Fitness
Best cheap gym equipment for home: Additions that are low in cost but high in gains
Want to lift weights at home? Dying to clock up some steps in between video calls? Or do you want to add some extra tension to bodyweight workouts once you’ve put the kids to bed?
If you’ve decided you want convenience, comfort and cost-effectiveness from your workouts then it’s worth taking a look at the best cheap gym equipment money can buy.
Whether you’re looking to grow muscle, get stronger, boost your cardio fitness or all of the above, the best at-home gym equipment can help you get there — and better yet, there’s no costly membership or constrictive timetables necessary.
What’s the most useful piece of gym equipment and why?
This will be dependent on you, your space and your workout goals. For example, there’s no point in buying a treadmill if you prefer running outside. The same goes for buying a skipping rope if you don’t intend on skipping. However, if you are looking for a place to start, personal trainer Sarah Campus, the founder of LDN MUMS FITNESS, says she couldn’t live without her dumbbells.
“Exercising with dumbbells offers a wide range of benefits that can help you achieve your fitness goals and create a healthy and active lifestyle,” the expert says. “Dumbbells are versatile and can be used to target a wide range of muscle groups. By challenging your muscles, you can increase your strength and improve your overall fitness level. Whether you’re looking to tone your arms, build strength in your legs, or work on your core, dumbbells can help you achieve your fitness goals,” Campus adds.
What should you factor in when buying at-home gym equipment?
Along with your budget and health goals, you’ll also need to take your space into consideration. “The space that you’re going to be working out in is important, because you may not have enough room to do certain exercises or set up certain equipment,” Chloe Thomas, the PT, nutrition & mindset coach behind Chloe Inspires, explains.
“Also, if you’re living in an apartment or flat, you may not be able to do certain exercises because of the noise depending on what time of day you work out,” the PT adds.
“Your budget is also important, because you may not be able to do certain exercises if the equipment is out of your budget. However, I would recommend looking at charity shops or secondhand websites online for people selling equipment in your local area.”
To help you discover the best cheap gym equipment available right now, we’ve tested out a range of options — from weights and resistance bands to foam rollers and exercise machines — and whittled it down to the top-rated additions below. Plus, with prices starting from £4 and going up to £160, there’s something for all.
Best cheap gym equipment at a glance:
- Best barbell: Weight Training Bar – £29.99, Decathlon
- Best resistance bands: USA Pro Woven Resistance Band Trio – £7, Sports Direct
- Best Pilates and yoga mat: JLL Yoga/Pilates Mat Extra Thick – £17.99, Amazon
- Best weights bench: Tiltable Weights Bench with Collapsible Pegs – £109, Decathlon
- Best TRX: TRX – £134.99, Argos
- Best kettlebell: Metis Neoprene 10kg kettlebell – £26.99, Amazon
- Best dumbbells: Dumbbells Set Heavy Weights Hex, £22.99, Amazon
- Best skipping rope: Muza Skipping Rope Adult – £3.69, Amazon
- Best treadmill: Space Saving Motorised Treadmill – £159.99, Home Fitness Code
- Best foam roller: Core Balance Foam Roller – £11.89, Amazon
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Finding time to work out as a mom with young kids can be a challenge in itself, especially when you’re new to an area and don’t know where to start. However, a new fitness option strolled into Sioux Falls today. iStroll offers moms the chance to work out and meet other moms all while their kids can play or even join alongside them.
iStroll is a national organization that has more than 35 locations in the country but this is the first time one opened in South Dakota. It’s a full body workout that incorporates dumbbells, body weight, and jogging strollers when the weather’s nice.
“I found iStroll in Oklahoma and fell in love,” said Kelsi Supek who started the affiliate in Sioux Falls. “We made friends. It became our entire social network. The kids loved it and then we moved to Arizona during COVID. And all the moms were stuck at home. They were inside with our kids and lonely, honestly. And we were like, why can’t we start an iStroll and be out at the parks with the kids every day? And it took off.”
When Supek moved to Sioux Falls, she was encouraged by her family to start an affiliate and own it herself.
“Gym daycares did not work out for my children,” said Supek. “I would get 10 minutes into a class and then I’d have that person trying to knock outside the yoga studio going, Can I have Kelsey and her kids screaming in daycare? And it just didn’t work for us. So at iStroll they could be with me or I could be breastfeeding the baby as I was teaching in class.”
Classes are planned to continue each Wednesday and Friday at We Rock the Spectrum and First Presbyterian Church. For a full schedule for January and February, you can look at their Facebook. The first class is also free and memberships are for the whole family.
“Letting the kids see you work out is, it’s similar to homeschooling where like, you know, how are they going to love working out if they don’t see you working out,” said Kelly Jardeleza, a stay-at-home mom of three kids. “Whereas at other gyms they put them in a room and they don’t get to watch you. And how are you going to inspire them if they’re not watching you do it?”
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
There’s no bad time to take a more active interest in your health, but the new year, for lots of us, feels like a fresh start. Maybe you’re planning to sign up for a 10k or finally have a go at bouldering, eat a bit better or learn to swing a kettlebell. Maybe you want to keep up with your grandkids — or just be a little bit more physically prepared for whatever life throws at you.
To help things along, Guardian Live invites you to a special event with public health expert Devi Sridhar, journalist and author Mariella Frostrup, and health and fitness columnist Joel Snape. They’ll be joining the Guardian’s Today in Focus presenter Annie Kelly to discuss simple, actionable ways to stay fit and healthy as you move through the second half of life: whether that means staying strong and mobile or stressing less and sleeping better.
To make the whole event as helpful as possible, we’d love to hear from you about what you find most challenging — or confusing — when it comes to health and exercise. What should you actually be eating, and how are you going to find the time to make it? What sort of exercise is best, and how often should you be doing it? Is Pilates worth the effort — and should we really all be drinking mugfuls of piping hot creatine?
Whether your question is about exercise, eating, or general wellness, post it below and we’ll put a selection to our panel on the night.
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Jan 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that it will limit regulation of wearable devices and software designed to support healthy lifestyles, issuing new guidance to clarify its regulatory approach.
The guidance, along with comments from FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, adds to existing policy that classifies low-risk wellness tools, such as fitness apps and activity trackers that encourage exercise, as non-medical devices exempt from stringent regulation, provided they do not make claims related to disease diagnosis or treatment.
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“We have to promote these products and at the same time, just guard against major safety concerns,” Makary said in an interview with Fox Business about artificial intelligence software such as ChatGPT, adding that “if people are looking up a symptom on an AI-based tool, let’s have that conversation when they come in to see their doctor or do a virtual visit.”
“We want to let companies know, with very clear guidance, that if their device or software is simply providing information, they can do that without FDA regulation,” Makary told Fox Business.
“The only stipulation is if they make claims of something being medical grade … like blood pressure measurement. We don’t want people changing their medicines based on something that’s just a screening tool or an estimate of a physiologic parameter.”
The agency also sent out a broader warning to consumers about the risks posed by unauthorized devices.
Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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