Best Budget Workout Equipment

Exercising regularly is good for your health, and if you are like me you want to be able to work out at home without having to break the bank.

If you don’t have the time or resources for a gym membership, you can build a lot of fitness at home with some basic equipment.

Here are the 10 best budget workout equipment you can buy online:

A Yoga Mat
Foam Roller
Resistance Bands
Ab Wheel
A Jump Rope
Fitness Sliders
An Exercise Ball
A Medicine Ball
Kettlebells
Weights

A Yoga Mat

Yoga mats are great for stretching before a run or your workout. They are fairly inexpensive and can be used just about anywhere in your home. One of the things about practicing yoga is that it takes very little financial investment to get everything you need and start practicing.

With the right yoga mat that provides a decent level of cushioning without making you lose balance or slip and fall when your body starts to sweat, you are ready to take on a practice that is all about wellness and self-appreciation for your body.

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Foam Roller

Foam rollers are popular for loosening up before and after a workout. They may ease perceived muscle soreness and briefly improve range of motion.

A meta-analysis of foam rolling studies found these effects are mostly small, so treat rolling as a helpful extra, not a cure-all.

Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique. Usually, you’ll sit down or lay down and put it under your legs, and you’ll roll around a bit on it. There are many different types of rollers. However, you should just start off with the basics.

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Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are just elastic and are ideal for strength training for your muscles. You can use these bands for a total body workout for just about anyone. A review of elastic resistance training found bands can produce similar strength gains to training with machines and dumbbells. They are also very cost-efficient and easy to store.

According to Jim Stoppani “Unlike free weights, elastic-band training doesn’t rely on gravity to provide resistance. This increases its potential for use in more functional movement patterns that mimic both everyday and sport-specific activities”.

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Ab Wheel

An ab wheel is just a simple wheel with handles. It teaches anti-extension which is the ability for your core to brace against potentially spine-harming forces. That doesn’t sound so bad, but once you get on your knees and then lower yourself on this ab wheel you soon find out how hard this ab wheel can actually be.

If you are advanced then you can roll on your feet vs. your knees. The ab wheel is a good intense workout on your abdominal muscles, hips, back, thighs, and many other muscles you didn’t know you had.

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A Jump Rope

A jump rope is a great cardiovascular workout if you are tight on money but want a good workout without having to take a run down your street and having all your neighbors look at you. If you have not used a jump rope before, learning to use one might be difficult so just looking up a how-to video on YouTube can help you out.

A jump rope can also be used inside, in your living room but if you do not have enough room then you can go outside in your backyard. The CDC lists jumping rope as a vigorous-intensity activity, so it burns calories quickly; the exact number depends on your body weight and pace.

It also builds coordination and heart fitness. Because it is high-impact, start with short rounds if your joints are not used to jumping.

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Fitness Sliders

Fitness sliders are discs that can be used with your hands and feet, and they help you slide around the floor or a mat as you do exercises like lunges and create resistance and tension. Fitness sliders can drastically increase your balance and core strength over time if used properly.

When lunging, you’re working your quads, hamstrings, and glutes, plus the core that is responsible for keeping you stable as you move. The fitness sliders help you keep these muscles super engaged throughout the entire movement.

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An Exercise Ball

An exercise ball is sometimes confused with a medicine ball. However, there are many types of exercise balls. The most common is the big ball that you use the stretch on. Some people use them as chairs at their home office to help with their posture.

Slam balls are filled with sand; you can lift one over your head and slam it to the ground. Wall balls, you throw at a wall; those tend to be heavy.

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A Medicine Ball

A medicine ball is usually a small but heavy ball. These weighted balls are often the size of a basketball and are usually made of rubber, vinyl, or leather. They commonly range from about 2 to 30 pounds.

Medicine Balls can either have grips or handles. They are most commonly used for intense core workouts and often used for rehabilitation and strength training.

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Kettlebells

A kettlebell is a cast-iron ball-shaped weight with a single handle. People use them for swings, goblet squats, and presses to add extra weight.

Kettlebells can also be swung between your legs to give you a good cardiovascular workout at home. Some kettlebells can be pricey but for the vast number of workouts that you can do with them, it is definitely worth the investment.

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Weights

There are so many different weights you can buy. You can just buy 1 set of inexpensive weights or buy a whole barbell set which can get pricey. Or you can even just buy a couple of dumbells.

With 1 set of dumbells that you are comfortable with you can do just about any exercise with them. Many lifters prefer free weights for better muscle growth, but a meta-analysis comparing free weights and machines found no difference in muscle growth between the two.

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Conclusion

With whatever you decide to buy, anything is better than nothing. And if you don’t feel like buying anything, bodyweight exercises are a solid start. Over time, a few pieces of good fitness equipment make it easier to keep adding challenge.