It is almost ironic that people drive through traffic to reach their gyms only to ride stationary bicycles.
People who don’t have the time or patience to go out to exercise often end up building their gyms right in the comfort of their homes as working out from the privacy of our houses can be a huge blessing.
However, it is important to note that if you don’t have the right tools or exercising equipment at your disposal, then your home gym is pretty much useless.
Enter the home workout, which allows you to skip lengthy aerobic sessions and travel time to the gym in favor of quick, convenient workouts whenever you have time.
There is a variety of gym equipment that you will require that is easy to find and install in an environment such as your home.
With that being said, you need to make sure that you have the necessary tools and equipment that will make your home work out a complete success.
Working out at Home
To get the best workout in the least amount of time, you need to think in terms of high-intensity, anaerobic bursts and static exercises. This is great, since these types of exercises don’t require lots of bulky equipment like rowing machines or treadmills, and can instead be performed with the following equipment--most of which will easily fit in a closet:
Jump Rope
For warmups, aerobic fitness and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), it’s hard to beat a jump rope. As an added bonus, one can easily be carried with you nearly anywhere you go (think hotel rooms on business trips or even the office).
Skipping rope is one of the cheapest and easiest exercising tools in existence. You can get one easily at the nearest sports equipment store or even find it at the supermarket for a relatively cheap price. Make sure the length of the rope is comfortable for you to avoid tripping.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Jumping rope not only increases your stamina, but it also improves your coordination as you are jumping constantly without looking at your feet. You can even start doing skipping tricks once you’re experienced enough.
Apart from that, skipping rope can also improve the muscles surrounding your ankle joint making you almost invulnerable to foot injuries.
Medicine Balls
Medicine balls, also known as Exercise Balls or Med Balls are a fun exercising tool. With a diameter of 13.7 inches, Med Balls can be a very versatile piece of workout equipment that you can pair with a variety of exercises.
With the Med Ball, you can do crunches, abdominal and shoulder exercises, sit-ups, squats, shoulder press, and even play catch if you’re feeling up to it.
Medicine balls can weigh anywhere from 1 kilogram to 5 kilograms and you can get them easily at stores like Walmart, Amazon or your nearest gym equipment seller.
Blast your abs with overhead slams or V-sit-ups, and light up the calories with step-jumps, shoulder presses, rolling pushups or any number of exercises that will keep you in peak physical shape whenever you have the time.
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are the most common and important home workout equipment. They are durable and easy to move around. To his day, lifting weight is considered one of the best ways to increase your muscle strength.
Apart from being super easy to use, dumbbells are also very safe. You don’t need a second person observing or helping you out with your exercises. Just pick them up, do your exercises and drop them whenever you feel like it.
Due to their mobility and safety, dumbbells are the perfect workout equipment for your home gym.
Yoga Mats
Next up on the list of workout home essentials is the yoga mat. A good quality cushioned yoga mat can help make your home workout routines more comfortable and easier to get through.
You can use the mat to do almost anything from classic yoga postures to regular stretches.
Yoga mats are also very compact and can be rolled tightly and stored anywhere in the house without eating up too much space. Making them an excellent home gym equipment for everyone.
Yoga Straps Or Resistance bands
If you’ve got a yoga mat and you plan on doing a couple of stretches then you most certainly need yoga straps to increase movements and ensure that you can do those complex yoga poses without pulling a single muscle.
Using a yoga strap requires almost no training or supervision. They are excellent for beginners who are just starting and do not want to feel too much pain in their muscles while they stretch.
Even veterans who practice difficult yoga positions can benefit from yoga straps as they come in a variety of shapes and sizes and you can use their elasticity to stretch for longer periods.
Think resistance bands are only for yoga classes and warmups? Think again! Moves such as Valslide shoulder Y pullbacks, single-leg resistance squats, or pushup lateral walks will build muscle, burn fat and—speaking of the burn—bring it on like habanero chiles.
Plus, they come in different tensions, lengths and forms so you can perform full-body workouts nearly anytime or anywhere with them.
Ab roller
While there are many convenient ways to build core strength at home, using an ab roller makes a 30-second plank seem like child’s play. That’s because this small, low-cost piece of equipment makes for what is essentially a combination plank and inverted crunches—oh the burn!
TRX Bands
With TRX Bands, the excuse of lack of space inside your home goes out the window. You can mount these straps anywhere inside your house using a secure bracket and exercise against gravity by pulling at the stirrups of the TRX Bands.
This priceless equipment allows you to do a variety of exercises such as squats, clock press, low rows, tricep press, and many more. The best thing about exercising with the TRX Bands is that you train against your body weight!
TRX Bands are not cheap because they have to be very durable to be able to support your body weight each time you use them. Their prices start at $100 and you can get them easily from any online store or your local gym equipment store.
Kettlebells
Kettlebells can be used to do a variety of exercises such as single deadlifts or the swing deadlifts. They are an excellent tool for improving your core strength and stability as well as flexibility,
They are an excellent alternative tool for running and cardio so those who do not like running can easily invest in one of these types of dumbbells.
And, while only one kettlebell is all you need for a great HIIT and strength workout, having an assortment of different sizes and weights is like having a full gym right there in your closet. It also only takes a few minutes to do kettlebell swings, thrusters and pistol squats along with other exercises, and a full-body workout can be performed in as little as little as 20-minutes with them.
Kettlebells can weigh anywhere from 8 kilograms to 18 kilograms depending on your requirements and they cost anywhere between $50 to $300 depending on their weight, the material used, and build quality.
Pullup Bar
What’s better than a piece of equipment that can add muscle, build cardio fitness and even help you stretch and relax? One which needs virtually NO storage space and is instead ready to use in a door frame at all times.
Use one to do pullups, chin-ups, hanging stretches and, by adding inversion boots to your equipment, inversion therapy and the most wicked upside-down sit-ups you’ve ever tried.
Wearable Weights
You can start using wearable weights to introduce a little strength training into your workout routines. They are easy to use as all you have to do is slip them on and start exercising.
Wearable weights come in many varieties for different parts of your body such as ankle weights, wrist weights, and vests.
Keep in mind that wearable weights may have some risks if not used properly so remember to be careful while exercising with them.
Foam roller
While bringing on the burn is important, so is recovery and injury prevention, which is why a foam roller is such an essential piece of home-workout equipment.
Use one to roll out sore, knotted muscles for faster recovery while preventing tendon strains and other overwork injuries, or repair strains and sprains quickly and effectively when you do get them.
Remember to take occasional breaks to hydrate yourself and prevent all sorts of illnesses.
DYLN Water Bottle
While working your muscles and cardiovascular system is an important part of your daily fitness, so is staying hydrated—especially when you consume alkalizing water from your DYLN bottle. That’s because not only does staying hydrated help flush your muscles of toxins to speed up recovery, alkalizing your system keeps your pH balance in check. This is important, since an acidic, out of balance system has been related to poor digestion, low blood viscosity and high blood pressure.
With a DYLN bottle, you can not only turn the pH of regular water up to a healthy 9, it allows you to keep plenty of cool, fresh, antioxidant drinking water right there with you as you work out. This helps you remember to drink, which can be hard when you’re lost in the midst of an intense sweat-session.
Hitting the Home Gym
Staying in shape doesn’t have to mean long hours running, swimming, cycling, or sweating in the gym, since you can get a complete workout in your spare time right from the comfort of your own home.
Plus, while you can invest in bulky and expensive equipment such as rowing machines, weight sets and treadmills, you can also get just as effective a workout using inexpensive equipment that easily stores under a bed, in a closet, or other out-of-the-way places.
In fact, by adding these essentials to your home gym, even legitimate excuses to skip workouts will go out the window in favor of convenient fitness whenever you want.
And of course, don’t forget your DYLN bottle for healthy hydration and pH balance, since after all, life IS better balanced!
