The Most Budget Friendly At Home Gym Set-Up
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What if I told you that you could transform your fitness journey without ever stepping foot in a gym again?
In this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I am giving the ultimate guide to building an effective and budget-friendly home gym. Drawing from my own experience of transitioning to dumbbell-only workouts at home, I share the incredible benefits of having your own dedicated workout space—from saving time and money to exercising whenever your schedule allows. You’ll get practical tips on selecting the ideal spot in your home, considering factors like space availability, ceiling height, and flooring type to maximize your workout experience and more!
I also discuss:
(00:21) Workout at Home Tips and Tricks
(03:10) Creating Your Home Gym Space
(14:32) Portable Resistance Bands for Versatile Workouts
(18:09) Essential Home Gym Equipment Options
(25:51) Home Gym Dumbbell Workouts for Women
and more!
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Follow me on Instagram: @juliealedbetter | @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Movement With Julie | App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/
Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Get my eBook: FREE Macro Counting Ebook
Amazon Storefront: Julie Ledbetter's Amazon Page
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human you're listening to Embrace Your Real With Me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I tissue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it. Let's go. [00:00:21]
[00:00:28] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Race Trail podcast. I am so excited about today's episode. This is one of the most frequently asked questions that I get, and if you know me, or if you've been following me for any length of time, maybe you've found me for a moment with Julie. Or maybe you found me from my personal account, Julie Ledbetter. Either way, hopefully at some point you came across the fact that I am a workout at home type of woman. I absolutely love having an at home gym. I absolutely love having the freedom to workout whenever I want without having to waste any time. But there's been a couple things that I've learned over the last. It's almost been five years since I quit the gym and did my only workouts at home full time. Having a dedicated workout space at home is going to be critical, but it really does help to eliminate the need to commute to a gym. It saves valuable time and money on membership fees, as well as just having the convenience of being able to exercise whenever it fits into your schedule without waiting for equipment, dealing with crowds you know, having to go to the gym every single day and it can really help you to establish an easier and more consistent routine just because there's less barriers of entry. But I know because I hear it all the time. There are so many questions when it comes to building a home gym and kind of what are the essentials. And the number one thing that I get is, okay, you know, I want to do demo only workouts at home, but I don't really know what to start with. And I don't have a large budget and that's totally fine. So that's actually my specialty. I feel like I have worked in this field long enough, and have worked directly with tens of thousands of women over the last four years since we've launched movement with Julie, which is my dumbbell only workout at home app that I have really kind of narrowed it down to exactly what you need, like the necessary things that you need, and then some additional things that you need. And so I'm going to break that down with you. And this is going to be like a full rundown on how to build your at home gym on a budget. I believe that with some strategic planning and just having some simple equipment choices, you can absolutely quit the gym, feel comfortable and confident that you can get the results that you are looking for at home. And I know that because I did that right, I was able to quit the gym and get my strongest, most consistent physique and also just having more fun, like throughout my workouts. And that's ultimately what it's all about. You want to make sure that you're having fun. You want to make sure that you know you're able to stick and stay consistent with it and that you're seeing results. And so that's exactly what we're going to be talking about in today's episode. So I'm just going to kind of break it down for you on kind of what you need and what you should have, as well as just some other suggestions and some other examples of what I've seen women use. So the first thing that you need to do is you need to choose your space, right? And before kind of diving into the equipment that you need, it's important that you have the space in mind. So that way you know how much space you can actually use. There are some people that do this in a spare bedroom, and they're literally only confined to like, the space in front of their bed before their dresser. Right? So they have just a small space. There are some people that use, like myself, my unfinished basement, where I do have a bigger space, so I'm able to have a little bit more equipment, some people doing it in their garage, other people do it in their living room and they, you know, it's not something that can be set up all day long. So it needs to be something that is easy for them to move and store and whatnot. So it's really important that you have a space in mind. And also I think that it's important that you have a designated space that you use, or maybe a couple designated spaces. I know that sometimes when it's nice out in the summer, people use their porch or they use their deck as kind of an extended space, and that's great. That's totally fine to have that. But I do think that it's important to have a designated space, and that's because it's going to help give you that focus mindset and really separates the space, at least for the time being. When it's being used. It helps you kind of separate that in your mind. So once you kind of have the space in mind, you've chosen that location. You then need to look like I said, like what is the ceiling height? What is the space that you are actually able to use? Is this equipment that will stay there all day long, all week long? Or is it something that you kind of move every time you use that space? The second thing that you want to evaluate is your flooring. So another key consideration here is flooring right. If you are going to do this on carpet, just remember that carpets can get very sweaty. It can definitely work. It can definitely be something that you can use, but just keep that in mind. If that's the case, you might want to have a mat where you know, for floor exercises. So that way your back is not getting, you know, that's already sweaty, is not against carpet. And I don't know about you, but we have two long hair dogs that shed so, so much. And so those are just some considerations that you want to have in mind. Or maybe you're doing it like I did it in an unfinished basement or a garage. Having some non-slip exercise mats that can be very, very beneficial. The help to create a safe, shock absorbent surface. And this is also great. Like I mentioned, if you have the unfurnished basement, if you have a garage, it's not going to be as hard on your knees as cement. It's it's also going to be a lot more comfortable for those floor exercises I've seen. And I personally use the interlocking rubber or foam mats. That's personally what I have used pretty much since day one. I just got a pack initially at Dick's Sporting Goods and then we went to rubber flooring. Dot com, I believe is the other flooring place that we got our flooring. That's not sponsored by any means, but there are so many affordable things. I've even seen people do horse style flooring and get that at like big R or some of those places that sell that type of stuff that can be super inexpensive. Way to get the similar style flooring for last, just keep in mind that when it comes to the horse style flooring, I've heard that you might need to air it out, so just keep that in mind before you install it. You might need to air it out for a few days, outside or in your garage. But again, just figuring out what type of flooring and making sure that you have some sort of a supportive flooring or at the very least, some sort of flooring that is going to be safe and effective for you for your workout. Number three is dumbbells. Okay. So because resistance training, in my opinion, is the most effective form of workouts for building the body that you want. And it's also the easiest in terms of at home workouts. It takes up way less space than having this entire barbell setup and in my opinion, barbell workouts. Even though they can be fun, they are very limiting in terms of what you're actually able to do, the amount of exercises that you are able to do with 1 or 2 pairs of dumbbells is endless. There are so many exercises that you can do, and so I always recommend that you start out with two pairs of dumbbells. So people ask me all the time about the adjustable dumbbells that I will talk about in a second, and that can be helpful, but I prefer to have separate dumbbells simply because it's going to be a lot more time effective, especially the time that it takes to like switch the dumbbells depending on what type of adjustable dumbbell that you have. And I have just found that there are a lot less bulky. But if two pairs of dumbbells is in your budget, that's what I would recommend. I would get a light pair which is five, 8 or 10 pounds. Typically those are like the most common in terms of light dumbbells. And then the second pair of dumbbells would be a medium to heavy pair, which would be 12 pounds, 15 pounds, 20 pounds plus. So at the very least having two different separate pairs. So the light pair and the medium to heavy pair, that's going to give you kind of the bare minimum that you need when it comes to certain exercises, because there's going to be exercises where you can't do and you can't use 12, 15 or 20 pounds. And then on the flip side, there's going to be exercises where you're like, I can't just use 10 pounds as is too, too light for me. And so finding that at the bare minimum can be helpful. And then the second part of that is if you are able to invest a little bit more. I know Amazon always has deals going on with the dumbbells. At 5 to 25 pounds, you are going to get the absolute most out of your workouts if you have that. And typically they range anywhere from 150 to $200. I know that is an investment for a lot of people, but I will tell you that they will. Number one, dumbbells, you know, their lifetime purchase. Like I mean, you'll have them for 40, 50, 60 years, like, especially if you take care of them, you're not going to have to be buying dumbbells every few years. And so if you can get the 5 to 25 pound dumbbell set, that's going to give you the best range in terms of dumbbells, because you're going to get 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 15 pounds, 20 pounds, 25 pounds. So you really have a right wide variety, number one. And number two, as you get stronger and progress in movements, you'll be able to have that wide range. And then the third kind of benefit of this set, or at least the set that I recommend a lot on Amazon, is it's in an A-frame rack. So it's going to save a bunch of space. So literally you can stick it against a wall, you can stick it in a corner, you can hide it behind the couch behind a bed. And you're able to have all of those dumbbells. But it's a it's a great space saver. On the flip side, like I mentioned about, I would talk about adjustable demos. So adjustable dumbbells are great. They are a hefty investment, but they oftentimes go up from, you know, 5 pounds to 50 pounds or 5 pounds to 100 pounds. So you're getting a lot more option. But I will just say that there are a couple downsides. Like I mentioned. Number one, they tend to be very bulky, especially the ones, the most popular ones on the market. They tend to be very, very bulky. And so for certain exercises, it's just it will get in the way of of the actual range of motion. It will be harder for you. So that is one thing to take into consideration. And then the second thing is if you. Are doing like a superset or a lot of my workouts incorporate circuits. If you have just one pair of adjustable dumbbells, you're going to be taking time throughout that circuit or that superset to change out the weight, which can just disrupt your workout. So depending on how fast or slow or long that takes you to change, you know, from 5 to 20 pounds in that adjustable. Just keep that in mind that that is going to interrupt your workout. I will never say don't get on because I think that having something is better than nothing. But if you can get the 5 to 25 pound set, that's honestly going to be your best bet. And as you get stronger, I do see people start to, you know, get 30 pounds, 35 pounds, 40 pounds. But for the majority of people, if you're just wanting to workout, you want to get strong. You're not really looking to lift a ton, a ton of weight. The 5 to 25 pound set is going to be incredible for you, and I will be sure to link that exact set up on my Amazon so that you can check it out. And they like I said, they oftentimes have sales and it's often times on Prime. So you're going to get it within a few days. Number four is resistance bands. Now these are this is kind of another affordable and compact compact option that can significantly boost your strength and training rapport. Now these elastic bands, they help to provide tension and resistance. And they really activate muscles through that full range of motion. So if you can't have all of the dumbbells, having resistance bands is great and a great alternative either in addition to your dumbbell sets or, you know, maybe you only can have one light pair and one medium to heavy pair of dumbbells. Having a resistance band set is going to be awesome, and that's going to give you even more range in terms of resistance. And inside my Julia app, I do program resistance band exercises. And I do that because it they mimic a lot of their resistance band exercises that I program. They mimic a cable machine that you would use at the gym. But the cool thing about resistance bands is that, not only can you do them at home, but also if you're traveling, you are able to get, you know, the majority of your movements in just from having a resistance band set. Now, the resistance bands that I recommend are the ones that are separate and not, how do I say this? They're completely separate and they have the add on for the handles. Or you can take the handles off and you can add on like an ankle strap, or you can just use the resistance band itself without having the handles. So they have removable handles and the removable ankle straps. And the set that I recommend from Amazon is typically it's typically on sale. It's like 23 bucks and you get five through 30, I believe. And so it's a 5 or 6 band set. And then it comes with the removable handles. And it comes with removable ankle straps that you can use for leg movements. So, kickbacks, abductors, things like that. You can use for with the ankle straps. And then with the handles you can do pretty much everything when it comes to standing bicep curls, standing shoulder press, standing shoulder raises, you know, tricep extension. And then also comes with a door anchor. And the door anchor is awesome because that is going to allow you to anchor it to the back side of a door. So there's typically three hinges on a door. So there's a low a middle and a high. And that's going to allow you even more variety of movements in terms of let's say you hook the door anchor at the very highest hinge, that's going to allow you to do something like a tricep pull down. Right? So whether that's overhand or underhand tricep pull down, you can do high chest flies, you can do tons of different movements. And then let's say you put it at the middle hinge. That's going to allow you to do like back row. So neutral your back rows, reverse grip back rows and then down below. If you have it at the lowest hinge you can do something like a bicep curl. You can do kickbacks, you can do abductors, you can do side lateral leg raises. I mean, there are so many exercises. I'm telling you, there are hundreds and hundreds of exercises that you can do. And the cool thing again is that it comes in a set and it's super easy to travel with. So if you are, you know, you're just confined to an apartment or you're confined to a hotel room, this is going to be great for you. And I actually do have a program inside the Mount with Julia app that you get for free. It's called the Move Your Body Anywhere program, and inside that program it's just bodyweight banded resistance band exercises. So when you're traveling and that's all you have access to, you can utilize that plan. So that is super helpful for you and very very affordable giving you, you know, more resistance levels and allows you to activate all of your major muscle groups effectively. Also, having the option to have the resistance bands even at home in your day to day workouts, that's going to allow you to gradually increase as well. You don't have access to all of the dumbbells, aka you know, implementing that progressive overload. All right. And number five is a workout bench. Now this is kind of the last piece of equipment that I recommend getting. Again this is totally optional. You don't have to have a workout bench. I always give alternates inside of my program. However a workout bench, especially one that does adjustable and does incline decline is going to be invaluable as it offers so much more versatility in your workouts. And the reason I recommend having one that does incline decline is again, just because of the versatility. So if you just have a bench that does flat, sure you're getting your body off of the floor. However you don't, you don't get the option to do all of the incline exercises like incline chest fly, incline skull crushers, incline chest press or reverse where you're flipping and you're doing the incline back rows right, or incline flat raises or spider curls on the bench. There is just so much more versatility when it comes to having a bench, and then also having the adjustable bench. And with the adjustable bench, you can still make it a flat bench, so you can use it for things like hip thrusts. You can use it for things like feet, elevated glute bridges, split squats, step ups, things like that. So having a bench can be super helpful in terms of again that versatility. And this is where I recommend you again having that space designated so that you know what type of bench you need. There are some benches on Amazon that can fold up and they can literally go underneath your bed. They can go behind the couch. There's other benches that just stay. You know, they don't fold up and maybe you can put them to the side of the room, but they're not going to fold up to go underneath the bed or behind the couch or things like that. And so having the space in mind is going to be helpful for you. But I will say that there are high quality benches on both ends of the spectrum. Obviously, the benches that don't fold are going to be a little bit more sturdy, so that's something to keep in mind. But there are still some benches that fold up that, you know, go go underneath the bed if you really need to save space that are pretty sturdy. So I will go ahead and link some of my favorites from Amazon underneath this episode so that you can go check those out. But if you cannot get your hands on a proper workout bench, there's so many ways that you can get creative. And I talk about this a lot in my program, right? Like you could use steps, you could use a cooler, you could use a coffee table, you could use your couch. So don't think that if you can't get a workout bench, then you're doomed. That's absolutely not the case. You can still get very, very creative with your workouts if you don't have access to a bench. So there you have it. Those are kind of the five staples that you need. So number one, figuring out and finding the dedicated workout space. So a space to workout number two figuring out if you need that proper flooring. Just kind of evaluating your flooring. Number three dumbbells. So at the very least having two pairs of dumbbells a light pair and a medium to heavy pair. Or if you can getting that 5 to 25 pounds, that's going to be helpful. Or if you need to do the adjustable dumbbells, you can absolutely do that. Number four resistance bands. Again, those are going to be very helpful for you on the go. And they also help to increase just kind of the amount of weight that you're lifting. If you don't have access to a wide range of dumbbells, just make sure with that you are getting the ones that have the removable handles. And then lastly number five a workout bench. Again optional, but can be very helpful in terms of versatility. And again I will go ahead and link all of my favorites. Kind of broken down for you so that you have all of the links there, as well as just my general Home Gym Essentials page. I think that that will be very helpful for you. And there are so, so many amazing brands on Amazon and they are oftentimes on sale. And I'm telling you that having access to these, these pieces of equipment, these specific pieces of equipment are going to be an investment, but they're going to be a lifelong investment. You're not going to have to buy dumbbells every couple years. These dumbbells are going to last you a lifetime. If some of the prices on Amazon are not at your price point, check out garage sales. Summertime is the great that one of the best times to have to go check out garage sales estate sales? Check out Facebook Marketplace. There are always people that are selling gym equipment, and so just be on the lookout on the hunt there. You can even, you know, ask people on Facebook or ask people on your Instagram, say, hey, is anybody selling some numbers? And I guarantee there's going to be people coming out of the woodwork say, yes, I've been meaning to sell them. You know, they're just collecting dust in my garage or whatnot. So there are so many options there. Now, let's say you're really on a budget and you want to, you know, you want to be wise or you want to get some additional things for your workouts. Number one, ankle weights are great. Ankle weights allow you to conveniently increase the resistance for bodyweight leg exercises like. Kickbacks. You know, knee raises like leg extensions, lower body weighted movements. Those are great. I do have some ankle weights that I love, because you can take some of the weights out to make them less or more. And I generally would recommend 2.5 to 5, sometimes eight, sometimes 10 pounds per ankle weight can get too heavy. So if you can stick within the 2.5 to 5 pound per ankle weight range, that's going to be the best. But I will again link the ones that I love from Amazon in the show notes. Number two having a stability ball or a yoga ball. This is great and this can work wonders for some of the arm exercises. Let's say for example, you want to do the isolated bicep curl where you would normally stick your hand on an incline bench and do a bicep curl there. You could do it on a yoga ball or stability ball, or if you don't have access or don't, it's not in the budget to have a incline bench. You can use the stability ball up against a wall, of course. For it kind of like the incline portion of the movement for incline chest flies, incline press, things like that. And there are so many exercises that you can use a stability ball. You can also do like glute bridges, hip bridges or hip thrusts on there. Again, of course, making sure that the stability ball is up against a wall is going to be the safest way to do that, but that is a cheaper option to allow you to still get the range of motion and the versatility of incline movements and the hip thrusts and things like that, without getting the bench. Number three is booty bands. Now, booty bands are great. So I talked about resistance bands with the removable handles. Booty bands are great because those kind of wrap around your legs and they add just more resistance. So whether it's the rubber ones, it's the fabric ones or both, I kind of use both intermixing in my workouts because I use them for different things. I found that the range of motion with the fabric booty bands is less, but they actually tend to stay on your legs. They don't roll up, they don't pinch. And so I use those a lot for movements where I don't need a large range of motion, but I want it to stay in my leg. Whereas the rubber resistance booty bands that I use do sometimes pinch, they do sometimes roll up, but they give you a greater range of motion. So again, you'll see, different examples of that inside my program and what I use different ones for. But I will always give you the option if you are inside the app and you just don't have access to bands. I will always give you a bodyweight in ankle weight option. And so you never feel like you have to have ankle weights. You never feel like you have to have booty bands. There will always be a body weight or a dumbbell alternate there for you. Number four Amir. So Amir is something. Again, it's optional, but I do recommend getting one if you can, even if it's from like Facebook Marketplace, a garage sale, a thrift store. Amir is super helpful because it allows you to watch your form. And if you don't have proper form, like you're not going to see the results that you want and that's going to lead to injuries, which is obviously what we want to avoid. And so I utilize the mirror a lot in terms of just, you know, again, making sure that my form is on point. And I personally I use it as feedback. I'm not using it, you know, to bash myself or to tell myself, oh my gosh, look at you. Like I'm using it as a form of feedback for me so that I'm able to ensure that I'm not injuring myself. And then I'm performing the absolute best form that I can for each movement. So there you have it. Those are kind of some additional things and additional things that you can even have. You can have in addition to what I initially mentioned or can be in place of like the stability ball in place of the workout bench. I personally have both. I use both for different reasons. Now that you know I being pregnant, I use the stability ball so so much, especially my third trimester. So that was super helpful. But I still use the incline bench a ton all the way up until the end of my pregnancy for movements like incline chest fly, incline presses, incline school crushers, things like that, because it just felt more stable to me. The most important thing that I want to encourage you with is to to start small and, you know, don't feel like you have to get everything all at once, because that can be not only pricey, but it can be overwhelming. So at the very least, start out, pick your space, evaluate your flooring, and have 1 or 2 pairs of dumbbells. You don't even need to have the resistance bands to start out with. However, I will say having the resistance bands again just opens up the versatility of movement and then slowly as time goes by, you can then add on to your collection. That's one thing that I love seeing inside the movement, actually community is they start with like 1 or 2 pairs of dumbbells and then they get hooked on it, and then they start to get stronger and they start to need more weight. And then they start to build their collection. And, you know, three years goes by and they have a full on home gym that they absolutely love. And. And it's serving them so well. So again, that is so, so fun for me to see. And so don't think that you need to get everything all at once. And then the second piece of advice is you need to have a plan. So yes you can have all of the equipment there, but if you don't have an effective plan or something to follow on a day to day, week to week basis, you're likely not going to use it. You're not going to utilize all of that equipment that you just spent your hard earned money on. And so having a plan is so important. By Julie Community. That's exactly what I do. I have dumbbell workouts for women. It's an excellent resource for both beginners and experienced exercises or exercisers who are looking to effectively utilize their home gym, right. This app really does provide a super wide variety of beginner friendly workouts as well as those who are experienced. And it's going to be time effective, challenging, and fun. And so every single movement inside the app has video demos for every movement so that you know exactly how it's done and kind of step by step guidance on the proper form. Now, I will say my workouts are go at your own pace style. This means that it is not just one long follow along style program. Instead it is short, silent, looping clips and I put them together in a workout plan for you. And people love this for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's not rushing them so they find that there is less chance of injury because they're not feeling like they have to keep up with every single movement from the instructor and like rushing through the movements. And number two, they're able to listen to podcasts or watch videos or listen to music while they do their workouts. And that is something very beloved by our community. So you can check out my program by going to sale. That's easily dot dot com. If you are brand new subscriber, you get 50% off your first month and then it's month to month after that. Cancel at any time. You don't, you're not locked in. I do have a annual program as well. If you do decide to go with the annual program, you do save and essentially get three months for free. So I will go ahead and link that page there where you can check that out. And also you have the option to do all five workouts. So there's five brand new workouts that are released every single Saturday at 12 p.m. out in standard time. You can do all five of them, or you can do two of them, or you can do three of them. It's totally up to you, totally based on your time constraints, but there are 60 and 30 minute workout options for every single workout each day. So depending on your time constraints, you have a workout that you can do. But all of that information is on the website that I will go ahead and link in the show notes below. I will also link all of my Amazon favorites in terms of specific products that I mentioned, as well as just my overall home gym equipment storefront that you can check out all of my recommendations there, but that is all that I have for today's episode. I hope that this was helpful for you. I hope that this gave you a good kind of starting point. If you are wanting to dive into kind of building your home gym, I know it can be overwhelming, but trust me, it is one of the most cool. It's one of the most important and cool things that I've done, because it has served me, and it has served my family so well over these last years, and I know it's going to serve you. I know that you're going to feel your best. I know you're gonna have so much fun, and you're going to be able to be so much more consistent because it is so convenient to do your workouts at home. But that is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much. I mean it, and I'll talk to you in the next one. [00:28:48]
[00:28:57] All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things. [00:29:01]
[00:29:02] That I. [00:29:02]
[00:29:02] Need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie Ledbetter. Yes, it's within a in the middle for that Daily Post workout. Real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest. [00:29:14]
[00:29:14] Accountability to. [00:29:15]
[00:29:15] Keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with. [00:29:27
[00:29:28] One last thought. [00:29:28]
[00:29:29] The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace the real because you're worth it. [00:29:29]