There are tons of workout equipment on the market right now. Wouldn’t it be nice to know which home gym equipment is most necessary for you? Well, look no further! We are going to break down exactly which pieces of equipment you will need no matter what your goals are. Ideally the better your equipment, the more you can optimize your home gym experience. But despite extravagant Instagram home gyms showing iron cages with 10 barbells hanging on the wall, a great full body workout can be done with as little as $10 worth of equipment. For this post we’ll be focusing on the most affordable equipment for Flexibility, Cardiovascular, and Resistance Training at home.

Flexibility

Our bones and joints do not enjoy the weight of our bodies pushing down towards a hard surface. In order to truly let go of tight muscles while stretching we need to sit and lay on something soft, like the common Exercise Mat. These soft mats are incredibly useful when doing body weight resistance and flexibility exercises. Soft mats like these are large enough to fit most of your body and can be rolled up to be stored at home or taken on the road! With a mat at home you can practice yoga, perform resistance exercises, and even take a nap on them (anecdotal evidence).

In a randomized controlled trial published in PubMed.com it was concluded that “Mat Pilates induced strength and flexibility gains for lower and upper body…” [1] Mat Pilates is a type of exercise perform using only exercise mates. These mats are also great for Static and Active Stretching, but when you have tight muscles there is nothing better than using a Foam Roller.

A Foam Roller is a cylindrical foam tool that you can use to release muscular tightness. If you suffer from muscle pain and inflexibility, using a foam roller is absolutely necessary especially at home. Even if your goal involves bulking and building muscle, flexibility increases your range of motion directly resulting in more muscle usage.

According to a review of multiple studies related to SMR using a foam roller “may be (an) effective intervention for enhancing joint ROM and pre and post exercise muscle performance” [2] It doesn’t matter if you want to be Mr.Rubberband himself or Atalanta, using a foam roller will enhance your abilities!

Cardiovascular

When you think about cardio at home, what is the first thing you think of? Running on a treadmill perhaps? Yes, but did you know, according to a widely referenced study published in the journal Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 10 minutes of jumping rope yielded the same cardio benefits as 30 minutes running? [3] Thats 2/3rds less time spent achieving the same thing! A good Jump rope is far less expensive than the standard cardio machine. As stated by TheCostGuys.com “in general, the average price of a treadmill is about $574.” [4] Meanwhile, a good Jump Rope on Amazon is about $15.

Unlike a treadmill, the difficulty level can be increased in limitless amount of ways! You can jump and dance to the rhythm of music, perform tricks, jump rope while jogging, and even have a rope long enough to jump with a partner. Having fun while working out is a great addition to the reasons why you should workout already listed here. Because its fun and cardio efficient, jumping rope looks to be the ideal warm up to resistance exercise!

Resistance Training

If you are starting your home gym experience living in a studio apartment with a single ten dollar bill to your name, you cannot go wrong with Resistance Bands. These little rubber contraptions are good for biceps, triceps, legs, abs, chest, and back! The basic set comes with bands of different resistances. Meaning the more you stretch them the heavier they feel, with the lightest being 10lbs of pressure and the heaviest 50lbs. They also come with handle bars, limb wrapper, and door anchor attachments giving you the ability to train full body at home! These workout bands are so effective that in a study published in the journal of The Heart Failure Association of the ESC found that the long term use of resistance bands causes “improvement and retention of walking distance and health-related quality of life” in patients with chronic heart failure. [5]

Bands are especially useful during the Stability Phase of training at home. As your need for heavier resistance increases, you can even put multiple bands together effectively multiplying the pounds of pressure. For example, if you connect the 50lb and 20lb bands to the same anchor, you would have a total resistance force of 70lbs! Once you’re at the step of building an iron home gym, you can use the travel bag to store them. Using the travel bag, you can workout with the bands anywhere you travel to!

Conclusion

To conclude, a home gym doesn’t have to have a single pound of iron to be effective. The reason why these inexpensive pieces of equipment are necessary is because they’re all beneficial to different but very important facets of your overall health. The Exercise Mat and Foam Roller are foundational to Flexibility. Becoming flexibly healthy is important no matter your goals because you minimize the possibility of injury and increase you effectiveness!

The Jump Rope is the ideal Cardiovascular tool, it has been found to be more effective in achieving cardiovascular benefits than running as an exercise. And finally, standard Resistance Bands are great for Resistance Training. The first step to becoming strong is achieve muscular stability. The bands are perfect because they force your body to stabilize during the entire home workout. They’re also cheap to buy and the different bands can be combined to increase the resistance level limitlessly.

References

1. Bertoli J;Bezerra ES;Winters-Stone KM;Alberto Gobbo L;Freitas IF; “Mat Pilates Improves Lower and Upper Body Strength and Flexibility in Breast Cancer Survivors Undergoing Hormone Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial (HAPiMat Study).” Disability and Rehabilitation, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35107399/
2. Cheatham, Scott W, et al. “The Effects of Self-Myofascial Release Using a Foam Roll or Roller Massager on Joint Range of Motion, Muscle Recovery, and Performance: A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, Sports Physical Therapy Section, Nov. 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637917.
3. Baker, John A. “Comparison of Rope Skipping and Jogging as Methods of Improving Cardiovascular Efficiency of College Men.” Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, vol. 39, no. 2, 1968, pp. 240–243., https://doi.org/10.1080/10671188.1968.10618043.
4. Casazza, Craig. “Average Cost of a Treadmill (2022).” TheCostGuys, 19 Oct. 2020, https://thecostguys.com/sports/average-cost-of-a-treadmill.
5. Lans C, Cider Å, Nylander E, Brudin L. Peripheral muscle training with resistance exercise bands in patients with chronic heart failure. Long-term effects on walking distance and quality of life; a pilot study. ESC Heart Fail. 2018 Apr;5(2):241-248. doi: 10.1002/ehf2.12230. Epub 2017 Nov 23. PMID: 29168621; PMCID: PMC5880672.