Guide to choosing home fitness equipment

The pitfalls I walked through when I first started working out at home two years ago can circle my living room three times: the folding treadmill purchased during Double Eleven now has 8 down jackets hanging on it, and the smart abdominal wheel originally priced at 299 has three layers of dust on the corner of the wall. I even followed the trend and bought an elastic rope set that claims to be able to "train the whole body simultaneously". After using it twice, it bounced directly into my face because the buckle was too loose, causing pain for three whole days. Nowadays, there are only three things commonly used for training at home: 32kg adjustable rubberized dumbbells, a 10mm thick TPE yoga mat, and three latex elastic bands with different resistances. The total cost is only more than 500, and it has not broken down after almost three years of use.

When it comes to this, some people must disagree, saying that if you want to practice strength, small equipment is simply not enough - there is nothing wrong with this, it depends on what stage you are at. I have been practicing powerlifting for four years. Last year, I built a mini fitness corner on the 12-square-meter balcony at home. I spent more than 600 to install a small folding gantry and equipped it with 100kg barbells. Now I save three hours of gym time every week, and my training frequency is doubled. To him, this money is worth more than the annual membership. But if you are just getting started and are not sure whether you can spare 30 minutes of training time three times a week, don’t just move big equipment to your home. My friend who bought a rowing machine is now asked by relatives every time he comes over, "This clothes drying rack in your house is very high-end." It's so embarrassing.

The space also really needs to be calculated in advance. If you live in a 40-square-meter rental house and you have to squeeze in a closet, forget about treadmills, elliptical machines, or even dumbbells that are too heavy. Firstly, they will take up space, and secondly, when you do deadlifts, they will hit the floor, and the neighbors downstairs will come up and knock on the door every minute. When I lived in an old community, I would put an old quilt under the yoga mat every time I did aerobics, for fear of disturbing the old lady living downstairs. Later, I simply replaced all running and jumping movements with silent squats, glute bridges, and bench presses. The effect was good, and I didn’t have to worry about it. Oh, by the way, if you have elderly or children at home, be sure to check whether the corners of the equipment are rounded when buying equipment. My cat ran over and bumped my previous hard plastic abdominal wheel, which made me scream in pain for a long time. Then I just threw it away.

As for the recently hotly debated question of "whether a multifunctional fitness bench is an IQ tax?", two groups around me have been arguing for almost a year. Friends who often practice strength say it's so delicious. You can do incline bench press, arm flexion and extension, and Bulgarian split. It's much more stable than just putting pillows on it. ； But friends who usually only do core exercises say it is a waste of money, not to mention taking up space, and can only be used three times a year. I bought one myself before and it cost 200 yuan. Now I want to fold the duvet into pieces and place it on the headboard of the bed. If the requirements are not high, the effect is almost the same. To put it bluntly, it depends on your usual training content. If you need it for 80% of your training, buy it. Otherwise, there is really no need to pay for the possibility of "maybe you will use it in the future."

There are two small pitfalls that I really want to remind everyone to avoid: Don’t buy a thin yoga mat that costs 20 to 30 yuan. Once you step on it, it will be slippery due to sweating. I almost broke my tailbone while dancing Pamela before, but later I replaced it with a TPE material worth more than 100 yuan. After using it for three years, it was still fine.； There are also things like shaking machines and lazy abdominal belts that you should not touch. They have long been falsified by academic research. It is impossible to "lie down and lose weight". My mother insisted on buying them before. I showed her three articles in core journals before she stopped. Now I use 15 pounds of elastic bands to train my shoulders every day, and my frozen shoulder has been relieved a lot.

In fact, after all, there is no standard answer for choosing equipment. If you can really persist in practicing, you can get results by using two 5L bottles of mineral water as dumbbells. If you can't persist, even if you move the entire gym home, it can only be used as a storage rack. Before buying, ask yourself: Can I take it out three times next week and use it for 30 minutes each time? If you understand this, you will basically avoid pitfalls.