5 Must Have Gear For Your Home Workouts

Workouts at home are in as fitness centres continue to remain closed. Gym owners, like most business people, have to rethink the way operate but unless they come close to implementing what their counterparts in Hong Kong have done, then most of us will have to get used to turning on our digital devices and breaking a sweat. I know at home digital workouts are not for everyone but the reality is until most people feel even remotely ok about being close to another sweaty body then we will need to invent new ways to achieve our fitness goals. It is not as hard as it seems.

YouTube is the digital darling of fitness and there are many many exercise gurus with their own apps. You can now have Zoom workouts with a friend and once you bring your discipline to the workout (and also to your kitchen) you are almost guaranteed to look and feel healthy.

Your Workouts At Home Require Proper Gear

But there is one missing piece to the fitness puzzle if you really want to get things right at home. Gear! You need it for a really good workout because there is only so much you can do with the stuff from your kitchen: wine and water bottles, as well as soup cans. Also having the right gear keeps things interesting and motivation levels up. While there’s something about being in a gym environment that is motivating, having the proper workout equipment at home is also a good way to get mentally prepped for the hour you’ll spend with yourself and your online personal trainer.

Workouts At Home Are Affordable And Fun

if you have been following my online workouts, then you know I’m a big proponent of turning your living room or backyard into a personal fitness studio made possible only with affordable tools and gear that you can find online. Here are some of my top Amazon finds.

Related Article: You Can Still Workout At Home Without Ever Hitting The Gym

When you do a crunch on this exercise ball you are deepening your ab workout. When you stand against a wall with it, knees bent,  your quads will feel like they on fire. If you’re doing a pilates workout it will feel more intense because you have a less stable base. There are all sorts of total body workouts that you can do with an exercise ball but they are best recommended for your core.

Have you seen Jada Pinkett Smith on her sliders, that’s goals. Yeah, abs too. When you first start using sliders they can feel like you are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, as difficult as hell. I didn’t make the gradual move from using slippery socks or a paper plate to sliders. I went in full throttle. Now I’m pretty ok with a slider workout, not great, but pretty good. These sliders are my favourite because they have a rubber grip on top and a felt bottom so they can be used on a variety of surfaces. I have hardwood floor so when I work out with them I’m in slider heaven. These gliding babies come in handy for a number of upper and lower body exercises, as well as any planking moves. And yes, there are lots of videos in YouTube land with sliders.

When I don’t feel much like jumping around but still want a great at home workout, resistance bands are my go-to tool. They are fantastic because they combine strength-training and stretching positions and can really improve the shape of your butt. (J Lo can you here me). In fact, they are straight-up good for total body conditioning. Size-wise they are perfect because you can store it underneath your TV stand and put it out anytime you’re Netflixing. These are my top recommended bands and are perfect for coordination, agility, and toning your arms, abs, legs. 

When I hurt my knees a couple of years ago, there were two things that allowed me to get back in the exercise game: constant consumption of turmeric and ankle weights. Now I don’t recommend using ankle weights while you’re walking or during an aerobics workout because they force you to use your quads and not your hamstrings (in the backs of the thighs). However, they are amazing for exercises that target the leg and hip muscles, like leg lifts and if you do them right they are really safe for your knees. You can use wrist weights for a total arm workout such as biceps curls, or shoulder exercises, such as rows.

I can only skip for 5 minutes at a time but I have to tell you when I’m working from home and skip 6 times during an 8 hour day, I’m burnt! Jump ropes are fantastic pieces of equipment for cardio. Should you do them if you have bad knees or a throbbing back? Probably not, but if you have an all-clear bill of health,  there is probably nothing better than a rope to offer a good cardio conditioning. These skipping tangle-free ball bearing jump ropes are my all-time favourites

Ok, that’s my list although if I had to sneak in anything else, it would probably be boxing gloves. Did I miss any other gear? What have you been using for your workouts at home?