My New Best Friend :P

My second favorite room in the house next to the home studio. Both the little bench and the elliptic were gift from a friend - they'd been left behind by the previous owner of the house he bought. 
 

 
While the elliptic is great, the bench was a bit rudimentary and on the frail side. Not to mention that it was missing the part that would have allowed me to do the leg thing. To top it all, I was a bit short on weights - no matter how creative I am, there were some essential exercises that I just couldn't do without a bit more weight.
 
So yesterday, my wife surprised me with this upgrade for the gym. 
 

 
The idea isn't really to max out on the bench - I don't care much about that stuff and I have no idea what my limit is. It's all about staying in shape - which I consider a moral duty if I'm to be a dad -  maybe gain a bit more mass to help burn the fat, and more crucially, make up for my genetically lame joints.
 
Plus, it clears up my mind and helps me keep my often depressive nature at bay. :P
 
PS - Not shown on the picture is a huge treadmill which I never used and finally sold yesterday - that money should in theory be used to finance a new Fender strat or an acoustic of some kind. But I'm really leaning towards the strat. :P

Rain
My second favorite room in the house next to the home studio......
 
It's all about staying in shape - which I consider a moral duty if I'm to be a dad

Not much chance of that if you spend all your time in those rooms ! ;)

Rain

paulo

Rain
My second favorite room in the house next to the home studio......
 
It's all about staying in shape - which I consider a moral duty if I'm to be a dad

Not much chance of that if you spend all your time in those rooms ! ;)

Are you telling me you're not seeing the world of possibilities in that bench? ;)

I know Mrs Rain is bendy, but that still looks uncomfortable to me. ;)

craigb
I've always been told that the next piece of exercise gear to get is one of those tall mountain climbers 'cause you can hang your laundry on it. 

We used to use the TVs in our rooms and suites for that purpose. ;)
 
I'd love a versa climber! But the elliptic does a great job and imho, it's probably the best option among such devices. 
 
I just finished my first training session with the new bench and I'm totally psyched with all the possibilities. And the extra bar which I'd first discarded comes in handy. I hate losing time adding and removing weights, so now I can set up two of them to target different type of exercises. 

I guess I'm lucky that my crappy joints act as a constant reminder - I've learned to listen to them, though it can be frustrating at times because I feel that they're holding me back and slowing down my progress. But I also know that few things frustrate me as much as not being able to train because of an injury, so I tend to be reasonable.
 
Maybe because I've worked on farms and in the woods and had plenty of very physical jobs, I am not tempted to overdo it. In all my years, I have always been able to lift and carry whatever it was I had to lift - I'm not worried about that. Plus, I know plenty of guys who can lift like crazy but they're actually in pretty poor shape overall. Building strength is great, but without stamina, it ain't worth much.
 
I actually dedicate a lot of my work out time doing pouch-ups and crunches and working with lighter weights, just throwing punches and building endurance. Next step is to re-integrate skipping rope - I need to find a spot for that.
 
The chin-up bar is on my list. :) 
 
I hate public gyms. I never could force myself to go there.