Recent surveys have shown that the average American household spends about one hundred and thirty dollars per year on sports and exercise equipment. Multi-purpose home gym stations can cost about seven hundred dollars, and that’s only if you get the most basic gear you can afford and have enough space for.
Of course, the money that anyone might be willing to spend on exercise equipment varies largely from one person to the next, but also on the type of gear that you might want to opt for. Let’s look at several aspects that might be of interested for you if you’re going to build your own gym at home.
Cardio equipment
Any sporting gear website will recommend you pieces of equipment related to cardio exercise. Treadmills can cost anything from one thousand to three and even four thousand dollars, and the average model can be bought for about two thousand. Elliptical trainers usually cost about fifteen hundred, but there are countless variables because one piece of gear can be more durable or useful compared to the next.
The most basic type of gear you can purchase to ensure that you warm up properly is a jump rope. Believe it or not, jump ropes are priced at a maximum of thirty to forty dollars. Of course, there are some that can be as expensive as one hundred, but the fact is that they provide an excellent training start, especially for those who do not want to invest in something as expensive as a treadmill.
What about strength equipment?
Resistance training gear can be a little more or less expensive compared to cardio equipment, and let’s see why. First off, there are a wide array of types available out there, and the most basic ones you might be able to find are free weights and resistance bands.
It goes without saying that there are also weight machines that can give you the opportunity to work on particular muscle groups, but these might cost more. Most body training machines cost a minimum of one thousand dollars, with the average being about fourteen hundred. If you are on a tight budget, you can still get one for as little as one hundred and seventy-five.
What about dumbbells? Depending on the kind and set that you wish to choose, they will cost you anything between ten to four hundred bucks.
Alternatives
If you have no intention whatsoever of building your own home gym, either because it might be too expensive or because of a lack of space, there are some other options you could consider. One of them we’ve already talked about, and it’s exercising with the help of a jump rope.
Another tip would be to take the stairs or run in place to get your heart beating faster and start burning calories. Strength training can be done conveniently and comfortably either with two jugs filled with water or with resistance bands, many of which are cheap. There’s also something called calisthenics, where you can work out using the weight of your own body.