Add to favoritesIn this day and age many people are choosing to exercise at home. Whether you don’t want to pay those hefty gym membership fees, can’t find the time to make it to the gym, or simply don’t feel comfortable working out in public, it’s not obligatory to use a gym’s high-tech fitness equipment to get a good workout.
In fact, you don’t need any gym equipment at all! You can still work up a sweat and get a full body workout at home using your own bodyweight. However, if you want to challenge yourself further and increase the intensity of your home workouts, you can use items you may already have laying around the home as substitutes for gym equipment (if you don’t already own any.)
Below, we listed 5 gym equipment alternatives you can use for home workouts:
Dumbbells and Kettlebells
Hand weights are an extremely versatile piece of workout equipment. They’re available in many incremental weight options so you can find the right one for you (according to your fitness level) and they can be used for a large variety of different exercises. However, if you don’t own any hand weights, you can do exercises using water bottles, soup cans, or even your baby or toddler.
Slider Discs
Slider disc exercises are excellent for improving your balance and strengthening your arms and core. You can also move at a faster pace to get a good cardio workout in. However if you don’t own any slider discs, using dish towels or paper plates (for carpeted surfaces), or wearing fuzzy socks (on hardwood floors) will give you that same “glider” effect.
Workout Bench
Chairs or couches are great alternatives to workout benches if you’re trying to do exercises such as tricep dips, leg raises, incline push ups, and more at home. Just make sure your chair is sturdy and won’t slide around during your exercises.
Stair Climber
A stair climber mimics walking up a flight of stairs and tones nearly every muscle group in the calf, thigh, and gluteal regions. So if you love using a stair climber at your gym, using regular stairs in your home will give you a similar effect. Though regular stairs aren’t “endless” and you’d still need to walk back down at some point, you can still do cardio and get a good leg workout in your own home.
Medicine Ball
A medicine ball is a great addition to any workout to tone your muscles and build arm and core strength. However, if you don’t own a medicine ball, any sports ball will do the trick. This can include a basketball, soccer ball, or volleyball. These sports ball alternatives may not have much weight to them, but they’ll still be great for helping you work on your balance and to use for exercises such as squats, lunges, Russian twists, and more.
