Setting up a home gym with limited space and budget

Gym memberships can be expensive. If you love working out but the price of joining the local gym isn’t in your budget, you might benefit from setting up your own gym at home.

Start by considering which room or area of your home will be most practical to set up your equipment. If possible, pick an area that you don’t use daily so that your equipment won’t get in the way or find a space where you will store your gym equipment when it is not in use. You can also make a home gym inviting by hanging up motivational posters, having music playing, or a TV/computer showing guided home workouts.

Remember, you don’t need to be reproducing everything a gym has!  When you’re setting up a home gym with limited space and budget, it’s best to stick to the basics. Get only the pieces of equipment that you enjoy using the most. Consider which equipment will give you the best ‘bang for your buck’. In other words, get the items that are highly versatile and can be used for multiple exercises. This is important when you have limited funds and will help keep you on budget.

When planning for a home gym, here are four pieces of low-cost, easy-to-store equipment to start with:

1. Mat - this gives you a comfortable surface to work out on
2. Resistance bands - increase the intensity of your body weight exercises with easy- to-store bands
3. Jump rope - great for improving your cardio fitness
4. Dumbbells - if space and budget allows it, you could also add free weights to your home gym