The best home gym equipment for your home gym

To help you save money and space, we listed below equipments that are mostly essential for your home gym and equipment that can be used for a wide variety of different exercises at home.

At the beginning think about those few factors:

• Fitness goals - What are your training goals? Are you looking to build muscles or is your goal to lose weight? You should set the goals before you will buy anything, especially if you don’t have much space or budget for different fitness equipment.
• Budget - it's better to invest more money from the beginning to avoid non professional machines, which will break and start to shake after a few month of using.
• Space - think carefully about each centimetre of your home gym. Good sellers provide an understandable plan of space requirements for each equipment.

How I choose the best and essential home gym equipment

I´m working like personal fitness trainer at home more than 12 years. I have met a lot of different home gyms, most of them I helped to design and I advised to choose the right equipment for them. To help you save money and space, I listed below equipments that are mostly essential for your home gym and equipment that can be used for a wide variety of different exercises. From a mat to cardio machines, I listed products that are useful and effective for a fitness training at home. At each home gym equipment I pointed out for what fitness goals are the best.

The best and mostly essential home gym equipment selected by a personal trainer at home

Workout mat

• Material - rubber surface prevents slipping, padding is comfortable for the joints. For yoga is better thinner, for fitness exercise on the floor is better a thicker one.
• Sizes - depends on your goals choose the right length and thickness. My recommendation is to buy as long mat as is your body when you lay down on the floor.

A workout mat is for sure an essential piece of exercise equipment for everything from yoga and stretching to weightlifting and high intensity interval training. Workout mat is essential for any time of exercise on the floor with your own body weight or with the other machines. Rather spent from 800 to 1.500 CZK for it.

Balance trainer

• Material - rubber surface prevents slipping from both sides
• Sizes - there are a lot of sellers of different quality, but based on my experience the best is still the original from BOSU

Balance trainer is really great to improve your core strength and stability. It helps you to get your body toned much quicker, cause unbalance surface push you to do it slowly and correctly otherwise you would simply fall down. Balance trainer is great if you want to improve your core and move your coordination to the next level. There is not much quality different between profi BOSU and for home gym. I can recommend the original BOSU for home gym around 3.490 CZK.

Suspension Fitness Multi Gym

Material - it should be made from high quality stainless steel, aluminium and abrasion resistant materials, especially the ropes. My recommendation is original from XUpTrainer.

Functions - pulley system should work fluently and quietly, lockers should work every time and you don´t need to think about the safety. It´s should be easy to set and adjust the height of all parts.

Sizes - there is only one size of the machine and it's easy to adjust for any type of a human body

This machine I really like to use. It helps me to provide more variable and effective training with my clients at home. Its suspension multi gym so you need to think where to hang it. It´s possible to hang it over door, but I prefer to hang it over horizontal bar or branch outside. It has great multi functionality for toning muscle, fat burning and stretching. I have some older clients and they really like it cause it helps them to do the exercise and every move means low impact on joints. Best fitness multi gym for home is from XUpTrainer. On their site are also many different workouts which are targeting on different training goals. Suspension fitness mutli gym is great if you want to tone, lose weight and exercise effectively and healthily at all. I can recommend the original XUpTrainer for a home gym and it is around 16.490 CZK.

Adjustable Dumbbell

Material - it should be made from steel, with comfortable non slipping steel grips.

Functions - lockers at the ends would work easily to tight the weights.

Sizes - My recommendation is to buy adding weights after 2 kg.

It's good to buy two adjustable dumbbells right at the beginning. Range of each one should be for beginners from 2 to 10kg. For advanced from 2 to 20kg. It offers a wide variety of resistance exercises. Ideal is to combine it with the balance trainer and with the suspension fitness multi gym which can be used like an upper pulley when you put a dumbbell into the seat, then you have a new machine for all pulley exercises at your home gym. Dumbbells are good if your goals is to increase muscle mass. I can recommend to spend from 3.000 to 6.000 CZK for two adjustable dumbbells.

Resistance bands

Material - gums should be from resistant materials, otherwise it will be broken soon.

Functions - there should be options to add easily new bands to increase a workout resistance. Mostly are carbines fixed to the ends, which is the best solution.

Sizes - make sure that the handles are big enough for your hands and the length of a band is the same length as you stand on the band and catch both handles into your hands and your arms are along your body with no pulling from the bands.

By buying resistance bands you will increase a variety of your training methods. It's great to combine it with the balance trainer. It will helps you the tone your muscles but not to build a muscle mass. Resistance bands can by replaced by the suspension fitness multi gym as well. Rather spend from 1.000 CZK and more.

Gymball

Material - surface would be non slippery and comfortable

Sizes - select the ball exactly to your body height, check the tab below

• body height 150 cm -> ball size 45 cm
• body height 150-165 cm -> ball size 55 cm
• body height 165-175 cm -> ball size 65 cm
• body height 170-185 cm -> ball size 75 cm
• body height 185-195 cm -> ball size 85 cm
• body height more than 195 cm -> ball size 95 cm

Gymball is great for balance and core exercises. Its helps you to toned and strengthen your total body in different body weight exercises. Gymball can be replaced with the suspension fitness multi gym as well. Rather spend from 1.000 CZK and more.

Punching bag

Punching bag needs quite a lot of space around so mind about your space options. It's good to buy when you want to add fighting methods into your training. It´s very good for a condition not so good for your joints especially wrists are suffering. If you decide to buy one than buy a bigger one so you can practise punches with hands and legs. Training martial arts is great for total body toning and increasing power and speed of your body. Punching bag of 30 kgs would be ok from 2.000 CZK.

Treadmill, Bicycle, Rowing machine, Cross trainer

All these inside cardio machines are ok, if you do not have an option to go outside. If you can go outside then a fresh air would help much more to your body and mind then stationary inside cardio machines.

Treadmill is for people who have no limits of their body. Pay more for better one, otherwise it will start to shake quite early. Always set the incline of a treadmill at least at 1, so you will simulate a flat surface. More quality treadmills starts at 25.000 CZK and more.

Bicycle would helps if you need to save your joints and you need to lose weight. It's not for a upper body so you should add different exercises to your training with dumbbell, resistant bands or suspension fitness machine, which saves your joints as well. More quality starts at 25.000 CZK and more.

Rowing machine is great for people who wants to increase back and hamstrings strength. take care about a right technique otherwise you will overload your neck muscles. Rowing machine can be replaced by suspension fitness multi gym as well. More quality starts at 35.000 CZK and more.

Cross trainer is fine for total body cause you are doing round movement for upper and lower body at the same time. It means low impact on joint. So if you don´t have a problem with your balance, then it is the best choice. Pay more to buy good one, with big movement range. More quality starts at 50.000 CZK and more.

If you want or you just need to take care about your joints then use bicycle or cross trainer. Then you should add exercises for upper body to balance and tone your entire body. The best combination for low impact training would be with suspension fitness multi gym.

I hope my experiences as a personal fitness trainer at home would help you to choose the best and right home gym equipment for your home gym and you will find in an everyday workout an essential part of your great life.

Take care, live now.

Your fitness personal trainer and Instructor of Kung-Fu Prague Mgr. Ondrej Divis.