Which home gym equipment is best

Which home gym equipment is best depends on your goals. Start with Cardio and move your way to strength.

Goals

Whether a home gym makes sense for you depends highly on your personal goals. Gym memberships can be very cheap, especially if you make no use of the classes or trainers. So check your goal set and some factors before deciding on big expenses for a home gym.

Distance to gym
Opening times
Self-motivation
Current discipline

The distance to your gym is one of the impactful factors whether a gym makes sense or not. The further away the gym door is from your own the more sense it makes to switch to a home gym. Once you commute an hour to your gym it will definitely be beneficial to start a home gym.

If you work shift it will also help to have a gym that is open 24/7. Most gyms are not open 24/7 with a few exceptions. Combine this with long commutes and you get the idea.

Motivation can be a tricky topic. As long as you can stay motivated and push the workout without external motivators you are a good candidate for a home gym. So ask yourself seriously whether you will keep up the routine once you are home with no official appointments.

The last thing to look at is how disciplined you are about your attendance. If you continuously hit three times a week already or more you can look into it. If you think you will be more disciplined by having a home gym that is usually not what happens.

Cardio

The best equipment for cardio is probably a jump rope. It is cheap and can be used in so many different ways to keep you fit. Just look up different boxing routines to get the hang of it. Apart from this I personally prefer air bikes over treadmills. They take up less space and do not need a motor that is prone to break down. A good pair of runners will also do the trick for you.

Strength

For strength, the best starting point for your home gym is a pair of kettlebells. Pavel Tsatsouline formed a great routine with his simple and sinister book. Once you want more from your strength routines you can go into a rack with a bench and barbell. Check out the room in which you want to place them and also keep your finances in control. Home gyms can mushroom into a very big project fast.

Stretch

For stretching a yoga mat will suffice. If you want to take it up a notch you can place some wooden contraction in your back garden for the morning yoga routine.

Storage

The best place for storage is your walls. Rogue Fitness has some smart solutions which enable you to hang barbells, plates and even concept 2 rowers from the walls. This way the workout area stays free of clutter when you are not using the equipment.

Summary

The best equipment is the equipment which you will actually use. Take some extra time in this department and to think about what you are using and how usage can be brought up before deciding what is best.