re: Arkansas health and fitness thread

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What is the most cost efficient way to get a gym at home?

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I would go with something like the following:

power cage (preferably with pull-up bar (approx $500)
300 lb olympic weight set (approx $200)
plain, generic bench (approx $60)

With that you can do the big 4 (or 5): squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, pull-ups.

I would stay away from extra bells and whistles like cable attachments for the power cage and leg & curl attachments for the bench. You can add some dumbbell handles if you really want to do so, but you can get VERY strong with just the 3 items listed above. Of course, that will mean adding more Olympic plates as your lifts improve, but that's easy to do piecemeal. Also, if you'll watch Craigslist and the classified ads, you can sometimes find excellent deals on lifting stuff.

I might spend a little more on the bench and on the weight set to get a step up in quality, but you could do well with the entry level stuff. As you add to the set, one of the first "extra" bars I would get would be a shrug bar for deadlift for around $140.

This is the set-up that I used to get to around 200 overhead press, 300 bench, 400 squat, and 500 deadlift at 49. I say "around" because at 49 and not competing, I don't like doing one rep maxes. The GymBuddy app that I use calculates a theoretical one rep max based on weight and reps, and that is good enough for my purposes. I have a lot of other gadgets and accessories, but these are the things that I use day in & day out.

Skipped Monday and Tuesday, but did cardio yesterday. Actually rather proud - in the past, if I missed a couple of days, I'd end up just taking the whole week off. Not this time.

I do have this ridiculous craving to try a Taco Bell cool ranch dorito taco, and I rarely eat fast food. No idea where this is coming from.

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Are you pregnant?

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Shut your mouth!

Nope, and the strange thing about is that I've never even had one. How can I crave something I've never had?

I did stop for an egg white mcmuffin (no cheese) this morning. Nothing special, but under 250 calories!

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Shut your mouth!

Nope, and the strange thing about is that I've never even had one. How can I crave something I've never had?

I did stop for an egg white mcmuffin (no cheese) this morning. Nothing special, but under 250 calories!

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On Sat., got in squats, bench, overhead press. I was psyched that my knees held up well so plan on giving bjj class a try on Tues after taking a week off.

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I did stop for an egg white mcmuffin (no cheese) this morning. Nothing special, but under 250 calories!

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I like those, but I get them with cheese.

Ran 4 miles today against my will.

Hell no. That wouldn't have been against my will. IMO, FWIW, PIIHB, NSFW, WWJD.

Back and bis.

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Do great during the week, then the weekend is a total loss.

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Friday, Saturday, Sunday are my "cheat days." If I take 4 steps forward (M-Th) & 3 steps back (Fr-Sun), I still end up one step ahead each week. This probably also explains why I choose Friday mornings for weigh ins.