Ask the Nu_Tristanist

Part 2 of the CovidSummer - Body Series

Q. I am trying to put together an affordable (but great) at-home gym. What pieces of equipment do you suggest? - Home Gym Sally

A. Since one person’s “affordable” is another person’s “you’ve got to be kidding me” I am going to answer this question counting through 10 pieces of equipment, #1 being the most essential. This way you can build as you go!

A light, medium, and heavy-weight set of dumbbells. For most people this would be a set of 5’s, 10’s and 17’s-20 lbs. You need lighter weights for your smaller muscles like triceps and deltoids but heavier weights to ade

quately perform rows. You will need dumbbells to hit all the muscles in your arms, shoulders and some in your back and chest.

A jump rope. If you hate running or it’s too hot to go outside, move the coffee table and start jumping rope. Set a small goal of jumping for a TOTAL of 10 minutes and build up from there. It is surprisingly easy to build up your rope jumping skills, not to mention it’s literally the best cardio workout you can do!

A Swiss ball. This is something we all have and it just sort of collects dust until our kid drags it out, BUT these are great for toning thighs and doing abs if you feel pain from doing them on the floor. A list of Swiss ball exercises is available here: https://ball-exercises.com/workout-routines/

An adjustable workout bench. By purchasing this item, you can ditch both the step and Swiss ball if needed and use the bench for those exercises PLUS have a place to perform seated incline arm, shoulder, and chest exercises with added stability and variations.

Looped resistance bands! You can buy these cheaply in a pack of different resistance levels. These are great for working your butt, inner and outer thighs. Without them, it’s incredibly hard to

target these thigh muscles once you build up past floor exercises without any sort of resistance (al la Jane Fonda). wise. Standard Olympic bars weight 45lbs and “women’s” bars weigh 35lbs so you need to feel confident going heavy before the investment is worth it. Purchasing the bounce plates for added weight is usually less expensive than a standard dumbbell of the same weight. The racks can be adjusted for both leg and back workouts. All you need is some clips and you are good to go! Conveniently, these can be stored vertically in a corner of your garage when not in use.

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9. A door frame pulley system. Something that not many trainers speak on is how hard it is to target your back effectively in a home gym environment. Especially for those who can’t run down to the local park and hammer out some pull-ups on the monkey bars! You can efficiently execute back rows in your home if you have a dumbbell that is heavy enough to hit (almost) failure at the end of a set, but that leaves the rest of the back to work! With a pulley system that hangs over the door, you can create adequate resistance to work the other muscles without spending a small fortune on lat pull-down or cable machine.

A good Cardio Machine. If you want a step up from the rope I suggested earlier, then invest in a commercial grade treadmill or bike. My tip (so it doesn’t become the world’s most expensive drying rack) is to place it in a room that is cool and that you enjoy bring in. It’s very easy for a treadmill to just become a piece of furniture you forget about so sticking in a hot garage is not going to get you on it regularly. Most companies are running specials right now with 1 year of virtual personal training included. Sign up because it’s a great way to use (or learn how to use) the other pieces of equipment you’ve recently invested in and will give you a routine to follow (which is half the battle of working out at home effectively).

A step.

You don’t have to buy this if you have stairs, a front porch or even an ottoman! Steps are

great for step-ups (of course!) but also for triceps dips, push-ups, split lunges, 1 legged-dead lifts and elevated side lunges.

10. Mirrors! I put this at the bottom of the list even though they are hardly the most expensive. I am a huge believer in SEEING WHAT MUSCLES

YOU ARE WORKING. It is essential to watch your form to prevent injury, especially once you move up to heavier weights or workout equipment you aren’t familiar with. Also, nothing makes you feel more motivated about your fitness goals than walking into your garage and seeing a wall lined with mirrors!

For a list of the equipment I mentioned (& more) go here: https://amzn.to/3g3xW9R

Got a question for Tristan? Email her at faceoffitness@gmail.com, subject line: Ask the @Nu_Tristanist