Best Home Gym Equipment

Today, we continue on with Nick Nilsson, his fat loss tips, and the piece of equipment he recommends that we all have at home...

CB: Nick - What kind of cardio do you think is most effective? Does it depend on the situation? Is cardio a mainstay in your own program?

NN:
Interval training, by far.

Even with beginning trainers, I use interval training. Granted, it's aerobic intervals (e.g. 5 minutes work, 2 minutes rest) but intervals truly put steady-state cardio training to shame.

And this is coming from an ex-long distance runner. I use cardio training (specifically intervals) all the time, especially for fat loss training. I always include intervals in muscle and strength programs as well simply because you need cardio capacity to recover in between heavy sets. Plus, it stinks to get big and strong but not be able to climb a flight of stairs without gasping for air (been there!)

CB: What type of nutrition plan have you found to work best for you personally?

NN:
In normal eating, I try and stick to unprocessed foods as much as possible.

Foods like nuts, oatmeal, veggies, fruits, lean meats, chicken, fish. I'll throw in the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich and pizza (not at the same time, of course), but generally speaking, I like to eat more natural foods.

I wasn't always like that, though. For a long time, I ate a lot of processed stuff. Never got the results I wanted until I cleaned it up though. I've even found I don't even really want to eat processed food anymore, to be honest. When I'm training specifically for fat loss or muscle-building, I use a cyclical diet where I rotate the nutrients I eat in order to get targeted hormonal responses. That really works well.

CB: It seems like you're always experimenting...? What is the best piece of equipment that you think most people should have in their home gym?

NN:
Experimenting is definitely the word. The strangest exercises I've ever come up with could fill a book, there are so many of them.

Because I experiment with body position, angles and using machines in ways they were never intended to be used, I tend to get a lot of strange looks when I workout in regular gyms.As far as the best piece of home gym equipment that most people should have but don't, that would be a power rack and barbell set. It's not an earth-shattering revelation but it's the unvarnished truth.

The footprint of the rack is about the same as a typical multi-station home gym but the number of exercises you can do with a simple rack and barbell is really extraordinary. And if you can get a rack that has a cable weight stack attached, you're completely set! This is what I started my own home gym with (in a 10 x 10 room) and it served me well for years.

CB: Thanks Nick. Next time, we'll talk about your tricks for gaining mass.

Until then, if you want more of Nick's workouts or unique exercises, click here to pick up your copy of Nick's e-books.

Nick and I like the basics for fat loss and muscle building,

CB