These days, using communal services for health and exercise may not be the best option. However, if something is important to you, then you need a Plan B. Taking care of your health should be very important to you. That means you need a plan to keep on exercising regardless of whether you can get to a gym. Fortunately, you can create a great home gym, even if you’ve no space and no budget.
Health at Home
Before we get into the basics of creating a home gym, it’s important to remember that there’s more to health than exercise. Overall wellness requires getting enough rest, eating well and monitoring your health. For example, taking care of your eyes, ears, and teeth. This means that you might want to refresh your kitchen and bathroom before you look at creating a home gym. You also need to make sure you have access to a high-quality healthcare provider like Southwest Care.
The Basics of a Home Gym
Assuming you’re exercising for general fitness, you’ll usually want a combination of 1. cardio, 2. flexibility work and 3. strength training. The good news. You can get all of these as long as you can stand up with your arms and legs outstretched. It’s even better if you have enough floor-space to lie down with your arms and legs outstretched.
You can probably get gym equipment from around your home. If you have even a tiny budget, however, you can open up a whole lot of extra options.
Cardio at Home
In principle, there are all kinds of options for cardio at home. You could simply jog on the spot. You could use (cordless) jump ropes. You could do step (using a stool or chair). You could even do proper aerobic classes. In practice, however, the noise from these may not go down well with your neighbors.
The solution is to go for steady-state cardio. This is lower-intensity and hence quieter. If you have no space and no budget, the obvious candidates are some forms of yoga and tai chi. If you have a little budget and storage space, then an indoor trampoline could be a great investment. This allows you to do vigorous cardio quietly (and is gentle on your joints).
Flexibility at Home
Flexibility work basically means stretching. In this case, your biggest challenge is finding a place and space to spread out. In the tiniest spaces, this may involve moving furniture for the duration of your workout. There are plenty of options for flexibility work without using special equipment. You could look at yoga, pilates, barre work and tai chi are all great examples of stretching exercises and regimens that can be executed in even a studio apartment.
Strength Training at Home
Strength training is one area where proper gyms do, currently, have a major lead on most home gyms. On the plus side, the fitness industry has noticed. Innovative new products are being developed to address this. That may help those with little to no space but a decent budget. It won’t, however, be any use to people who don’t have either.
If you have no space or budget at all? Then, really your only solution is to focus on bodyweight exercises. These may not be as optimal as using free weights, but are a whole lot better than nothing. If you have any budget at all, then resistance bands are both affordable and compact. They can up your strength-training game significantly.
This article is a partnered post that contains affiliate links.