Home Gym Essentials, from Minimalist to Luxury – Everything You Need to Build Your Dream Home Gym in 2022
Home gym essentials
Here’s a pro tip for forming habits that stick: Make it as easy as possible to be consistent.
If you are one of the many, many people who struggle to stay consistent with exercise, a home gym might be the solution.
Why build a home gym?
Why are home gyms a great option for forming sticky habits? When you can exercise at home, you eliminate all of the effort and time of going to and from the gym.
Another bonus of working out at home? Privacy! Though some people love the energy of a gym and being around people, others (especially beginners) are not as comfortable. You can eliminate feelings of pressure when you exercise in the comfort of your own home.
Finally, you can save a lot of money work you work out at home. The average cost of a gym membership in the US is $800 annually (source). You can spend much less money creating a gym at home. And unlike a gym, which relies on subscription cost, you only pay once for the equipment or gear with your home gym.
Can you really get a good workout at home?
Most definitely. In fact, there’s no better time to build a home gym than now. The Internet provides a wealth of high-quality (and sometimes even free) content that will help you on your fitness journey. From YouTube channels to phone apps to streaming content, you can now follow a highly-effective fitness program created by a professional trainer, in the comfort of your own home. And best of all, it takes less equipment than you may realize.
Where to start? What to buy?
If you’re new to fitness or still working on building a consistent routine, I recommend you start by purchasing a few basic items. You don’t want to go overboard in the beginning, and you certainly don’t need to spend a lot of money to get started.
The equipment and gear that you buy will depend on your goals and your space. Perhaps you are lucky and have a spare bedroom or unused portion of basement that you can transform into a home gym. But even if you don’t have a lot of space, you can still set up an effective exercise zone in your home.
Minimalist home gym essentials:
Classic home gym essentials:
Modern and functional home gym essentials:
Home gym essentials for the serious lifter:
Essentials for the “spare no expense” home gym:
Make the right environment for your home gym with these essentials:
If you're just starting out and don't want to spend a lot of money, read on for details and free resources to start your minimalist home gym.
The minimalist home gym
If you don’t have a lot of space, are on a budget, or simply don’t want to buy a lot of things, here’s the equipment I recommend.
Minimalist home gym essential: Adjustable dumbbells
Think you can’t get a great workout with just dumbbells? Think again! Dumbbells are wildly versatile. Here’s just some of the exercises you can do with dumbbells:
- Rows
- Curls
- Fly
- Bench press
- Squats
- Tricep extension
- Lunges
- Dumbell clean
- Deadlifts
- Shoulder raise
- Calf raise
- Skullcrushers
- Seated twist
- One arm swing
- Farmer’s walk
As you build your strength, you will need to keep increasing your resistance, or weight. By purchasing a set of adjustable dumbbells, you can reduce the amount of weights you need while also accommodating your future needs and growth.
Adjustable dumbbells are a great addition to a home gym, but unfortunately they are more expensive than traditional weights. The good news is that, if you do your research, you can buy it once and keep the same set forever.
Minimalist home gym essential: Jump rope
A good set of adjustable dumbbells can take care of your strength building needs, but what about cardio?
For highly-effective cardio with minimal equipment, nothing beats the simple jump rope. In fact, a research study found that college-aged men who jumped rope for just 10 minutes a day improved their cardiovascular health as much as similar-aged men who spent 30 minutes jogging (source).
Why not get the same workout in 1/3 of the time? Jumping rope not only burns calories, but it also increases coordination.
Get started with these free jump rope resources:
- 30-day jump rope challenge (printable)
- 10-min beginner jump rope workout (YouTube video)
- Jump rope weight loss workout (YouTube video)
- 500-calorie burn at home jump rope workout (YouTube video)
Minimalist home gym essential: Resistance band
Like the jump rope, the resistance band is a simple yet highly effective piece of equipment. You can do a wide variety of push and pull exercises with a resistance band. It’s also great for travel!
Get started with these free resources:
- Full body workout using only a resistance band (article)
- 22 of the best resistance band exercises (article)
- 10-min resistance band booty workout (YouTube video)
- Total body resistance band HIIT workout (YouTube video)
