I recently spent a few days at the Embassy Suites in Silicon Valley when I tagged along with my husband on a business trip. Not wanting to miss a workout day, I visited their gym daily. By the second day, I was in love with the thought of a new and improved home gym, which, of course, made me start looking into the best home gym equipment. I realized having a great space to workout in, only encourages you to stay longer and frankly, put even more effort into the workouts.
You know me, typically very low maintenance, a low frills type of person, but there are a handful of things I appreciate being among the finer things in life, so to speak. Whether you are designing your home gym from scratch or updated an existing home gym, knowing the hottest home gym equipment can help make your decisions a little easier, perhaps.
Putting together your own home gym can feel like a great accomplishment, but it can also be a little confusing. You’ll probably have lots of questions going through your head like, which home gym equipment is right for me and what is the hottest home gym equipment that everyone swears by? Well, I am glad you stumbled across this article because I am going to try to narrow some of those confusing choices down for you.
While I know there are so many types of workouts out there, this list will focus on the assumption you are looking for basic cardio and strength training equipment. Activities such as yoga and pilates can potentially be done practically anywhere when you throw down a mat, so I will skip the mat selection for now. The following pieces of equipment are what I call home gym essentials for a well-rounded fitness center.
How much home gym equipment do I have space for?
This is the first step to building a home gym is deciding what equipment you’re going to purchase.
Do you have an entire room dedicated as a home gym? Maybe your gym is like mine was a few years ago and is a shared space. We used to do our workouts in our bedroom. It was sometimes tight when doing bodyweight exercises, but we managed.
In the last several years, we have been lucky enough to have a room dedicated to our workout equipment, although it isn’t our dream workout space as I mentioned above. I will definitely keep this list in mind for our next and hopefully greatest workout room. That said, a lot of these items are on my personal wishlist for our next home gym.
So, there are great gym options for both small and large gyms. It will largely depend on what type of workouts you enjoy, but here are some of the best home gym equipment options right now.
Many of these suggestions have convenient links to Amazon (that are also affiliate links) for you to purchase or look at additional details.
Home Gym Ideas for a Dedicated Room
Having an entire room to fill with gym equipment is every fitness guru’s dream, but the room can still fill up quickly, so it’s important to choose the best gym equipment for your home. Having a variety to choose from and rotate will ensure you don’t get bored and are training your body to perform at its peak.
Peloton Tread
Definitely on the higher end of treadmills, but if you have the budget, this treadmill would be worth every penny. While I don’t run very often, Andrew has enjoyed running using the Peloton app on our current treadmill. (NordicTrack) One day I could see us upgrading our treadmill to this one.
What’s so great about it? The training and the stats. The coaching you get while on your run will push you harder than running without, making your workouts that much more beneficial. The large screen with the trainer makes you feel like you have the one on one coaching pushing you to the finish line.
Peloton Bike
While this cycling dream can fit into both spaces, I opted to include it here at the top just because I can’t wait to show it to you!
It is by far the best home gym equipment piece I have ever owned. I hate cardio, but I have logged more calories burned on this bike in the last 8 months we’ve owned it than anything else in my life. I can honestly say my cardio has improved dramatically since having this, and frankly, it wasn’t awful beforehand.
There are many people who have placed their bike in shared room spaces like their bedroom, hallway, sunroom, and even their living rooms.
Again, like the tread, Peloton provides excellent coaching and such a variety of classes at a wide variety of fitness levels, there is something for everyone. I won’t go into all of the bike review here, because you can read all about my cycling experiences with Peloton over here.
I can’t imagine my home gym without this now.
Weight Bench
I am not a weight bench snob, really. I guess if you have a husband who lifts also, he may have a strong preference towards a particular weight bench, but my thoughts are as long as it is adjustable and has good padding, it’s a winner. Here is a good example of what we have currently and I wouldn’t hesitate to keep.
Dumbbells with Rack
Some type of weights for a home gym is essential, especially for women over 40 who are focused on strength training for several health benefits and these are great when space isn’t an issue.
Currently, we have the space-saving set pictured under the shared space gym equipment, but there are benefits to having individual free weights such as these. Often the exercises we do require changing the amount of weight used frequently and so having the option to have more than 1 set close by and ready would be a luxury.
Pull Up Bar Tower or Station
We have this exact model in our home gym currently, and use it in several ways. It comes in handy, but does need enough space around it to utilize it fully. We also use it as a mobilizer for resistant bands when we use them.
Home Gym Flooring
Not really home gym equipment, but how can we ignore the ideal flooring?
This is truly a luxury item I hope to have one day soon in our home gym. This home gym flooring along with large windows and high ceilings with drop-down fans would create the atmosphere I would look forward to enjoying daily. True fitness motivation there.
While the most common is the black cushion flooring, I prefer the lighter option such as this gym.
Best Home Gym Ideas for Shared Space
There are so many options for working out at home with limited space. It takes a little planning and choosing the right equipment for your space. Our workout space used to be in our bedroom and measured roughly 5′ by 15′. We crammed our elliptical and treadmill both in the corners of the bedroom in addition to having that floor space.
Bowflex SelecTech Dumbbells
This awesome set of dumbbells makes it possible to own weights no matter how little space you have. We have a set of these and have really enjoyed the ability to use weights even in tight spaces. You can purchase a stand separately for the weights that allows them to be a few feet off the ground for easy access.
The weights range from 5lbs to 52 lbs.
Resistance Bands
Even if you have the dumbbells I mentioned above, having a great set of resistance bands can come in handy for a variety of exercises.
For the first several years of my fitness journey, minimal equipment was used and I still met my fitness goals. The majority of my progress was made during that time, so don’t underestimate what you are capable of in a small space.
Hopefully, I gave you some ideas for building a home gym you can look forward to working out in with variety and purpose.
Did I leave something out? What do you consider the best home gym equipment?
