One of my favourite fitness YouTubers, Maddie Lymburner, always says at the beginning of her workouts: “All you need is yourself, a little bit of space and a soft surface such as an exercise mat beneath you.”

There are many reasons why people choose not to go to the gym. Bringing the gym to your home does not have to be overwhelming or take up a lot of space. With these three basic add-ons, you can get the results you want from the comfort of your home.

An exercise mat

This is the basis of your home gym. It is important to make sure that your back is protected when you are doing any kind of exercise and the mat will be your best friend in this regard. To get even more comfort, it is a good idea to lay out your mat on a carpeted surface, if you have any in your home. Although it comes down to personal preference, wider exercise mats tend to be better, because home workouts often involve bigger movements.

Some weights/dumbbells

Grab some dumbbells and work on your upper body strength.

If you want to work on your arm strength or toning, dumbbells will help you get more out of your workout. Start off with a weight that challenges you, but does not make working out so impossible or strenuous that you give up on exercising altogether. You can always go for a heavier weight later. If you do not want to invest in dumbbells, canned foods or full water bottles will do the trick as well.

Resistance bands

Resistance bands are a good accessory to increase the intensity of your home workout.

Resistance bands are perfect to add more intensity to your workout. Most at-home exercises like squats, donkey kicks and even arm exercises can be done without equipment. However, once you have built up some strength, it is beneficial to add in some resistance bands to challenge yourself and get better results. They usually come in different intensity levels, offering more or less resistance, to suit different needs.

Some home gym tips

  • TK Maxx is a good place to start to get all your home gym basics. They sell affordable equipment and have a good range of products. JD Sports, Lifestyle Sports and Elverys are also good options.
  • If you do not want to come up with your own exercises, YouTube has everything you need. Try out a few different instructors and see whose exercises you enjoy the most. I recommend looking up MadFit, Yoga With Adrienne and XHIT Daily on YouTube to get you started.
  • Most importantly, have some fun with it! Movement should be joyful and the beauty about the home gym is that you can really make it your own.
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