The perfect affordable & versatile Home Gym Setup with all my favorite Home Gym Equipment. Everything you need to ensure you have the best workout: dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, wall balls and more. Then get ready to sweat!
My Favorite Home Gym Equipment
Since I can remember I’ve been a gym rat. I grew up playing volleyball and soccer, I was either on the court or in the field. When I got older I decided to played club volleyball full time on a traveling team and played until I graduated from high school. Then I got a scholarship and played volleyball in college and almost went AVP. While I was there I graduated with a degree in Sports Wellness & Management and did some personal training.
All that to say that I have always had a passion for sports and fitness. It has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Since COVID happened and we were all stuck inside I’ve really been wanting to use my passion and share my knowledge with you! So I’ve been created at home workout videos on my Instagram account. In my feed I’ve been posting weekly exercise demos with a workout routine and in my stories I’ve been posting daily workout video (in fast motion) followed by the exercises and sets I do for each. Basically, you’re set for a full week of workouts that work your legs, arms, core, glutes, full body … anything you can think of! And then it’s all different each week.
Now, if you’re going to workout you also need to have some essential workout equipment. Here is the best at home gym equipment I’ve been able to find in order to make sure you have an affordable and versatile you can use year round.
SHOP MY FAVORITE HOME GYM EQUIPMENT
Must Have Gym Equipment
I don’t have a full blown cross fit gym. The items I have listed below are perfect for a beginner at home gym. As you start to grow and strength you can add more home gym equipment to your space.
- Dumbbells – Dumbbells require more stabilization than a barbell. If you want to gain a lot of lean muscle mass, you can do so it with lighter to medium weight dumbbells. I typically use dumbbells for exercises that work weaker muscle groups because they are enough weight to work the muscle but not too much to overburden and tear the muscle. I’d recommend buying a set of dumbbells for the following weights – 5 lb. 10 lb. and 15 lb.
- Kettlebells – A kettlebell looks like a cast-iron cannonball and has a handle on top. You can use them as you do exercises like lunges, lifts, swings, cleans and tons of other exercises. These workouts get your heart pumping, trust me. When buying kettlebells you usually don’t need to two of the same weight, so you can buy one of varying weights. I’d recommend buying the following: one 10 pound, one 15 pound, one 20 pound and one 25 pound kettlebell. This will give you a good range as you start beginner and progressively get stronger.
- Adjustable Dumbbells – These are my go to weights. I love that I can adjust the weight to what I need for any particular exercise – from 5 lbs all the way up to 52.5 lbs for each individual dumbbells. It’s a great investment if you have people with varying fitness and strength levels in your home. I use the BowFlex brand and love it!
- Yoga Mat – A yoga mat isn’t just for yoga or pilates. It can be used for floor exercises, stretching and core workout. It’s a great piece to invest in. Make sure it has enough padding and no slip like this one.
- Medicine Ball – Medicine Balls are great to use for core exercises. Your core is the most important part of your body because because it helps stabilize and strengthen everything else. When buying a medicine for core work, I’d recommend buying a ball between 2 lbs. to 10 lbs.
- Wall Ball – A wall ball is different from a medicine ball. Medicine balls are smaller, harder, and are not intended to be thrown at a wall. Walls Balls are soft, larger, typically heavier and meant to be thrown at hard surfaces like floors or walls. When buying a Wall Ball I recommend buying a ball between 10 lbs. to 25 lbs.
- Resistance Bands – Resistance bands and tubes have been proven to improve strength, size, and function of muscles. They are a great option for resistance and strengthening muscles if you don’t have dumbbells or other weights. Bands can provide very light or heavy resistance depending on what you’re looking for. Here is a light resistance option, a medium resistance and a heavy resistance option. You could also use Resistance Loop Bands.
- Exercise Core Sliders – These are a newer item that have made a big boom in the fitness industry. They are small discs that do not stick to the ground creating an area with no resistance, allowing for endless options of low-impact movements during an intense workout. You can use them to strengthen major muscle groups throughout your body. Here are the core sliders or gliders I recommend.
- Peloton – I use to cycle 4-5 times a week at a cycling studio, after I had my daughter I needed another option. Enter The Peloton bike – it offers the best full-service at-home indoor cycling experience around! With weekly streamed live classes, and an on-demand library of workouts ranging from 5 to 90 minutes with everything from yoga, to run, to strength and of course cycling! It has a real-time metrics display where you can track your progress with heart rate, resistance, cadence, and power output. For $100 off your bike and other accessories click here and use code 3SPWJK.
MY GO-TO WORKOUT OUTFITS
Where to Buy Home Gym Equipment?
There are tons of places to buy home gym equipment. At the end of the day it depends on the quality you want, the type of equipment, price and how fast you want it. Here are the places I have purchased my workout equipment.
- Dicks Sporting Goods – A store solely focused on sporting goods is a great place to find all of these products and the fact that it has a store front is great so you can see and feel the equipment your purchasing.
- Academy – Another great sporting goods store where we’ve purchased multiple at home gym equipment.
- Amazon – If ease and speed is the name of the game, Amazon is a great option for at home gym equipment. You’ll have to pay extra for shipping because of weight on some of items but if you don’t care about that Amazon will be your jam.
- Walmart – Walmart will have a few of your basics like dumbbells, yoga mat, resistance bands and maybe even kettlebells.
- Target – Similar to Walmart, Target is not a sporting goods store so they will have a few of your basic at home gym equipment in lower weights.
What is the best piece of home gym equipment?
Hands down my favorite piece of equipment is the BowFlex Adjustable Dumbbells we bought a couple of years ago. They are an investment, but when we looked at the cost of buying each individual set of dumbbell weights we would need for both my husband and I it honestly balanced out. I love that I can easily change up the weights to whatever weight I need based on the exercise I’m doing and that my husband can use it to, even though he typically lifts heavier than I do. It’s the best bang for your buck, the product is well made and super easy to use! I highly recommend.
Is home gym equipment worth it?
Well. How much is your health worth? Honestly, for me, yes home gym equipment is 100% worth it. I was spending in upwards of $400 a month on those boutique studios plus the money that I would spend on apparel while I was there because let’s be honest it’s hard to walk past that pair of cute yoga pants and not buy them. Home Gym Equipment is what you make of it. You can go all out, bare essentials or somewhere in between. We’ve landed somewhere in between. I use the equipment on a daily basis so I am getting all of the money I put into it and then some! If you’re thinking about it, start small then add a new piece of equipment as you prove to yourself that you’re using it.
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SHOP AFFORDABLE HOME GYM EQUIPMENT
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