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No more travel time, membership costs, and stranger’s prying eyes… that’s the beauty and convenience of having your very own home gym.
But if you’re a beginner, building a home gym isn’t the easiest process. How do you clean a yoga mat? Which resistance bands should you get? How do you pick the right dumbbell set? To help you get started, we’ve made a guide so you can curate the perfect home gym.
A gym at home is a luxury, but if you’re serious about fitness and know which types of workouts you want to focus on, it’s the best way to get in shape. After the upfront investment in equipment, you don’t need to spend money on a gym membership again or go out in the rain just to get your weekly weightlifting in.
Why not use the extra time to be with your loved ones, for example?
You can also be comfortable in the privacy of your own home, knowing that no one is judging you or touching your equipment. And if you’re unable to visit the gym due to lockdowns, having a home gym is a gamechanger.
Setting up your own home gym requires some essentials to start off with. Of course, your personal essentials might not be on this list, as you should always tailor your gym to your preferences – that’s the point of having your own home gym.
Thanks to its multifunctional uses, a fitness mat is undoubtedly a home gym essential. From stretching out to yoga, you need a comfortable surface to start off and finish out your workout.
Skipping is a tried-and-tested way of getting a quick full body workout, perfect for in-between work meetings. You use your abs to stabilise the body, legs for jumping up and down, and arm movements of moving the rope. Skipping also improves coordination, stamina, and focus, so it’s great for all sports players.
You can find these in every gym. Aerobic steps are great for cardiovascular and muscular endurance, they work well for intensive cardio workouts and people trying to improve their agility, stamina and people who are focusing on circuit workouts.
What are resistance bands for, you ask? Exercise bands are versatile pieces of equipment that can be used with all sorts of workouts, from yoga and stretching to rehabilitation exercises and strength training. Moreover, they can target your whole body, including your arms (biceps and triceps), legs, shoulders, back, core, and chest.
There are all sorts of resistance bands available that serve different purposes, for example:
If you’re going to set up a real home gym, you need a dumbbell set. Meant for weight and strength training, dumbbells are primarily used for stationary exercises like bicep curls, tricep workouts, lunges and squats and less heavy options used in aerobic workouts to add a challenge. You should always choose the right weight of dumbbell for your workout, and not jump in with something too heavy. Beginners shouldn’t go for anything heavier than 5kg dumbbells when starting out.
Other than these essentials, there are many more tools that can help enhance your home workout. Do you want to focus on kettlebell exercises, or maybe you want to work on your upper arm and core with a push up bar? The easiest way to know exactly what you need is to create goals you want to achieve and set out a plan of action.
Research has shown that sitting down to write down a goal, and telling yourself how and when you will achieve it makes it much more likely that you’ll get it done. If you need to adjust your plan later on, that’s not a problem – but make sure you try to stick to a home workout regime that’s scheduled in your calendar.
Every month, write down exactly what you want to achieve. Think about which muscle, body part, or skill you want to improve. Consider how you want to improve it, which steps you will take, and what the ideal outcome will be when you reach that goal.
Figuring out your level of fitness is key to getting the most out of your workout. You can do this by checking your resting heart rate, trying some push-ups and going for a short run. You might also find it helpful to calculate your BMI and body fat, and measure your daily calorie intake.
Each part of your body might have a different level of strength and flexibility depending on your overall level of fitness, so it’s important to assess yourself thoroughly before starting to try and work out.
This is often more important than people realise, especially if you’re working out at home. There can be serious consequences to overexerting yourself, including pulling a muscle or the more serious condition called rhabdomyolysis, which can lead to the death of muscle fibres and even renal failure. So keep your workout tailored to you and remember that if something is too hard for now, that’s alright – you’ll get there eventually.
Along with not pushing your body too hard, don’t push your mindset too much either. Fitness is a long process and if you’re not seeing the results you want right away, persevere. Slow and steady wins the race. It’s much better to maintain a regular, shorter workout routine that you’re able to keep up with than only building the courage to lift weights once a month. You’ll achieve your goals – it just takes time and commitment.
Now, it’s time to create a plan. Being your own personal trainer means that you can create a workout plan just for you, tailored to your needs and goals. You can switch it up as often as you like, chopping and changing depending on how much time or energy you have, or which muscles you think need to be rested.
Once you’ve set out some monthly goals, prepare a daily plan to think about what areas you want to work on each day. Make sure to give the different parts of your body a rest in-between workouts, alternating your focus and keeping it interesting.
Working out isn’t just about building muscle and looking good; it’s about being healthy, strong, and working towards a personal goal with focus (aesthetic or otherwise).
How long someone should work out for depends on their lifestyle, their fitness levels, and goals. Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of preference, because when it comes to exercise, the most important thing is to actually do it. Whether it’s only for a few minutes per day or an hour-long session per week – the key is to find a routine that works for you.
If you’re more likely to exercise in short bursts instead of a full hour, 10 minutes of daily high intensity exercise is plenty for improving general health and fitness. However, if you’re looking to target very specific areas of the body and achieve goals such as having more muscular arms, longer workouts are better.
Remember, you can always adjust your workout, so don’t worry if you feel like your workout is just a ‘draft’ version at first.
Schedule out your rest time so that you definitely take it. There’s a tendency among some who work out at home to not take time to recover and recuperate – probably because a home gym is a little too convenient sometimes. Make sure that you’re not undoing all your hard work by overexerting or injuring yourself.
Don’t forget to put in time for your warmup and cool down! These are fundamental parts of working out that prevent injury and bring you down from the endorphin rush that working out gives you. Doing a warmup is also a great way to connect with how your body feels so you can adjust what you’re doing on that day accordingly.
We’ve mentioned switching it up quite a lot – and for good reason. Switching up your home workout regime helps you stay motivated and be excited about reaching your fitness goals. It also comes with the added benefit of helping you rest, so don’t be afraid to try something new.
With all that said, you might just need some extra tricks to help you tip over that workout high point and really make a difference to your overall physical health and how you feel about working out, so here’s a few quick tips to make the most out of your workout:
That’s how to set up the perfect gym without having to leave your house! Becoming your own personal trainer can be a rewarding experience because you’ll know that you made every step of your fitness journey happen by yourself. When you feel your health and strength improve, you won’t regret setting up a gym at home.