The Best Equipment for Home Gym Workouts The Ultimate List

What do you think is the best equipment for a home gym? Forget about vanity projects for a second - you know, having a better treadmill than Jane from down the block or getting bigger pecs than that security guy that tossed you out of the club when you were in college.

Think about fitness equipment more critically and focus on the things that will help make you as healthy and as fit as can be (think efficiency).

The equipment needed to do those exercises are the best equipment for your home gym. It's that simple.

The Different Types of Exercises You Need for Optimal Health

When it comes down to it, there are four main types of exercises that you need to focus on to be fit and healthy. The problem is that many of us never really incorporate all four. We simply focus on the one that interests us the most.

For example, people looking to get "ripped" only focus on building massive muscles, and people looking to lose weight only focus on burning calories.

If you want to achieve a well-rounded level of fitness and health, you need to touch on each one of the following four types of exercises during your various working sessions:

Aerobics Exercises

These are the kind of exercises that get your heart racing and have you breathing harder. They are mostly exercises such as running, dancing, swimming and such. They are exercises designed to make your cardiovascular system stronger, thus reducing your risk of contracting cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, and conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Aerobic exercises are certainly an integral part of any wholesome workout program.

Strength Exercises

These are the type of exercises that work your muscles by using different types of resistance, such as your own body weight or dumbbells. These are exercises such as push-ups, weight lifting, and crunches that increase lean muscle mass. That is one of the main reasons why they are quite important to people who are trying to lose weight as well. The process of developing lean muscle mass burns a lot of calories.

Balance Exercises

While balance exercises can be good for everyone, they are particularly beneficial for older people since balance gets worse as you age. That being said, balance exercises such as yoga help to improve your ability to stabilize and control your body's position, which helps a great deal with form when exercising.

Flexibility Exercises

These types of exercises go towards stretching your muscles and increasing or improving your range of motion. These types of exercises are particularly important since they help prevent common injuries that come with poor exercising form and stiffness. These improve your flexibility as well as agility.

Ideally speaking, you should find or formulate a program that incorporates all these types of exercises into your workout regimen. That, however, doesn't mean that you should do them all in one go.

You can decide to combine them as necessary. For example, you can do balance and strength training by doing bicep curls using your dumbbells while standing on one foot at a time.

You could also decide to get more inclusive by starting your workout sessions with a quick run on the treadmill (aerobic exercise) then combining strength and balance exercises such as the one just mentioned above and finishing it all off by doing some static stretches to improve range of motion and flexibility.

6 of the Best Equipment for Home Gym

Now, the kind of equipment you get for your home gym should be those that look to incorporate all these exercises since you need every single type to develop a fit and healthy body.

With that in mind, here are some of the best equipment you can get for your home gym:

1. Xtreme Monkey Aerobic Stepper

Step aerobics happen to be some of the best fitness, flexibility, and aerobic exercises that can be done by both beginners and workout veterans alike. The idea here is to have a sturdy step that is not only easy to store away when you are done with it but also offers a non-slip surface for when you are extremely tired but must complete those steps without risk of injury.

The Xtreme Monkey Aerobic Stepper covers all those bases.

Pros:

• It is small enough to be easily stored away
• It is easy to use
• It has a set of risers that will raise the height for increased difficulty

Cons:

• It's made of durable material that is slightly heavy

Verdict: This is the perfect piece of home gym equipment for step aerobics. It's simple to use and doesn't cost that much money.

2. Pro 6 Aspen StairMill Stair Climber

As long as you are talking aerobics, having a stair climber in your basement gym is still one of the best ways to mimic actual outdoor aerobic exercises such as climbing a hill, or taking the stairs. The Pro 6 Aspen StairMill Stair Climber is just the machine you need for this purpose.

For starters, it is small and compact enough to fit into small spaces, which means that it's perfect even for people who don't have a lot of space to dedicate to their home gym. The stair master is a wonderful lower body workout equipment that specifically targets the legs and butt while incorporating aerobics.

This machine, in particular, combines excellent features with durability and ease of use to give you one of the best compact home gym exercise equipment.

Pros:

• Offers user-controlled pace setting feature that suits every level of fitness
• It has a maximum speed of 120 steps per minute
• It has a reliable step lock system
• It has a computerized control system that helps you track time, speeds in steps per minute and distance in floors

Cons:

• Doesn't allow for running

Verdict: If you are strictly looking for a machine that will help intensify your walking and aerobic exercises while building up those lower body muscles and strength, then this is the right machine for your home gym.

3. A Rowing Machine

Yet another wonderful piece of workout equipment that allows for effective aerobics and strength training. The First Degree Fitness Viking Pro XL Indoor Rower is built to be tough. This rowing machine was designed to be a space saver. This indoor rower is also perfect for both elite rowers and any enthusiastic individual of any fitness level.

One of the biggest selling points of this indoor rowing machine is that it offers you all the premium features you would expect to find in workout equipment designed by a tech-savvy company.

This includes Bluetooth auto-adjust technology, which works to instinctively correlate the console display with the chosen tank resistance. This also allows for smart device connectivity with your chosen workout app to keep a clear record of your personal workout data to help improve your routine.

Pros:

• It has 10 fluid resistance settings which means that you can set it to 10 different difficulty levels depending on your fitness prowess
• It comes with patented twin tanks that offer precision alignment
• The tank has a 5-year limited warranty
• It is small enough for tiny home gyms

Cons:

• A bit pricey

Verdict: This is one of the best machines as far as aerobic, strength, and flexibility exercises are concerned. While it heavily focuses on the aerobic end of things, rowing does also workout your legs, glutes, arms, and chest as well. This makes it one of the best home gym equipment for people who want to target different body sections and do different exercises.

4. Treadmill

Strictly speaking, a treadmill is the staple of any self-respecting gym. This simple machine can be used for a wide variety of aerobic exercises, including running, jogging, and walking. With the right treadmill, you can even adjust the level of resistance to suit your fitness.

One of the biggest advantages of having a treadmill at home is that it's convenient and doesn't take up much space. With this machine at your disposal, you can work to lose weight, get fit for a marathon, and increase your oxygen intake while burning off those calories to improve your health.

It is also perfect for an entire body workout session as much as it specifically targets your lower body.

The Pro 6 Arcadia Air Runner Non-Motorized Treadmill, in particular, has a wide range of benefits.

Pros:

• Built with a commercial-grade heavy-duty frame that is quite durable.
• It has six levels of resistance
• It comes with a large LCD screen that clearly displays your pace, speed, distance, time and calories burned
• It has a built-in console that allows you to program intervals, target distance, time, heart rate and calories
• Doesn't need electricity to run it
• It has a wireless heart rate receiver built-in
• Quiet operation and smooth running

Cons:

• Not everyone is a fan of curved treadmills

Verdict: Designed to promote natural running strides which reduce the amount of stress placed on your joints, this treadmill is more efficient than most. It's tough enough and has a built-in (High-Intensity Interval Training) HIIT that helps you burn up to 30% more calories when compared to using a traditional treadmill.

5. Dumbbells

You are going to want to own a few dumbbells in your home gym. Here are several reasons why this is:

• Dumbbells are the perfect home workout equipment to provide you with the kind of overloads you need to achieve muscle growth (metabolic and mechanical).
• Incorporating dumbbells into your exercise routine can create both intra and intermuscular coordination, which helps you achieve higher levels of muscle activation, thus sculpting and growth.
• Dumbbells help you exercise both the elastic and contractile elements of your muscle tissue, thus helping with flexibility.

Most importantly, however, you can add dumbbells to a wide variety of exercises to increase the load as well as resistance to that exercise for better fitness and strength. These MX-Select 55 Adjustable Dumbbells in particular are designed to offer you the kind of pro-style features that you would find in typical fixed dumbbells in your local gym.

Pros:

• Durable
• Come in 10-55 lbs. capacity allowing for 5 lbs. increments
• You can easily change the weight with the turn of a dial

Cons:

• 55 lbs. maximum weight capacity might be too small for advanced users

Verdict: If you are just getting started in your workout journey, this is the adjustable dumbbell set you want. It's affordable, durable, and safe to use.

6. Adjustable Barbell and EZ Curl Bar

Your workout sessions won't be complete if you don't include some strength training that helps build up those muscles, improving your strength while burning off a lot of calories. To that end, you will need some kind of barbell, and this Adjustable Barbell and EZ Curl Bar might be what you need.

This is an industry-first adjustable barbell with an EZ curl rack that is specifically designed for people who don't have a lot of space to dedicate to their home gym.

The barbell is designed to replace up to 26 fixed weight bars, and with the simple turn of a dial, you can easily increase or decrease the amount of weight to perfectly fit your strength and fitness level.

You can easily remove both the EZ curl bar and the barbell and replace them at 180 degrees allowing you to handle them as free weights. This variable weight system is designed to help you do a number of strength exercises, including deadlifts, jerks, cleans, and presses.

Pros:

• Compact size that fits into small spaces
• Can easily replace up to 26 different fixed weight bars
• Perfectly balanced
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Doesn't come with a bench

Verdict: This is perfect for strength training if you don't have too much space for your gym.

While designing a home gym will need a bit of creativity and knowing exactly what it is you are planning to achieve, this is some of the best fitness and cardio equipment you can buy for your home gym.

That is because they cover the four main types of exercises you will want to include in your workout regimen. They are also quite affordable and compact enough to fit into small home gym spaces. In the long run, you will find that purchasing your own fitness gear and creating your own workout space is also much more economical than paying for a gym membership each month.