If you are like me, you love to get great deals, learn about new weight lifting techniques and you can never have enough fitness equipment at home. It’s your lucky day landing on our website as we have done the research for you in finding the best exercise equipment at discounted prices.
We just blew right past the cheap fitness equipment in each of the main areas of creating a home gym. I did not want to waste my time looking at them and I did not want to waste yours.
You basically get what you pay for. So, we will be reviewing higher end product models on the market. It’s just how I like to roll. I would rather save my money to buy the best or dang near the best than settle for something cheap or mediocre. In the end I’m not happy and end up resenting it.
Basic Equipment Need For Your Gym At Home
So let’s list out the main areas that you should focusing on to have one kick but gym at home. Some of you will be able to go out and get much of this at once, while others will purchase the equipment over time as you save money to buy them individually.
The first decision to make before we get to our list is to determine how much space you will realistically have. Most of us will have part of a room dedicated to our workout area. Others will have the luxury of having a dedicated room because their kids have not taken it over yet or the wife has not turned it into a spare bedroom already. 🙂 Just kidding girls. Hee hee 🙂
So, if you have limited space you might just consider a home gym where it has all the main equipment built into it which covers a small area of space. You can spend 400-1500 dollars for a home gym like the popular bowflex models. Now let’s continue on with our list of what should be included for your gym.
1. Adjustable Weight Set
Right off the bat I would look at an adjustable dumbbell set. This is one of the most versatile pieces of gym equipment you can use. With a dumbbell set like bowflex or ironmaster you can do a legs, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest and leg workouts.
The dumbbells also will work great for doing any type of exercise program you can watch on your dvd player home as most of the programs require a set to complete the program. A great example of this are beachbody programs like P90x3 and Bodybeast that rely heavily on using dumbbells in the workouts.
You can read about all the different types here https://www.fitnessrocks.org/best-adjustable-dumbbells/ to get started.
2. Treadmill or Elliptical
This would be my second choice of equipment to buy because you can use this all year round. Anyone at any skill level can hop on a treadmill for a great workout. You could do a nice walking interval program using the incline to make it difficult to doing any kind of running train plan that you are wanting to accomplish. It’s one of those things that I just consider a staple of the home gym.
3. Optional Cardio Equipment
I’m adding this section because it really is a preference as to what you add in this group. Many of you have your personal hobbies like myself that you thoroughly enjoy. As for myself I am a huge biker. So, when winter time comes I have to figure out a way to bike in the winter. So, an indoor cycling bike is key for me to get my workouts in.
There are others who really love to row for their cardio and for part of the strength workout to build their legs, shoulders and back. These are the type of people who will want to add a rowing machine to their gym.
Lastly there are some of you who really prefer an elliptical machine over a treadmill and for good reason. Elliptical machines are a lot easier on your knees, you can get just as good of a workout on it as running and you can get more laser focused to work on your butt muscles. It generally is a bit smaller than a treadmill so you can save on space as well.
4. At Home Workout DVDs
For me this is a requirement. You need some type of program to follow and there are a ton of great workout programs you can find online to do at home. I am a huge fan of Beachbody’s programs. I’m sure you have the seen the infomercials of T25, P90x, P90x3 or the 21 day fix. These seem to be common names that people know about and are the type that work great at home with the right equipment.
Of course there a ton of other dvd workout programs that you will be able to purchase that will work for your training goals as well so just make sure you have room for a TV and dvd player in your workout room. You will need a stand as well to place them on so plan for that as well.
5. Traditional Strength Training Equipment
Lastly you will need some sort of weight bench for sure. This could run anywhere from 100-600 dollars. You will want to make sure it has 4-6 angles of adjustments and definitely make sure it has a decline position to do sit-ups and decline bench.
From there you really can get specialized depending on your skill level. You might want an Olympic weight bench and barbell for flat bench press and various other exercises. I would love to have a power rack at home so I could to squats, dips and even pull-ups on it. The sky is the limit in this category. It all comes down to your goals.
6. Gym Accessories
I added this category because there are small odds and ends that make a difference in putting it together. To name a few you should have some sort of Stand to put a tv and dvd player in there. If you get on with shelves you will find yourself storing jump ropes on there, dvds, resistance bands and other small pieces of equipment you can organize you gather over time. I also installed a sound bar so I could hook my iphone to it to play music when I'm not listening to the TV or DVD.
7. Gym Mirrors
I have not done this yet but I plan on it. I was working out at the gym at work the other day and realized how awesome it was to have gym mirrors so I could watch my form as I’m doing exercises with heavier weight. I was so used to working out at home that I forgot how useful they can be. It really dresses up the workout room and puts you into the next level as well! It gives it the wow factor! I found one option on amazon here but I would still do some more research. It was looking to be expensive from what I found. I would rather get a bench for that price or dumbbell set before I bought it. It would be one of the last things I would personally buy.
8. Gym Flooring
So, you can totally go nuts in this area depending on your budget. You can go with cheap gym flooring that are one piece ranging from 3 feet wide to 7 feet long for instance. This will sit right on your carpet. It would be great to put the treadmill on or bike trainer for example.
You also have the really common option of attachable gym flooring. The price range for this will vary based on the thickness and square footage you need. I have seen this come in colors as well if you really want to be different. 90 percent of gym flooring is black though so, if you really need color you have to dig a bit.
Please do your measurements ahead of ordering it though so you can figure out how many packages you need to order. They usually come in a 4 pack and will list out the square footage it will cover. You will be able to figure out what you need from there.
On other not about home gym flooring is to not make the mistake I did. I bought regular hard rubber squares that were not detachable. I figured they would have some sort of glue or stickiness to them on the back that I would just lay them down. Nope! I was supposed to buy all the glue on my end to lay it down. I would personally go with the interlocking gym flooring so it makes it easy to put together. Here is a quick link to gym flooring at amazon here to start your search.
Ready To Build It?
So, I hope this gives you a basic guide on what you need or can buy for your gym at home. As you can see you can make this as complicated as you want and as expensive as you want. It’s all about you at this point so have fun with it. Let’s get after it and get in shape for the rest of your life!