The Best At-Home Workout Equipment For Beginners

If you’re a beginner trying to stay consistent with your fitness goals and build up your ability work out at home, there are lots of options! Use these pieces of at-home workout equipment for beginners to get you started. Cost-effective, little space needed, and the easiest way to get you started with full-body workout.

If you want to stay consistent with your goals, at-home workouts can help– especially as a busy mom! However, bodyweight exercises will only get you so far. Snag some of this practical, at-home workout gear and take your results to a whole new level- ad save money while you do it 😉

Why Choose At-Home Workouts

• Cost-effective
• Time saver
• A good example for kiddos
• Helps you stay consistent

Most people who begin using at home workouts start with bodyweight exercises. I believe that everyone should master the basic movements before adding any resistance. There are also some pretty fun ways to train using just your own bodyweight (here are three fun workouts).

Bodyweight training is also the most cost-effective piece of workout equipment- and here’s how to use it to maximize your goals. You can peep my full-body workouts and you’ll see a ton of “no-equipment” options.

The Drawbacks Of Bodyweight Only Training

• More difficult to target the back muscles responsible for posture
• Can be a challenge to increase intensity without jumping (especially if weight loss is the goal)

Having other forms of at-home workout equipment can come in handy to get around this.

And thankfully, there are lots of pieces of home gym equipment that won’t rob the bank!

 

The Best At-Home Workout Equipment For Beginners

• Resistance bands
• TRX Suspension Straps
• Kettlebells
• Dumbbells

Obviously, if you’ve seen my videos you’ll have seen I’m spoiled. I have a full gym in my house because I’m a certified personal trainer.

But I didn’t always have these home gym options and most of my clients don’t either. Actually, I trained for a few years without a gym membership or any fancy at-home workout equipment. I also learned a lot. Mainly that you can easily rock an at-home workout without equipment (here’s a fun cardio workout).

That said, adding resistance to your at-home workout routine (not heavy lifting just resistance) will be a game-changer in terms of results and strength (12 benefits of resistance training).

If you want to set up a full gym at home- rock it! But it’s not necessary.  You can use any one of the pieces of at-home workout equipment for beginners and you’ll be set up pretty nicely. Plus, you can check out my youtube channel for a ton of at-home workout videos to help you get started.

You can also peep at my blog post A Busy Mom’s Ultimate Guide To Working Out At Home which will give you all the ins and outs for getting set up to smash home workouts.

 

At-Home Workout Equipment For Beginners: Resistance Bands

Bands are one of my favorite things to recommend for anyone working out at home or for those of my clients that travel a lot. Not only are they inexpensive but they take up virtually no room and you can do so many exercises with them (here’s a fun arm workout for example!).

I love them because they give you the ability to work your back muscles which is normally a challenge with just bodyweight activities. I also recommend bands because they’re easy to travel with! They don’t take much room in your suitcase and you still get a workout while away.

That said, I don’t recommend pilates bands. The tension just doesn’t stimulate your muscles as nicely as I would like. Instead, 

I have every one of my clients grab a strength band, It’s the least resistance of the strength bands this one works perfectly for shoulders and arms. If you have something to fix it to (a beam) even better but it’s definitely not needed. My strength band is red but the yellow one is the equivalent.

Green mini band: these are perfect for all glute (bum!) and lower body exercises. I use these every single workout to give my glutes a nice hit. They are the cheapest and best piece of at-home workout equipment for beginners you can grab. You’ll see me refer to them in almost every single workout video I love them that much!

 

Where To Buy Resistance Bands For Full-Body Workouts

I snag my bands from prosourcefit.com  (use code mamabearfit to save you some money!).

If you’re an Amazon lover, this is an awesome deal on the exact bands I mention above and really all you need for at-home workouts.

 

Bumping Up The Resistance Band Intensity

You’ll notice that prosourcefit offers more than just one resistance band. This allows you to progress your at-home workouts and get strong. The yellow band is the one I use the most often with clients however here is what I rock with the other bands.

Purple & red Strength Band: great to help you work on your back muscles. and muscles of the posterior chain It provides ideal resistance or can be folded in two to help with glutes!

Green Strength Band: I use this one mostly to train for any kind of major pull (chin-ups) but also for a few awesome lower body exercises. It’s the least used of my clients at home bands but I personally love it. 

Truthfully, resistance bands are the piece of at-home workout equipment for beginners I recommend the most. They’re insanely easy to use, low impact, and still give you a full workout.

Kettlebells

I love kettlebells and for a long time before we built my studio I worked out with just two twenty pound bells until I could afford more.

Kettlebells allow you:

• a full-body workout
• can be used for strength, mobility, and power
• easy to hold

Kettlebells are extremely versatile and you can use them in place of dumbbells or as more of a power workout. If you’re brand new, opt for more slow and controlled but once you get a feel for them- step it up.

I normally tell clients to grab 15-25lbs depending on what they want to spend. I worked out for a long time with just two twenties. So don’t blow the bank. Grab one or two to start and just use what you’ve got! Here’s a fun Kettlebell Circuit though if you do grab one!

I grab mine from prosourcefit.com because they tend to have a lot of really good sales and being an actual fitness company the equipment is good quality (and save yourself even more money using code mamabeafit).

 

Dumbbells

Now, before you skip over this section let me remind you of two things: strength training is easily the best way to improve your posture, stimulate your muscles, and keep you healthy long term. Learn more about the benefits of strength training before you jump to conclusions.

The other point to keep in mind is that you don’t need to purchase the whole rack! I would suggest starting with a set of 12’s, 15’s & 20’s. That alone will get you seriously started and sweaty. Not enough money? Just grab the 15’s. You can still rock a lot of sweaty workouts with one pair of dumbbells.

Just don’t get the ones that you add plates to in order to up the weight. They definitely save you money but they’re a huge pain in the ass. They’re bulky and they take too much time between exercises. Grab regular hex dumbbells. And if money is a thing, only grab one weight- your money is better spent!

 

TRX

My favorite equipment for at-home workouts! I love my suspension straps!

Ideally, you would hang them from a beam or anchor point BUT they do come with a door jammer meaning you can literally workout anywhere. Just hook them off the back of a door and you’re good to go.

TRX is the most expensive but the most useful. You can target all of your muscles with countless exercises and in different ways (strength/metabolic etc). Plus, the straps allow you to alter the resistance based on where you’re standing and they’re low impact.

For people just starting out or anyone with an injury, they’re my go-to option.

It is one of the best investments you can make to your at-home workout routine and it’s one of my favorite tools when it comes to pregnancy workouts because it’s so easy to modify the intensity!

On top of that, because with TRX you train on an angle, it is a great tool to improve your core muscles as they constantly have to stabilize. And most kits come with a workout DVD that explains many of the common exercises.

Trx straps may seem like a bit investment but they’re absolutely worth it. They allow you to use your body in a whole other plane of motion which gives great results. 

Don’t forget to pin these awesome pieces of at-home workout equipment for beginners!

So that’s it! My favorite home gym equipment. If you can afford them all, you’re seriously golden. If not, chose one in your price range and go from there. Every time you add another piece you can do more. But I know from experience that even one of these pieces will take you a long way. Fitness isn’t about having the best equipment, it’s about making the best use of the equipment you have?