You want to get in shape. Yet, you hate going to public health clubs. You want to build your own home gym. What will you need and where do you start?

First, you need to think about your exercise objectives? Do you want a cardio workout? Do you like lifting weights? Do you bore easily with the same exercise routines? These are some of the questions you need to be asking yourself.

The perfect home gym should have the equipment and the space where you can do a variety of different types of exercise. Your body needs some cardio (aerobic) exercise as well as some resistance and strength training exercise.

Here are a few items you should have when building a basic home gym:

* A comfortable mat. You need this to do some of your stretching and yes even some abdominal type work.

* Dumbbells ranging in sizes, elastic toning bands, ankle weights. These all are good for strength and resistance training (as well as building muscle definition).

* A bicycle for your aerobic needs. You may even want one that will give you an additional upper body workout in the form of rowing type bars.

* A treadmill. You know they say that walking is the best form of exercise we can do.

* A DVD player for you to play exercises DVD's. You can find many challenging DVD's from yoga, dancing, and even boxing type formats to keep you from getting bored.

* Stability Ball (especially useful with some of the yoga workouts)

* A mirror to watch your movements. This can be beneficial to insure that you are using the equipment correctly and that you are performing each series of movements correctly. Hopefully, this will also motivate you to keep proper balance and form.

Of course, what you purchase for your ultimate home gym will also depend on how much space you have. Not everyone will have the space for both a treadmill and a stationary bike. Yet, some people may have an abundance of space that will even cater to full sized gym equipment such as a Bow Flex or a weight bench with accompanying weight bar and weights.

Then there is the cost issue to consider. The actual exercise machines such as the treadmills, stationary bikes and the full size machines can cost a bit of money. Do you really have it to spare? Is it really worth the cost? Will you actually use the equipment or will it soon collect dust. Be honest about these things.

Items such as stability balls, exercise bands, exercise DVD's, etc are beneficial in helping one to get in shape. Yet, these items are not expensive. Should these be more of the type of items you should consider buying for your home gym? Should you at least start with some of these less expensive items to see how long your commitment will last?

A home gym is definitely a way in which many people can get into better shape. It is convenient and a lot of people feel more confident by exercising in private. If this is the way in which you think you can get into better shape, then begin thinking about what your own needs are to make your own perfect home gym today.