5 Options For Home Gym Setup Plus Benefits and Resources of At Home Workouts – BHP58

Time For Fitness At Home

Covid-19 is keeping us all at home. Many places around the world have closed down non-essential in person services. Schools, offices, restaurants, shops, and gyms have shut their doors. The goal for everyone now is to prevent the spread of this pandemic and stay away from each other. At first blush it seems that maintaining wellness balance would be challenging, if not impossible in these times. I think, however, this situation provides a very unique opportunity to improve our health as many of us have more time at home now. Kids’ activities, job travel, parties, etc. are being cancelled. How we use this new found time at home is up to us. Instead of filling it with news, social media, and Netflix marathons, let’s work on our fitness. If you haven’t already discovered how wonderful training at home can be, then this is a huge opportunity for you.

At Home Workout Benefits

Exercise whenever it is convenient for you
No travel to and from gym (more time saved)
Don’t have to leave your kids/family
Equipment is always available
No sweat residue from the person who was on the equipment before you
Save money (no gym fees)
Good role modeling for your kids

In 2010 my wife and I were moving, starting new roles at our jobs, and expecting our first child. We knew getting out to the gym was going to be more challenging than ever before. With this in mind we decided to build our own gym at home. It honestly has been one of the best investments we have ever made. Be it bad weather, need for child care, or time of day, the typical workout disruptors are no match for the home gym. Personally, the only missed workouts I can recall in the last 10 years since building our home gym are if I was sick.

So what does a home gym look like? You can actually get a pretty decent workout without any equipment at all, and if you are willing to invest a fairly small amount, you will have everything you need for a very thorough fitness program. Also you can build your gym slowly, piece by piece, as funds allow and as you get stronger.

Note: At the time of the writing of this post suppliers of strength equipment seem to be out of stock of many of their products. Dumbbells are disappearing from Amazon seemingly as fast as toilet paper. Building a home gym appears to be quite popular at the moment with most commercial gyms closed.

5 Home Gym Setup Options

No Equipment – There are lots of excellent strength and cardio exercises that can be performed with just your body as equipment.

Best if you are just beginning strength training and want to see if you will stick with it.

Just Dumbbells – Simply adding a few pairs of dumbbells can make your workouts much more dynamic. Adjustable weight dumbbells are great for home gyms as they have a smaller footprint and are cheaper.

Best for low budget and little space.

Dumbbells Plus – Several key accessories that can be added to dumbbells to add more exercise variety and function are:

Best for medium budget and want to slowly expand exercise options.

Full Strength – In addition to the dumbbells, bench, mat, resistance bands, and jump rope a complete strength setup should include the following:

Best for large budget and want lots of variety for strength training.

Full Strength and Cardio – If you are like me, then you probably prefer to do your cardio training (i.e. running, cycling, etc.) outdoors. Sometimes weather, child care, and global pandemics make it difficult to train outside. As such it is nice to have equipment at home that give you the option of doing cardio training indoors. If you add some or all of these cardio pieces to the full strength equipment above, you will have a very comprehensive setup at home.

- Indoor cycling – Cycling is gentle on joints and can be excellent for cardio training. With tech advancements cycling indoors is a lot more fun and engaging than it used to be. You can buy a smart bike with integrated classes such as Peloton which is quite popular. If you already have a bike you can connect to a smart trainer, such as a Saris H3. These smart trainers allow you to connect to apps such as Zwift. Zwift allows you to ride and race virtually with people all over the world and even do meetup rides with friends. It is a blast and I am personally pretty addicted to it.
- Treadmill – I know the treadmill can be boring. There is a reason some folks call it the “dreadmill”. Luckily there are some fun tech advancements for indoor running, similar to cycling. For example, you can attach a Zwift RunPod to your shoe and transform any treadmill irun into a much more interactive game-like experience with the Zwift app. Anything that can make running inside more fun is a win in my book. We have had a Sole treadmill for 10 years and it is still running strong. Sole makes at home cardio equipment but it is more heavy duty like commercial grade treadmills for gyms.
- Elliptical – Ellipticals are a nice choice for variety if you don’t want the impact of a treadmill and want to be more upright than a bike. Here is an elliptical by Sole.
- Rowing Machine – Rowing is a fantastic cardio workout and involves the whole body. The Concept2 rowing machine is very popular and highly rated.

Best for large budget and want lots of variety for strength training as well as be able to do cardio inside your home.

Rest assured whatever home gym setup you start with will be a good investment. The great thing about gym equipment is it that it is very durable. Good dumbbells, barbells, plates, power racks, etc. won’t need to be replaced. This means you can build your gym out piece by piece as your finances and space allow.

Now that we know the benefits of training at home and equipment needed, let’s discuss resources to guide your workouts.

At Home Workout Resources

Peloton is very popular. They have excellent instructors and have lots of different spin classes and music. They do offer a few strength training classes but not as in depth as I would like to see. For example the “10 minutes Chest and Back workout” just doesn’t quite cut in my opinion.

Best if you want a high energy spin class environment.

Core Power Yoga is a great option for yogis. They have an on demand option that gives access to a large number of yoga classes in varying styles and durations.

Best if you want a yoga specific training classes.

Mirror is a slick tool for a huge variety of at home workouts. As the name suggests, it is an actual mirror, but has integrated technology to superimpose a trainer and your personal metrics on top of your reflection. There are lots of types of workouts including yoga, boot camp, boxing, cardio, etc. It doesn’t appear to incorporate very much equipment for strength training though.

Best if you want a large variety of fitness training and basic strength.

TrainingBoost Online Training offers the option of a completely custom program based on your goals, abilities, and equipment access. All workouts are completed through an app showing videos of how to properly execute each movement. The custom program also provides access to your coach if you have questions and even allows you to send videos or pictures of your workout for coach feedback. If you don’t need a fully customized program, there is an option for 3 general workouts per week based on your equipment access.

Best if you want a custom program for yourself and direct access to a coach.

The Social Piece

I realize many folks are likely missing the social aspect of going to the gym, whether it is meeting a workout buddy or taking a class with friends. While this may be difficult, we are actually quite fortunate to have so many wonderful online options to make training at home more engaging, fun, and connected.

Please click the link below to your favourite podcast app to listen in or watch the show on BOOST Health TV