It’s that time of year again!  Time when many people start thinking about goals.  Goals for health and fitness have got to be some of the most common goals.

So you want to start working out?  Great!  But what do you do if joining a gym just isn’t a feasible option for you?  Either the cost is not in the budget, or the time spent driving to and from the gym just ends up making fitness take up way too big of a space in your day, or you have children that you can’t exactly bring to the gym with you.  What’s a person to do?

My advice?  Invest in some home gym equipment!  Now, personally, I do have a gym membership, and I really, really love it, but there are still plenty of times when it is not feasible in the schedule of my day to get there.  So, I love having some home gym equipment at home that I use to bust out a quick 20-30 minute workout.

New to working out?  Feeling dazed and confused about which exercises to do let alone which equipment to purchase?  Not to worry!  See my list below!

My Top 7 Favorite Things for a Home Gym

1.  Weights  

It’s no secret around here that I believe strength training is some of the very best exercise that everyone should be doing!  Now, plenty of exercises can be performed with just body weight, and if you’re new to working out, that’s a great place to start, but before too long you are going to need to challenge yourself by adding weight.  (And please, please, ladies, don’t worry about bulking up!  You won’t!  But I’ll save that soapbox for another day…)

So, what to get?  You could start with just some gallon jugs of water, a child’s backpack filled with books (“sandbag” workout, anyone?), or something else sorta DIY.  This is a great, super economical option.

You could also purchase a few dumbbells in differing weights…say, some 5’s, 10’s, and 15’s, and 20’s. It can add up kinda fast (expect to pay at least $1 per pound, per dumbbell), but it is certainly a viable option.  If you bought these dumbbells in 5, 10, 12, and 15 pound increments, you’d spend about $100.  Not terrible, but if you’re trying to do total body workouts, you may need some heavier weights soon after starting your fitness routine.

My favorite option for weights for my home gym is the Ironmaster Quick-Lock Adjustable Dumbbell Set.  You can easily interlock the weights to make dumbbells weighing up to 45 pounds each.  This is a fantastic option for me, as it would take me quite a while to outgrow these weights!  However, even if I did want to go heavier, they do have options for add-on kits.  Now, my set of weights runs $379 on Amazon.  This is certainly not cheap (and was actually a really generous gift to me), but it is my favorite option for weights at home.  Bowflex makes a set of adjustable dumbbells as well, that are a little less expensive ($249 on Amazon), but I had heard that they didn’t lock into place quite as well as the Ironmaster ones.

2.  Pull-up Bar

Ladies, the strong, toned upper body (even abs!) that you’re looking for is found on the pull-up bar–even if you can’t do one!!  Watch my video here on how to work up to doing full pull-ups.  This is a piece of equipment that is very inexpensive ($22!) and you never “outgrow.”

 

3.  A Stability Ball

I could give you about a million reasons why you need one of these things beyond just workouts, but even if you don’t use it for everything, this, in my opinion, is a must.  The stability ball forces you to engage your core and recruit your smaller, stabilizer muscles in each and every exercise (the smaller muscles that often go overlooked if you’re constantly training on stable surfaces like gym floors using dumbbells or sitting and using weight machines). Overlook those stabilizers long enough, and you could very well run into injury.  But, build strength and power after building stability, and you’ve set yourself up nicely for a lifetime of health and fitness.  You can get a stability ball on Amazon for around $20.  It doesn’t have to be fancy at all.  I would say, unless you’re close to 6 feet or taller, a 55 cm ball would be my recommendation on size.

4.  A Suspension Trainer  

I love the suspension trainer for home workouts!  It’s really, really hard to outgrow this piece of equipment because the closer your feet get to the door (or wherever your TRX is hanging), the harder the exercise becomes.  (Want to see the suspension trainer in action?  See this post.)

I use the TRX Suspension Trainer.  It’s the brand that made this style of training “a thing,” but I’ve seen some great knock-off brands for a fraction of the price.  (In fact, just last week I saw one at Aldi for $15!  Now, I have no idea what sort of quality we’d be talking about with that one, but ya never know.  It’s not the most sophisticated piece of equipment, so maybe it would be just fine.)

5.  A Jump Rope.

This is probably the absolute easiest and cheapest piece of home gym equipment you could get, but I love what a great warm up jumping rope can be.  Often, I set a timer for five minutes at the start of a home workout and jump until the timer runs out.  My heart rate is elevated, and I’m sweating a bit by the end.  I include single leg jumps and double unders for an increased challenge.  (Here’s one for only $10.)

6.  Insanity Max30.

This is my one piece of “cardio equipment” that I use in my home gym!  As much as I love, love running, I do not own a treadmill, stationary bike, or elliptical trainer.  I know that if I only have time for a short workout at home, my time is best served doing some intervals or strength training (or a combo of both).  A spin off of the popular home workout system, “Insanity,” Shaun T. is back to bring you a shorter, but very intense version of the program.  My biggest hangup with the regular Insanity is just that it takes too long.  (I believe the workouts last between 40 and 80 minutes!)  This one is 30 minutes, and you are done!  Another good option, that may be slightly easier but still a great workout, would be the T-25 workout series.  Same concept, but 25 minutes instead of 30.

7.  A Foam Roller

This might seem unnecessary to you (and the importance of foam rolling probably deserves a post all its own), but I absolutely believe in the importance of foam rolling.  Go ahead and ditch all that static stretching that you’ve been taught, and just get to rolling!  It makes a great addition to warm ups and is excellent for muscle recovery as well.

So there you have it.  My top 7 recommendations for building a home gym.  If you can only build your gym a little at the time, I would start at the top of the list and work downwards toward the bottom.  Of course you’ll be saving money over the course of a year by not paying for a gym membership, but even beyond that, the time you’ll save by not driving to the gym will pay dividends as well.

So what do you think?  What do you have in your “home gym?”  What would you add to my list?  Comment below!

(Note: this post contains affiliate links.  That means, when you click on one of my links and make a purchase, you help keep the lights on over here at Sprinting Spoon.  Thanks in advance!)

Post Updated: March 27, 2020.