Train at Home: the equipment you actually need

You don’t need to go to a gym to work on your strength training.

Training at home means you can jump straight into your session without the commute or extra preparation. You don't have to deal with crowds, and the equipment is always there when you're ready to use it.

Plus, you can train in your favorite comfy clothes (I love exercising in my pajamas in winter or in my swimwear in summer!), play your preferred music (or train in silence), avoid distractions and really focus on yourself.

How to Build Your Home Strength Training Setup

You don’t need the perfect setup to get started. A chair, those old resistance bands you kept from a physio session, and that mat you found in your garage are a great place to start when you're new to strength training.

And those ankle weights you bought for that Pilates class? Perfect to start strengthening your legs!

What Equipment Do You Need to Train at Home?

You can absolutely get stronger, build muscle and reduce aches and pains by strength training from the comfort of your home. And you can do it with minimal equipment.

Here's what I use and recommend to my clients:

I've found these to be reasonably priced and extremely useful, unless you're at the point where you're lifting really heavy.

If that's the case, a gym may give you more options, or you could build a larger home gym if you have the space and budget.

Here are my basics:

1. Adjustable dumbbells
A set of adjustable/interchangeable weights. This comes with two rods to make two dumbbells, plus plates to take each dumbbell up to 10 kg.

2. Extra plates
Extra 0.5 kg plates to make smaller increases in weight as you progress.

3. Resistance bands
Finally, I keep a set of resistance bands that I can use as an alternative to cables at the gym. They're not a perfect replacement, but they work well, especially when you're a beginner.

Once you've got your equipment sorted, you may be wondering how much strength training you actually need. This article covers frequency, sets, reps, effort and progression, so you can work out what you actually need.

Optional Equipment for Training at Home

Once you have the basics, there are a few pieces of equipment you might find useful:

• Kettlebell: useful for a range of strength exercises.

• Extra weight plates: useful when you're ready to lift heavier.

• A barbell: useful for exercises such as deadlifts and hip thrusts.

• A hip thrust pad: useful if you're doing heavier hip thrusts.

• A home bench: useful for exercises such as chest presses, step-ups and other movements.

What If You Don't Want to Buy Equipment?

You don't need to buy everything at once.

You can start with bodyweight exercises and add equipment as you become more comfortable with strength training.

If you decide you enjoy training at home, a pair of adjustable dumbbells is probably one of the most useful pieces of equipment to add.

You don't need to build a complete home gym before you've even started using it.

The goal isn't to have the perfect equipment. It's to make strength training easy enough to fit into your real life.

Start with what you have. Use what works for you and what makes it easier to train consistently. Add more when you need it.

And that's a great place to start getting stronger.