Introduction
Are you a married individual with kids and a career to take care of? Then setting up a home gym seems like a worthy investment. Family and career are one of the top reasons for not being able to stay regular with the workout; bad weather conditions are the second most common reasons.
Setting up a home gym doesn’t necessarily need to be a costly affair, you can set up a good home gym within a few hundred bucks. I personally set up a home gym at just $150 and then periodically added additional equipment.
No matter what your personal reasons are, if you have intentions to stay in shape then you will always make it possible.
Having a home gym setup is one of the best decisions you can make for your personal fitness, it allows you to stay flexible with the workout style and time.
Are home gym machines worth it?
Absolutely, the investment is totally worth it. We all have been spending tons of money on unnecessary parties, clubbing, socializing, etc, shouldn’t you have a budget for personal fitness? The body is an asset that you need to maintain and investing a few hundred bucks for personal health and fitness is always a great idea.
Are home gym machines worth it? Let’s have a look at the benefits they deliver.
- They are open for you 24*7, you are free to work out at any given time.
- It saves you from commuting time, fuel, and parking tickets.
- Make your own rules. Drop the weights, blast the music, invite friends, and do whatever you want.
- Customize it for your personal needs.
- Never dodge a training session. I personally love to walk or jog a few miles after a party session.
- Personal home gym motivates other family members for personal fitness.
- Teach your kids the art of exercise at an early age.
What you need for a home gym?
To set up a home gym, you are not expected to buy a full range of workout equipment. Making a wise selection of required workout equipment is necessary.
There are 5 essential components of personal fitness:
- Strength training
- Flexibility and mobility
- Cardio for heart health
- Agility for a better quality of life
- Stress relief
So basically, you need to have at least one piece of equipment to address every component of personal health and fitness.
Ahead, we are going to cover these essentials in our checklist.
How to build a home gym:
So we know the 5 essential components of developing personal fitness, its also important to know “how to plan the process”.
Decide a budget:
Determining a fixed budget will help you make a wise decision. There is always a cheap alternative available for every exercise.
If you have a tight budget then you can choose jumping rope instead of the costly treadmill, a pushup bar instead of bench-pressing setup. Ahead, we are going to plan a home gym for every budget.
Look at the big picture
What is the purpose of your workout? Is it to lose weight, train for a marathon, stay in shape or compete for a bodybuilding title?
Determining the exact purpose will help you shortlist the best workout equipment for your needs.
Shortlisting of equipment
Shortlisting the required equipment makes the whole process easy. It saves you from investing your money in any useless equipment.
Once you are done with budgeting and finding the purpose, it’s time to shortlist the products.
Measurements
Most people forget the measure the room dimensions before ordering bulky gym equipment.
Before you order a “Power Rack”, Treadmill, or any other bulky item, measure your room size.
Don’t forget to measure the height if you are looking to buy a power rack.
Flooring
Buying floor mats is a small investment that can save tons of money. Order a protective flooring before you invest in dumbbells, treadmills, kettlebells, etc.
Home gym essentials checklist
Discussed enough the basics, let’s start with the home gym essential checklist.
1- Strength training
Power rack
It’s an anchor point for building a home gym.
If you are looking to develop some serious strength in the comfort of your home then investing in a power rack is going to be the best investment.
A power rack will allow you to practice the top three compound movements: bench press, squat, and deadlifts. Most of the power racks also allow you to do pullups and chin-ups for superior upper body strength.
Barbell and weight plates
Barbells and weight plates are the most basic equipment for strength development.
Investing in an Olympic-size barbel and sufficient weight plates expose you to an array of workout options.
Adjustable dumbbell and bench
If investing in a power rack seems a costly affair to you? Then having a set of adjustable dumbbells can do the work for you.
These dumbbells do not take up much space and allow you to target almost every muscle group for optimum strength and body conditioning.
Kettlebell
One of the most preferred workout equipment for someone looking to develop strength while shedding excess fat.
Kettlebell is versatile workout equipment suitable for people looking the development of functional strength.
2- Cardio
Cardio can be categorized into two categories: high-intensity and low-intensity cardio.
High-intensity cardio will melt down your stubborn fat but it can be hard to do. low-intensity allows you to lose body weight but that doesn’t necessarily mean fat-burning, low-intensity cardio might lead to losing your hard-earned muscle mass.
Rowing machine
It’s the best way to melt down your stubborn fat. Air rowing is an exercise that will target the full body and helps you gain strength while burning stubborn fat.
Even Hugh Jackman gives credit to rowing machines to be the main reason behind his ripped look for his character “wolverine”
Spinning bike
If you are a believer in “slow and steady wins the race” then getting a spinning bike at home can be a great addition to your home gym.
I personally have used the spinning bike for years to stay in shape, I used to use it while watching television, responding to daily emails, and spending time with family.
A vigorous spinning session can help you burn up to 700 calories within an hour, and a steady pace of spinning will help you burn around 350 calories per hour.
Medicine ball set
Perfect for hyperactive minds and those looking for functional strength.
Do you feel stressed after office hours? Medicine call is a perfect stress buster that allows you to strengthen your core while smashing that ball in different ways.
Medicine balls cones in a variety of sizes and weights, you can find them weighing up to 100 lbs.
One of my friends made a home gym with the help of Medicine Balls, you can train your legs, core, shoulders, and back with the help of these simple weighted balls.
Jump rope/ speed rope
Looking to strip down fat in a cost-effective way? Jump rope is the answer.
Jumping rope for 15 minutes can help you burn up to 300 calories. Not just that, it also helps in strengthening calves, legs, back, shoulders and arms.
It also helps in achieving better agility, coordination, and cognitive functioning.
Heavy jump ropes can help with greater resistance and greater fat loss.
3- Flexibility and core strengthening
While most of the people are concerned about the strength gaining, most of us usually forget the importance of flexibility in injury prevention and functional strength.
Balance trainer
While most of the people seem to skip this incredible equipment which helps in achieving stronger joints and incredible core strength.
Balance Trainer is scientifically proven to ENGAGE 4 TIMES MORE MUSCLE GROUPS than the same exercise on a flat, hard surface.
How does it work? A balance trainer gives you an unstable surface to perform the given bodyweight exercise which required the body to engage more muscle power for body stabilization.
It a perfect equipment for someone interested in bodyweight workouts, it will add resistance and help you achieve a healthier body.
Foam roller
Any gym is incomplete without a foam roller, it can help you in many different ways.
A foam roller allows you to stretch the worked muscle or can be used to provide deep massage pressure to relieve muscle tension.
Not just that, you can also do some basic core strengthening exercises with the help of foam roller.
Ab Wheels
You cant sculpt a strong body without core strengthening.
Hundreds of daily crunches will do more harm than any good. Ab roller wheels are the best way to sculpt perfect abs while strengthening them.
4- Agility
Battle rope
Plyo box jumping and agility ladder helps in developing lower body agility, but we have something for the upper body too.
The battle rope is a perfect gym equipment to achieve upper body sleep, strength, coordination and conditioning.
A battle rope has been used by MMA fighters and many other pro athletes for strengthening arms, back, shoulders and core. There are hundreds of ways available to use this versatile equipment.
Best this is, its easy to carry a battle rope for outdoor workout activities.
Agility ladder
One of the most common and cost-effective workout equipment that has helped many pro athletes.
They improve three key fitness factors—speed, agility, and quickness.
The agility ladder takes almost no space and performing a few drills can help you burn insane amount of calories.
Plyo box
This is my favorite to develop an insane short burst explosive power.
Plyo box helps in the development of stronger legs and they also come within the HIIT workout drills that help you burn calories fast.
Plyo box jumping activates the fast-twitch muscle groups that lead to higher testosterone levels, muscle development and calorie burning.
Additionally, Plyometric box jumping is a high-intensity workout that requires a very short duration of time to torch tons of calories.
5- Stress relief
Yoga mats:
Yoga has been one of the most underrated fitness activity for decades, only a handful of people used to practice it. But yoga is a hot trend because of the elevating stress levels in today’s lifestyle and work ethics.
Owning a yoga mat is a great way to inaugurate your yoga routine for stress relief.
You can also search for “animal flow movements” that can help you achieve better body composition.
Boxing bag:
It’s the best way to relieve stress while preparing yourself to be combat-ready.
Owning a boxing bag can help you do a few minutes of kick-boxing sessions that can be enough to flatten your belly fat.
Low budget gym setup includes:
- Jump rope
- Medicine ball/ sandbag
- Set of dumbells
- Pullup bar
- Agility ladder
Moderate budget:
- Elliptical or spinning bike
- Kettlebell
- Battle rope
- Power rack with a bench, barbell and weight plates
- Plyo box
A perfect home Gym setup includes
- Treadmill
- Power rack with a bench, barbell and weight plates
- Adjustable dumbbell
- Kickboxing kit for agility
- Core trainer
Best dumbbell set for home gym
Buying a wide variety of dumbbells has gone outdated. Today its time to get an adjustable weight dumbbell that proves to be a cost-effective and space saver option.
Here is the list of best adjustable dumbbells.
[amazon box=”B000OC5RXE,B000A6T9I8,B01LF6X85G” grid=”3″]
Where can I buy home gym equipment
That depends on the location and availability of local stores.
I prefer to buy mine from online stores because of the wide variety of equipment. Online shopping also saves commuting time and delivers the goods at the doorstep.
Thanks for reading. Questions are welcomed in the comments as always. This site contains affiliate links as well as general health and fitness information. Please read my Medical Disclaimer and Writing Disclaimer for more information.
