Training With Fitness Home Gyms

If you want to build some muscle, there's no better way to do it than with a good multi-gym. A good multi-gym will give you fitness strength training easily and completely, all with a compact unit you can tuck in a corner of your living room or bedroom -- no need to be constantly running to the gym

Features available on a good multigym

A good multi-gym is going to have the following exercises available to you so that you can get a good whole body workout, isolating various muscle groups so that each gets worked completely without ignoring any of them

Bench press

This is probably the exercise most people think of when they think of working out on a gym. The basic bench press feature should give you resistance of up to about 250-500 pounds on most multi-gym models. It works your chest and shoulder muscles

Lat pull down

The lat pull down helps you work the latissimus dorsi, as well as those of your middle back and biceps

Leg press

The leg press is usually done horizontally on the multi-gym instead of vertically as with some leg press machines. This exercise works the quads, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, and the calves to some extent

Squat

The squat is done particularly well on a multi-gym, because if done with free weights, for example, you can stress your back and knees terribly. Doing squats on a multi-gym helps ensure that you don't overstress these muscles and that you also have proper form so that you work the muscles, but don't injure them.

With the squat, you develop your legs, lower back, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, quads, spine and core muscles. This is literally a whole body exercise that, although it seems to focus largely on your leg strength, can actually make your whole body get stronger overall

Tips on gaining strength and mass fast

When you work out, focus on one or two muscle groups a day, taking a break on a particular muscle group so that you only work it out every other day. For example, on one day you can work on squats, the next bench press, the next day you can work on lats, and the next leg press. This allows muscle groups to rest and repair between workouts; since muscle grows because you literally "injure" it a little bit every time you work out so that it has to grow bigger and stronger as a result, you also need to give a significant rest time in between workouts so that it can repair. If you don't, it won't repair and you'll stay very sore; you also won't bulk up.

Another great way to make sure you gain muscle mass fast is to do low reps with very high weights. The best way to do this is to start with the very heaviest weight you can manage, with two sets of four to six reps each. When you can get to 10 reps with each set, increase the weight and drop the reps back down to four to six.