Setting up Your Home Gym
Over the past couple months, we’ve all been stuck at home. If you can’t go to the gym, how can you still workout and stay healthy? It’s not too difficult to set up a workout area and use some simple items to get in a good workout in a relatively small space.
First…
First, find a space where you would like to workout. It can be anywhere. Your garage is a great location. If that doesn’t work, your patio is good. If you have a basement, another great location. If you have none of those, you can always use your family room or even your bedroom. It doesn’t actually take a lot of space to workout. You can even workout outside, if the weather is good.
Second…
Second, you need to decide which equipment to use. Newsflash! You don’t NEED any equipment. You can do a great workout with just your body-weight. Push-ups, sit-ups, planks, squats, jumping jacks, etc can give you a great workout without even using any equipment. But, if you’d like to use some type of exercise equipment, you can start slow and build up. Since equipment costs money, everything is based on your budget. You can begin with some inexpensive equipment such as a jump rope, an exercise band, and some 2-3 lb dumbbells. You might be surprised how much of a workout you can do with a few simple pieces of equipment even if it is only using light weights. You can go to your local sporting goods store or order some things online.
Equipment
You can buy one or two pieces of equipment every month, depending on your budget. Some things that you can put on your list include:
Mat – You can get a thinner yoga mat or a thicker exercise mat or an even thicker judo mat. This should be one of the first things you buy, and they’re not very expensive.
Dumbbells – start with 1-2 sets with relatively light weights. Try a 10 lb and 15 lb set or a 15 lb and 20 lb set. As you get stronger, you can buy a heavier set. Once you build up 4-5 sets of various size dumbbells, then maybe you can invest in a dumbbell rack. You can start with dumbbells as small as 2-3 lbs.
Bosu Ball – You can do an entire workout with a Bosu Ball. It’s great for balance and core work, as well as strength.
Swiss Ball – Another piece of equipment that you can do an entire workout on. A Swiss Ball is also a great tool for working balance and core.
Barbell – This is a great piece of equipment to own, if you have space. There are so many exercises you can do with a barbell. You can do standing exercises or use a bench. Of course, if you have a barbell, you need a larger bench, weight plates, and more space.
Curl Bar – This is a smaller, curved bar that can be used for curls, tricep extensions, presses, bent over rows, etc. It works well if you don’t have room for a large barbell.
Bench – You can get a small bench or a larger bench that holds a barbell or a larger bench that includes an attachment for leg exercises. If you’re on a budget or are limited in space, buy a simple bench. You can do your bench presses with dumbbells. You can also use a bench to step or jump onto (until you purchase a set of boxes made specifically for jumping.)
Smovey Vibroswing – This is a great little piece of equipment that I sell. You can get a great workout using this. Created by a person with Parkinson’s disease, its great not just for everyday workouts, but its good for people with certain types of health issues.
BillyStix – This is a product and fitness routine that I created. It’s a low impact, high intensity workout. I like to say its for anyone, but it may be a bit challenging for beginners. (www.BillyStixWorkout.com)
Other Equipment
- Kettle Bells
- Medicine Ball
- Slam Ball
- Sand Bags
- Plyo Boxes
- Pull-up Bars
- TRX Suspension
- Ab Wheel
- Agility Ladder
- Hurdles
- Sliders
- Cones
- Punching Bag
- Boxing Gloves
- MMA Gloves
- Treadmill
- Eliptical Machine
- Exercise Bike
- Rowing Machine
- Stepper Machine
Workouts
Once you’ve got your equipment, then all you have to do is dedicate 30-60 minutes per day to do a little workout. It doesn’t have to kill you. You can do one day hard and one day easy. You can walk or jog one day and use your equipment one day. Some people do upper body one day and lower body the next day. You should take one day as a light day or day off. One day you can do yoga, stretching, or breathing. There are so many options to choose from.
Then, you can start combining your equipment. For example, in the beginning, maybe you do a 30-minute dumbbell workout. As you get stronger and more comfortable with your equipment, you can then combine a dumbbell workout with a Bosu ball workout or a Swiss ball workout. That will make your workouts more interesting and probably more challenging. Of course, if you need some assistance or ideas, you can go to my website and sign up to take live, online classes or you can sign up for our monthly program where we give you two exercise routines per day (you can choose to do one or both) as well as a food and nutrition plan. Or you can just download workout routines. https://ultimatehealth.coach.
Just Do It!
So, get out there and start building your home gym. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or money, and you can grow as you go. But the key is to get started and make sure you try to workout about 30-minutes per day, if possible. You can pay to stay healthy now, or you can pay to be unhealthy later. Let’s go workout!
Stay healthy!
Bill