Tips for Building a Home Gym: Fitness Equipment Essentials

Building your own gym is always a fantastic investment because you get to create a space that’s custom-tailored to you and your goals. But where to start? There are so many different types of fitness equipment and even more models for each kind of machine. To find what you need, consider these fitness equipment essentials for building a home gym.

General Fitness Essentials

Before we hop into the more intensive equipment, there are a few items that any home gym can benefit from, no matter the goal of the owner. Versatile and easy to store away, these make for great accessories to other exercises or can serve as their own workout.

• Dumbbells – Excellent for any upper-body workout, you can use dumbbells to do curls or incorporate them into bodyweight exercises to add an extra challenge and thus see greater results.
• Yoga Mat – Even if you don’t enjoy yoga, these mats are ideal for simple stretches that are necessary for a good warm-up. Warming up is always an important step in exercise, as it helps you avoid injuries and improve your performance.
• Resistance Bands – Like the dumbbell, these bands are ideal as their own exercise or a supplement to others. In contrast, they’re ideal for lower-body workouts when placed around the legs.

There are other pieces of equipment such as medicine balls and foam rollers that you can consider, as well, but these three items are absolutely fitness equipment essentials for building a home gym.

Weight Loss Goals

Looking to take off a few pounds? Then cardio exercise is simply the best way to go. Assessing your goals helps narrow your choices down to equipment such as treadmills, stair climbers, and exercise bikes—staples of fitness that you might already be familiar with. This makes building your home gym much easier because these machines are effective at burning calories and are often designed for home gyms, so they can fold up for easier storage when not in use.

Strength Training Goals

Perhaps you’re looking to build some muscle and are in need of home strength training equipment. Some great choices include a barbell—essentially a much bigger dumbbell—rowing machines, and functional trainers. Functional trainers are particularly nice because they allow you to perform a wide variety of exercises all on one machine, saving you space and money.