Home Gym Equipment
We have already talked about the advantages of having a home gym, as well as various considerations for designing a private workout area. You can always go back and see what we have already discussed. Now let’s talk about selecting equipment for your home gym.
Selecting Home Gym Equipment
Think “Personal Goals” → “Exercise Program” → “Space & Budget” → “Equipment”
At some point, you may find that I repeat myself. This will happen intentionally (in most cases) because I want you to absorb certain concepts, which, I believe, are very important. And one of such concepts is the sequence of steps to take when making a selection of home gym equipment.
My recommendation would be instead of getting online and starting to look for whatever equipment you can afford, begin with defining your goals. I promise we will figure out how to equip you with fitness accessories without breaking your bank.
As you clearly define what you want to achieve health- and fitness-wise, your goals can be translated into a practical, specific and effective workout program. The next step will be to look at the space and the budget at your disposal. After that, you will have a clear understanding of what you may want to include on your list of fitness accessories to get. If you skip any of these steps, you may end up with a bunch of useless gym equipment that you don’t really need. Moreover, if you don’t plan carefully you may also find yourself overpaying for some accessories, which could be easily substituted by something less expensive, but equally functional and effective.
Personal Goals & Exercise Program Design
The section of this website titled “How to Start Exercising” goes quite far and wide into defining personal goals and choosing or designing an effective exercise program to reach such goals. If you need help in that department, I suggest you head over there and give it a quick read. What I will emphasize here, though, is that no matter what your personal goals end up being, you must always opt for a holistic approach. Don’t look for shortcuts by concentrating on one specific type of exercising (Eg. Crunching away to get a sixpack or squatting to get hard glutes.) Everything in your body is interconnected and isolating body parts and muscle groups, in most cases, may not be the best route to take.
Moreover, it is pretty much impossible to get and keep your body in top shape without giving it a complete workout. This is especially true, if you haven’t exercised in a while and you are overweight (or underweight), if you have a limited range of mobility in certain joints or experience chronic pain. So, if your plan doesn’t include either strength building exercises, cardio activities, stretching or massaging/self-massaging, you need to re-think your approach. Start by reading this article - “A Complete Workout Plan.”
I will assume that you have spent a few minutes learning about the basics of exercising, such as Types of Physical Activities, How Much to Exercise, etc. By now you should have a pretty good idea about what your workout plan should consist of. Therefore, I will base the following recommendation on 4 essential types of exercises one should perform regularly. These recommendations have been conceived within the frame of space and budget considerations. So, you can decide which ones will work best for your case.
Equipment for Strength Building Exercises
Equipment for Cardio Exercises
Stretching Accessories
Self-Massage Accessories