can anybody give the details of good machines and their companies to make a home gym.. what are the minimal requirement machines, to have in a simple home gym..

The cheapest and most versatile thing to do is to get some dumbbells, a barbell and some free weights to go on them. You'd be amazed at how many exercises you can do this way, for both the upper and lower body. Start off with a small selection with small increments in weight, if you need some heavier ones you can buy them at any stage afterwards.

The only disadvantage with free weights is that because technique is important, you need to get some instruction before you start. That's not hard though, the place you buy the equipment should be able to point you in the right direction.

I can't advise on specific brands, but perhaps somebody else can. If you want more specific advice on an exercise program once you have the equipment, just ask. There's another thread around somewhere that has some information on that aspect too.

fine bikeboy.. thanks much..

I have a bowflex. Bowflex causes you to use muscles you never knew you had. I also have a 'Stairmaster' stepper and a 'LifeFitness' treadmill along with a bunch of other stuff that hardly gets used.

i have a barbell and about 300lbs. of plates. no racks. there's an unbelievable amount of work you can do with just a bar and some weights, and it's all functional, from deadlifts to push press.

minimal requirements id say one cardio machine, whether its an X-trainer a treadmill or a bike (bikes probably the cheapest) and a set of dumbells, and something to enable you to do situps, i used something like Buy V-fit Doorway Sit-Up Bar. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Other gym equipment.
but you must remember it all depends on your goals, if you goal is to get lose weight then the above is good, but if you wanna get hench then obviously your needs are different

Thanks Chuck BTW- I have that 'total gym' you sell with Christy.

I must say I'm very sceptical about any machines for abdominal and trunk extensor muscles. A common problem is that they put you in a position that makes the hip flexors work at least as much as the targeted muscles, which is implicated in many people's low back pain. You need to make sure the movement in coming from the trunk, rather than the hip. This particularly applies to sit-ups.

I much prefer static exercises for the trunk, such as The Plank and other variations on it.

im not convinced by that plank thing, it looks almost like some sort of isometric ab-crunch in reverse, and isometric exercises are poor for building strength and in turn muscle.

Poor for building strength, no. Poor for building muscle, to some degree. In functional terms, the abs work isometrically, so an isometric exercise is perfect and actually useful. I guess it does depend on the reason why you're exercising your abs, it's just that they're a postural muscle and it concerns me when people try to build them up without thinking about this. Many other exercises give your abs adequate work, squats and deadlifts performed correctly, along with most upper body free weight exercises.

If you must do isotonic exercises for the abs, move only from the neck and upper back, keep your lower spine fixed on the floor. Basically, do crunches rather than full situps, don't try to go all the way up, and make it a nice slow, controlled movement.