Here at Exersci, we have you covered, no matter what type of home gym you're creating. From our budget-friendly, adjustable sets to our more commercial power racks and Olympic bars. In today's blog, we will cover 'what equipment do you need in your serious home gym?' This will cover essential strength and endurance equipment, the importance of including functional space and choosing the correct flooring.

Strength Training Essentials for Your Home Gym

Most fitness programmes typically class strength training as a foundation, and serious programmes should keep it a priority. This is because, besides providing numerous benefits to athletic performance (Source), it also improves quality of life (Source), injury prevention (Source) and reduces risk of all-cause mortality (Source). 

Additionally, including strength training equipment in your home gym, you are able to build muscle mass, strength and bone density. Below is the equipment we recommend: 

Dumbbells - A wide range 

Dumbbells are crucial for building strength in your home gym due to their versatility. This allows you to perform an array of full-body exercises. By including a wide load range of dumbbells in your gym, you can also prescribe loads specific to each movement and progressively overload. It is very common to have lifts/exercises where you can physically lift more weight. By only accommodating for one exercise, you are then potentially limiting the stimulus placed on muscles to adapt, or the weight is too heavy to perform sufficient repetitions to stimulate adaptations. This also relates to progressive overload. By using a range of loads, you can progressively increase the resistance, continuously stimulating the muscle(s) to adapt. 

Adjustable Bench

An adjustable bench is often recommended throughout the Exersci blog posts for home gyms. This is because it opens up the possibility to perform a variety of resistance exercises with dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells. The most popular being that it allows for the bench press. The bench press is considered a compound lift due to the multi-joint involvement, thus targeting multiple muscle groups. Other examples include other forms of presses (shoulder & incline), rows, squat variations (Bulgarian & seated squats) and body weight activity (i.e, tricep dips). 

Power racks with barbell & plates

These support your big lifts and work equally well during upper- and lower-body exercises. A very important reason to consider purchasing power racks is the added safety during training. Typically, power racks come with safety bars. As many home gym goers train alone, these are essential to allow you to progressively overload and train with heavier loads without the fear of having to drop the bar and potentially injure yourself or damage any of the equipment. 

Barbells and plates are essential for compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts and bench press, all very beneficial due to the multi-joint & multi-muscle engagement. Additionally, you can start performing Olympic lifting, which, to some people, is the optimal exercise to induce adaptations if done safely. The most notable adaptation is to power, but with this, weight lifting (AKA Olympic lifting) is reported to provide neuromuscular benefits (the ability for the nervous system to send impulse to and from the brain: important for motor control), increase the amount of fast-twitch fibres (crucial for strength, speed, power), increased lean muscle mass, neuroendocrine adaptations (e.g., increased testosterone) and improved balance/coordination (Source).

Conditioning & Endurance Equipment For Your Home Gym 

Endurance training is crucial for your cardiovascular health, i.e., your body's ability to deliver oxygenated blood to major organs and muscles to maintain life and function. As such, by completing endurance exercise, you are able to develop adaptations to the heart (Source), lungs (Source), blood vessels (Source) and muscles (Source). 

One consideration when purchasing endurance equipment is the power source. The Exersci endurance equipment uses self-powered or battery-powered devices, so you don't need long cables that could cause trip hazards. Have a look at our: 

• Air bike (Full-body conditioning, great for HIIT)
• Rowing machine (Low-impact, full-body conditioning)
• Ski Erg (Upper-body focused, adding variety to your training)
• Curved treadmill (Optimises posture during running & utilises the handles to replicate sled push)

Additionally, you should consider our weighted vests. These are greater for intensifying your activity (e.g., walking, running or other body weight work). Check out our previous blogs that highlight the benefits of using weighted vests on our blog site.

Functional Training Equipment

Functional training is great for developing mobility, core strength and athletic performance. It is typically coupled with more versatile pieces of equipment, such as kettlebells, power bags, medicine balls, resistance bands and mats. The ability to build core stability plays a crucial role in injury prevention.

Providing a functional training space will allow you to complete circuit-style training, for instance, by performing Kettlebell cleans, power bag Russian twists, medicine ball throws, and resistance band pull-ups. This is great for fat burning and toning. 

Additionally, due to the typical light-loading of these exercises, they can be very beneficial within rehabilitation programmes, or to implement following a high-intensity week or period. 

Home Gym Flooring & Storage

Having the correct flooring can often be overlooked when building your home gym. However, it is a crucial aspect to ensure a safe environment and to add a professional look. So, if you're going to get serious, this is a must-have. Most commonly, rubber flooring is the go-to, providing a durable, easy-to-clean and excellent shock absorber. Additionally, these are easy to install and remove, making them ideal for home gyms where you may frequently adjust your dimensions. Other flooring is also available for more specific training types, such as the artificial turf, which is a great addition if wanting to perform sled pushes. 

Check out our previous blog on 'The Best Flooring for a Home Gym' to get information on all our types of flooring.

Having the correct storage is also essential to ensure your space is clutter-free (no trip hazards) and professional-looking. Our storage options vary and should be purchased to match the equipment you have in your home gym, such as our 3-tier dumbbell rack, Kettlebell racks and medicine ball racks, to name a few. 

Conclusion

Deciding to take your home gym setup more seriously is a great investment in your long-term health. You should incorporate a mixture of strength, endurance and functional/mobility equipment, as well as appropriate supportive equipment such as the flooring and storage, to keep your space organised and safe. 

Remember, you don't have to leap immediately; in fact, you should build your inventory gradually and prioritise versatile and durable items to be more cost-effective. If you're ready to dive into the world of home gyms and start or upgrade your serious set-up, check out our range of high-quality and durable home gym equipment at www.Exersci.co.uk.