The Covid19 situation in many countries across the world gets a bit worse on a daily basis. With many countries introducing more preventative measures against the spreading of the virus, I personally am no longer visiting a gym. With this, I think it would be good to talk a bit about what is lockdown fitness equipment on a budget.
How to assemble your home gym without breaking the bank? Well, first we need to define our priorities, available space, and budget. There are going to be some compromises but in the current state of things, this is kind of inevitable.
Full body fitness equipment
There are quite a lot of options here. As we talked about in a previous post about lockdown fitness equipment, probably the most versatile fitness equipment you can take is a barbell. Yes, the barbell requires lots of space, floor pads, and discs, but I’m certain you will be able to even build muscle using it.
With progressive overload, we can maintain and grow muscle. Using a barbell we can achieve this progressive overload. However, if we don’t have space or budget for it, a pair of dumbbells is also good.
There are some pretty inexpensive options on the market for dumbbells with non-fixed weight. This means you can disassemble the dumbbell and remove some of the weight. With that, you can have a pair of dumbbells and a few small weight discs. I bought mine (2x20kg) this spring for a total of €50 for the pair.
Cardio, endurance, metabolic conditioning
For the conditioning part of your workouts, you can definitely go extra low on budget or really expensive. However, if you want to get lockdown fitness equipment on a budget, you may start with as little as a jump rope. As a good progression to the jump rope, you can use running.
For as cheap as €50-60 you can get quality running long pants that would keep you warm through the winter. The same goes for a long sleeve top. If it’s below 10 degrees and you intend to run outdoors, you would definitely need one. With running, the running shoes are going to be your biggest expense – they might cost you as much as €150.
If you have enough space and a budget, you could get a rowing machine. They can cost thousands of € or as little as €100. However, I would choose something in the middle, like this one.
Lockdown fitness equipment on a budget
If you’re on a really tight budget, you can start with as little as a pack of resistance bands. There are some really heavy ones, so you wouldn’t get bored quickly. Not that you can’t spend a lot on resistance bands – you can. The idea is that you can progress bodyweight movements with them.
Another point in favor of the resistance bands is that you can also use them to progress dumbbell and barbell exercises. They are definitely a good addition to quality stretching and you can use them for mobility as well.
The bare minimum of fitness equipment you could start with
If you have space just enough to place a yoga mat on the ground and a tight budget, I would suggest you could start small. First things first, get a yoga mat. Yoga mats can save you from injury and support your back very well whenever necessary. It’s something you would definitely look for during warm-ups and mobility exercises.
After the yoga mat, get a jump rope and a pair of resistance bands. If we’re talking about lockdown fitness equipment on a budget, resistance bands and jump rope are a must. They are a good foundation and you can use them for future progression.
After you get bored using bodyweight exercises, get a pair of dumbbells. Look for the most versatile option available and go for it. Yes, you can spend €300-400 on a pair of mega-cool dumbbells, but that’s overkill. In less than a year (hopefully), you would hardly look at this fitness equipment, so don’t spend too much on it.
Don’t neglect movement mobility
I know you’re not in the gym now but when you were, you probably loved to film yourself during some lifts. While this is a good practice to understand where you need more mobility, people often neglect it when working out from home. My advice here would be to continue doing that.
At home, you would use different weights and equipment, so your body will also move differently. Focus on the correct movement execution and the full range of motion. If something is too easy, lookup for a way to scale it up. On the flip side, if something is too hard, lookup for a way to scale it down.
Your lockdown fitness equipment on a budget might not be perfect, but it will allow you to keep your body and mind in shape. With the current state of things, I can’t stress how important it is to keep doing it as hard as it looks like. Maintaining some normalcy is crucial nowadays, so stay safe everyone.
