An at-home exercise equipment guide

Or, considering the season, a gift guide for yourself.

iStock, BartekSzewczyk

As much as I advocate for gym-based exercise if you want to build significant strength from progressive overload—unless you have an at-home setup with many dumbbells increasing in weight, a rack for barbell lifts, a barbell and plates, etc., lucky you—I also know that at-home exercise is a low-stress, convenient, and less intimidating way to start strength training. I started lifting at home with two sets of used dumbbells and now I do stuff like this. 

Even if you never progress to making gym-based gains and just want to move more and build some strength at home, you’ll need some tools besides your own body weight at some point as you get stronger. Here are my recommendations, cobbled together from my own experience, swole friends’ input, and the knowledge I’ve gained from a decade of working out at home and in various gyms.

In a future post I’ll round up some at-home workouts I like that utilize this equipment. This is your sign to invest now in the tools of the trade: