BUILD A HOME GYM
Excuse-proof your workouts with our edit of the very best kit on sale right now
Your local sweat box may have reopened, but with remote working showing endless stamina, an effective home set-up is both future- and excuse-proof. From the oldschool to the hi-tech, and the economical to the aspirational, this is the kit that will support you in your pursuit of home-grown fitness
01 Best Bodyweight Workout Upgrade
Adidas Door Gym
Though press-ups and planks are effective, we won’t blame you if you feel they’ve become somewhat uninspiring over the past year. Take your bodyweight training up a level with a pull-up bar. Suitable for most frames, the Door Gym has padded grips for comfort to spare your forearms, with three handle variations so you can switch up your focus. It also extends a little further from the door than most bars, allowing for a greater range of motion. Plus, it can be used on the floor to pump up your press-ups.
£24 amazon.co.uk
02 Best Barbell for Every-Level Athletes
Eleiko XF 20kg Bar
One for anyone who wants to perfect their push-jerk technique in the garden.
“By choosing a good barbell, you’re not just improving your performance but avoiding injuries to the wrists and shoulders,” says Vaz Tostes, who favours Eleiko for its quality of build. Its competition-grade bars are pricier, but the training bars “are affordable, yet still better than most of their competitors”. You can’t get a tan in the gym, anyway. £576 shop. eleiko.com
03 Best Weighted Vest
5.11 TacTec Plate Carrier
The simplest way to turn basic bodyweight sessions into serious muscle-builders. Not only will this vest look cool when you’re running laps of the park, but it’ll supercharge your results, too. “This is the same design as the vests used by elite special forces to keep them alive in extreme situations,” says Britton. “By replacing the Kevlar for weight plates, you can add resistance to any workout.” £166 tactree.co.uk
04 Best Kettlebell
Wolverson Fitness Competition
This kettlebell outmuscled its competitors in our tests. Cast from a single piece of metal, it has a smooth handle, sits comfortably in the rack position and doesn’t rattle around during cleans and snatches. Not sure which weight is right for you? Start with a 14kg or 16kg bell to strike the right balance between strength and cardio. £40 wolverson-fitness.co.uk
05 Best Weight Plates
Eleiko Sport Training Plates Budget plates are a false economy, says Vaz Tostes: “They’ll break within half the time that good ones do.” These plates from Eleiko are durable and “a kind of hybrid” between costly competition plates and bouncy bumper plates, which minimise noise when dropped but are bulky to store.
£1,722 for 150kg set shop.eleiko. com
06 Smartest Workout Accessory
Kettle Gryp
Dumbbells are solid musclebuilders, but kettlebells are king when it comes to explosive training and hiking up your heart rate. This attaches onto most dumbbell handles, letting you use them for moves such as swings and snatches, or more grip-friendly loaded carries. In other words, it will double your training arsenal at the click of a catch.
£35 amazon.co.uk
07 Smartest Recovery Tool
Hypervolt+ with Bluetooth
Massage guns shot up in popularity during the first lockdown, which probably had more to do with our un-ergonomic desk set-ups than our strength training. Invest in the best: this model is quiet yet deadly effective, with three speed settings and five heads. It’s also Bluetooth-connected, so you can follow guided routines that are tailored to your recovery or to ease DOMS. “It’s a professional therapist in a box,” says Britton. £400 wit-fitness.com
08 Best Portable Pump
Sundried Wooden Gymnastic Rings
“Where a lot of bodyweight plans can fall short is a lack of balance between pushing and pulling movements,” says Tracey. Rings redress this. This set can be secured to any beam, bar or branch. £31 sundried.com
09 Best All-Around Cardio
AssaultBike Pro
The piece of equipment that our panel members love to hate. “Ask anyone who has used one – they’ll say the same thing,” says Britton. “The air bike is the perfect machine. Athletes from the NFL to the UFC rely on it to increase their cardio base and melt calories.” Abdalla commends this model for its efficient use of space and the ease with which it can be moved. It has Bluetooth to track workouts and seven customisable training options.
£900 wolversonfitness.co.uk
10 Best Individual Dumbbell
Blk Box Hex Dumbbells
The number one pick on Abdalla’s list is this pair of hexagonal dumbbells. Britton concurs: “The hex shape is perfect for functional fitness workouts, and the dumbbells can be dropped safely without them rolling away.” These have floorprotecting rubber heads. £100 for 15kg blkboxfitness.com
11 Best Workout Mat
Liforme
It’s often said that there’s no “good” or “bad” when it comes to yoga practice. Unless, that is, you’re choosing a mat. “Liforme mats are hands down the best,” says Boys of Yoga founder Wong. “They’re eco-friendly and great for both new and dedicated practitioners.” They stay grippy when you get sweaty – whether downwarddogging or repping burpees – and the smart pattern helps you maintain proper alignment while posing. £100 liforme.com
12 Best Parallettes
Gravity Fitness Medium
Pro Parallettes 3.0
Whether you want to upgrade your press-ups and dips or practise your L-sits and planches, a set of parallettes will strengthen your upper-body and core workouts. This set from Gravity Fitness is sturdy with non-slip rubber feet and comfortable, grippy handles. The responsibility for any handstand-related mishaps rests firmly on your shoulders. Sorry about that. £60 gravityfitness.co.uk
13 Best Power Builder
Bulldog Gear Slam Ball
If you’re a dedicated, threesets-of-12-reps kind of guy, it’s worth having the tools to mix things up. “Barbell and dumbbell movements are limited by the fact that you have to slow the bar before the end of each rep,” explains Tracey. “Slam balls that you can let go of will let you circumvent this.” Bulldog’s have a textured surface for grip and are sized up to 30kg. £40 for 9kg bulldoggear.com
14 Best Treadmill
Assault Runner Pro
When running outdoors in the rain is too much to ask, this is the next best thing. It relies on your foot power to run. It’s also very light, so you can drag it easily from living room to garage. Its built-in HIIT programmes will ensure that your sprint intervals always hit the mark. £3,000 wolverson-fitness.co.uk
15 Best Adjustable Dumbbell
Nuo Flexbell 2-32kg
A weights rack might work in your garage; less so if your gym is your living room. This compact set can be adjusted in 2kg increments at the twist of a handle, all the way up to a biceps-popping 32kg. Switching weights is easy. They ranked right at the top with Men’s Health’s product testing team. Strong stuff. £615 gymkituk.com
16 Most Versatile Weights Bar
Bowflex SelectTech 2080 Not sure what kind of weights you want? This adjustable barbell-and-curl-bar combo ranges from 9kg to 36kg with the flip of a dial and is suitable for everything from triceps extensions and curls to front squats and overhead presses. It’s space-efficient for what it offers, too. Plus, Bowflex’s video library can help you sharpen your form. The gym will feel like a distant memory.
£600 bowflex.com
17 Most CostEffective Lifting Tool
Bulldog Gear
Medium Sandbag
“Pound for pound, sand is the most economical way to upscale your weights collection,” says Tracey. “It’s more than 20 times cheaper than iron.” Invest some of your savings in a quality bag and you can add weight as you get stronger. (This one holds 37.5kg; larger bags accommodate 72.5kg.) Use it for presses, cleans, rows, front squats or pretty much anything you’d use a barbell for.
£55 bulldoggear.com
18 Most Versatile Training Gadget
Hyfit Gear 1
These next-gen resistance bands have sensors built into the cuffs to track your reps, rest and the “weight” you’re moving, so you know exactly which muscles you’re working – and how hard. Its accompanying app also provides guided workouts, so you can find a routine that will deliver the results you want.
Anchor it to a door, your ankles or any object that can support your bodyweight. £200 hyfitgear.com
19 Best Indoor Rower
Concept 2 Model D All of our panellists agreed that the Concept 2 is in a stream of its own – though there was some debate over the merits of the Model D and the pricier E. The PM5 monitor offers a variety of workouts and stores data on pace, wattage, calorie burn and stroke rate, while a quick-release mechanism breaks it down to store. £860 concept2.co.uk
20 Best Bench for Your Living Room
Escape Deck 2.0
If you’re ready to take your dumbbell sessions to the next level, invest in a bench. The Escape Deck 2.0 fits comfortably in a corner – and it can double as living-room seating, once guests are permitted. It provides three bench-press angles, helping you hone in on the specific muscles that you want to target. It can also be used as a step for practising pistol squats or box jumping between episodes of Loki.
£133 escapefitness.com
21 Best Skipping Rope
RPM Training 4.0
Speed Rope
For an on-the-spot cardio workout, few activities beat skipping, which hones agility and coordination. “RPM is the best brand that I’ve worked with,” says Vaz Tostes, who rates this rope for its ease of use and performance. It’s suitable whether you’re starting out on singles or mastering the legendary double-under. £60 wit-fitness.com
22 Best WallMounted Rack
Blk Box Binary Foldaway Rack If you’re not able to sacrifice floor space to a lifting station (or have had the idea vetoed by your partner), a foldaway rack is a happy compromise. This can carry up to 300kg and has a built-in pull-up bar, while attachments such as dip bars and landmine mounts can be bought separately. When collapsed, this sits at an unobtrusive 6.5cm from the wall.
£480 blkboxfitness.com
23 Best Big Buy
Peloton Bike+ Works Don’t view it as a one-off product purchase – instead, compare its value to that of your gym membership. Along with the bike and shoes, you’ll get a workout mat, resistance bands and access to fitness classes. “Peloton’s bike is top quality, and its online content is great,” says Wong. “It also offers yoga, meditation and other modalities.” £59/month for 39 months onepeloton.co.uk
24 Best Resistance Bands
Mirafit Resistance Bands Studies show that banded press-ups can be just as effective as that classic pec-honer, the bench press. Mirafit’s affordable options come in a range of lengths, widths and thicknesses. There’s no more economical way to upgrade a workout. From £9 mirafit.co.uk
25 Best Workout Timer
Tiny Timer
“Superior by a big margin,” says Tracey. This pocketsized timer has a magnetic mount for gym rigs (or your radiator), as well as a tripod for non-magnetic environments. Remotecontrolled, it has three hours’ battery life. You can focus on your EMOMs and AMRAPs without having to stare at a phone that keeps reverting to lock screen. £86 tinytimer.com
26 Best Shoes for Lifting
Nike Romaleos 4 Training Shoe Heaving weights requires something sturdier than thinsoled running shoes. These Nikes offer stability with a flat outsole and secure straps, yet are light enough for circuit training. Vaz Tostes and Tracey are fans of the shoe’s support and flexibility. “People are not just wearing lifting shoes for heavy lifts, but to work out in general,” says Vaz Tostes. £170 wit-fitness.com
27 Best Park-Friendly Speaker
Tribit Stormbox Micro
At just 290g, this diminutive Bluetooth speaker can be stashed in a deep coat pocket, or strapped to the handles of your rucksack.
Its sound is surprisingly rich for such a small device, with weighty bass. The Stormbox Micro is USB-chargeable, with an eight-hour battery life, so it’ll still be going strong if you want to unwind after a week of training. It’s also waterproof and dust-proof, for both dry earth and, let’s be honest, damp grass.
£36 amazon.co.uk
28 Best Virtual Support Team
Whoop Strap 3.0
Many devices allow you to count your steps and log your sleep. But for the committed athlete, the Whoop strap digs deeper. By collecting data on factors such as your heart rate and respiratory rate, it scores your daily “strain”. It will then assess whether you’re in beast mode or least mode, while nudging you towards smarter sleep and recovery habits. £288 per year join.whoop.com