Workout equipment for your home

Blog content provided from the legendary team at Northern Inland Academy of Sport

Winter is coming, and with it brings the colder weather. If you are finding it hard to stay motivated with getting out and exercising, then why not exercise in your own home?

There are so many different types of exercise equipment you can purchase for your home.

But if you’re not looking to purchase an entire gym, there’s some exercise equipment that is great to have around the house that won’t take up too much space and will allow you to get a full body workout on days that you don’t want to brace the cold of Winter.

Here are some of our favourites.

Invest in some resistance bands.

What are resistance bands and what do they do? They do just that! They provide extra resistance, making your muscles work harder to complete movements. Often resistance bands are made from a rubbery material, and some are made from stretchy fabric as well. Resistance bands come in many different lengths and strengths. Some are quite short and perfect to place around your legs for an upper leg workout. Others are much longer and can be great to incorporate arm-based exercises into your routine. You can also invest in bands with different resistance. Less resistance will be best if you are just starting out, whilst heavier resistance can provide a great work out for more advanced fitness levels. Here’s some ideas for your using your resistance bands.

Get yourself a kettlebell.

Kettlebell weights are very versatile and can be used for full body workouts. They can be perfect for working your legs with a variety of squats, or targeting different muscle groups in your arms, and even getting a core workout done too. If you haven’t used too many kettlebells in your time, here’s a few exercises to get you started. Just like other weights you can find at your local gym, kettlebells can be found in all different weights beginning at just a couple of kilos and going up above 30kg. Dumbbells are another great piece of equipment to have in your home to help boost your motivation to work out. Much like kettlebells, these are also quite versatile and can be incorporated into a variety of full body exercises.

Medicine balls are essential.

If you’ve got one or more medicine balls at home – then you can complete a workout with these alone! You can also use them with resistance bands and kettlebells to add more diversity to your session. Medicine balls can give your workout the lift it needs by incorporating explosive movements into your workout. Explosive movements such as going from a squat to throwing a medicine ball in the air, can give your workout variety and intensity whilst gradually building more power and fitness. Explosive movements might not be for everyone though, so make sure you know how to properly carry out these movements without causing injury.

Skip to it!

If you’re looking to add more cardio related exercises into your workout then a skipping rope should be on your list. Whilst you can use skipping on its own to bring your heart rate up, you can also combine it with other exercises to mix up your routine. Head here for ideas of workouts with skipping ropes.

The above equipment can be found at your local sports store such as SportsPower in Armidale or even Kmart. Having these won’t take up much storage space and will be quick to set up when you need to get a workout in when the weather has you sticking to the indoors!

To learn more about fitness and wellbeing on or off season visit the Wellness Hub.
Be sure to keep up to date with the awesome NIAS athletes here.