When setting up a home gym, you often don’t have the luxury of a big space and that restricts the type of fitness equipment you can bring home. For instance, if you’re planning to use a part of your living room to exercise, installing a treadmill or any strength training equipment that takes up too much space is out of the question. But just because you have limited space for your home gym doesn’t mean you have to compromise on the quality of your workouts. Here’s a handy checklist of fitness equipment essentials for your home gym.
Home Gym Equipment Essentials Checklist
Exercise Mat
The literal starting point for your home gym, a floor, or yoga mat is essential! With a good quality exercise mat, your floor exercises, including ab crunches and push-ups, will be more comfortable and you won't have to worry about slipping while working out. Another great advantage of an exercise mat is that it ensures you have a physically designated space to work out. When choosing an exercise mat, go for a thicker mat with excess cushioning for enhanced comfort, particularly if you’re working out on a hard floor. The best part about an exercise mat? You can use it anywhere including in your backyard, the beach, and essentially anywhere else.
Resistance Bands
Your home gym is incomplete without a couple of resistance bands. These nifty workout bands are lightweight and easy to store, making them the perfect fitness accessories for your home gym. Typically used for lower-body exercises including clamshells, side squats, glute bridges, and more, resistance bands can be a great change of pace from your regular cardio and weight training workouts. It's also easy to amp up the challenge with resistance bands; just opt for a tighter band and kick things up a notch. If you don't have to bring home heavy dumbbells and barbells, resistance bands work great as an alternative.
Dumbbells
You can push your at-home workouts with the addition of a set of dumbbells. From isolated strength training workouts like bicep curls to modified compound exercises like lunges, dumbbells are truly versatile and can be used for an exciting range of exercises. If you're confused about what weight to begin with, opt for a medium set first which would be somewhere between 8 to 10 pounds. Depending on how well you're able to utilize a medium-weight dumbbell set in your workouts, move up a weight class or get lighter weights if you want to focus on a smaller muscle group like your triceps. If you have experience working out at the gym, it's also recommended to get a set of heavy dumbbells to up the intensity of your workouts. If you're getting more than 4 dumbbells for your home gym, also get a dumbbell rack to store your weights safely and well organized.
Kettlebell
If you want a versatile piece of home gym equipment, a kettlebell is your best bet. A kettlebell is a cast iron or cast steel ball with a handle attached to the top. Used to perform a great variety of exercises including ballistic workouts that bring together cardio, strength, and flexibility training. With a kettlebell, you can perform traditional exercises like Turkish get-ups and kettlebell swings but also mix things up and add kettlebells to traditional strength training exercises like goblet squats or walking lunges. Like dumbbells, kettlebells are available in different weight classes and you can follow the same approach of starting with a medium set and taking things forward or backward depending on your capacity.
Mirror
While not classified as fitness equipment, a full-length mirror is a definite must-have in your home gym. There’s a reason why all gyms have mirrors for walls and it’s not vanity! With a mirror in front of you, you can keep your form and posture in check at all times and avoid the risk of any physical damage by working out incorrectly. The same logic applies to your home gym, even more so because there’s no trainer around to alert you if you’re performing a particular exercise incorrectly. With a mirror, you can check your form and avoid any potential injuries and build your strength properly. Remember to opt for a full-length mirror since you need to be able to see your whole body while working out.
Jump Rope
There’s nothing quite as simple and effective as a jump rope to kickstart your workouts and warm up your body before moving on to strength training. A jump rope is also the most efficient and cost-effective way to do equipment-free cardio at home and works great to increase your heart rate, fast. When you jump rope, your arms, shoulders, legs, and core get a good workout. A basic 10-minute jump rope workout goes a long way in charging you up for the rest of the workout and helps you burn those pesky calories as well. The great thing about a jump rope is that you can use it almost anywhere and since it can be folded, you can store it without any hassle.
Medicine/Stability Ball
While not the most sophisticated or compact fitness accessory, a medicine ball is a great choice if you're planning yoga or pilates at home. A medicine ball is also a great way to work your abs and improve your stability. Add a stability/medicine ball to your home gym equipment collection and tone your core without the use of any big machine or equipment.
These are some of the fitness equipment essentials you need for your home gym. While the lack of space makes setting up your home gym cheaper than if you were to bring home big equipment, the total cost of these fitness essentials still ends up being a lot. If you don’t want to compromise on the quality of the workout equipment, your best bet is to rent home gym equipment from CasaOne. We offer fitness equipment for your home from some of the biggest brands in the business and our rental plans are flexible and affordable. We also offer convenient home gym equipment rental packages so that you can bring home all your workout essentials in one fell swoop. Browse our fitness collection right now!
GOT QUESTIONS?
- Which is the best place to buy or rent gym equipment?
If you’re looking to rent home gym equipment, CasaOne is a great choice. We offer an exciting range of fitness equipment designed to meet all your fitness goals without straining your finances. To make the fitness equipment rental process a breeze for you, we offer many benefits including white-glove delivery, rent-to-own facility, flexible rental plans, and much more.
- What gym equipment is ideal for a home gym?
Given the general lack of space when setting up a home gym, fitness equipment that works best includes a jump rope, dumbbells and barbells, medicine balls, resistance bands, smart guard tubing, and general workout accessories including exercise mats and mirrors. If you have enough space in your home gym, you can also get an elliptical and work on your entire body.
- How to use gym equipment?
There are unique instructions on how to use each type of gym equipment and it’s always advisable to consult a fitness coach before starting a workout for the first time. With proper guidance, you can learn how to use gym equipment properly and take it from there once you get the hang of things. If you’re unable to step out and consult an expert in-person, opt for an online fitness class and make sure the coach verifies your form and posture.
- Where to get used gym equipment?
You can buy used gym equipment both online and offline. Websites like eBay and Craigslist have thousands of listings for fitness equipment but you can’t always trust the seller. A safer and equally pocket-friendly solution is renting gym equipment from CasaOne. With our affordable rates, premium-quality equipment, and flexible rental plans, you don’t have to worry about a thing!
- How to clean gym equipment?
As a rule of thumb, always place a towel under you when working out and avoid direct physical contact with gym equipment as much as possible. Once you’re done using a particular piece of equipment, wipe it with a clean towel or a disinfectant wipe to clean the surface.