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Everything you need for a basic home gym
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Your goals with home exercising
Consider what you're trying to achieve.
- If your goal is general health and well-being, a pleasant stroll is sufficient.
- If you want to lift heavy weights, there isn't a minimalist setup that can replicate a barbell. While a barbell and weight plates would let you do almost everything, you need quite a bit of room to use them, ideally an outdoor area or a garage.
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Heavy kettlebells
Two heavy kettlebells are the next best thing to a bar and plates. A weight of between 20 and 24 kilograms (45 to 52 pounds) is recommended.
By using the kettlebells individually or together, you can focus on almost every muscle group by squatting, swinging, pressing, pulling, or pushing them.**
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Resistance bands and a stick
Two kettlebells might not be enough resistance for movements like squats and deadlifts. Some resistance or pull-up bands can increase resistance when you do "sumo-style" squats and deadlifts by looping one band around your wide-spread feet and through the handles of the kettlebells.
Add a wooden broom handle, and you have a wide range of new exercises. With a stick and a band, you can do many pulling exercises.
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Gymnastic rings
Gymnastic rings or suspension straps can be used to do pull-ups and rows. They are also used for some ab exercises.
Both gymnastic rings and suspension straps can be mounted to a sturdy door.
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Expanding your gym
There are always pieces you can add to your gym, depending on your goals.
- If you have space, a barbell is the best thing you can buy. Up to 225 pounds is suitable for an average person.
- For cardio, you can run outside, add a jump rope, or use a bicycle.
- Sandbags and slam balls allow for more high-intensity workouts outdoors.
- A yoga mat makes the floor movements more comfortable.
- More kettlebells or a set of dumbbells can also be added.
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Workouts inspiration
Gear will only be as good as your knowledge of how to use it safely and effectively.
- Reddit's Bodyweight Fitness community has put together a fully-scalable bodyweight routine.
- Online personal training can give you direction, accountability, and easy access to an expert coach.
- Other services, like 8fit and NEOU, have many workouts to try out.
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The real benefits
Working out at home is a tricky concept and can be harder to execute when the couch is right there in your view.
You can gain a lot from giving physical activity a real place of privilege in...
Home exercises can help
It's tough to build a lot of strength or otherwise make progress without the incremental weights you find at a gym, but a few inexpensive home tools and specific movements can go a long way.
It is important to ensure that you prioritize compound movements that work muscle systems, not individual muscles. You'll get a lot more done in less time if you focus on bigger movements - squat, bench, deadlift, row, overhead press.
Lower and upper body movements
Goblet squats and squat jumps are great for your lower body when you only have dumbbells. You could also try lunge variations, split squats, step-ups, and deadlift variations.
For your upper body, you could do some chest presses, pushups, row variations, curls, tricep extensions or pullups (if you have a pullup bar installed in a doorway.)
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High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
Any exercise can be a form of HIIT, if it follows a specific regimen where you vary your speeds and intensity when doing it.
Example:
- Jogging light...
HIIT home workout
HIIT workouts generally only last about 20 minutes, which makes them attractive for busy people (most of us).
A 20-Min HIIT home workout:
- Dynamic Warm-up
- Bodyweight Squats
- Push-ups
- Star Jacks (or other dynamic exercises)
- Inverted Row (or other pull exercises)
- Plank (or other core exercises).
- A stretching to cool down.
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Crossfit
Crossfit’s workouts can include powerlifting; gymnastics and calisthenic type activities like ring pull-ups and rope climbing; and often cardio in the form of running, cycling, or rowing. You can a...
A training session
You can get a training session before starting classes. This will depend on your gym (your box) but some offer a free session to teach the techniques.
Boxes also let you sign up for a series of beginner-specific classes before you jump in with everybody else.
The barbells
Bars come in a variety of weights, from 15 to 45 pounds, and those giant plates are available in sizes going down to 10 pounds.
That means the barbell has about the same shape and size no matter how heavy it is.