When your child flies off to college or post-grad life, their absence may leave a space in your heart. It also leaves you with some new space in your home. Not sure what to do with this new, wide-open room? Once you’ve checked (and double-checked) that your child isn’t expecting you to maintain a shrine to their childhood in their old bedroom, it’s the perfect spot for a home gym filled with the best home gym equipment you can afford.
Whether you’re into cardio, strength training, yoga, or a mix of fitness activities, having a whole room dedicated to fitness — rather than a random corner in the living room or your bedroom — may just transform your wellness routine.
First, though, you’ll need to pick some gear that works for you. Of course, the gear can only be as successful as the effort you put in. So, once you’ve cleared out the sports trophies and the posters, here’s some great home gym equipment for your new workout room.
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14 Best Home Gym Equipment Pieces
1. For Yoga & Stretching: Gaiam 6mm Yoga Mat
No matter what you like to do for your workouts, a yoga mat is one of the best pieces of home gym equipment to snag. It softens the ground for stretching, ab exercises, mobility training, and yes, yoga. This option from Gaiam is a home gym classic — it’s 68 inches long, 24 inches wide, 6 millimeters thick, and comes in a wide range of colors and patterns to suit every kind of home gym style. Plus, with its 4.7-star rating out of more than 16,000 reviews, you can be assured that it’ll provide a lot to like. Reviewers say the mat lasts a long time, feels durable and grippy, and offers the perfect level of thickness for all kinds of workouts.
Alternatively, you could cover the entire floor with interlocking EVA Foam.
2. For Two-Handed Lifts: Bowflex Selecttech 552 Dumbbells
No need to clutter up your new home gym with a full set of dumbbells. This Bowflex 552 adjustable pair ranges from 5 to 52 lbs in 2.5-lb increments — the equivalent of 15 dumbbells. To change the weight, all you have to do is turn the dial at the front and back of each dumbbell and listen for it to click into place.
Among the dumbbells’ near-perfect 4.8-star rating out of more than 22,000 reviews, customers praise the weights’ ease of use, sleek design, and ability to build muscle for whoever is using them.
3. For Single-Arm Weight Training: Bowflex Selecttech 840 Adjustable Kettlebell
Another great adjustable strength training item? Bowflex’s adjustable kettlebell, which ranges from 8 to 40 lbs. With its sleek, unobtrusive shape — it measures a tidy 8.8 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 12.5 inches tall — it’s a piece of at-home gym equipment that can easily be tucked away on a shelf (or under a bed, if you’re keeping your kid’s bed in their old room).
4. For Elevated Weight Training: Flybird Adjustable Weight Bench
A weight bench allows you to use a greater range of motion for certain exercises, like dumbbell flys and bench presses. This popular bench can be shifted into seven different back positions — from fully flat to 90 degrees — and folded up when you aren’t using it to save space. Users love its sturdiness, ease of setup and use, and overall comfort.
5. For Balanced Workouts: Bosu Original Balance Trainer
With its unstable surface, this balance trainer helps increase workout versatility and challenge muscles in new ways while doing squats, situps, planks, single-leg holds, bicycles, and other exercises. It’s especially useful for people looking to improve balance and core strength. The Bosu balance trainer has a 4.6-star rating out of more than 9,000 reviews, and many reviewers write that implementing the Bosu into their routine gave them noticeable improvement in their stability.
6. For Quick Cardio: Loocio Jump Rope
Want to add a cardio source to your home gym without committing to a big, heavy piece of equipment? A jump rope is just the thing. Jumping rope can improve coordination and balance, boost cardio health, and may build bone density, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This Loocio jump rope, with its tangle-free cord and adjustable foam handles, makes it easy to use and gives you the ability to take your cardio workout anywhere and everywhere.
7. For A Bit of Extra Resistance: FitSimplify Resistance Bands
Whether you’re stretching or strength training, a set of resistance bands is one of the most affordable pieces of home gym equipment. This FitSimplify set comes with five different resistance levels — from X-light to X-heavy — and five different colors to help you easily identify each one.
With their 4.5-star rating out of more than 122,000 reviews, they’re a popular pick. Reviewers especially like their versatility, durability, and quality you get for the price.
8. For Space-Saving Strength Training: TRX Suspension Trainer
This all-in-one suspension trainer hooks into an anchor point (usually a door frame), letting you do elevated planks, pulls, pushups, inverted rows, and more — with virtually no footprint. It can also be transferred to different spots. The extra suspension provides greater resistance than what you’d get with gravity alone, providing an excellent way to build strength and endurance at home.
It’s earned a 4.8-star rating out of more than 6,800 reviews, and reviewers love its portability, versatility, and challenge it gives muscles.
9. For Indoor Walks & Runs: NordicTrack T Series 6.5s Foldable Treadmill
A treadmill is a great way to get in cardio when you can’t (or don’t want to) go outside. When you’re ready to add one to your home gym mix, this foldable tread is a good option. The tread has a speed range from 0-10 miles per hour — ideal for leisurely walks, brisk jogs, or all-out runs — an incline of up to 10%, and it boasts a roomy 20 by 55-inch tread belt.
Among its more than 32,000 reviews, customers especially love its sturdiness and overall quality.
10. For Indoor Bike Rides: Yosuda Stationary Bike
If running isn’t your thing, this Yosuda exercise bike might be. It uses magnetic resistance and a 35-lb flywheel to deliver a smooth, quiet ride and comes with a magnetic tablet mount so you can stream cycling classes from your favorite workout app. (Or just watch Netflix.) Customers like that it’s easy to assemble, doesn’t squeak as you’re pedaling, and is a good value for the price.
11. For Guided Strength Training: Peloton Guide
Want to get into strength training at home — but not totally sure how to manage your form? The Peloton Guide can help. It provides real-time, AI-powered guidance by connecting with your TV and the Peloton app and showing extra guidance on the screen to alert you if your form is off.
It works with Peloton’s popular strength training, yoga, stretching, and boxing classes. Users praise its tracking accuracy and report that using the Guide helps keep them more focused than just streaming workouts alone. Just note that you’ll need a Peloton subscription to use it!
12. For Low-Impact Cardio: Sunny Health & Fitness Mini Stepper
If you’ve been seeing mini steppers all over TikTok or Reels, now’s the time to get in on the stepping action. This device elevates your heart rate and activates the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. It also comes with detachable resistance bands, which you can use to engage your upper body. Reviewers say it’s easy to set up, works smoothly, and doesn’t make noise, even with vigorous stepping.
13. For Post-Workout Cooldowns: TriggerPoint Grid Foam Roller
When you’re done with your workout, don’t forget to stretch it out. This TriggerPoint foam roller will help you do just that, with its ridged foam exterior that provides a deep massage to the muscles, promoting blood flow and recovery. It has a 4.7-star rating out of more than 33,000 reviews and customers say it lasts much longer than other foam rollers — thanks to its plastic hollow core design — and its ridges provide just enough satisfying pressure.
14. Indoor Training Sneakers: Nike Free Metcon 5
You’ll need a good pair of indoor trainers to be active in your home workout space. The Nike Free Metcon 5 not only looks stylish, but they have good stability and comfort to push through a HIIT workout or feel secure when weight lifting. They come in several fun colors and are available in both women’s and men’s sizes.
Buy the Women’s Nike Free Metcon 5:
Buy the Men’s Nike Free Metcon 5:
Why You Can Trust Us
Hi, I’m Sara! I’m the former health & fitness editor at Reviewed, USA Today’s product reviewing website. I’ve tested all kinds of workout equipment, from treadmills to stationary bikes, and I’m passionate about finding the best home workout gear for people at different fitness levels and budgets.
To find the best home gym equipment for parents looking to convert their child’s old bedroom into a home gym, I researched popular products and pulled from my own memory bank of tried-and-true products. Then, I worked with the Grown & Flown team to select the list above, considering different space constraints, budgets, and types of exercises you might want to do at home.
Prices were accurate at time of publication.
