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Knowing the Must-Haves and Essentials for Building Your Home Gym

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Knowing the Must-Haves and Essentials for Building Your Home Gym

The options of fitness equipment for your home gym are endless—how do you know where to start purchasing equipment for your home gym? Believe it or not, it is possible to create a place for an effective workout within your own home without an insurmountable investment.

Read Cooper Fitness Center Professional Fitness Trainer David P. Williams’ picks for the must-have home gym essentials:
 
Dumbbells. A set of adjustable dumbbells are easy to use and efficient. As an investment, you can find a set of dumbbells in almost any home workout. “If you can only choose one piece of equipment to get your home gym started, choose adjustable dumbbells,” said Williams.
 
Floor mat. Ground work, such as simple yoga poses and core work, are an important part of every workout. A simple floor mat, like a yoga mat, will give you a comfortable place to do these floor workouts.
 
TRX Straps. Used for the popular TRX suspension training workouts, TRX straps can use anywhere and are easy on the space—a must in home gym. Videos for TRX body weight exercises can purchased on DVD or available for free on YouTube.com, said Williams.
 
ViPR®.
The ViPR is a rubber cylinder designed to blend strength training with functional training and movement. Depending on the weight of your ViPR (Williams recommends starting with 6kg). With the ViPR, your exercise will mimic “real world” movements, such as shoveling, for example. You can also use the ViPR to do similar exercises you might do with a medicine ball.
 
Medicine ball. The medicine ball can be used for a number of indoor and outdoor exercises, including squats, ball slams and a wall toss. The medicine ball is easy to handle and you only need one.
 
Jump rope. A simple jump rope is all you need to get in a good cardiovascular workout in your home gym. Not only is jumping rope good for the heart, it will also build agility, strength and rhythm.
 
You don’t have to invest thousands of dollars in your home gym. Williams recommends starting with the minimum and gradually adding new pieces of equipment, as needed. A variety of different pieces of fitness equipment will help keep you from getting bored during your workout, but owning multiple pieces of fitness equipment isn’t necessary.
 
For information about Professional Training at Cooper Fitness Center, click here.

Article provided by Cooper Aerobics Marketing and Communications.