The Best Home Gym Equipment to Work Out All Your Muscles

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Having gym equipment at home can be a boon for your training. With staple equipment like dumbbells and an exercise bench all the way up to (if you have the cash) AI-enhanced workout systems that deliver guided, full-body resistance workouts, you can build an exercise space that can help make you faster and stronger. We have deep-dive guides on many specific kinds of home exercise equipment, such as the best under-desk treadmills, best steppers, and best elliptical machines. But here’s a broad sampling of the gear we recommend for a well-rounded home gym.

The Best Home Gym Equipment

The Expert: From running track to city paths to trails, I’ve been running virtually my whole life. As I’ve aged, I’ve become more and more aware of the value of cross-training and hitting the gym to improve my running and trail running capabilities. I’ve covered fitness and outdoor gear for Popular Mechanics, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Backpacker, Treeline Review, and other publications. I’ve also written about some of my written about some of my trail running adventures in the Best Outdoor Adventures Colorado Front Range.

How We Evaluated The Best Home Gym Equipment

There are tons of options for home gym equipment, some effective, some not. Our team of editors and writers—including Amy Schlinger, Gabrielle Hondrop, and me—narrowed it down through our personal experiences of using home gym equipment and researching options recommended by other respected publications including Popular Mechanics, Healthline, Consumer Reports, and more. We also drew insights from consumer reviews from major retailers, such as Amazon.

7.0 AT Treadmill

A 2023 Runner’s World Gold Medal winner, the 7.0 AT is a budget-friendly treadmill that’s great for anyone who already has a favorite guided workout platform. Rather than including a large screen and media system that locks you into the manufacturer’s offerings, the 7.0 AT syncs with your phone or tablet so you can play audio through its speakers and get data through workout apps like Peloton and Zwift.

The treadmill’s powerful thrust incline motor can challenge you to run up to 12 miles an hour, at an incline of up to 15 degrees. Our reviewers also liked the chest-high thumb dials, which allow you to change speed and incline quickly without fumbling for buttons. It’s also foldable, which makes it great for small exercise spaces, but still provides a very sturdy platform.

See More: The Best Advanced Treadmills for Runners

All-in-One Suspension Trainer Bundle

One of the most reliable ways to make any floor or standing workout more challenging is by adding some bodyweight exercises to the mix, like tricep dips, chest press, and rowing exercises. This suspension training kit lets you do just that, while requiring nothing more to set up than a doorway or high anchor point (like a tree) and a few feet of space.

“If I were to make a list of my top five pieces of equipment for effective home workouts, the TRX would be my first, second, and third choice,” says certified personal trainer Ramsey Bergeron.

Model D Indoor Rowing Machine

If you prefer to run outside and indoor cycling isn’t your thing, you can row your way to improved cardio on this machine. While rowing is a full-body exercise, it does require lots of work from the lower body to power each stroke.

This machine comes with time, distance, and interval workouts that you can easily select from its display screen. It tracks and stores your stats so you can monitor improvements over time and try to beat your past PRs. The air-resistance flywheel also has 10 different damper levels to make things easier or harder, depending on your fitness level.

More: How to Use a Rowing Machine, Plus 3 Workouts to Try

B37S Massage Gun

Even at home, it’s important to take care of your body pre- and post-workout to prevent injury. Ekrin Athletics’ B37S percussive therapy gun comes with six different locking massage heads to help you get at the deepest knots and reduce stiffness in your muscles. It features five massage settings, including a variable speed option that creates muscle confusion to help you avoid a workout plateau. Its reactive force sensor keeps you from pressing too hard at any given speed, making sure you don’t cross the line from recovery to beating yourself up. With 8 hours of battery life, it should last through many sessions on a single charge.

Puzzle Exercise Mat with EVA Foam Interlocking Tiles (6-Pack)

Whether your home gym has a hard-wood floor, cement, or tile, these lightweight, interlocking exercise mats will cushion it against weights and training gear. Each kit includes six padded panels with interlocking edges, allowing you to combine multiple sets to suit your floor space. It also makes it very easy to set them up and put them away.

You can choose from half-inch, three-quarter-inch, and 1-inch-thick options for different levels of padding to support lighter or heavier equipment. If your gym is in an apartment or on the second floor, these also dampen sound, so there’s less of a chance you’ll wake the neighbors beneath you whenever you drop a dumbbell.

VeloCore 16 IC Bike

An exercise bike is a great tool for runners to use to boost stamina through heart-pumping spin sessions. This model features a 16-inch touchscreen console that displays riding metrics, syncs with exercise platforms like Peloton and Zwift, or connects to streaming entertainment, including Netflix and Hulu. And, if you want more of a challenge, you can put the bike in lean mode, which requires you to maintain your balance while you ride.

Adjustable Weight Bench

A bench like this is a great tool for your home gym, providing a stable surface for performing weight-bearing exercises. With 2 inches of soft foam padding, the bench is comfortable yet firm, and its faux leather is easy to wipe clean. Its backrest can lay flat or quickly adjust to one of seven positions–five upright or two declining. It also features an adjustable seat and foot pads, which are useful for locking in your legs for sit-ups.

Exercise and Stability Ball

The balance ball is an important, versatile home exercise tool, whether you’re using one as a seat for a passive workout or enhancing exercises like push-ups, planks, and dumbbell curls. They’re great for building core strength and stability, which can help improve your posture on a run and on the couch. This TheraBand Exercise Ball is available in four sizes, from 45 cm to 75 cm.

3 Leg Recovery System

Give your legs the TLC they deserve by NormaTec’s latest compression boots into your recovery routine. Simply slide your gams in, zip them up, connect the tube to the control machine as well as the tube on the boot, set your intensity level and time, then sit back and let the gear do its thing. The boots will fill up with air to compress your legs and then release.

Using these boots can help reduce soreness, pain, and muscle fatigue, while increasing circulation and improving your range of motion so you’re able to maximize your performance.

55-Lb. Select-A-Weight Adjustable Dumbbells

Even if you don't have room for a full rack of dumbbells, this adjustable set will help you get in a great weight-bearing workout. They adjust in 2.5- and 5-pound increments from 10 to 55 pounds per dumbbell, offering 15 different weight options. It’s a great option for households with multiple people who want to lift and have different preferences, as well as for those who need different weights for different exercises.

The dumbbells are easy to adjust by pulling on the red tab and sliding them to the weight you want to lift. They also come with a storage base so you can keep all the parts tidy or safely stash them out of sight.

Rubber Encased Exercise & Fitness Hex Dumbbell

If you prefer single-weight dumbbells, then this set from Amazon Basics models are an affordable choice with a classic, sturdy design. Available in a range from 10 to 50 pounds, the cast-iron weights feature rubber-encased heads to prevent scraping on wood floors, and a hexagonal shape will keep them from rolling over your feet between sets.

10-Lb. Medicine Ball

Use a weighted medicine ball to boost the difficulty of push-ups, planks, and Russian twists. You can hold one during squats to add extra weight, or balance yourself on it while doing push-ups to activate your core. Of course, you can also throw the medicine ball: Chest presses or overhead throws are both great ways to build up chest and arm strength. This version from F2C comes in multiple weights, so you can always go back and buy something heavier if you want to push yourself.

14-Lb. Soft-Shell Medicine Ball

This 14-pound slam ball is popular in CrossFit gyms because of its surprisingly grippy soft outer shell. Use it for wall balls and squats to develop stamina, strength, speed, and power. Its vinyl exterior won’t mark up whatever floor, ceiling, or wall you throw it at (though you may choose to do it against a mat or outside). If 14 pounds sounds like too heavy or too light, Dynamax makes versions in weights from 4 to 30 pounds.

Sandbell

Use this sandbag to add weight to your back for planks or push-ups, on your shoulders when you squat, or hold it to make running or walking stairs more challenging. Its neoprene outer layer makes it play nice with wood floors, and you can use it to increase grip strength or like a dumbbell, medicine ball, slam ball, or kettlebell. It comes in a range of sizes from 2 to 50 pounds, so you can increase resistance as you build strength.

Omnium Portable Trainer with Tote Bag

If you already own a bike for cross-training, you’ll love having a bike trainer setup at home for low-impact cardio days. It uses progressive magnetic resistance and allows you to pedal along with your favorite cycling fitness app, ride to music, or while watching TV. Best of all, there’s no real setup required, either—just open, unfold, mount your forks on the front skewer, and get pedaling.

Rubber-Coated Kettlebells

Ideal for dynamic exercises like the Turkish get-up, swings, and lunges, kettlebells can be great, multi-functional additions to your home gym. This cast-iron kettlebell from Rogue is durable enough to last a lifetime. Its thick, urethane coating protects floors and walls from the scratches, chips, and other wear typically associated with using a flat-bottomed model. The handle is textured and seamless for a comfortable grip through long chipper workouts, and this model is available in 26-, 35-, 44-, 53-, and 70-pound increments.

Fitness SmartConnect Portable Cable Home Gym

The Maxpro Fitness SmartConnect is a cable-based, full-body training system that can deliver up to 300 pounds of resistance in a portable, 9-pound package. It also connects with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth to track your progress and provide feedback to help you grow your gains.

The SmartConnect impressed us when we first saw it at CES 2020, where it earned an Editors’ Choice Award. If you need to get a full-body workout in a small space, or even want a portable “home-away-from-home” gym, this is the answer.

Andora 2-Person Low EMF Far Infrared Sauna

After hard workouts, taking a break in an infrared sauna will provide much-needed relief. If you have the space—and the cash—this two-person sauna can make your home gym feel like a luxury fitness studio.

Made with reforested wood, it looks good as it helps you decompress while relieving tension and soreness. This one reaches a maximum temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and you can put it together in about 45 minutes.

Q+A

RW: What’s the most important piece of gym equipment to have at home?

CM: The best home gym equipment is whatever gear you’ll actually use. The goal is to fill your needs, so you don’t need to cater to someone else’s idea of what should be in your home gym. If you buy a treadmill because you think you should have one but loathe running indoors, it will probably become a very expensive towel rack after a few weeks.

RW: Why should runners invest in home gym equipment?

CM: If you’re serious about getting faster and stronger, having gym equipment at home can make it much easier to create a balanced exercise routine. That includes equipment that can help you stretch before a workout and recover after.

RW: Do I need to have every type of equipment in a home gym?

CM: No. Some equipment, like a suspension trainer or a weight bench, allows you to perform hundreds of challenging exercises that can help build strength in every muscle group. These tools will help you work your chest, legs, arms, abs, and everything else.

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