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Mar 27, 2023

This Is the Best Home Gym Equipment for Any Budget

By Sami Reiss All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our

By Sami Reiss

All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Stocking up on the right home gym equipment solves a very real problem: the gym can be a rough place to spend time—unless you like waiting in line for the squat rack. It's the energy: the bad vibes they all seem to have cut into the real, holistic benefits that come after breaking a sweat. But working out should feel great. (Or at least pretty good, once you're finished.)

Home workouts, done right, might be the path. One, there are never bad vibes, if the you're doing it right. And just as important, the home gym, whether bare bones or bespoke, can offer a pump just as good as the one you can get with a membership. What's more, they offer a much more relaxed conception of what strength training can be. Get in a workout snack, go back to work, and then break a sweat later on in the day.

We put together four different suggestions for a "gyms" at a few different price points, from a $100 setup that will fit under your bed to a price-is-no-object deal that will require real estate for a squat rack. All will deliver a pump; suggested workouts are included.

Weider 35 lb. Kettlebell

Everyone, everywhere, needs at least one kettlebell. Because they’re ballistic, they build up power; they also hit every muscle and take a lifetime to master. Choose an appropriate weight—25 or 35 lbs. is a good place to start. Then learn some swing basics, add in some squats, and work up to a get-up.

Sunpow resistance bands

Resistance bands, used correctly, can mirror free weights. Use them like you might use a cable machine; these workouts, from departed bodybuilder John Meadows, are a good place to start.

Iron Gym Pull-up Bar

Unlike feet pics, push-ups are free; chin-ups, though, require token investment. They’re also great for building up your back, arms and shoulders, which helps with posture. This one fits in most doorways; if it's no good for yours, get an adjustable one. If you can't get to a pull-up, lower yourself slowly down—that's called a negative—and after a while you you'll get there.

Everyone needs a mat, if only to skirt elbow pain while doing planks.

Marcy Hammertone 55 pound kettlebell

There's nothing exciting about getting a second kettlebell; it just offers good bang for the buck. Pick either a lighter-weight bell for isolated foot and calf work, or a heavier one, for squats, deadlifts and carries.

GOATA traditional slant board

GOATA is hard to explain, but it's mostly about reprogramming ankles and feet so that they’re more upright and resilient. The exercises in this video, which use this board, can help with posture and running gait; the equipment has no real gym equivalent.

Rep Fitness large sandbag

Sandbags are a great way to evolve bodyweight work into punishment. Use a bag about 40% of your bodyweight for lunges, runs, presses and planks.

Powerblock adjustable dumbbells

Adjustable bells transform a spartan home setup into an honest-to-goodness permanent gym. These Powerblocks go up to 90 pounds, which will get most people most of the way. This Reddit dumbbell routine is a good place to start.

Rogue Post Landmine and Rogue Echo bar

Landmines require a barbell and offer explosive workouts that target the posterior chain without stressing the spine. They don't fit into apartments, unless they’re Liberace-sized places, but they’re perfect for a backyard or a garage. Check this account for exercises; start with the corkscrew switch, then go from there.

Baseblocks big bar

Muscling up—achieving a pull-up, then raising your waist to the bar—is the Occam's Razor of strength: If you can do one, you’re probably mobile, lean and strong enough to do anything else. This bar is stable, doesn't require super high ceilings and folds away after use. If you can't yet reach a muscle-up, build up to nailing 20 pull-ups and 20 dips in a row, then, try out this YouTube routine.

Rogue Abram glute ham developer

Glute-ham developers isolate the posterior chain while leaving the spine alone; they should come standard in every gym in America. But they don't. If you feel like becoming bulletproof, buy this thing then charge admission for your friends to come use it.

The fan in a good fan bike adds resistance the harder you pedal, which pushes workouts past cardio into hybridized strength training. There are more workouts with this thing than you might think, though sprints—one minute on, one minute off—are the best place to start.

Rep Fitness push-pull sled and two 45-pound bumper plates

Prowler pushes are elite recovery: an easy 40-yard push with 90 lb. attached will, over time, just about do everything. They require more space than a landmine—at least a driveway, most likely a road—and are not found at most commercial gyms.

Titan Fitness T-3 series tall squat stand

Lots of people like barbell squatting; I’m only a fan of the exercise if the lifter is coordinated and strong enough to do it safely. But if you’re building a home gym, why not? This squat stand is the simplest, best option. Use your landmine barbell and prowler weights, and work up to a heavy single at the end of your workouts.

Assault Runner Pro manual treadmill

Gait—how we walk—is a hot fitness buzzword, with good reason: if we walk funky then everything else we do probably is. Manual treadmills are great tools for assessing our movement—but what's more, they offer a very enveloping workout. Running—and staying balanced—on one is qualitatively different than anything else at the gym.

Functional Patterns 10 week course

Not exactly a gadget, but Functional Patterns’ introductory course is a worthy home workout investment for someone who might feel too sore or too stiff to begin working out with heavy weights. It's hard to explain what they do—but it's mostly knocking out gunk in the body at first, then re-tooling it, then making it stronger, without much equipment.