Home Exercise Equipment: Pros, Cons, and How to Set Them Up

Whether you are a fitness freak or a person leading a sedentary lifestyle, regular exercise is a must for your health. However, there must be a dedicated space for workouts for the best results. If joining a gym is not your cup of tea due to limited convenience or recurring expenses, you can set it up at your home itself by purchasing pieces of home exercise equipment. Read on to learn all the important factors regarding a home gym and how it is different from a gym membership.

Benefits Of Home Workouts

Doing workouts at home has significant advantages when you compare it with exercising in a gym. Here, you don’t need to opt for a gym membership or travel to the gym, both of which save much of your regular expenses. Instead, using home exercise equipment for workouts is a prudent choice, especially if you enjoy doing your exercises in privacy in a familiar setting. Apart from that, if you are a remote worker or spend significant time at home for certain reasons, morning exercise at home can be a wise choice. If you are not a morning person, you can finish your work first and then exercise with the home gym equipment in the evening.

Creating A Home Workout Space

Before you start working at home or purchasing any exercise equipment, it is crucial to arrange a space at your home to set up home workout equipment. You can decide when to create this space, whether in the basement or your living room. However, ensure that the space motivates you to reach your workout goals every day rather than making it appear monotonous.

You can take some creative initiatives to brighten up the space for workouts before purchasing any gym set for home. For example, paint the area with warm and bright colours, put up posters of your idols and motivational quotes, and thus transform an apparently dull room into a dazzling workout space. Keep a towel and fan, which you will need while sweating profusely between and after sessions. Also, instal a whiteboard where you can write down your workout goals and daily workout routine. 

Basic Home Workout Equipment

If you are planning to purchase home exercise equipment but are still considering your options, you can go for the following easy, and affordable gym sets to get started.

• Jump rope
• Gliding discs
• Resistance bands
• Exercise mat
• Abdominal wheel
• Step bench or box

Note that you have the options of different weights while purchasing resistance bands, where you have to choose between light, medium and heavy as per your strength. You can use them besides gliding discs and ab wheels for strength training. You can use jumping rope for cardio training and store the rope without much hassle. Apart from that, you can try step aerobics as part of your regular exercise habit with the support of a step bench. Keep a workout mat to perform flexibility and strength-related exercises such as Pilates and yoga. You can practise these with the help of videos available online.

Intermediate Home Exercise Equipment

If you have already started doing workout sessions at home and are looking forward to taking your home gym to the next level, you can get the following home workout equipment:

• Weighted vest
• Dumbbells
• Suspension trainer
• Kettlebell
• Sandbags or medicine balls
• Plate weights and barbells

You can make your exercise sessions more testing and productive with a suspension trainer. It is usually beneficial for abdominal exercises so that you can adapt it to your belly fat reduction goals. Beginners can also try it before moving on to weight training. You can choose from light, medium and heavy weights like resistance bands while getting dumbbells for your home workout space. Note that there are two types of dumbbells – regular and adjustable. While the regular ones are cheaper, adjustable dumbbells fit in smaller spaces. Also, buy a few matching pieces of storage equipment, such as a wall mount or a dumbbell rack, to create more space for exercise.

Advanced Home Workout Equipment

If you plan to build an advanced gym at home, it will be wise to purchase some electric cardio equipment. Here is what you can buy:

• Treadmill
• Ski erg
• Punching bag
• Indoor bike
• Assault bike
• Vertical climber
• Indoor rowing machine
• Elliptical machine

You can stretch your upper and lower body muscles with an indoor rowing machine. It also helps you to burn extra calories. A squat rack or power tower can help you take your strength-training workouts to the next level.

On the one hand, buying all these may seem expensive. But on the other hand, if you purchase the best equipment sets in the market, their durability will be high, and they will cost far cheaper than a regular gym membership.

How To Select The Best Home Gym Equipment

You can choose your home exercise equipment as per the following benchmarks:

Diversity of usage:

Versatility is an important factor in saving on space and finances, so it is wise to choose the ones which you can use in different exercises

Durability:

Whether you are purchasing a treadmill or a set of dumbbells, the material, as well as its stability and reliability, are the most important factors

Adjustability:

As you may have to switch homes as well as places for different reasons, it is crucial that your home exercise equipment pieces set in a room of any size

Feedback from customers:

It is wise to buy products with positive customer reviews

Benefits Of A Home Gym

• You can enjoy the advantages of creating a personalised space for workouts. It is convenient as you don’t have to travel anywhere else to work out
• You can enjoy being in your own space without any interruption
• You have absolute independence in equipment selection

Comparison Of A Home Workout And A Gym Workout

While the major advantage of a home gym over a gym membership is convenience, some people prefer the gym just because they get to see and feel connected with other people. A 2020 study links this feeling to various physical and psychological health parameters [1]. Now take a look at the major pros and cons of them.

Home gym

Advantages:

• It is private and convenient
• You don’t need to travel to get here
• The gym can be personalised as per your preference
• You can follow a flexible schedule
• You don’t need to pay any membership fee

Disadvantages

• The space is relatively smaller
• The options in equipment are limited
• The price of the equipment 
• There is no provision for any personalised feedback
• Chances of being distracted are high

Gym membership

Advantages

• You can avail of personal training and attend group classes
• You can feel a sense of community and grow your social connections
• There are a variety of equipment sets, with each having its distinct functions and benefits
• You also get here a large space to exercise
• Chances of distraction are quite less as everyone will be doing their respective exercises

Disadvantages

• There can be a lot of people at the same time
• You may have to wait for your turn
• Pieces of equipment with extra load may not work properly
• The types of equipment may not match your training objectives
• You may have to pay a high membership cost

Conclusion

You can make a wise choice by going through all this information regarding home exercise equipment and comparing home workouts and gym memberships. If you need guidance regarding what kind of exercises to start with, book an online or offline doctor consultation on Bajaj Finserv Health. Stay fit and lead a healthy lifestyle for a happy and fulfilling life ahead. 

FAQs

What are the first things to buy for a home gym?

Here is the first set of home exercise equipment you can purchase for your home gym:

• Exercise bike
• Treadmill
• Elliptical trainer
• Free weights
• Workout mirror
• Rowing machine
• Weight bench

Can you develop muscle with a home gym?

Yes, you can work out in different ways with your home exercise equipment and build muscle.