Don't have the time to get to the gym to train? Is your local gym charging too much per month for membership? Do you want to have the freedom to train whenever you want to at home? Keep reading for my opinion on how to build an effective home gym on a budget.
An average gym membership is currently priced around £20-30 in the UK which equates to £240 a year at £20 a month. This is pretty substantial amount of money that can be removed from your outgoings and saved if you deem it more beneficial to save this money. It can be removed and in the long run save you money as you CAN build an effective home gym on a budget.
In this post I'll take you through some bits of equipment I would definitely recommend getting for a budget home gym and then some extra options should your budget and space allow you to purchase them. By the end of this post you should have a rough idea of some options to purchase for yourself to start making progress in the comfort of your own home.
As always if you want to ask any questions after reading this post feel free to contact me to ask them.
Essentials
My essentials for a home gym would give you the basic equipment necessary to perform a simple yet effective full body routine at home to help you reach your future goals. It will also allow you to stick to a tight budget (around £15). I checked for my prices on Amazon and went with the cheapest option that looked of decent quality and had at least some reviews (that weren't all negative).
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My essentials for a budget home gym are either a foam roller that is trigger point (not smooth) or a massage ball, a skipping rope, an exercise ball (I would recommend either 55cm or 65cm ones), resistance bands and headphones or a speaker.
The foam roller and massage ball are to serve the same purpose so having both is not necessary, they are to try to relieve any tension in muscles that may feel tight before or after a session. The foam roller will set you back around £7 and the massage ball would set you back around £5. I would recommend someone new to self-myofascial release to get a foam roller over a massage ball.
A skipping rope is in my essentials as it is effective for cardio sessions and much cheaper than buying any cardio machines (rowing machine, treadmill etc.) you can also get a skipping rope for about £2.
An exercise ball is good as it varies what exercises you are able to do and can also be used to make other exercises easier, squats with the exercise ball behind your back can be a good squat regression for example. An exercise ball can also set you back as little as £4.
Resistance bands also allow you to perform a wider variety of exercises (bicep curls, tricep extensions etc.) as well as adding resistance to some simple exercises (squats, press ups etc.). Resistance bands can also be purchased in a set of bands of varying resistances for as little as £3.
I would also recommend headphones or a speaker so that you can turn your favourite music to train to up and really get yourself motivated for your session. You can use the headphones that come free with your mobile phone, play music straight from your laptop/computer or buy headphones. I personally use wireless over ear headphones as I find these better for blocking out distraction and there is no wire to get in the way ever. Essentially this part is up to preference, it can be free to you or cost up to around £20.
Budget allowing
My budget allowing options would include a yoga mat, an exercise step, an ab wheel, a medicine ball, a pull up bar and a set of weight adjustable dumbbells.
I would say to add these options as and when you can or want to. You do not need these to train any particular part of your body that cannot already be trained in other ways but they can allow for more progression within movements or potentially slightly more effective sessions if used correctly.
The yoga mat is helpful for if you have a hard floor or train outside but isn't necessary if you are comfortable lying on carpet. They can be purchased for as little as £5.
A step will cost around £10 to purchase and can also be used to vary some simple exercises as well as being able to directly target the calves in particularly more easily.
An ab wheel in my opinion is one of the hardest core exercises I have performed, it is essentially a dynamic plank requiring core strength to hold posture on the movement of the wheel away from the body as well as when rolling the wheel back into the body. It can also be regressed and progressed fairly easily. They can also be purchased for around £5.
Medicine balls can be another good way to progress some simple exercises by increasing the resistance placed upon the working muscle or changing the focus of an exercise by changing the stability or movement slightly. They can be purchased for around £10 also.
A pull up bar is another piece of equipment I would recommend if you have a space to install it and your budget allows it (it will cost around £12). Pull ups are still seen as one of the most effective exercises for the back. This means investing in a pull up bar can lead to much more effective targeting of the muscles in the back.      Â
Weight adjustable dumbbells (I would buy a 30kg set as this will allow for more future progression without having to reinvest money into more plates or another set altogether). This set will set you back at most £20 but will allow a very diverse range of exercises while training.
Possible extras
My space allowing option would be a TRX suspension trainer as again this allows for more diverse sessions with a greater range of progression and regression than some of the other equipment can offer. Again this would set you back around £20.
If you are not training alone whether that be with a friend or with your partner, boxing gloves and focus mits can be a good purchase as they allow a high intensity session that can also be effective for relieving stress. They can also be purchased for under £20.
Putting the cost into perspective
If you were to buy every bit of equipment I have just mentioned you would have spent around £113. This equates to around half of the average yearly gym membership of £240 but you will have the equipment for longer than a year as well as being able to train in the comfort of your own home or even on the go if you spend a lot of time in hotels for work for example (most of the equipment is easily transported and used in smaller spaces). As an example, a deflated swiss ball with a pump to inflate it back up, a skipping rope, an ab wheel and some resistance bands take up little room in a bag but can be used to give an effective full body session in a hotel room or while on holiday.
This would mean that the gym you would be paying for but be unable to access while away from home is no longer a wasted expense as you can take what you have invested in away with you and make the most of the investment (I regard any money spent on helping improve your health an investment rather than a cost as you will see a benefit that outweighs the initial cost in the long run).
What can the equipment allow you to do?
Now I will just highlight a few simple exercises that each piece of equipment will enable you to do that they would be effective for adding into a home programme.
Skipping rope, a skipping rope will allow you to do effective cardio, it is an exercise that will make you be quick and is therefore suited to higher intensity training; perfect for home workout sessions! 40 second intervals of skipping at a quick pace followed by 20 seconds rest for around 10 minutes should have you feeling like you have had an effective cardio session.
Exercise ball, in my opinion the most effective exercise this will allow you to do more efficiently is a hamstring curl as well as varying the core exercises you are able to perform and being able to act as an assistance tool for squats. It is also able to act as a cheaper alternative for a bench when using dumbbells.
Resistance bands, these are one of the most versatile pieces of equipment in my list as they can be used to perform bicep curls or tricep extensions, to add resistance to a squat or to help you warm up before exercises in varying ways.
An exercise step, this will allow you to perform more plyometric exercises such as squat jumps onto the step, press ups onto the step or uneven press ups (one hand on the box and one off it). It can also allow another cheaper alternative to a bench when using dumbbells.
Ab wheel, this is the most I’ve ever felt an ab exercise working while performing the exercise! Starting with rolling out while on your knees as far as you can go (without letting your hips drop too much and putting too much pressure on your lower back) you will eventually be able to roll out from standing and back.
Medicine ball, a medicine ball will again be good for adding resistance to a variety of different exercises such as Russian twists, squats or crunches. If you purchase a medicine ball with handles then you will also be able to use the medicine ball as an alternative for a kettlebell for exercises such as kettlebell swings.
A pull up bar would as in the name allow you to perform pull ups much easier, whether that be negatives while you build up to being able to do a full pull up or performing the full exercise straight away.
Dumbbells, there are so many different exercises you can perform with dumbbells that I won’t be able to list them all here although I will list a few of the ones I use frequently with my clients. Dumbbells would allow you to perform deadlifts which are an effective exercise for the whole posterior chain (back of your body), they could also be used to effectively perform walking lunges.
A TRX system would allow many different exercises to be incorporated into a programme such as inverted rows, chest fly movements as well as also allowing reverse crunches to be performed easily.
Boxing gloves and pads, these are very simple to use, you can literally have your training partner hold the pads up and you just punch them as much as you want for interval periods (trust me it’s harder than it sounds) or you can have your partner move the pads in order to allow you to change where you aim in order to alter how you move througout a session.
If you would like any extra advice or even a sample programme to follow based on what equipment you have from the lists feel free to get in touch with me via the contact page or email me directly at danferrier_pt@hotmail.comÂ