Home Lifting

Hey everybody I'm new to the website and I'm looking to gain some muscle for basketball season. I do not have 24/7 access to a gym so I am looking into a home weight system. The one that I am currently considering is http://www.bigfitness.com/leveragesystem.html . If someone has a better product or thinks that I should get something else please tell me. thx

I work out at home and at work- No gym access, personally don't care much for gyms anyway, so I know where you're coming from. The system you linked to looks nice for home use, I actually have a friend with a similar set up from the same company, I think- Excellent construction, and it would definitely get you great results.
Having said that, I have to tell you that free weight exercises beat machines any time- Take the bench press, for example. With a home setup like that, a lot of stabilizer muscles won't be getting used during your chest workout- The weight can only move in a predetermined line, none of your muscles have to work to keep the weight in balance throughout the movement- You just have to concentrate on moving it straight up and down. Of course, safety always comes first, which is why a system like the one you linked to is excellent for the home- There's no way you can drop the weights on yourself or get stuck under them. If you want the best combination of safety with the ability to do free weight exercises, you might want to check out something like this, from the same site- http://www.bigfitness.com/powbensys.html
A nice and sturdy weight bench designed for free weight movements with some low bar catches for safety. You can adjust them for whatever exercise you're doing so you can just leave the weight there at the bottom of the movement- Especially useful when you're doing free weight squats, for example- The biggest muscle and strength building exercise out there.
Either way, they're both excellent home gyms, and you'll definitely see results from either one.

I see what you're saying, but from what I've learned Max-Ot seems to be what everyone is using and wouldn't you need a spotter for the weight bench? What do you think about adjustable dumbells? They seem to cover all of the most rewarding exercises.

Plenty of people use other programs- Max OT's great, I've used it for years myself, but you have to remember- One of the basic rules of Max OT that I don't think anyone should break is that the program is based around big free weight compound movements. It's just not Max OT when you do it on a machine- theory being that the most amount of weight moved by the most muscles will produce the best strength and size gains. When using a machine, you're not doing a real compound movement at all- The machine does all the stabilixing work.
Anyway- As far as safety's concerned, if you get yourself a decent home gym with some sort of low catch system like the one I linked to above, you simply have to adjust it to catch the weight at the lowest level possible for whatever exercise you're doing, without interfering with full range of motion. For example, when you do bench presses, have the low catches in place to stop the weight before it touches your chest, or just as it touches your chest if possible- Just don't rest the weight on the low catches at the bottom of every rep- Only when needed.
The same thing can be done, with the right type of bench, for just about every exercise. If you don't feel comfortable with it, then by all means go with a machine- Like I said earlier, either one is still a great home gym, and you will get results from both. It seems to be more a question of which you personally feel safer with.

adjsutable dumbbells would be good just by an adjustable bench that u can do incline nad decline w/.  Like was stated above free weights are definitly better @ building muscle, slightly less safe if you go real heavy and don't have a spotter but i guess your really not trying to put on mass for basketball so you should be fine.

Yea, dumbells are an awesome tool for home gyms. All you need is a basic bench with adjustable back rest (can be setup flat or inclined) and a set of adjustable dumbells. With the dumbells you can do bench presses, overhead presses, skull crushers, rows, squats etc.

Im 14, and i work out at home also. I am looking to purchase a bench that i can use my barbell on. The only thing that im worried about is that i work out alone, and i will not have a spotter when i am doing the bench press. Is it okay to bench press alone?

I like the setup...nuttin too fancy but could get the job done.
 
Happy lifting

Hey LTD;
You have to know what your limitations are. I also w/o alone at home and when I go to my max, I just leave the collars off the bar. If I were to get stuck, all I have to do is lean to one side or he other and let some of the plates fall off one and then the other. It'll make a heck of a racket but who cares. It's a lot better than being stuck under the weight and panic.
 
Peace

this is actually nice.. better than what i have at home lol

Age: 15

Hieght: 5'9''

Wieght: 155

Max Bench: 205

stack: No Xplode, cellmass, 100% whey protein