What worked for me was removing barriers to exercise. It's been an odd, decade-long progression, but here's how it went:<p>-------------<p>I. Initial Annoyance with Gym<p>a) The biggest barrier is building the willpower to get to the gym. I live in a snowy city, so I knew that heading to the gym would be torture in the winter.<p>b) Working full-time meant that the only times to head to the gym were before work (6-8) or after work. I wanted to match my exercise time to when I had the motivation.<p>c) Heading to the gym is a huge cost. If you do 4 sets, it might only be 20 minutes of actual lifting, an hour round trip to/from the gym, 20 minutes showering. I think mentally, you know that heading to the gym is a a huge time-sink, cluster of obligations that goes far beyond the actual lifting.<p>--------------<p>II. the Home Gym - It was the obvious solution to the issues above. In addition, it's been a massive cost saving over the years. It's not a massive setup, here's what I have:<p>a) Bowflex Selecttech dumbbells - they adjust weights from 12.5 pounds to 52.5 pounds (there's a version that goes up to 90lbs too). You can do a lot of different exercises with them<p>b) Jump rope - a heavy leather rope, not a speed rope. It's incredible how fit you'll get from jumping for 15 straight minutes every other day. Plus it beats running because you can watch TV while you do it.<p>c) Two kettlebells<p>d) Resistance bands - these have been marginally useful, but they're also cheap and really portable. I bring them with me when I travel<p>e) interlocking floor mats - these protect the floor, but I've never dropped anything in nearly 8 years<p>f) a yoga mat - for situps<p>g) an Xbox - I'm not kidding. I would play Pro Evolution Soccer and Fallout 3 while doing situps.<p>h) Medicine ball - Don't get one. It's no fun unless you have someone to throw it to.<p>I researched different lifts using ExRx primarily using these two links:<p>* <a href="http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html</a><p>* <a href="http://www.exrx.net/Lists/WtMale.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.exrx.net/Lists/WtMale.html</a><p>All of those items can be tucked away into a closet or under the bed. I stuck with that for the first four years of my home gym. Ultimately, I added two large pieces that increased the space taken up, but still don't dominate the room they're in:<p>* An adjustable bench that folds flat<p>* the Power Tower (that's really what it's called) - a station for chin-ups/pull-ups and Roman chair lifts<p>You won't be Instagram-huge, but you can get large muscles. It's a little underpowered for chest since it lacks a bench press, but you'll still have chest gains doing isometric dumbbell presses.<p>-----------<p>Finally, this summer, I've lately found a ridiculously effective way to motivate myself to consistent exercise -- I only play video games while exercising. It's essentially a Pomodoro-style alternation between 8 minutes of playing, then lifting 10-15 reps of each exerise. It's incredible to realize that it only takes about 4 minutes to run through your exercises. I think people often spend the interval between sets agonizing about how tired they are and dreading the next set. Now, once I'm done lifting, I go straight to another mental task (video games) which feels like a reward for lifting. Once cycled through my exercises 4-6 times, I drink a protein shake, maybe play videogames for another hour, then continue with the rest of my day.<p>It sounds bizarre, but it's been a ten year progression to fit exercise as painless as possible. I wouldn't recommend this for beginners though. Exercise equipment isn't the sort of thing you want to buy lightly. Also, I had lifted a bit in high school, and consistently in college before starting the home gym. It's likely best to learn the basics first.