Good evening Elfer,
That’a really nice post-retirement project! You have a decent space to create a worthwhile gym, but I think that you might be approaching it from the wrong direction.
I am 70 years of age and have spent a lifetime in physical activity, fitness and sport, professionally and personally and the first question to be asked is “What do you want to achieve?”. If you have just retired, I am assuming that you are not trying to achieve elite status in fitness or an individual sport, but rather to maintain or improve overall fitness, physique, health and longevity.
The “Holy Trinity” is:
– cardio-vascular (CV) fitness,
– muscular strength and endurance (MSE) and
– flexibility.
You can figure out what balance you want to strike between these three elements and work from there.
To achieve a really good level of CV fitness, you could easily use any one of the three exercise machines you mention and/or, you could use the great outdoors - always a good option! For MSE, free weights are almost always the best option, provided you know what you are doing and, for flexibility, a yoga mat is all that you really need - all of this along with an iron will to enter The Pain Cave on a regular basis!
In addition to the hardware, if you no longer have the work/gym routine, you might think about a system for monitoring programme adherence and progress. Perhaps you had one or two “buddies” with whom you worked-out and who are not now available. Here, the internet and technology might be your friend. You can pay out lots of money for an on-line trainer (however, not to hi-fi spending levels!), but that’s not really necessary, as the weights are just as heavy whether or not you paid for a programme. To keep track of what you have (or haven’t!) been doing, a simple wall chart will suffice, but as you are, by definition, pre-disposed to “kit” (through your membership of this forum), then one of the many “wearables” and their associated apps might be good. I use Strava and Garmin, along with a my Tacx turbo-trainer and they synchronise very well, indoors and outdoors. I also use a Fitbit Versa 3 which does everything, including sleep monitoring, although the other devices are probably rather more “serious”.
I have attached a photograph of my space which works really well for me. Obviously, the various elements can be adjusted - heavier weights, for example and some form of pull-up bar which is missing from my set-up.
In any event, well done for avoiding the “slippers and a nice cup of tea” option!
Best wishes,
Brian D.
, enjoy !
Getting a wire fast rope wrong hurts!