Workout Equipment You Love vs. Never Use

[dsmith5154]

@hebahesh I love solid coated dumbbells and kettlebells .

 

[christinme11]

@hebahesh I love my number plates with handles that you could hold. So I also use them as dumbbells/kettlebells. Doesn’t work perfectly but still perfectly okay in a pinch when I have to workout at home. Saves me money and space for a bunch of dumbbells.

 

[mfuller]

@hebahesh Love and most used:

• Power rack with pull-up bar. We use this every workout, and it's awesome.
• Bumper plates, bar, etc.
• Adjustable dumbbells. Really convenient for our small home gym.
• Kettlebell.
• Adjustable bench. It's mediocre for most things, but I'd rather have one thing that's mediocre for a bunch of things than having a bunch of things that are great for single purposes.
• Not really equipment, but rubber flooring! This has been the best investment I've made for the space, and it is awesome. Easier of the feet, and keeps your feet from slipping if you're doing planks and stuff.

Lesser used things:

• Pulley system. It's just so cumbersome, and it's really tricky to get the length right. Also found that have two pulleys would be superior, so now I'm having to reconstruct the whole system around a two pulley solution. It would've been cheaper/easier to just buy everything separately and get exactly what I needed/wanted.
• Long resistance bands. I never use them. I don't like them. I don't find them useful. Not my thing.

 

[jesusstrong]

@hebahesh Love: ab wheel, pull up bar, rack and barbell

Never use: resistance bands, adjustable dumbbells

 

[hope7777]

@hebahesh Love: Pull up / dip station, Gymnastics rings, Barbell, Dumbbells, Cork yoga mat, Parallettes, Foam roller.

Never use: Resistance bands, Ab wheel, Skipping rope, Lifting gloves.

Skipping rope is fantastic but it takes everything out of your calves, and I need these for other things, so this got dropped pretty quickly. Heard mixed experiences with ab wheel, but for me it is too damn hard! Might come back to it in the future.

I'm with some of the others that I've seen comment on this thread with resistance bands - great until the first injury, then never again. Saw some crazy stat about correlation between gyms closing and emergency room admissions due to resistance band related injuries from home workouts.

 

[handler]

@hebahesh I bought a rowing machine because I like to paddle IRL. The rowing machine sucked. Gave it away for free to get it out of my house.

 

[rsdar]

@hebahesh love: Pullup bar. PULLUP BAR did I mention the pullup bar?

gymnastic rings, gravel bags (homemade), water filled jugs (my homemade "kettlebells"), 2 year old child (when she visits, never often enough!)

frisbee. requires a partner, so not much use this year because I live alone, but as soon as I get shots and allowed out in public I will use it a lot!

not using much: swimsuit, weight plates (no bar, just got the plates to lift with my hands)

want: slam ball, bicycle

 

[dawn16]

@rsdar I have a pull up bar. Used it once and it has been in my closet ever since... I am too scared to try doing it with the resistance band so i’d rather just do assisted pull ups with the machine at the gym

 

[rsdar]

@dawn16 If you put it up and leave it up and practice hanging from it regularly, your pullups will progress a lot faster. I couldn't do pullups till I got the bar and played with it for months. Negatives and "active hangs" are the way to get started.

 

[alwaysalways]

@rsdar also want: slam ball. It's so much fun, really works your body, and sometimes it just feels really great to smash something on the floor.

 

[rsdar]

@alwaysalways I'd have to take it outside, I live in an apartment and my neighbors would get concerned if they heard a lot of loud crashes. But yeah, RAWR SMASH

 

[hope7777]

@rsdar +1 for the pullup bar gymnastics rings combo. Completely changed the game for my home setup

 

[rsdar]

@hope7777 I fell for the r/bodyweightfitness hype, but they were right!

 

[sabro]

@hebahesh Love: Barbell, dumbbells and weight plates, bench, squat rack and suspension trainer straps that you put in a door.

Don't use: stationery bike, because it's a bit short it's mostly useful for watching TV, not for exercise. Skipping rope: ceiling isn't high enough.

 

[aladinjafar]

@hebahesh Besides the rack, plates and bar these items get a special shout out:

• pulley system: I can do so many cable exercises. So far I've used them to do: lat pulldowns, seated cable rows, lat raises, leg curls, belt squats, assisted pullups, face pulls, tricep pushdowns.
• bluetooth speaker: need the jams!
• platform: I started out with squishy foam mats and it was terrible. Then I built a platform from plywood and thick mats and I can never go back.
• Fractional plates: I can't make 5lb jumps in OHP and bench. These plates allow me to increase the weight by .5lbs each time.
• Mini deadlift jack: makes changing bumpers so much easier

Rarely use:

• landmine. I want to use it more but my current program doesn't have any landmine specific work.
• wide grip lat pulldown handle: it's way too wide for my short arms
• Curl bar: got this for my SO but I don't use it.

 

[dawn16]

@aladinjafar We just bought a pulley!!

 

[patrick226]

@aladinjafar My program doesn't have landmine specific lifts but I ended up switching out RDL for Landmine DL. I know I'm a real rebel switching out a lift like that.

 

[nikochiko]

@aladinjafar Get a shorter lat pull down bar! My fiancé and I have two in our home gym because we bought one (32” and it was too short for him but great for me, bought a 38” which is great for him but too big for me so we have both haha)

Love our pulley machine too! And we have stall mats on the ground also started with squishy foam ones and they suck so so happy with our horse stall mats haha