Set up your home gym with the best small exercise equipment! This workout equipment is great for beginners, cost-effective, and takes up little space. It's the ideal way to get you started with at-home workout.
Plus, the exercise equipment is easy to use! No cable to adjust or space needed to be made for a treadmill. Set up a small home gym with this exercise equipment and smash your goals.
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, compact exercise equipment and take your results to a whole new level- and save money while you do it 😉
What To Consider When Setting Up A Home Gym
Setting up a small space for at-home workouts can feel overwhelming. There's a lot to consider:
- Space
- Cost
- How often you'll actually use it
- What kind of workout you'll be doing (strength training, cardio, etc)
Before you purchase any exercise equipment, nail down the answers to those questions.
The Best Home Gym Equipment For Small Spaces
As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, I am spoiled to have a full gym set up in my house (you can peek at a gym tour to check it out!)
But I didn't always have this home gym equipment 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 equipment for beginners and you'll be set up pretty nicely.
My top four pieces of fitness equipment are:
- Cheap: you don't need to spend more than $100-300 for gear
- Good for small spaces: not everyone has the floor space to store workout equipement. These pieces tuck away pretty easily.
- Easy to use: the choices are amazing for beginners or advanced fitness enthusiasts.
You can check out my youtube channel for a ton of at-home workout videos to help you get started with any of the pieces you chose.
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.
#1: 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 floor space 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 (and upper body in general) which is normally a challenge with just bodyweight activities (here are 15 back exercises you can do at home!).
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.
Lastly, I like that resistance bands are a low-impact, non-intense way to get people strength training.
Which Kind Of Resistance Bands To Buy
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 resistant 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 fitness 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.
How To Use Resistance Bands For Your Goals
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 I recommend the most for beginners. They're insanely easy to use, low impact, and still give you a full workout.
Resistance Band Workouts
#2 Kettlebells
I love kettlebells and for a long time before we built my gym 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).
Kettlebell Workouts To Try:
#3 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 and/or 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 and they're an amazing addition to a home gym.
TIP: 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!
Dumbbell only workouts:
#4 TRX
My favorite equipment for a at home! A truly great piece of compact exercise equipment.
Ideally, you would hang them from a beam or anchor point BUT they do come with a door jammer meaning you can literally work out anywhere. Just hook them off the back of a door and you're good to go.
TRX is the most expensive of this exercise equipment 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 of 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.
TRX Workouts:
Don’t forget to pin these awesome pieces of small space gym equipment!
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?
Frequently Asked Questions About Fitness Equipment For Home Workouts
Items like resistance bands, mini loops, and gymnastics rings are the best equipment for small spaces. It's compact and can be put away easily.
Exercise equipment like resistance bands, mini loops, a gym mat, and a set of dumbbells are all great options and tak eup little floor space. From there a skipping rope, TRX suspension straps and kettlebells give great at-home workouts as well.
Need More Help With At-Home Workouts?
If you’re looking to get fit, strong, and be able to keep up with your kiddos, check out my How To Get Strong AF E-Book. Full-body workouts perfect for busy moms.
This strength training program takes busy moms through basic full-body workouts and slowly builds upon the routines over a twelve-week period to progressively boost strength.
These workouts share a few things in common:
- You can do them all at home (resistance bands and bodyweight exercises)
- There are four workouts each week
- All workouts are completed in 20-30 minutes (most under twenty)
- The workouts come with video demonstrations
- Each video not only shows the exercises but also gives a step by step breakdown of how to perform them, exactly how I would walk my clients through
The difference between these workouts and other at-home workout routines is that these full-body workouts are progressive. Meaning, they build on one another. Every four weeks the workouts change and the exercises are slightly more advanced than they were before. This is crucial to developing strength.
Take the thought out of working out and follow a plan. Because being strong isn’t optional when you’re a mom. Grab your copy of the How To Get Strong AF E-Book (when you click on the button a new window will open that will take you to securely process payment)
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Shelby aka Mama Bear
Deanna
Love this article. Perfection! Yoy just took the stress out of my shopping for equipment, thank you!
fitasamamabear
Happy to hear it Deanna!There's so many options out there it's nice to have it narrowed down 🙂