Home Exercise Equipment Recomendations
Brian Beatty, PT, CFP
If you are setting up an exercise area at home, here are our recommendations for acquisition. This list is prioritized based on utility and budget. The first seven items we consider the minimum necessary to fully utilize any of our Balanced Movement Online programs.
Yoga Mat
Stability Ball
Kneeling Pad
Set of Resistance Tubing with Handles
Tubing Door Anchor and Carabiner
Step or Heavy Stool
Dumbbells – light, medium and heavy
Medicine Ball – medium weight
Ankle Cuff Tubing or Loop
Strength Band
TRX / Suspension Trainer
Bosu Trainer
12″ Plyometric Box
Slide Discs
Dumbbell Blocks or Full set of Dumbbells
Multiple Weights in Medicine Balls
Yoga Mat
Or any sticky mat to provide a little padding, non-slip surface and protect the floor from sweat
Stability Ball
A fully inflated ball should be firm and when fully inflated your hip angle (torso to thigh) should be at least 90 degrees. In general, if you are under 5’10” buy a 55 cm, over, buy a 65 cm. You generally get what you pay for, thick walled, burst resistant is best.
Kneeling Pad
Gardening pads work well, in general, some extra foam padding comes in handy for many exercise (kneeling, sit ups, v-sits, etc.)
Set of Resistance Tubing with Handles
Having a full set of resistance selections to work from and having handles is well worth the upgrade from just using band or tube and wrapping around your hands.
Covid Update: Many sets of tubing with handles are showing up on the market. Get one with carabiners attached to each tubing, transferable handle and various anchor straps. these are great for home with the gyms closed, but a bit heavy for travel. Here’s an example. If sold out, amazon search will find a ‘similar product’. They all seem to same items just branded differently.
Tubing Door Anchor
You can construct your own by looping webbing, but if you are buying the tubing set, spend a couple extra bucks and buy the sewn anchor. Also add one or two carabiners (snap links) to your kit. They provide great flexibility in attaching handles to bands, bands to anchors, anchors to object, etc.
Exercise Step or Heavy Stool
6-8″ heavy step stool can work in space is tight. Better is an aerobics step platform with four risers to adjust height.
Dumbbells – light, medium and heavy
Obviously the weight categories above are user dependent. Use these movement tests to choose the weight amount to fit each category for you. If you do these test lifts with the weight three times, it should feel like moderate work, but not taxing.
Light – a weight you can lift out to the sides to overhead with straight arms.
Medium – a weight you can lift from your shoulders to overhead
Heavy – a weight you can hold at your sides with straight arms and walk 20 feet, but would not be a challenge to lift overhead.
Another good option for dumbbells is a selector based set that allow you to to easily adjust the desired weight the same handle set. Powerblocks has a solid product range, but others systems are available. You usually get what you pay for with these systems. They are great space savers with lots of versatility.
TRX / Suspension Trainer
A quality suspension trainer opens up a world of possibilities. We love these things. TRX was the first on the market and makes a quality product. Be sure that you have a solid anchor point for it.
Medicine Ball – medium weight
Pay a little extra and get one that can be bounced and has a sticky grip. It will provide much more flexibility in use. Use the same weight test as above.
Ankle Cuff Tubing or Versa Loop – medium resistance
You can form a loop with bands or tubing to do many of the same exercise as a tubing cuff. However the comfort and control of the cuff is worth the investment in our opinion.
The resistance colors of tubing cuffs generally correspond to the handled tubing. Green (light), Red (medium) or Blue (heavy) covers most people. Choose one that if you held the tubing at shoulder width, you could stretch it about a foot with solid but not maximal effort.
Strength Band – light and medium resistance
These bands can be a versatile way to give resistance at a level that is hard to find through tubing. They can do a good job of mimicking a cable machine. Pair them with a anchor strap and carabiner for optimal options.
Bosu Trainer
This platform provides a great mix of stable enough to do heavy work and challenging enough to really work balance. Nothing else works like these things and they open up a lot of possibilities.
12″ Plyometric Box
For more aggressive step ups, squats, and jumps a solid platform built for this purpose is valuable.
Slide Discs
A functional and useful option for slide exercises. More flexibility than socks on the hardwood, less money and space than a dedicated slide board.
Dumbbell Blocks or Full set of Dumbbells
The more options in weights, the better you can dial in the correct load for any given exercise and energy level. If space is a big issue, there are many adjustable weight block systems available that work nicely. They can be a bit more cumbersome than individual weights on some exercise, but the cost space trade-off is worth it unless you a serious about dedicating a room to your exercise (which of course we highly recommend, but our profession give us a bias).
Multiple Weights in Medicine Balls
Ask any kid, you really can’t have too many balls.
Workout Timer App
Any timer app that allows for interval circuits (Tabata, HIIT) option will do. There are many. We use the PushPress Timer free app.
Slide Board
If you have the space and resources, having a slide board and booties makes all of the slide exercises cleaner and more efficient. You can slide on any surface using sliding discs, on a hardwood floor with slick socks, or even on the carpet with paper plates under your feet. However once you get to harder moves and faster reps with slide exercises, the slide board makes a difference.
Suppliers
Local second hand exercise equipment stores are a great place to pick up items, but buy stability balls and tubing new. Buying the dumbbells and medicine balls locally allows you to test and select weight as well as save shipping costs.
We have used Power Systems for most of our exercise equipment needs for years. Always getting excellent product and customer service. The links above are to products that we have used and proven their quality.
Other online suppliers that we think highly of:
Perform Better
Gopher Sport
Creating your own door anchor with webbing
Categories: Brian Beatty's Blog, Fitness and Strength Exercises, Health & Wellness