How To Build A Home Gym With A Limited Budget

Paying for monthly gym memberships, in the long run, ends up being very expensive. Building a home gym is a creative and excellent solution you should consider if you still want to exercise at your comfort and convenience routinely.

Contrary to what most people assume, you don’t necessarily have to break the bank for this dream to become a reality. After all, actualizing this dream requires buying a couple of must-have gym equipment to achieve your fitness goals.

If you’re thinking of starting a home gym, look no further. Here’s a guide on the essential home gym equipment you’ll need to build a home gym while on a budget.

Dumbbells

It shouldn’t come as much as a surprise that dumbbells are recommended by 28 at Home to be one of the first pieces of equipment you need to buy for your at-home gym. After all, you can use dumbbells to do countless core, lower body, and upper body exercises.

Dumbbells are also an excellent choice when looking to build your muscles and strength.

When shopping for dumbbells, it’s best to get between three to five sets of weights to do numerous workouts. It would be best if you’ll buy the hex-shaped dumbbells with a black rubber coating as they’re comfortable to use when exercising and very durable.

If you’re unsure of the ideal weight for your set of dumbbells, you should get those weighing between 8 to 10 pounds.

2. Adjustable Bench

You can use the adjustable bench to do a broad range of workouts, but the most common workout routine is the bench press. If your budget doesn’t allow it, a flat bench is also equally effective.

There are many exercises you can do on the adjustable bench, including;

Split squats
Box squats
Dumbbell Rows
Concentration curls
Dumbbell bench press
Dumbbell shoulder press
Reverse dumbbell fly

Since you can do so many exercises on the adjustable bench, investing in one is no doubt a no-brainer.

3. Olympic Barbell

An essential piece of equipment for your home gym that you need to buy is an Olympic barbell. After all, this free-weight equipment is an item you’ll most probably be using quite a lot when doing your workouts.

Like other free weights, barbells are a better option instead of machines as they provide your workouts with coordination and stabilization.

When shopping for a barbell, you need to pay close attention to its quality as they differ greatly in terms of durability and performance.

Therefore, you should keep away from poor quality and cheap barbells. You also need to closely examine a barbell’s diameter before buying one to ensure it’s a suitable size.

4. Weight Plates

After buying your barbell, it makes sense to invest in items to hang on them for your weight training workouts, and this is the purpose of weight plates. You can get weight plates in different materials, sizes, and colors.

It’s best to opt either for vinyl or iron-weight plates when on a tight budget. With that said, you need to be very cautious when buying cheap weight plates as the weight for some varies greatly. For example, a 20kg weight plate may be weighing in at 21kg or 19kg.

Therefore, you should test the weight plates before paying for them.

The weight of the plates you’ll buy depends on your strength levels. You can choose to have one or several sets of 20kg weight plates alongside other plates weighing less.

5. Exercise Or Yoga Mat

You don’t want to be in direct contact with the floor when doing your workouts, such as stretching, barre exercises, and strength workouts. This is what a yoga or exercise mat does and it’ll make your workouts a lot more comfortable.

You can choose the exercise or yoga mats according to your liking and the kind of exercise you’re doing. If you usually exercise on a hard floor, make sure to get a thick exercise or yoga mat but not very thick such that you don’t feel grounded or feel somewhat wobbly.

6. A Jump Rope

Another must-have gym equipment you should buy is a jumping rope. Using this portable, flexible, and skinny equipment, you can do cardio workouts. You can use the jump rope for short and long periods to improve your coordination and conditioning.

It’s also an effective way to increase your endurance and stamina plus it helps you warm up before starting a high-intensity workout.

If you’re used to doing jumping rope exercises, get a weighted rope to improve your strength or a wire lightweight rope to increase your speeds.

A thicker PVC jump rope is an ideal pick if you aren’t used to a jumping rope as it’s easier to learn and it’s more versatile.

Takeaway

When setting up an at-home gym, one of your main stumbling blocks will be the lack of enough funds. This is because finding suitable workout equipment that can fit into your multi-purpose rooms while on a budget isn’t easy.

This guide has sought to alleviate this issue that might be coming in between you and your workout goals. Outlined above are the basic gym equipment you can buy on a budget and fit into the rooms in your home.

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