What Do I Need For a Basic Home Gym?
Photo by Limor Zellermayer on Unsplash
Basic Home Gym Set Up
Q: My husband and I are looking to set up a home gym. What kind of basic setup do we need to get started?
First off, this was a friend of mine asking the question and I give her accolades. She’s mom to a toddler and a go-getter in her career. She’s been faithful to her workouts at the local gym, but is now embarking on a new career path…and she knows she won’t have time to go to the gym any more.
Her method of solving the problem: setting up a home gym. Brilliant!
Home gym or no…just get started!
This should be a super short and simple blog post. But as usual, I need to throw in a little twist…just so I can write a little more.
The twist? You can get started today…without any home gym equipment. Too many people put off health and fitness because they’re waiting for the “perfect set up”.
Procrastination’s a bitch. Things are never perfect. You’ll get some equipment and then decide you need rubber mats on the floor. And then when you have that, you’ll decide you should wait until you get a pullup bar. And then you’ll need a squat rack. And so on, and so forth.
If you have a space, you can work out right now using just your body weight. Hell, if you are in your own home, you don’t even need clothes or shoes. Wink wink.
Start by doing a workout as simple as this:
Is that the ideal, perfect workout? No. But it’s certainly better than doing nothing at all while you set up your perfect home gym!
What do I need for a basic home gym setup?
But, since the question is about investing in equipment to set up a home gym, let’s talk about that. The good news is that you need minimal equipment to get a great workout. That means you don’t have to break the bank and you don’t need a bunch of fancy stuff.
My professional opinion on a basic setup would include:
A piece of cardio equipment: elliptical, bike, rowing machine, or treadmill.
A dumbbell tree with weights ranging from 5 lbs. to 25 lbs. Click here to see what I use.
A bench, preferably one with an adjustable incline. Something as simple and inexpensive as this bench works fine!
A stability ball like this one.
A yoga mat.
That’s it. If you want to get really fancy, add a pull up bar with assist straps, and a suspension trainer.
You don’t need anything beyond that, unless your goals are very specific, like competing in body building or winning a triathlon.
And if you need a workout program to help you utilize your new home gym setup, don’t hesitate to give me a holler! ;)
Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash
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Blog Author: Kelly Bailey, IIN certified holistic nutrition coach, and NPTI certified personal trainer
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