I don't like paying money for things I can do "naturally" in other ways. The 3-4 times I've bought "machines" they end up not being used and eventually thrown or given away, sold, etc.

I did get serious about exercising earlier this year and bought myself a 3 month gym membership with 10 sessions with a personal trainer (once a week so nearly the whole 12 weeks or so of the membership) and the trainer taught me a lot of things that don't need a gym or fancy equipment.

One thing I would have NEVER thought of was to sit on a bench and then stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, etc. Eventually we added weights but I hadn't thought about how, as a couch potato and out of shape person I sit for long periods in front of the computer here, the TV, eating, reading, in the car. I mostly sit! Who would have thought that merely sitting down and getting up could be "exercise." For me, a beginner and someone really out of shape, it is!

Another thing he had me do was to take a medium-sized, soft, rubber ball (kind of basketball/dodge ball size but "soft") and put it between my knees/thighs while sitting and squeeze. I'd seen people squeezing tennis balls in their hands to help their wrists (I guess?) and this was similar, between my thighs. I was supposed to squeeze like I was trying to pop the ball :-) and hold it for a count, etc. Very easy to do in front of TV or any other time I'm just sitting!

All the exercises he had me doing besides cardio I could do without anything except the ball and a set or two of inexpensive drugstore hand weights. I was doing pushups off of walls, various arm/weight combinations and balancing! I found I had trouble standing on one foot and extending the other leg to the side/back, etc. so we spent time practicing "balance." For cardio he had me using the treadmill and bicycle but at home, I use my lovely stairs in my townhouse :-)

Were I you I'd build up to the ablounger. Start even easier than that, (find a school/park swing set you fit on and work at height? I think that would work the same muscles) and see if you'll keep at working out. I had to quit the gym on about week 7 or 8 because my asthma started acting up and I didn't have it under control. I knew better from experience with myself to know I shouldn't buy a year or even 6 months worth of membership so paid "more" for the 3 month one (it wasn't on "sale" the other ones were) to see if I would keep at it. You can always buy whatever (I'm still tempted by Bowflex machines) at any time in the future! Make sure you're really into consistent working out and then buy something you want as a reward?