Everyone has their own goals for getting into fitness. They may want to lose weight, develop strength and muscle tone, or prevent chronic conditions that often come with ageing. A complete, well-rounded workout is one that maximizes the benefits you receive from your fitness routine.
A well-rounded workout routine will have six elements: strength training, balance training, aerobics and cardio, HIIT (high-intensity interval training), flexibility, and core training. Let’s go through all the gym equipment you need to do all of these workouts at home.
Strength Training
Strength training has always been one of the most popular components of a fitness routine. Strength training builds muscle mass, endurance, and strength, and it’s a core part of a workout for athletes.
Those who get into the gym trying to lose weight as their main goal may not look to strength training first, but consistent strength training can give you that toned, sculpted look, from your biceps to your abs.
Moreover, strength training can enhance your health in several ways. Apart from making you stronger, it can help you through the following:
- It allows you to burn calories more efficiently by improving your metabolism.
- It’s believed to keep your heart healthy by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol level and enhancing blood circulation.
- It can help you become more mobile and flexible. It allows you to use your movement potential by increasing your joint range of motion.
- Lastly, given the strength and endurance that strength training provides, you can significantly boost your self-esteem. When you feel stronger, you’ll more likely have the belief that you’ll succeed in performing tasks and overcoming challenges.
Hence, if you want to maximize the benefits of strength training, include it in your home workout routine. Generally, strength training equipment for your home includes resistance bands, dumbbells, and barbells. If you’re planning to buy dumbbells and other strength training equipment, you may visit some shops online that offer a wide collection of home gym equipment for your needs.
Balance Training
This set of exercises is especially useful for older adults, as it can help them avoid falling injuries, but it’s useful at any age. Balance tends to worsen as you get older, and balance exercises can help you maintain your independence.
Not only that yet balance training may help improve coordination to avoid the risk of falling and stumbling, provide you with great posture, boost muscle strength, and improve joint stability to avoid injuries and chronic pain.
Balance training can often be done without any equipment at all. Invest in a screen you can watch as you exercise for guided lessons like tai chi.
Aerobics and Cardio
Aerobics and cardio are, like strength, another core component of most fitness routines. It helps strengthen the lungs and heart, it’s a great way to lose weight, and it can make routine physical exertion easier as you learn to push your endurance.
Additionally, aerobics and cardio exercises may help reduce chronic pain by getting back your endurance and proper muscle functions and enhance brain power by slowing the loss of cognitive performance.
If you’re building a top-of-the-line home gym, a stationary bike may be the most effective way to get your cardio training in at home, but you can also get a great exercise in by jogging, swimming, biking, dancing, or even shoveling snow.
High-Intensity Interval Training
This is the kind of training where you push boundaries and make breakthroughs. It involves alternating bursts of activity, usually only 30 to 60 seconds long, followed by a recovery.
You can apply HIIT with equipment already used in cardio and strength training. Dumbbells, kettlebells, and jump ropes are all great things to have. A foam roller will also help with muscle soreness and muscle recovery afterward.
Flexibility
Stretching and training for flexibility will help you avoid injuries both during your workout and in your day-to-day life. Stretching can help you with things like back pain from an office job, and it improves the range of motion of your joints.
Equipment you need for flexibility training includes balance pads, slant boards, yoga mats, foam rollers, and stretching straps.
Core Training
Core exercises focus on the abdomen, lower back, and pelvis. This is another pillar of fitness that protects you from injury and makes sure your body has the support it needs in the spine and back. Core training will benefit you in all your other exercises, too. When it comes to equipment, a fitness ball can help a lot with core training.
As you make your home gym, make sure you have the equipment you need for a well-rounded workout.