Let’s face it. We would all have our own home gyms if it weren’t for two things: money and space. Exercise equipment can be kind of pricey if you don’t shop around. And if you are lacking adequate space for a home gym in your house, it might take some serious planning. Your spouse just might have to give up their personal room for the sake of a family that wants to become more fit. Here are five pieces of exercise equipment that will not break the bank and can be used even in the tightest spaces. If you have these things, you have the beginnings of a great little home gym!
Top 5 Inexpensive and Compact Pieces of Exercise Equipment that Can Be Added to Your Home Gym
Bodylastics Resistance Bands
I must admit that I have always restrained myself from purchasing resistance bands since I tried my friend’s bands out once and snapped two within five minutes. This is a good way to lose friends. But then I came across these Bodylastic resistance bands for and saw that they not only had a 100 percent money-back guarantee, but countless positive reviews.
I bought them totally thinking I would have to return them in pieces. I had a garage gym and wanted to use these with the included door anchors so I could then do anything that you could do in a commercial gym with the cable machines. I did flyes, rows, curls, tricep pushdowns, abs, and just about anything else you could think of.
And Guess what? I still have that same set today about six years later. One of the better investments I ever made for my gym.
Weider Ultimate Body Works
If you have never seen a Chuck Norris infomercial on the Total Gym then you must not have television. Those infomercials with Chuck and Christie Brinkley are on every single day and at all times. I think I must have watched his infomercial ten times and finally decided I was going to buy one of these for my gym. After all, Chuck Norris is like 80 years old and Christie Brinkley is still looking hot at 65. This piece of exercise equipment must be doing something for them!
After calling them up and finding out it was going to cost about a thousand dollars, I checked my bank account and realized I was about $900 short. However, I did come across the Weider Ultimate Body Works that is very similar to an expensive Total Gym, but it costs like ten percent of the price. For a fraction of the price, I bought a Weider Ultimate Body Works machine and it was another great investment. Don’t be fooled by people saying you can’t build muscle with this exercise equipment. There are bands at the bottom of the board to add more resistance if you feel like you need them. I was a jacked 240 pounds and loved to burn out on bis and tris with this machine. Plus, pullups and shoulder presses were pretty great as well. Ten years later, I still have it and use it!
Valor Fitness Wall Mount Cable Station
If I would have seen this back in the day, I would have nabbed this in a second. I use the cable machine during every workout at some point in the gym. There are hundreds of exercises you can do with cable crossover machine. Here is one by Valor Fitness that simply mounts to the wall for better stability at your house and you can use olympic or standard plates. This dual pulley station is a steal for your home gym. It is compact enough that it can just about fit anywhere so even if you are tight for space, this will still work. In my opinion, this is one of the best compact exercise equipment!
Sunny Health and Fitness Twist Stepper Step Machine with Handle Bar and LCD Monitor
You shouldn’t just have strength training equipment in your personal gym. No matter what you may think, you still need a piece of cardio equipment otherwise you will run into problems as you get older. Even if it is just to warm up on or perhaps a cool down at the end of your workout. If you don’t work on your cardio and endurance, you will only have yourself to blame when you get out of breath just walking out to your mailbox each day. The Sunny Health and Fitness Twist Stepper has great reviews and relatively inexpensive (check out the link for an updated price). Who would have guessed you could get a stair stepper so inexpensive and compact? It measures 19 inches long and 17 inches wide, so you can fit it in the tiniest of places.
Bayou Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells
Dumbbells are viewed as the most basic piece of equipment, but it does so much good for you in its simplicity. You can train every single body part with a pair of dumbbells. Even if you had no other machine in your entire home gym, you could still make gains with just these adjustable dumbbells by Bayou Fitness. They are very inexpensive and you can adjust the weight in seconds all the way up to 25 pounds. For a little more money, you could go with adjustable dumbbells that go up to 50 pounds apiece.
In any case, they take up very little space and you won’t have to have several pairs of dumbbells lying around cluttering up your room. If you don’t have dumbbells yet, you really need some otherwise your home gym is severely missing an integral part.
Stick with the Basics
Your home gym does not need to have thousands of pounds of weight or enough fancy equipment to fill up your entire basement. These are five inexpensive and compact pieces of exercise equipment that will not take up much space or come close to breaking the bank. Even if you only get two or three of these pieces, you still will have a perfectly adequate space to work out in. And you will get results!
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