Basic Home Workout Equipment

Apr 24, 2011 by Tatianna

 

Not everyone is able to go to the gym every day, and some people are just not even able to afford it. But I think with very little resources everyone is able to get some basic home workout equipment. I am always looking for different things I can use at home, and I always find innovative ways of using it.
Some of the things I use, I didn’t even buy, like a jump rope I made out of a heavy black rope. I like using it because it adds more  resistance to my workout. You can of course buy one with a resistance, but I found my home made rope pretty useful. I also have a simple speed rope I enjoy working out with when I don’t want any resistance at all.  Here are the basic equipment I use at home.

 

Pull-Up bar

 

I prefer a Pull Up bar the goes into the doorway, rather then a Wall-Mounted Pull Up bar. And there are a few reasons why. First it’s the convenience of it,  I can use it in many different ways. One of my favorite things to do, which wall-mounted pull up bar won’t allow me to do is split leg lifts.  It’s pretty hard to do for a beginner, but if you have been working out for a while, you can do split leg lifts.  This is by far on of the best exercises for your abs, and you overall strength.  I tried taking a picture to show you how it’s done, but I couldn’t get a good shot, it looks better in motion.  I will later upload a video of it.
Another reason I love the doorway pull up bar – I can take it down, place it on the floor and do push- ups with several different grip variations.  If you have a pull up mounted into the wall, all you can do is pull ups and leg lifts, that’s pretty limited for me.  But this one works great.

 

I can also do great abs exercises with it. Plus I think this Doorway Pull Up bar is better than Wall Mounted Pull up bar because It’s 30 dollars less. That makes it an even better deal.

 

Jump Rope

 

I have a two different jump ropes. The beauty of jump rope – creativity is the limit, and it’s great cardiovascular exercise. Jumping rope doesn’t burn your muscle off, as much as running.

You can buy a regular speed rope, which I have as well, or you can make one your self.  See the picture above.  I made that jump rope out of regular heavy black rope. I love the resistance it adds to my workouts. This is a great alternative if you can’t afford a jump rope at the moment, but it shouldn’t stop you from getting into shape, get creative with a home made rope ( not everyone has 10 dollars on a jump rope, since the economy is down ).

 

Balance Ball

 

A Balance Ball is great for so many different things, you can implement it into any workout routine.
I used to have a back injury, so I exercised with a balance ball to fix a herniated disc in my spine. I was told I would need a surgery to fix it, and that I will never recover unless I got the surgery. Well, I recovered  🙂 without surgery. I did some research and I found out, you can heal most herniated discs with a balance ball and a set of exercises for your back ( I am not a doctor, I am just sharing my story ). I was always a big believer that a body was meant to heal it self. I also never took any antibiotics in my life, and I never will.

 

A Medicine Ball

 

This is another one of my favorites. I am planning on investing in several Medicine Balls. The one I have right now is a Non Bounce Medicine Ball, and it’s 8lb. I use it a lot in my plyometrics training, I also use it for push ups, and whole bunch of abs exercises. It’s great equipment overall, as with everything else you have to use your creativity to implement it in variety of ways.

 

Dumbbells & A Kettlebell

 

I have two set of Dumbbells, which are 5 pounds and 10 pound set. They are great to use for added resistance, but I don’t like to use a lot of weight . For now, the set’s I have is enough. I just use them for resistance, cause I am not too fund of just lifting weights
I also have a 15 pound Kettlebell. But to be honest, I think Kettlebells are just dumbbells with a handle. I know there are a few exercises I can do with kettle bells, but I can also do those exercises with Dumbbells as well.  I know some people are big believers in just using Kettlebells for their workouts, I am not one of them.  Every time I see someone just using Kettlebells, I want to fall asleep.

 

Balance Disc

 

The first time I found this gem is at a circus training room. I had to have it!   I use it for Push-Ups, Lunges, One Leg Squats, Hyperextensions and Stretching. Because the surface is unstable, it forces your body to engage more muscles to do an exercise, and it’s a lot harder to perform. This is only for advanced users, if you are a beginner, the only thing you can use The Balance Disc for is stretching and hyperextensions. To do things like lunges and one leg squats on the disc, you have to first learnt to do those exercises in proper form without the disc.

 

A Chair

Everyone has a chair at home and I am sure you already know what a chair looks like.  A chair can be used for elevating your legs during push-ups, planks, box jumps ( make sure the chair you have is sturdy against the wall ), and one of my favorite chair exercises are step ups – front step ups, side step ups.

This is pretty much the basic equipment anyone can have in their house. I use a few more things, some I bought and some I just found and got creative with.  I will share that in my soon to be posted workout videos.

If you have something to share that I might not know about, leave me a comment 🙂

Tatianna