The ultimate home gym

Run out of pennies for a gym membership? Fear not, here’s the ultimate home gym

The excess of Christmas and the New Year might have left our wallets a little light, but you don’t need an expensive gym membership to keep you fit this year. With more and more products on the market aimed at home workouts, there’s never been a better time to embrace DIY fitness. From dumbbells to ab wheels, you can get a full-body workout from the comfort of your own home – and for a considerably cheaper price. Here’s how to get the ultimate home gym.

Reebok Dumbbell Set
The cornerstone to any home gym, a pair of dumbbells should be your very first investment. Allowing you to do a multitude of functional exercises from weighted lunges to shoulder presses, they help build strength while sculpting and toning the body. We love this Reebok set, which not only includes two weights each of 1kg, 2kg and 3kg, but also provides squared (rather than round) ends to make plank and press-up variations safer and easier.
£39.99, johnlewis.com

TRX Home Suspension Trainer
Designed by a US Navy Seal, the TRX is one of the most versatile pieces of kit on the market, and one that nearly all personal trainers and experts utilise and recommend. Comprising two material straps with handles, the TRX can be attached to anything from doors to trees. Once secure, use the straps to suspend either your feet or hands to intensify regular bodyweight exercises such as chest presses, press-ups, plank variations and pistol squats. The beauty of the TRX is that the straps are adjustable, meaning each exercise can be progressed or regressed depending on your fitness level or skill.
£149, trxtraining.co.uk

Sweaty Betty Super Grip Yoga Mat
Whether you’re doing simple bodyweight exercises or using equipment, a lot of movements will require a mat both for comfort and stability. Made from natural latex to offer unrivalled grip in all conditions, we love this mat from Sweaty Betty. The best bit? It’s biodegradable and tested as free of harmful substances, meanings it’s better for you /and/ the environment.
£55, sweatybetty.com

Domyos Kettlebell
A kettlebell is a home-gym staple, allowing you to a do range of exercises from weighted squats to kettlebell swings. This Domyos Kettlebell offers you a choice of weights to increase strength, power, flexibility and resistance. We love its soft finish, too, which makes it gentle on any floor type.
From £7.99, decathlon.co.uk

Domyos Ab Wheel
Possibly one of the cheapest additions to your home gym, an ab wheel is a super-effective way to train your deeper ab muscles, shoulders and arms. With your knees on the floor and your legs raised, roll the wheel out with your arms as low as you can, keeping your core engaged and back straight at all times. It takes some getting used to, and if your core isn’t strong then you’ll certainly know about it, but the ab wheel is a staple in our routine.
£6.99, decathlon.co.uk

Nike Textured Foam Roller
A foam roller is instrumental in recovery, targeting and massaging worked muscles to reduce risk of injury and DOMS. With a rigid, textured surface, specific muscles are isolated, massaged and lengthened while a hollow core adds firmness for a more intense workout. Despite this, the Nike Foam Roller is compact, convenient and lightweight for ease of travel and storage.
£30, nike.com