Photograph: Getty Images
Who among us hasn’t bought a piece of exercise kit only for it to gather dust in a corner, or start a new life as a clothing rack? That’s because, if trainer Dalton Wong is to be believed, we’ve been buying the wrong stuff.
“Only buy equipment that you’re going to use as part of your lifestyle,” says Wong, who trains everyone from award-winning actors to elite athletes. “We should do most of our cardiovascular training outside because we spend so much time inside. At home, work on strength, flexibility and mobility.”
Ty Paul, who gets Olympic athletes and Premier League footballers in peak condition, as well as running fitness classes for the over-60s, says that when it comes to home equipment, we should “buy something versatile that can be used for multiple fitness goals – and generations”. Here’s what the experts recommend you invest in, whatever your fitness level.
Best for basic home workouts
“At home, you need three things: a form of resistance (weights, resistance bands or gliders); something restorative (a yoga mat); and something regenerative (a tennis ball, a foam roller or, if you have lots of money, a massage gun),” says Wong.
Weighted vest
“To burn extra calories, wear it throughout the day,” says Wong. “If you have a lighter vest, use it for low-intensity cardio, such as your bike ride or dog walk, to increase the demand on your body. Lastly, wear it to do resistance training. If you have a 5kg vest, with 2kg dumbbells in each hand, that’s 9kg of work you’re doing from squatting, lunging or push-ups.”
Buy: Hyper Vest weighted vest, from £67
Tennis ball
“A lot of people get problems such as plantar fasciitis, sore feet and sore calves. Rolling a tennis ball under your foot is a great way to release that tissue. I also use it to roll my glutes out, so I sit on my bum, put my right ankle on my knee, put the tennis ball under the left side of my glutes and roll them out to break any knots. Lastly, with your back against the wall, put the tennis ball where your scapular – or shoulder blade – is and roll up and down. That releases the muscles between your shoulder blades through the middle part of your back.”
Buy: Tennis-Point Premium 3 ball tube, £3.90
AVOID: Muscle-stimulating machines
“You cannot put on an ab-stimulating machine while eating Doritos and watching Love Island, and expect to look like the contestants on Love Island,” says Wong. “There is science behind the medical-grade versions, but six sessions at a private clinic will cost you in the region of £3,000. People who use those machines – such as Rafael Nadal – are already in great shape.”
Best for the menopause
“You need to make sure you’re performing exercises correctly, so if you’re following online videos, look for people who are renowned for their fitness knowledge,” says Michelle Griffith Robinson, a former Olympic triple-jumper, who’s now a trainer and specialist in fitness for perimenopausal and menopausal women. “Check their qualifications, and look at how long they’ve been in the business.”
Perimenopausal and menopausal women need to focus on building muscle. “Strength-train first using your bodyweight by doing press-ups against the wall, squats, step-ups on your staircase, single leg lunges. Once you can do that, add weights.” Also tune in to your body. “During this transition, energy levels are depleted. Get into the fresh air to exercise two or three times a week and the endorphins will help. But sometimes, with the greatest will in the world, exercise is a tall order, so be kind to yourself.”
Set of stackable weights
“Weight training helps prevent osteoporosis and makes us feel stronger so we can do our daily activities: gardening, cleaning, bending, lifting,” says Griffith Robinson. “With weights, start off with your own bodyweight, then add on weights to do some squats and presses, assisted lunges, and compound movements like a shoulder press into a deep squat and back into a shoulder press.”
Buy: Neoprene dumbbell hand weights, £64.99
Skipping rope
“They can travel with you anywhere. Ten minutes a day will improve your fitness significantly and is great way to control your pelvic floor. This is a good replacement for running when it’s terrible weather.”
Buy: Opti 9ft skipping rope, £7
AVOID: Abdominal rollers
“Strengthen your core naturally,” says Griffith Robinson. “Double up your skipping rope and hold it out in front of you, nice and taut, and go into a squat position. That will work your core, rather than an ab roller, which is going to shorten your muscles and your hip flexors. Planks on your elbows or hands are fantastic too. Imagine someone has a ruler across your back so you cannot dip. Hold that for 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off; or build up from 15 seconds to 20, 25, then 30.”
Best for older exercisers
When it comes to older clients, Ty Paul is clear: “They are a lot fitter than people think.” He suggests working on range of movement and flexibility “because we stiffen up as we age”. Strength training is also crucial “for bone density, but you don’t need to go heavy – my over-60s group use a resistance band, and some people use two tins of baked beans”. Ensure your workout is suitable for you and is age-appropriate. “But also find something you enjoy, so you’re more likely to sustain it,” says Paul.
BlazePods
Beloved by professional athletes across sports including tennis, basketball and football, this is a “flash reflex training” system, where you use your hands, knees or feet to tap pods that light up in a variety of colours, for drills and games.
“I use them with Premier League footballers to improve reaction times, decision making, agility and core stability,” says Paul. “I also use them with over-60s; it helps with coordination. If you’re improving that, you’re preventing falls.” The pods link to an app, so you can track progress. “A lady I train has Parkinson’s, and her doctor said there was no point exercising as it was better to stick with medication. We gave BlazePods a go, and after a year, she’s fitter and stronger than ever.”
Buy: Starter kit, £349
NOHRD SwingBells
“These are like kettlebells, but more luxurious, says Paul. “They consist of a wooden handle and a leather bag filled with iron pellets, and they’re beautiful to look at. You can use them for cardiovascular fitness, muscle toning and core stability, as well as all dumbbell and kettlebell exercises . They help range of movement and coordination; you can isolate parts of your body, and do all-round body fitness. SwingBells aren’t cheap, but they stand the test of time.”
Buy: SwingBells Set Club, £98
AVOID: Medicine balls
“A medicine ball – a weighted ball – provides you with a limited number of options as it’s mainly used to perform one exercise: Russian twists, whereas SwingBells, kettlebells or dumbbells have multiple uses. I have a vintage leather medicine ball in my gym, but it’s an ornament. I’ve been in that gym for 18 years and I’ve never once taken it off the shelf,” says Paul.
Best for targeted improvement
When working out at home, says Kerri Major – a Glasgow-based personal trainer and sports dietitian – it’s important to enjoy what you’re doing, but also make progress. “A lot of people come into a gym and randomly pick what they like doing, but random training is only going to give you random results.”
Kettlebells
“You can buy different weights of kettlebell, allowing you to progress from a strength point of view. They’re useful for functional training too, because they allow us to use our own body to support our balance.” In terms of moves, says Major, “you can do goblet squats with one kettlebell or, if you have two, front squats with one in each arm. You can also do Romanian deadlifts or conventional deadlifts from the floor. For lunges, hold them in different positions to challenge you in different ways. For the upper body, you can do overhead presses, rows, presses from your chest, and biceps and triceps options, where you can load in different ways.”
Buy: Primal Pro Series Cast Kettlebell, £19,99
Pull-up bar
“A lot of people struggle to do vertical pulls at home,” says Major. “Pull-ups aren’t all about bragging rights: you can do different variations depending on how you have your hands, which helps us to target lots of different muscle groups. Often, people think it’s just squats and deadlifts that matter, but your upper body is so important in everyday life, for everything from reaching up to carrying heavy shopping.”
Buy: Universal door pull-up bar, £39.95
AVOID: Vibrating weights
“Power plates came first and were marketed as a way to tone up and lose weight, because you need to use your core strength to make sure you’re not wobbling. Then came vibrating hand weights, but there are more far more useful ways to train.”
Best for during and after pregnancy
“The safest way to alleviate pregnancy symptoms is with exercise,” says Kira Mahal, personal trainer and founder of Motivate PT, who specialises in pregnancy and postpartum fitness. “In your first trimester, movement will help with sickness; in your second, your energy levels peak so you can increase strength training; then in the third, up the ante by strengthening your pelvic floor.”
Mahal points out some important rules for pregnancy fitness. “Don’t get too out of breath, because that can restrict airflow to the foetus,” she says. “Don’t do deep abdominal twists; and don’t lie on your back, because that will restrict blood flow. Avoid overstretching, because pregnancy makes us more flexible as we have relaxin in our bodies [a hormone produced by the ovaries and placenta]. And finally, pregnancy is absolutely not a time for rapid weight loss.”
Postpartum, wait six weeks after a vaginal birth, or 12 weeks after a c-section, to exercise. “Then it’s all recovery work. The idea of ‘snapping back’ is nonsense; our bodies change forever, and that needs to be embraced. But I’m in the strongest physical shape of my life after two kids.”
Resistance bands
“These are the holy grail for anyone, and a gentle way to build strength,” says Mahal. “You can incorporate a resistance band into almost any exercise: put it above your knees for a banded squat, do reps in and out with your knees pulsing, or do biceps curls holding the handles and curl upwards with one end around your foot.”
Buy: Mini resistance-band set (pictured), £7.95
Set of five resistance bands, £12.50
Swiss ball
Also known as a stability ball, yoga ball or balance ball, a Swiss ball is like a space hopper but without the horns. It is used for core stability and strength exercises. “Sitting on it you find your centre of balance, which you lose when you’re pregnant,” says Mahal. “It’s a nice way to incorporate stability exercises, balance exercises and pelvic tilts. It helps to rock back and forth on it at the end of your third trimester when you can be very uncomfortable. You can also use it to assist exercises, so for a wall squat, put the ball underneath you for some added safety.”
Buy: Exercise ball, £15
AVOID: Anything high-impact
“We don’t want pregnant women skipping, sprinting on a treadmill, or jumping on a trampoline. Also avoid online Hiit classes. Women come to us injured all the time because they shouldn’t be doing certain exercises. Postpartum, women are doing abdominal crunches at six weeks, when they might have abdominal separation, and crunches will make that worse.”
Best for people with disabilities
“I tend to see a fear of exercise with my clients, because in the past they have had trips and falls, which result in injuries,” says Dom Thorpe, who provides personal training for people with disabilities and chronic conditions. “I see people with fatigue-based conditions who have gone too hard too fast. Managing intensity is important, but so is ensuring that exercises are performed safely, with fallback plans. If you have bad balance, for example, do things seated or where you have your sofa behind you, so if you fall, you fall safely.”
Adjustable dumbbells
“These look like one massive dumbbell, but they have a little dial that you twist to select the weight you want, so when you pick that up the rest are left on the floor. You can have something that ranges from 2.5kg to 25kg in one set of dumbbells rather than having an entire rack, so it’s a space saver, too.” Moves-wise, says Thorpe: “You can squat or do a sit-to-stand for the lower body, with the dumbbells dangling in your hands beside you. For the upper body, push forwards in your seat to work your chest and triceps. Pull backwards to target the upper back and the biceps, and push upwards, directly above your head.”
Buy: BodyMax 25kg Selectabell adjustable dumbbell, £189
Active Hands
“When people attempt to lift a heavy weight, it’s not necessarily their arm strength that gives up on them, it’s their grip strength. With active hands, a Velcro strap holds the dumbbells in place and fastens it, limiting the risk of injuries. The only downside is you usually need someone else to fasten them.”
Buy: Active Hands general purpose gripping aid, £73.42
AVOID: Vibration platforms
“My university led the research into these, and I participated. Scientists had me stand on a vibrating platform in a squatted position, with electrodes attached to my muscles, and measured whether it was more stimulating than me just standing in a squatted position. It was, but it was no more stimulating than me holding some weights and doing squats. Similarly, doing press-ups on the vibrating platform is more challenging than a standard press-up, but not more challenging than doing a bench press, or a dumbbell press.”
