Well, I guess I'll go ahead and be the first to post in this forum! I had my 25th birthday this past weekend, and my resolution to myself was to have a brand new body by my 26th! My motivation was a combination of John's site and a friend who lost a lot of fat on the Body for Life program. So over the past few days I've put together a home gym that will hopefully, along with a good nutrition plan, lead me to my goals!

http://www.theredwire.com/gym/wholeset.jpg

This is my bench setup and dumbbells. The bench is the Gold's Gym XR5 which I got at Walmart for about $95. I HIGHLY recommend it! It's a very sturdy, very reasonably priced bench. It comes with a removable lat tower and removable preacher curl pad which both store on the unit. I was actually pretty surprised by just how good it was once I got it together! (I was expecting it to be a cheapy job, like some similarly priced ones they had displayed.) The weights are the Olympic set from Play It Again Sports and cost about $170. The dumbells I paid about $.45 a pound for and have pairs from 10-30 lbs. The rubber flooring mats were $16 for 32 square feet from Sam's Club, which was another great buy.

Here's a closer shot of the bench:

http://www.theredwire.com/gym/bench.jpg

And finally this is the Weslo 710 elliptical machine which I also got at Walmart for about $195.

http://www.theredwire.com/gym/elliptical.jpg

It seems ok, but the movement is a little weird compared to higher quality machines I've used in the past at gyms. I figure I'll give it a week or two to see if I get used to it. If not, back it goes and I guess I'll get a bike to replace it. I really wanted something that I can change the resistance on the fly during those high intensity workouts. I don't want to have to be stopping to adjust a knob right when I get going!

Anyway, that's my stuff. Let me know what you think, and wish me luck on my endeavor for the new year, and best of luck to all of you!

Very nice :) We also bought those same rubber floor mats from Costco. They work great, don't they?

drrocket: incredible, someone who's story is very similiar to mine, i'm 25 aswell, going to be 26 this summer, and i've been motivated both by John and by a friend who also used the Body for Life book and method as his template to go from 215lbs -> 148lbs.

Thank you for listing your location of purchases, I am definately planning out my mild mannered home gym this weekend. =]

how much was that olympic bar? you said 170$, but how much lbs comes with it?

how much was that olympic bar? you said 170$, but how much lbs comes with it?

Oh, sorry. Play It Again Sports sells what they call the "Olympic Set" and it includes a 45# bar, 2 45# plates, 2 35# plates, 2 25# plates, 2 10# plates, 4 5#plates, and 2 2.5# plates for a total of 300#, including the bar. And the total came to $170 after tax. I didn't shop around much though, so I don't know how good of a price that is.

looks like a pretty good deal to me! thanks for the info, appreciate it

I like the gym! Looks like you have everything you need to reach your goals by your next birthday. Keep us posted and good luck to you! :tucool:

It would be so nice if I had the same gym setup you do. With my current bench set I'm looking for good gains but with your setup it would have definitely improved.

I also wish I had either a stationary bike or elliptical instead of this darned treadmill :mad:

Very nice :) We also bought those same rubber floor mats from Costco. They work great, don't they?

Sometimes on Sportsauthority.com, they have those very mats for cheap - but the shipping is the same as the retail price, so it's double the listed cost.

However, If you buy enough, the shipping is free - which happens to be a total deal.

Check this out:
http://www.thesportsauthority.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1186071&cp&searchId=10345967192&keywords=flooring+mat&y=0&x=0&page=3&pageBucket=0&parentPage=search

I was able to do my whole gym for under $200.

Wish I didn't live in the dorm... I want my own workout room I don't have to share with hundreds of people... Nice Place:)