Functional Home Gym How To Build Your Very Own Unique One

How To Build Your Very Own Functional Home Gym. Costing You Less Than You Think.

Kettlebells are showing up in more and more gyms around the world. As are a myriad of other more unique
training tools such as the Indian Club and ‘TRX’ for suspension training.

This is a reflection of our greater understanding of health and fitness today. We now know that the biggest
challenge to our health right now. Is our distinct lack of movement, which leads to numerous issues
including stiffness, poor mobility, heart problems, a shorter lifespan.

GYMS 

But while gyms are getting more functional, a lot of home workouts revolve around dumbbells still. This
guide will help you to change that. By revealing tools you can add to a home workout that won’t
cost much. And will let you build a highly functional home gym.

Kettlebells

The best place to start is with the king of functional training: the kettlebell.
When buying kettlebells, look for the cast iron variety over the vinyl or steel options. These are affordable
while also allowing you to increase the weight considerably. Without the weight getting incredibly large
(an issue with vinyl options).

You’ll want to start with light weights in order to practice the movements and
avoid injury and these will also be useful for long sets of kettlebell swings. You’ll need heavier too though
so you can progress to movements like the goblet squat and maintain the level of challenge.

Indian Clubs

If you can’t get enough of the way it feels to train with kettlebells, then you might want to consider picking
up an Indian Club to train with as well. This is shaped a little like a skittle, with a thin end and a large,
heavy body. You hold them at the end in either hand and then draw circles/swing them, while once again
dealing with the off-center center of gravity.

Battle Ropes

Kettlebells allow for ‘resistance cardio’ which means cardiovascular training that also tests the muscles.
Similarly effective are battle ropes: heavy ropes that you hold in each hand at the ends and then beat
against the ground. This is a hugely taxing workout for burning calories that also tones and strengthens a
lot of important muscles.

Pull Up Bar

A pull up bar is a very affordable piece of equipment that introduces a huge number of new exercises into
your workouts – not only pull ups and chin-ups but also levers, one-armed pull ups, around-the-worlds,
leg raises and more.
You can get a pull-up bar for around £6 and if you get the ‘Iron Gym’ then it will also fit into your door frame
without any need to drill holes. Better yet, you can also use this as a press up stand so that you can perform
push ups with an extended range of motion, hand stand push ups, dips, V-sits and much more!

Parallel Bars

Better yet for these kinds of movements though are parallel bars. These allow you to perform dips, hand
stand push ups, planche… but also inverted push ups (pull ups with your legs still on the ground), neutral
grip pull ups and much more.

They’re again very affordable, not normally costing more than £40 and they  can be easily stored in your home.

Making them a prefect option for a functional Home Gym.

Gymnastic Rings

TRX is popular in a lot of gyms now but it’s actually a very limited and expensive solution. TRX provides
straps that hang from bars. Letting you hang onto them while you perform bodyweight rows and the like.
However, they cost several hundred pounds and don’t support movements like dips.
This is where a cheap set of gymnastic rings comes in and does wonders.

You can perform all manner of exercises with gymnastic rings including dips, muscle ups, the iron cross and incline push ups. The best part is that the rings will wobble around as you try and place your weight on them and this in turn means that you have to use a lot of stabilizing muscles to balance yourself and steady your body.

Sandbag

A heavy sandbag is absolutely ideal for working out with in the garden and can be used for throwing, for
carrying and a lot more. This provides a highly versatile workout as the sand (and thus the weight) will
move as you lift the bag.

This makes it arguably even more unpredictable and challenging than training
with the kettlebell. Best of all? You may already have one in your home!

Tyres

You can use a tyre for training in a number of ways – rolling it, flipping it or just carrying it. The bigger the
tire, the harder the challenge!
Combine the tyre with a sledge hammer for a very functional resistance cardio workout that is a killer on
the hands!

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