Equipment for strength training at home
These items are ideal for strength training at home. They allow you to make exercises more challenging by adding resistance to exercises.
Resistance bands
Resistance bands are like thick rubber bands that add variable resistance to strength exercises. Using these in your exercises will help with muscle activation and increase the intensity of the movement.
Try wrapping a resistance band around your quads when you do bodyweight squats, walking side-to-side in a lateral band walk, or for some variable resistance for a great tricep workout.
There are many resistance band exercises you can do at home to strengthen your muscles all over your body.
Ankle weights
Ankle weights are a great addition to your at-home gym. Attach them to your ankles, and they will add weight and resistance to your legs in any movements you do. This makes movements more challenging without having to hold weights in your hands.
The best part about ankle weights is that they are super convenient: you can bring them anywhere, and attach them to your ankles for high intensity cardio, strength training, high-intensity resistance training, or even while going for a walk. Try this ankle weight routine you can do from anywhere to get started with ankle weights.
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are a classic staple of any home gym. They don`t take up a lot of space, which makes them a great addition if you don`t have much room. Dumbbells can be added to almost any exercise to increase the intensity and resistance, making them super versatile and a good investment.
Bench
A bench is a worthwhile investment for your home gym, as it allows you to do both arm strength training with dumbbells, leg training like dumbbell step ups, or cardio like bench hops.
Kettlebell
Kettlebells are a free weight, just like dumbbells, except they have a large round bottom, with a handle on top. Kettlebells are great for heavier strength training like goblet squats, single-arm kettlebell swings and kettlebell deadlifts. You`ll likely want to get heavier kettlebells than you would dumbbells as you will often only use one kettlebell at a time and the movements often focus on the lower body.
Fitball
A fitball is a great investment for your home gym, particularly for doing core exercises. Fitballs take up a fair bit of space, but are a useful tool that will give you a variety of new exercises to do at home. Some fitball exercises include swiss ball roll ins, exercise ball crunches, and ball leg curls. Fitballs are great for targeted core activation exercises like these.
