Whether you have a gym membership or not, there is no excuse for not working out. It’s a lot easier than you think to turn your living room into a gym with a few pieces of home workout equipment. In fact, working out from home:
- Saves time
- Saves money
- Allows flexibility in scheduling
- Eliminates waiting for equipment
- Allows privacy to learn and make mistakes
Investing in the right equipment is a good place to start. Here are what I believe to be the best pieces of in-home equipment, prices included. You don’t need them all, but it’s a good idea to invest in one or two of these items to allow for a complete full body workout.
Jump Rope: Effective for high intensity cardio, warm-ups, speed and agility, hand-eye coordination, footwork, and metabolic conditioning. A good rope starts at $10.
Resistance Bands: These allow for exercises you cannot do with your bodyweight alone such as rowing variations, bicep curl variations, delt raises, shoulder presses, internal and external rotations. A good set of 5 resistance bands with a door anchor starts at $21 on Amazon.
TRX Suspension Trainer: Many of the same exercise can be done with the TRX as resistance bands, however, the TRX also allows for some more challenging exercises that are performed suspended (feet hooked into the straps). These start at $149 with the door anchor included.
Pull-Up Bar: Pull-ups and chin-ups are very efficient because they work your biceps, triceps, forearms, wrists, grip strength, lats, shoulders, and your core. These start at $19.
Kettlebells: These allow you to do compound exercises, core exercises, rowing and pulling, curling, functional movements, and metabolic conditioning. These will vary anywhere from $13 to over $100 depending on whether you buy one or go with a set.
Adjustable Dumbbells: I consider these the best investment of all of these pieces of equipment. They allow you to do the most exercises, target all muscle groups, and they take up little space. These can be adjusted from 5 pounds up to 52.5 pounds and start at $249.
Brian Donovan is a certified fitness and nutrition coach, and the founder of Online Fitness Coach, LLC – an online fitness program where clients get direct coaching and personally tailored training and nutrition plans. Coach Brian was voted Chicago’s “Best Personal Trainer” by Chicago Reader magazine, Best Of Chicago 2014 edition. He has been featured in magazines such as Muscle & Fitness, Chicago Reader, Voyage Chicago, and The PTDC as well various other health and fitness blogs.
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