There is nothing more convenient than working out at home in terms of time efficiency. Aside from the commute, it saves any lag time you spend waiting for your turn for a machine. It also cuts off the extra gym membership fee. However, you need to invest a little bit of time and money into your home gym first. Or, if you already have a home gym, small additions keep things interesting and help you avoid plateaus. Commitment, consistency, and perseverance, when combined with the right set of equipment, is all you need to make home workouts a home-run idea.
Here are our top seven picks for home gym equipment that offer the most bang for your buck. They also keep limited space in mind.
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Kettle Bell
A well-known staple training tool that’s a part of almost all gyms, kettle bells effectively build strength, endurance, flexibility, and improve balance. Because kettle bell swings utilize a massive number of muscles, and increase the heart rate, they’re incredibly efficient. Kettle bell exercise movements include: plastic explosive moments, multi-planar movements, as well as offset and unilateral movements that improve all the aforementioned facets of your training.
Bonus idea: pair kettle bell training with other pieces of equipment, like resistance bands or Bosus for a mix of unconventional exercises.
Adjustable Dumbbells
Dumbbells are one of the oldest and most well-regarded pieces of fitness equipment for building strength and creating lean muscles. They truly are THE staple for all home gyms. But rather than invest in a dozen different sets in varying weights, save time and money using adjustable dumbbells.
They are relatively compact compared to other strength-building gym equipment, and the weight adjust-ability means one set does the trick of many.
Resistance Bands
These are, perhaps, the most inexpensive and versatile pieces of equipment for anyone seeking a home workout. From beginners to advanced, they make everything just a bit harder. These bands provide a full-body workout and overall fitness. They also come in a variety of shapes, colors, sizes, levels of resistance. Pair your bands with dumbbell exercises for even more difficulty.
Exercise and Fitness Mats
While following a fitness regime, core body workouts, including Pilates, yoga, Pi-Yo and basic body weight, floor-based movements not only protect the body, but also strengthens it. Aside from protecting the body against a hard ground, they provide a non-slip surface that allows for more advanced movements and balancing techniques like plank walk-outs and single leg side planks.
Just like other pieces of equipment on the list, mats also come in a variety of sizes and prices depending on the purpose, quality, and thickness. Some even roll up perfectly to support the low back during crunches, and assist with certain movements.
And don’t underestimate the importance of stretching and foam rolling, both of which work better on a mat than on a hard, dirty floor! (Your Lulu Lemon pants will thank you too!)
Spin Bikes
Spin bikes offer a huge bang for your buck in terms of joint protecting hard cardio. In addition, the right cycle bike helps improve and tone the hips, abs, glutes, thighs, calves, and shoulders. Spin bikes come with reinforced frames and enhanced flywheel mechanisms. This supports a flexible home gym regimen with some stand-and-pedal sessions for maximum effort and benefits. The flywheel mechanism makes the machine go easy on joints, even during high-intensity workouts.
While the cost of the equipment may vary depending on the built-up mechanism and features, the best spin bikes often come with attributes such as reinforced pedals, comfortable seat padding with seat adjust-ability, and display consoles along with in-built programs and progress monitoring add-ons to help you quantify the progress.
Stability Ball
While working on your fitness goals, improving core muscle strength, balance and coordination makes for a more well-rounded and fit body. Stability balls, while relatively large, offer just the thing for elevating plain Jane movements. They also provide rehabilitation for the spine, hips and knees. Exercising on a stability ball might come as a challenge in the beginning, but the benefits of consistently working with it way surpass the initial (and literal) shakiness. Give decline push-ups, seated shoulder presses, bridged chest presses and weighted ball crunches a try!
Suspension Body Weight Trainers
These offer some of the best combinations of body movements during workouts to support balance, strength and endurance. Suspension trainers make use of body weight for resistance. Plus, they’re portable, light, and provide increasing difficulty based on your body placement, reps and speed.
Composed of suspensions traps, handles and buckle they provide a full body workout, from cardio (like Lunge Jumps) to incredibly difficult back rows and hamstring curls.
Tell Us
Which pieces of equipment do you currently own, and which ones would you like to add? In terms of price and versatility, we can’t think of a better curation than these 7 pieces of equipment for a home gym! Tell us below in the comments!
I have 2 sets of adjustable weights, resistance bands, kettlebells, yoga mats, a stability ball and bosu ball, and a step. I am not a fan of cardio machines so I would never add a spin bike, that’s just my personal preference but I would consider a suspension training set.
Awesome! Sounds like you have a super cool set up!!
Are there any workouts that go Long with the 131 plan?
We don’t have specific workouts, but in the program we discuss the best types of exercise:)