Home Gym Equipment
Here’s a list of the most effective and low-cost pieces of home gym equipment and the uses of each:
Free Weights
An alternative to machines is free weights. Or, as we prefer to think of them – an accompaniment (both used together yield the best results). Free weights are the barbell, dumbbells and plates which are lifted freely without the support of a machine.
Weight Lifting Belts
Mostly worn by those who use free weights, belts can be worn for pretty much any heavy exercise to give support to the lower back.
Weight Lifting Gloves
When working out it’s no surprise the palms sweat and the grip can become slippery. Not only does it cause lifting to be more difficult, but it also makes it much more dangerous. Hardcore trainee’s often use chalk dust – a powerlifter favorite – but if that’s not your thing, fingerless weight lifting gloves may be of use to you.
Head / Neck Harness
Commonly used by boxers they are also popular with bodybuilders and other sportsmen and women looking to build neck strength. The harness is a simple piece of equipment attached to the head with straps, with a chain hanging down the front or back on which a plate is looped onto. The head is then moved forwards or backwards to lift the weight and work the neck muscles. A strong neck is a huge benefit – particularly for safety – in many contact sports, but also in weight lifting.
Resistance / Flex Bands
While many successful powerlifters make use of a variety of resistance bands in conjunction with their free weight training, bands can actually be used on their own to build strength or flexibility. They are extremely popular with practitioners of yoga and Pilates.
Powerlifting Chains
Another favorite of powerlifters, chains are a way to reverse the effect of regular training with a barbell, similar to bands. For instance, it’s known that when a person is at the bottom of a lift, the weight is at it’s heaviest in terms of the bodies ability to cope, and at the top the weight is felt as too light as the mechanical advantage of near-lockout kicks in. Chains offer a contrast to this, where a calculated load is placed on the barbell with the chain weight factored in, with the aim of making the load lighter at the bottom as the chains hit the floor and de-load, but much heavier at the top as more chain is lifted from the floor adding to the weight.
Stability Ball
Also known as a Swiss ball, exercise ball, and even a yoga/Pilates ball, this ball isn’t to be confused with a medicine ball. Stability balls are inflatable PVC and very strong in that they can hold a lot of weight. They come in different diameters and are designed primarily to be balanced on, in various ways. The idea is by balancing on the stability ball, many stabilizer muscles are worked in order to help the person keep balanced. For instance, a stability ball could be used to rest on to perform presses instead of doing them from the floor, the advantage being the muscles have to work extra hard to coordinate and balance the person.