My Top At-Home Workout Equipment Picks
I’ve finally put together a list of all of the things you need to make yourself a nice little home gym, even without weights!
So let’s say hypothetically that there was a worldwide shortage of weights, but you still wanted to get a great workout in from home?
It doesn’t matter if you’re working out in your apartment living room or 4-car garage, you’ll find a list of creative solutions here!
I have either personally purchased and used these, or my clients have. Use the pictures as a guide or click through using the “Buy on Amazon” button to be taken directly to the product page.
*Disclaimer: affiliate links below
Here are my top 4 ESSENTIALS for your “home gym”
Mini-Loop bands or “Booty Bands.”
The non-slip, fabric ones are nice, but these are really all-purpose. I program a variety of upper and lower body exercises with these in all of my programs.
2. Long Loop Bands
Banded pushups, assisted stretching, upper body warm-ups, squats, pull-up practice.. there’s a great variety of exercises you can use these for. You don’t necessarily need all 4. If you want to start I’d just get one light one and one heavy one.
3. Sliders/ Sliding Disks/ Furniture Sliders (or even paper plates!)
These are great for lower body & core exercises and with different materials on each side, these will work on carpet or hardwood flooring!
4. Therapy Bands
If by some off chance you don’t have any of these lying around from previous visits to Physical Therapy- grab this set! Not only can you use them from the typical shoulder rehab exercises, but I’ve programmed everything from floor presses to tricep kick-backs with these babies!
And now onto the list of items I would highly recommend.
If you have some extra money- this is what I’d suggest.
Please note that since this is an interactive shopping list and there is hypothetically a pandemic going on, I’ve left dumbbells and kettlebells off of this list.
If you somehow found weights on the black market, I’d get the following:
Dumbbells:
Light weight: 5-15lbs
Medium Weight: 20-35 lbs
*A matched set is optional, you can always do one side at a time, so with either one or two of the following you’re all set.
Kettlebells:
Medium weight: 25-45 lbs
[Of course if you’re a powerlifter or total beginner, what I’m calling “light” and “medium” may not apply to you]
Aerobics Step
Step ups (one of my favorite lower-body exercises for clients with knee pain), front- leg elevated lunges, a makeshift bench.. the possibilities are endless. And for this awesome price, if you don’t already have a workout bench that you can safely step onto, I would highly recommend one of these. A sturdy wooden chair or coffee table could also substitute for these guys.
2. Exercise Ball
Hey maybe you can even get your boss to approve this on your expenses!
3. Resistance Bands with Handles
If you want to spend a little bit more money, these guys are an amazing set of varying resistances. You can sub most DB movements with one. I’d also recommend these if you chose to only buy 1 or 2 of the long loop bands linked above.
4. Fabric Loop Bands
If you’re ready to upgrade your booty building game- these are a much have! Unfortunately they’ll still pull at your leg hairs like the others but the major upside here is that they won’t fold over and cut off your circulation. Plus they won’t get stretched out nearly as quickly as the others.
5. Foam Roller
Don’t get distracted by the fancy $30+ options- I promise this will do the job. If you need an extra “oomph” use a lacrosse ball to pinpoint the pressure. Foam rollers are no miracle tool, but they can help if you’re working on your mobility and they’re required for my Corrective Exercise program.
6. Lacrosse Ball
One of two must-have items for self-myofascial release (SMR). A tennis ball could work too!
7. Yoga Mat
Even if you aren’t a yogi, it can be nice to have a workout mat handy.
8. Yoga Blocks
These can come in handy to keep your chin tucked during glute bridge or rotator cuff drills like swimmers or IYTWs. No yoga mat required :)
9. Slam Ball
If you live in a downstairs apartment- your neighbors won’t appreciate this one. But if you workout in your garage then I would definitely consider adding this to your arsenal.
10. TRX Suspension Trainer
If you’re looking forward to my TRX Workout eBook, or just ready to expand your workout options, you can follow this link to purchase the TRX 2. Amazon has a cheaper version (the GO), but honestly there materials used in this mid-tier version are much more durable. So spend the extra $40-60 and go with this option. As a TRX Ambassador, you can use the following code to take 10% off almost any product in the store (including education!) at checkout.
