Ever since I was in high school, I have been fortunate enough to have free gym memberships. If not at school, then onsite at my job. But a few months ago, I found myself for the first time ever needing to actually pay to work out if I needed to!
I damn near joined a Globo Gym. I went and did the free trial and everything. I had my wallet out. But I slept on it and had a change of heart.
Do I really want to have another monthly payment to go to an overcrowded rec center with only ONE power rack? One that I would need to drive out of my way for? Plus paying first and last month’s fees?
Hell no!
I went renegade and got a few basic pieces of cheap exercise equipment for my apartment to stay fit this summer. What follows is a barebones list that can get you in great shape for less than $100. (And it’s worked fantastic for me.)
Jump Rope: $5
Ah, the jump rope. How I grow to love it more and more each day. For pennies on the dollar, it gives you a much better workout than any treadmill ever could. It’s low-impact, portable, and also trains your agility, balance, accuracy, speed, and coordination. (Take THAT, hamster wheels!)
Like most exercise equipment, you don’t need anything fancy. A $5 speed rope will get you a ton of mileage. Oh yeah, and you can check out my earlier post to put together a jump rope workout.
Pull Up Bar: $30
You see ‘em everywhere. Sports Authority, Target, even the checkout lane of Walgreen’s. A basic pull up bar that quickly attaches to a doorway with no drilling whatsoever is one of the best investments you can make.
If you are doing bodyweight exercises (which you should if you are looking to save some green), your pushing muscles such as your triceps, pecs, and shoulders will be getting plenty of work doing push ups, dips, and handstand push ups. It’s crucial that your pulling muscles get exercised as well.
A pull up bar is an excellent way to increase your pulling power and give you an excellent upper-body workout. In an earlier post I went over the kind of back strengthening exercises you can do with a pull up bar.
Kettlebell: $40-$55
Barbells get a lot of love around these parts. They help you focus on pure strength and let you easily move up and down in weight. Excercises such as deadlifts, cleans, squats, and presses boost HGH production and allow you to easily burn fat and gain muscle.
But barbells are bulky. And a power rack takes up a lot of space, not to mention will set you back at least $1,000. What’s a thrifty guy supposed to do if he wants to get the benefits of moving a lot of weight around?
Enter the kettlebell.
Essentially a cannonball with a handle, the kettlebell is an old-school strength training tool perfect for your tight budget. With exercises such as the swing, clean and press, and the Turkish get up, you can get a killer full-body exercise with a single portable weight.
If you are just starting with kettlebells, you should get a 35 lb-er (aka 16 kg or 1 pood). The best way to save some serious cash on kettlebells is to go through Craigslist. Especially if you live in a major metropolitan area, you should be able to snag one for a fraction of what it would cost to buy direct.
Rocky Balboa Doesn’t Need Expensive Equipment, Why Should You?
I know it’s just a movie, but I couldn’t risk NOT showing you the training montage from Rocky IV! It’s the one where Balboa trains in a cabin out in the wilderness with basic gear while the Russian works out in a state-of-the art facility with lots of high-tech equipment.
I think this scene is the perfect metaphor for what LMVM exercise is all about: focus on low-tech, functional, and efficient workouts. Forget about all the fancy machines that are all show and no go!
Get In Shape on the Cheap
Despite the initial investment, you will come out ahead in the long run if you pick up this cheap exercise equipment. Here at LMVM, it’s all about making health, fitness, and wellness as accessible as possible to the Average Joe!
I'm a science geek, food lover, and wannabe surfer.
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Great list Darrin! I’ll bet you get in just as good or even better shape just using these pieces of exercise equipment than you would at the gym.
@Dave:
Definitely in great shape still, but I don’t have to waste time running back and forth from the gym! Not a bad deal.
Yeah cheap is the way to go cause I see a lot of people paying money for expensive machines, personal trainers, fancy at home machines and guess what? they all still look the same … your idea is spot on, its not really the equipment is up to you to make it happen.
And you can add just going down to a kids park and using bars there!
Good post
Raymond
Darrin,
I haven’t been to a “Globo Gym” type establishment since college. I use adjustable dumbbells with a bench and bodyweight exercises at home for my workouts and they are just as effective and way more time efficient than going to a crowded gym.
Alykhan
@Raymond:
My favorite are all the “new and improved” ab machines. Seems like every couple years the infomercials fill up with some new unitasker that will be collecting dust in everyone’s garage after a couple years. Great tip on heading to parks and playgrounds to use the bars and whatnot there too.
@Alykhan:
The more I think about it, the more I realize that gyms are only worth it if they are either in your home or at your work or else you have lots of money to burn and can go during less crowded times. Otherwise the time, money, and energy inconveniences are just too much compared to what you can get done at home with far less. Great idea with the adjustable dumbbells as well. I have seen them before and they look like a great piece of home gym equipment that could even be tucked away in a tiny apartment.
Fitness should be cheap, I’m with you man! By the way – an ab wheel is super effective and dirt cheap also – you can find one under $10.
Yavor
Yeah, ab wheels can be super cheap, too. RossTraining has an article and video on how to make your own here. (BTW, Ross’s website is the best resource I’ve found for DIY exercise equipment.) The only knock against ab wheels is that they are “unitaskers.” (Seems to be my new favorite word!) What I mean is that you can really only do variations of one exercise with them. But it’s cheap and it’s not bulky, so I still give it a thumbs up.
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