the equation when loading up the bar.

We can recommend two places to get weight benches from - Mega Fitness and Big Fitness.

Weight benches from Mega Fitness are versatile and have all the endurance and quality you would expect from this company. A very large selection of workout benches from the low cost plain, flat bench to the complete weight bench with all the attachments you can think of. They also have a "Danskin Space Saver Incline Bench" that folds flat. So if you want the exercise equipment without losing living space, this is one item I think you should at least have a look at.

Getting your workout benches from Big Fitness gives you several choices from the short, basic weight bench with no frills to a full weight bench with built-in squat rack and preacher curl attachment and more.

They have been in business since 1991 and operate a catalogue business as well as selling online. BigFitness claims to be the biggest fitness retail store in the US with stores in Pawtucket, RI and Seekonk, Mass.

A Multi Station Home Gym gives you everything in one neat package

Home Gym, that can conjure up two different pictures. A set of barbells collecting dust in the corner or a complete multi station home gym system with pull down bar, leg press, bench press, 4 stacks of weights giving you the complete workout station.

If your exercise equipment is collecting dust (or rust) in the back of the garage then it's time to step up to the new age of exercise equipment.

It is possible to get the big exercise, multi station home gym systems you see in the gym and have it at home. Not everyone has the money or room for the complete multi gym systems. However, smaller systems are available that will fit not only your budget, but also your room.

Never buy a home gym, StairMaster, exercise bike or treadmill without first checking to see if you have the room to put it in the house. Most descriptions of the exercise machine you are looking at will have the dimensions included. This may sound dumb but get a tape measure and make sure it will fit with room to spare. You still want to be able to walk around the machine.

The best place I have found to buy home gym equipment is at Mega Fitness. They have all the multi station systems with the 4 stations and all the features of the machines at the fitness club, right down to the single seat, multi use 'Body Solid Home Gym'. From the high end to the low cost, Mega Fitness has a wide range of home gym equipment to choose from.

Personally, I always like to shop around and have a look at what home gym systems other shops are selling. Like getting a second opinion from a different doctor. What one shop says is good may be okay. But if two shops are saying the same thing then I know I have a good product. Now it comes down to price, guarantee and customer service and which company I feel I can get the best deal from.

For my comparison shopping I always go to Smooth Fitness. They give me lots of information online about all the gym equipment they sell. They give information about their company and not just what they have to say about themselves, but they have links to what magazines (Prevention Magazine) and other companies (Runners World) say about them.

And something that I haven't seen at other fitness sites, a downloadable User Manual for the equipment they sell. Did you lose the manual for the last exercise equipment you bought? No problem here, just download a new one.

Buying a multi station home gym system is not something that should be done in haste. This equipment is going to be around for some time and you had better make sure that the set up you get is -

• one you will use on a constant, consistent basis.
• can be added onto
• will fit into the space you have available
• will fit your budget
• is not more than you need
• is not less than you need

This is by no means a complete list of everything you should consider when making a purchase of this importance. But it is a good start.