Just likeÌýa lot of us, I allowed my fitness routine to slip a bitÌýin 2020. FirstÌýthe pandemic forced me to cancel my gym membership, and then a seemingly endless run ofÌýdaily horrors in the news cycleÌýfilled me with existential dread. But towardÌýthe end of last year, things started to look up, and I set out to take control of my workout routine.
I needed to build my home gym on a budget. For me,Ìý$2,400 sounded like a reasonableÌýtarget. That’sÌýtwo years’ worth of my old $100-a-month gym-membership fee. In the end, I actually managed to come in below that amount, even while splurging on some high-quality equipment. Here’s how.
Cardio
Like most ¹ú²ú³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ readers, I prefer to do my cardio outside. I also own three big dogs, and they need exercise, too. ButÌýthe pandemic swelled trail-use numbers nationwide byÌý, and here in Bozeman, Montana, trailsÌýcertainly feelÌýmore crowded. I’m not sure whetherÌýthat’s because moreÌýnew people are moving into the area or visiting, or if it’s due toÌýresidents with a little more free time; either way, the trails my wife and I used to have to ourselves are now overwhelmed byÌýoverflowing parking lots at the trailhead, and the places we used to take our dogs to run around off-leash are now full of people who don’t welcome their presence.
As a result of all this, we had to drive farther from town. And because that took more time, the regularity of our hikes took a major hit. SoÌýI set about looking for a way to burn caloriesÌýandÌýmaintain my cardiovascular fitness at homeÌýin the shortest time possible. The answer? A rowing machine.
NordicTrack RW900 ($1,599)
The motion you perform on a rowing machine is similar to that of a deadliftÌýcombined with a horizontal pull, only with a lot less resistance. That means it employs your entire posterior chain (includingÌýeverything in your legs), your abs, and your biceps. Basically, every muscle except your pectorals and triceps is engaged. And while the resistance created by a rowing machine isn’t thought to be enough to build muscle, recruiting all of those muscles with eachÌýstroke means you burn an awful lot of calories.ÌýI can expend up to 1,000 calories an hour, or more frequently, 350 calories in 20 minutes or 500 in half an hour. No other form of cardio is as efficient for me, and rowing is also a low-impact activity that won’t wear out my knees and other joints.
Unlike water rowers, the folds in half for easy storage. I don’t have to do that every day, but it still makes it easier to clear the basement room we set aside for the gymÌýshould we need that space.
Compared to other fan rowers, where the resistance increases with the speed of your pull, the RW900 also includes magnetic resistance, which can make the entire motion more challenging no matter the speed. Combined with the onboard connected fitness system,Ìý, that allÌýaffords some interesting possibilities.
NordicTrack’s parent company, Icon Health and Fitness, developed the iFit virtual-training suite. (It’s also a smartphone app.) On the RW900, you use iFitÌýviaÌýthe included 22-inch touchscreen to access hundreds of prerecorded and live workouts. There are programs designed to teach you how to use the rower, outdoor paddles through scenic waterways, high-intensity interval-training (HIIT)Ìýstudio workouts, and even some classesÌýbuilt around other equipment, like dumbbells andÌýyoga mats, or simple bodyweight exercises you can do on the floor. Hit play on a rowing session,Ìýand the instructor will be able to vary the machine’sÌýmagnetic resistanceÌýon the fly, withÌýa range of workout possibilities that go far beyond one moreÌý500-meter interval. Slow pulls with high resistance, sprints with low resistance, and everything in between keep things interesting and work your body in different ways,Ìýtoo.
I then modify the variable fan resistance as my fitness progresses. When I finish this article, I’m going downstairs to restart a six-week studio program I’ve already completed. But instead of repeating the same exact program, increasingÌýthe fan resistance byÌý20 percent or so should add a new layer of difficulty.
The RW900 is definitely a splurge: $1,599 is a lot of money. ButÌýNordicTrack does offer financing—$50 a month for 39 months—and rolls a $39 monthlyÌýiFit family plan into that fee. The $1,299 and $999 Ìýappear to beÌýfunctionally identical,Ìýjust with smaller screens.
Before I got this thing, I was a connected-fitness skeptic. NowÌýI’m a convert. The variety of workouts available keeps me from getting bored, the classes add challenges I wouldn’t know how to tackle on my own, and both motivate me to work out more often.
Strength
In the Before Times, I used my gym membership for one thing,Ìýand one thing only: lifting weights. I like being strong, and I like feeling confident with my shirt off. Is there a way to re-create the gym at homeÌýwithout actually turning space in your house into a weight room? I think I’ve actually found something better.
TRX Home2 ($150)
My wife had me hang up a in our gym room a while back. I tried a few triceps dips and seated pull-ups on it, couldn’t really figure anything else out, and dismissed it in favor of working out with sandbags and kettlebells on our back porch. Then winter hit—andÌýlifting weights outdoors when it’s zero degrees just isn’t a positive experience.
While searching the web one day for muscle-building workouts I could do at home,ÌýIÌýcame across the . I tried a couple of the demonstrated abdominal and shoulder exercises, and they felt pretty good. SoÌýI signed up for . That was about two months ago, and now I’m only a couple of days away from finishing the eight-week program.
In the muscle-builder regimen, trainer Adam Atkinson walks you through video tutorials of every single exerciseÌýand provides a progressive set of push-pull, leg, and arm-day routines that you can perform three or six days a week, whichever you prefer. Atkinson’s instructions are detailedÌýbut easy to follow. For each movement, he lays outÌýthe muscles you’ll be using, and how best to activate and challenge them through technique. It’s functionally similar to lifting weights in the gym, but the instability created by the TRX suspension straps makes things harder. Essentially, every moment requires immense amounts of stabilization from your core,Ìýforearms, and shoulders.
About eight weeks into my first TRX program, the shoulders of my shirts and jackets are noticeably tighter, my legs are more toned, and my abs are visible at a higher body-fat-percentage level than they’ve ever been before. I am a happy customer.
I’ve been doing three days of TRX trainingÌýand three days of 20-to-40-minute HIIT rowing sessions a week, with one rest day. My fitness has progressed to the point where I’ll be able to manage the TRX and rowing on the same days, and I’ll repeat the TRX TravellerÌýmuscle-builder program again, this time at twice the frequency. I’m actually looking forward to how hard that’s going to be.
As the channel’sÌýname suggests, you can also take TRX outside your home, enabling you to maintain your regular fitness routineÌýwhen you travel. The entire contraption weighs less than two poundsÌýand packs into a small mesh bag about the size of a sneaker. You can easily attach the straps to a doorway, tree, orÌýfence. I plan to affix a mount to the roof of my truck, to use it on camping trips, too.
Rogue Fitness Large Sandbag ($115)
While you can use the TRX system to perform a variety of squats, hamstring curls, and lunges, you can’t use it to perform weighted deadlifts. Enter this .
If you haven’t lifted a heavy sandbag before, you are in for a surprise. The unstable nature of the shifting grains makes it feel much heavier than it actually is. At the gym, I was doing three sets of tenÌý225-pound back-squat repsÌýand the same number of 315-pound deadlifts. At homeÌýI can barely lift this thing off the ground.
You can make a weighted sandbag out of an old backpack or duffel bag, but using a purpose-built bag like this one puts handles in the right placesÌýand adds a level of robustness that should keep sand off your floor. Regardless of which route you go, you’ll need to get the sand yourself.ÌýFill contractor bags with 20 to 30 pounds of sand, then wrap those up in duct tape before adding them to the container bag. I also threw a rolled-up moving blanket into this one to fully pad itÌýand better keep the sand from moving unpredictably.
Right nowÌýI’m using this big sandbag to add high-rep deadlifts to my leg days. I should be able to add front squats to that routine next week. You can also use it for bent-over rowsÌýand similar lifts, but I prefer doing exercises like that on the TRX.
PKB Portable Kettlebell ($75)
I’ve kept kettlebells around for the occasional home workout for years. ButÌýbecause they’re essentially cast-iron canonballs, I’ve always been too afraid to bring them insideÌýfor fear of irrevocably damaging a floor, ceiling, or wall, or hurting a dog.
Filled with sand, the PKBÌýweighs 45 pounds. That may not sound like a very heavy kettlebell, but again, sand is unstable, which contributes to the challenge, and its straps are less stable than a rigid handle. That arrangement also testsÌýmy technique, reinforcing good form through every one of my reps.
For a time, I tried bringing the PKB along onÌýmy travels, and purchased a matching water bladder to make hotel-room workouts as easy as possible. ButÌýfilling and emptying it was more hassle than it was worth, and the kettlebellÌýhas since been relegated to at-home use only. I use it primarily forÌýsingle-hand overhead pressesÌýand biceps curls. Kettlebell swings are functionally similar to the movement you perform on the rower. SoÌýif you don’t want to invest in one of those, a PKB kettlebell could serve asÌýa good stand-in.
My total expenses for this setup: $1,975. That’s less than 20 months of my former gym membership. Plus, walking downstairs is an awful lot easier than hopping in the car, driving to the gym, and waiting around for popular equipment, so I’m able to use it more consistently, too.ÌýWith these essentials, I’m able to do theÌýsame exercises I was performing at that gym—and more.