Five Home Gym Must-Haves

I like to think that a lot of people would workout if they only had a place to go. Or maybe it's the time crunch. They just don't have the extra time to drive to a gym, workout, and then drive back home. Or perhaps they want to have a personal trainer, but in the privacy of their own home (hint, hint). Well for those people out there I tell you there's hope. Welcome the "Home Gym"! I'm going to cover the five must-haves that won't break the bank for anyone looking to start their own home gym and be successful in their efforts.

1) Pull Up Bar – A pull-up bar attaches at the top of a doorway by way of the door frame. You can get these at most of your sporting goods stores for about $30. Pull-ups are one the best, and hardest, upper body exercises you can do. Can't do a pull-up? Don't worry! There are regressions you can do to work your way up to them such as jumping pull-ups.

2) Stability Ball – A stability ball can be found just about anywhere these days. A good one will run you about $30. The exercises that you can do with these things are endless.

3) Dumbbells – I'm not talking about a whole rack of dumbbells. Just one or two pairs (a light weight pair and a heavy weight pair) or some adjustable dumbbells will do the trick. A pair of 10lb db's are approximately $25, a pair of 25lb db's are approximately $60, and a 40lb adjustable set of dumbbells will run you approximately $65.

4) Resistance Bands – Different color bands have different resistance levels so you may have to actually play around with a few before you find one that fits you. You can find these for approximately $6 (extra light) to $10 (extra heavy) per band. Once you settle on one though you can get a full body workout with just that one piece of rubber with handles. Very handy!

5) Jump Rope – You can get a good jump rope for about $15 to $20. Some are even adjustable for your height. Rarely will you find something so small that will have such a dramatic effect. This is cardio and a total body workout at the same time.

There you have it! The five must-haves for any home gym for a grand total of about $150. Your typical gym charges around $30 per month for a membership and $150 would get you about 5 months worth of gym usage. For the same price you now have an entire home gym for life! So if you just don't have the time to go back and forth to a gym or if you just can't afford that recurring $30 payment each month go out and build your own place of exercise. Now there's no excuses!