Creating an inexpensive "home gym"...

**FrabjousDay** · 04-17-2011, 11:28 AM

Photos on Yahoo! Health

I like this little blurb from Yahoo on inexpensive exercise equipment. What do you have in your "home gym"?

**acidcookie** · 04-17-2011, 01:36 PM

We have collected various items over the years for particular goals at the time or specific exercise programs (like P90X), so now we've got:

Exercise ball
2 yoga mats
Yoga block
Resistance bands - set of 5
Jump rope
5lb weights
And we had a pull-up bar, but we left it installed at our old house

And we have My Fitness Coach for Wii

We also have a FitDeck which is really cool. It's a deck of cards, each with an exercise you can do without equipment, so you can do up to an hour of working out. Great for travel!

**JerryG** · 04-17-2011, 05:28 PM

Running shoes - the best investment ever. Bike from my sis. Coffee table that I do push ups off of. 5 and 10 pound weights. Balcony railing that I do stretches on. Yoga mat that I only use for class - I just use the carpet at home. Chair to do plies off of. . . hm . . what else? I do have ankle weight that I use sometimes and stairs. I use the stairs a lot.

**Contrary Housewife** · 04-17-2011, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by FrabjousDay

I like this little blurb from Yahoo on inexpensive exercise equipment. What do you have in your "home gym"?

Stairs. And lots of 'em. Stairs to the front door. Stairs up to the living room. Stairs down to the family room. Stairs out the back to the garden. I do 4-5 flights of stairs a day on days I'm NOT busy.

**craftypam** · 04-17-2011, 07:31 PM

I went to an exercise class for 8 years. It was the best shape I was ever in. It was good old fashioned exercising. A matt and small weights; sit ups; leg lifts. Joyce Vedral has written several books on the eexercises that our instructor used. The class was 45 minutes - 1 hour 2 days a week.

**Spirit Deer** · 04-17-2011, 07:39 PM

EA Sports Active for my Wii.

Several miles of county road outside my house, providing fresh air, wildlife viewing, and 2,500 acres of lake with great views and more wildlife, thus encouraging walking.

I love my recumbent exercise bike but it's not inexpensive. However, having a heart attack or stroke would be a lot more costly.

**acidcookie** · 04-17-2011, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by JerryG

Running shoes - the best investment ever.

Oh yes, and running shoes, of course! DH and I both run.

**pollypurebred39** · 04-17-2011, 08:53 PM

If you want to outfit a home gym inexpensively all you have to do is go to yard sales. Every Summer people sell their I'm going to get fit fantasies for a song. After Christmas they set their sites on losing weight and getting in shape for their New Years resolution. They went out and purchased expensive machines gambling that since they spent so much money they wouldn't think of not using them. But, like most New Years resolutions getting fit was long forgotten by Feb. and these machines have sat gathering dust and becoming clothes racks. This Summer yards will be littered with treadmills, total fitness machines, exercise bikes, etc.

**FrabjousDay** · 04-17-2011, 09:45 PM

What I liked about the Yahoo piece was the focus on how to have a "home gym" and exercise without accumulating large equipment like treadmills and elliptical machines. I don't rely on machines even when I visit the gym, so I definitely don't want/need that clutter in my home.

I currently have...jump rope, exercise ball, resistance bands, yoga mat with strap and blocks, weighted gloves, hand weights and assorted DVDs. I keep meaning to pick up a small balance disk. All of it fits tidily out of sight in my entryway closet. When the weather is decent I also spend a lot of time out on my bike. I should probably count my favorite pair of Nike cross-trainers and my iPod too.

I'm going to check out the FitDeck cards! Thanks for the link!

**Palooka** · 04-18-2011, 12:00 AM

Dumbbells
Resistance bands
Yoga mat
ankle weights
jump rope
basic weight bench
DVD's/tapes
fanny lifter step
step

(we do have a treadmill)

**2ndGenGranola** · 04-18-2011, 04:43 AM

treadmill
stationary bike
weight machine
ball
dumbells
jumprope
wii zumba
wii cardio
wii fit

**savvy_sniper** · 04-18-2011, 08:17 AM

Bought our treadmill used for pennies on the dollar. When I started my "get healthly" program I bought two new pairs of shoes - on sale, plus buy one get one half off, $20 AMEX gift card earned shipping FedEx, and paid of total of $25!

I walk with soup cans in my hands on the treadmill now. They are in the pantry so no added expense.

**moasmom** · 04-18-2011, 12:35 PM

For Netflix members, I highly recommend checking out their [B]huge[B] selection of exercise videos (on DVD and via streaming).

Also, a cheaper option for hand weights/dumb bells: buy the plain metal ones (the colored/padded ones marketed to women are much more expensive). If more padding is needed for the grips, buy foam pipe insulation at the hardware store and cut to fit.

Kara

**frugal is fun** · 04-20-2011, 08:00 AM

I have a yoga mat, 3,5 & 8lb weights, a 10lb bar and the step from the Firm videos.

I have several different exercise videos that I bought used from Amazon for a few dollars. I still have two working VCR's so people are practically giving away VHS tapes.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 04-20-2011, 11:18 AM

Pilates door knob rope exerciser
Running shoes
Kinect and EA Active 2
3lb weights
resistance bands
stairs
roller blades

That's basically in our arsenal here at the house. We have a four level split, so we have stairs in the middle of the house that go to all four levels. My laundry room's on the bottom level and the bedroom's on the top level. I go up and down the stairs pretty much all day long. Once I get an inner tube for my bike, I also have that. And once the city cleans up the sidewalks and roads, I have my roller blades.