When someone refers to the word Home Gym, I am sure you guys must be thinking of a fancy gym being setup at home, and thinking of the heavy investment that he/she has done in setting that up. But believe me a home gym setup doesn’t need a big investment if your goals are clear and you know what you want in your arsenal.
First let me update your knowledge on what is a HOME GYM.
There is a difference in how the terminology is used.
There are 2 different things when people refer to the term “HOME GYM”.
One is a Gym set up at their Home, the other refers to the versatile Equipment which in itself is considered as All in One Gym, and there are various type of such home gyms available in the market. I will go through these in detail in one of the sections below.
HOME GYM SETUP
BASIC STAY FIT HOME GYM MIX:
I am dedicating this section to a large section of our society that goes out for a job or look after their business, and want to workout for 1 to 2 hours daily within their home to stay fit, without wasting their time to commute to the gym and back.
For these kind of people I am going to recommend a gym that has a mix of Cardio + strength + flexibility equipment.
Cardio Section
I will suggest you to have at least 2 cardio machines, here are some cardio machines that you can have. Along with these you need to have a skipping rope and an aerobic stepper
- Treadmill – You need it for a basic cardio workout, be it walk, jog or run. Invest in a good treadmill if you like to spend even 30 minutes on the treadmill.
- Exercise Bike – A stationary cycle or exercise bike is another additional cardio machine that will give a boost to the cardio section of your gym.
- Elliptical Trainer – If you like to have good cardio in less amount of time this is a really effective machine. Really good for an HIIT Full Body cardio workout.
- Vertical Climber – If you are low in space, you can go for a vertical climber. It takes very less space, and makes for a really good HIIT workout.
Approximate Estimated Budget: $800 to $1,200
Recovery Tools
- Massage Foam Roller – After a hard workout your muscle needs some relief. A good massage roller is your companion to help you recover from muscle stress.
- Cooling Towel – It helps you energize in hot whether. A cooling towel keeps a check on your body temperature by lowering it down by upto 25 to 30 degrees.
Approximate Estimated Budget: Under $100
A HOME GYM SETUP FOR CARDIO LOVER:
Bare minimum you need a treadmill or a stationary cycle. There are many options for a cardio centric gym.
- Treadmill – This is a must have for a cardio lover. Invest in a high end treadmill that you can run on for hours and it should also have a good display to track the workout.
- Elliptical Trainer – Another cardio machine which a cardio lover will like is an elliptical trainer. It goes easy on your knees.
- Exercise Bike – A stationary cycle is a great equipment to burn calories. A good cycling session burns upto 600 calories within an hour. Invest in a good exercise bike that have adjustment levels for resistance, seat height, handle height.
- Skipping Ropes – This is a must must have to finish your cardio workout.
- Stair Steppers – This is an advanced cardio machines that imitates the action of climbing the stair.
- Vertical Climbers – If you have less space and want an advanced high intensity cardio workout equipment invest in a good vertical climber. It actually imitates the action of mountain or wall climbing.
- Dumbbell sets – Yes, you need it – at least 2 pairs. You need some weight training even if you are a hard core cardio person.
- Resistance Bands – Resistance bands offers the facility to have some strength based workouts without weight.
- Ab Bench – For 6 pack abs you need to to have an ab bench as part of your gym.
- Yoga Mat – For some stretchings and loosening workouts you need to have good mat that is washable/cleanable and easy to maintain.
Approximate Estimated Budget: $600 to $1,000 (any 2 equipment from the above list)
Body Building Home Gym
A personal Body building gym at the comfort of your home is a great idea. Let me help you identify what tools will help you achieve your fitness goal.
Basic Body Building Gym Equipment:
These are the bare minimum equipment to give you a complete workout.
- Dumbbells – in different weights or an adjustable dumbbell. You might need dumbbells in wide range of weights from 2.5 kg to 40kg. If you are on a budget identify which ones you use more frequently.
- Weight Plates and Barbells – Get weight plates ranging from 2.5 kg to upto 15 kgs, or even more if you need more. It completely depends on your workout need.
Racks for - Dumbbell and plate – To keep your gym well organized you need some basic racks to hold dumbbell and weight plates.
- Weight Bench – Look for a multi-purpose bench that can turn into flat, incline, decline bench.
- Squat Rack – There are half racks, full racks, smith machines and some other advanced type of power rack. Which one you should have completely depends on your workout style and preferences.
- Cable and Pulley Machine – This is a versatile machine to make your gym complete. You can do a variety of exercise using this machine like seated row, shoulder upright row, cross cable chest and shoulder workouts and more.
- Peck and Fly Machine – Though you can do chest flys with dumbbells on weight bench, but if you are on a budget you can skip it.
- Gym Cushioned Flooring Tiles – To protect your home gym floor and equipment from wear and tear cover use a good quality cushioned tiles or mat.
- Exercise Bike – Although you are completely into pumping up muscles you will still need one cardio equipment in your arsenal.
Crossfit Gym:
- Battle Ropes – A battle rope workout is an ultimate calorie burning and intense workout.
- A large tyre – A crossfit gym is incomplete without a big sized tyre. Refer to some crossfit workouts on YouTube.
- Hammer – You can buy a hammer for a tyre banging workout.
- Skipping Ropes – You need to enhance your stamina if you are into crossfit, and a skipping rope is a great way to boost the stamina and strength.
- Stepper – An adjustable height aerobic stepper is a must have accessory for your crossfit gym.
Stair Steppers – Stair steppers is a set of steps on a conveyor belt. - Vertical Climbers – Vertical climbers is another must have piece to complete your crossfit workout. You can make mountain climbing moves with a vertical climber.
- Plyo Box – A strong plyo box is what you need for some rigorous crossfit exercises.
- Resistance Bands – These are the versatile stretchable tubes ideal for strength training, stretching as well as recovery.
- Dumbbells – Dumbbells are essential part of any gym.
Boxing Gym:
- Heavy Bags – Also known as punching bags. There are several types of punching bags as follows:
- Free Standing Punching Bag – It is kept on ground, doesn’t need any support.
- Suspended Punching Bag – It is hanged on a stand or ceiling.
- Angled Heavy Bag – It is a free standing heavy bag tilted at a particular angle.
- Uppercut Punching Bag – Particularly made to improve upper punches.
- Bag Stand or Boxing Station – You need a good bag stand or a boxing station to hang your punching bag.
- Maize Bag or Speed Bag – It is a small bag with a spring at the top. It is used for improving overall coordination.
- Boxing Gloves – Ofcourse, you need one.
- Hand Wraps or Bandages
Timer – Timing is very important in boxing. You always need to time your workouts and moves. - Skipping Rope – Another important part of a boxer’s kit. It improves speed, stamina and coordination.
- Exercise Mat – Yo need a match to stretch on.
- Weights – You need some dumbbells, weight plates, barbells and a weight bench.
- Squat Racks – A boxer need to have very strong legs, so you definitely need a squat rack.
- Massage rollers – To help you relieve stress from the muscles, and getting rid of muscle soreness.
YOGA AND STRETCHING STUDIO
- An anti slip Yoga Mat is what you need., It improves overall yoga experience.
- Exercise Balls
- Non slip yoga socks for better balance while doing yoga poses
- Yoga supporting foam blocks
- Kneeling Pads are supportive foamed mat that can be kept under the knees to prevent injury from knees
Home Gym Bundles:
Some manufacturers offer a package for home gym that includes everything that you want. Some of the examples are mentioned in this section.
Rogue Fitness Gym Bundles: This very popular company produces high end fitness equipment specially for weight training and crossfit. They offer some readymade bundles for your home gym, and they have plenty of options to choose from, ranging between $500 to $4000.Their top most packages include weight plates, barbells, rowing machine, battle ropes, kettlebells, gymnastic rings among others. You can go through their bundlesAnother great gym bundle from Rogue is W4 Garage Gym bundle that also includes Wall Mount Rig, Weight Bench, Weight Plate Stand, Plyo Box, etc. It is truly the most complete home gym bundle available in the market today. You can customize the weight plates option.
Home Gym Equipments:
A basic definition of a home gym is a piece of equipment that enables you to do a range of exercise on single machine working on various body parts.
Choice of home gym completely depends on your fitness goals and objectives, and I will highlight some of the top home gym brands and products to find the right one for you.
There are some really portable equipment that can be easily carried. We will discuss those in details in subsequent sections.
Popular Brands:
- Total Gym
- Bowflex
- Weider
- Body Solid
- Gold’s Gym
- Fitness Reality
Total Gym: It is one of the top most home gym brand with a range of home gyms suitable for different type of fitness lovers. Some of the popular products from Total Gym are Total Gym XLS, Supreme, Total Gym GTS and Total Gym Fit. Most of their Home Gym equipment comes with workout tools, DVD’s, and accessories for beginner as well as advanced users. These home gyms are based on resistance training full body workout. No additional weights are required, as they work on body weight based exercises.
Total Gym range is ideal for weight loss, fat loss, inch loss and full body fat burning workout.
Bowflex Home Gyms: Bowflex is another leading brand producing high grade home gyms. Their flagship product is Max Trainer. It doesn’t need weights as they work on advanced resistance Power Rod technology for unlimited exercise variations. It provides for a truly complete gym experience with more than 70 exercise you can perform using these home gyms for all the body muscles. These machines are easy on joints while giving maximum pump to the muscles. The products come with workout guide and chart.
BodySolid Home Gyms: The popular gym stations from BodySolid are BFFT10 and G2B. The G2B comes with option to adjust to any of the 6 stations for Arms, Lower Body and Upper Body workouts. SImilarly BFFT10 is full body functional trainer focused on targeted workouts. You can perform more than 200 exercises on this equipment.
One of the most versatile and best home gym for body builders is my favorite high end Body Solid Strength Tech. It comes with customizable weight stack. The system is made of high grade steel tubes and DuraFirm padding. It has pec and fly station as well lat pull-down station. It has pulleys at 3 different levels (upper, middle and lower). The pull down station doubles up as leg station.
Weider Fitness Gyms: Named after renowned bodybuilder Joe Weider, this brand is very popular across the globe.
PORTABLE HOME GYM EQUIPMENT:
This is a higher version of the Fitness Reality 810XLT. It is made of 2”x3” steel tubeThere two very popular portable equipment that makes for a great home or anywhere workout.
One of them is TRX Suspension trainer that can be hooked anywhere, and the other is BodyBoss Home Gym that works on body weight mechanism and can get you started on your workout absolutely anywhere. One of the other options is a XBAR Fitness that works with resistance bands and provide a wide variety of exercise options. which makes it even more stronger. It has two safety bars and also have high density grips. It can take upto 1500 lbs of weight. It is compatible with 7” Olympic bars.
Fitness Reality X Class power cage can be bulked up with optional accessories like lat pull-down attachment, Olympic bars and utility bench. And you can perform over 24 exercise with this X Class Power Cage. The multi grip pull-up/chin up bar can also be adjusted to 2 different height levels. There are a total of 25 height levels in this cage. A Lat pull-down can be conveniently attached to this power cage for a complete body workout.
BODY BUILDING HOME GYM:
- Should be easy to assemble, disassemble and transport
- Should be high grade, as you will be investing into it for a long time.
- The system should be stable, should suit your workout style
- Should have comfortable and durable upholstery like seating pads, handle grips, etc.
- Should come with a good warranty
