At-home gym

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Having a gym on your own premises means no travel time or sweat-sharing.

And while creating one might seem like an exy undertaking, when you calculate the cost of gym fees over a few years, you’ll see it can be a smart investment.

While a fairly comprehensive home gym – comprising adjustable dumbbells, adjustable bench, fitness ball, Olympic barbell, weight plates and power rack – will set you back just $2400, five years of gym fees will cost you almost twice that – $4500*.

Adam Campbell, author of The Australian Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises], lets us in on the equipment worth having.**

The essentials

Dumbbells: “If I could have only one training tool, the dumbbell would be my pick,” says Campbell.

A basic neoprene dumbbell set (four pairs of various weights) will only set you back $59.99 from Workout World.

Though if you want a whole set of different weights and your home gym space is more like a cupboard gym, opt for a compact pair of adjustable dumbbells that allow you to quickly change the weight (you can get an Avanti pair for $700 from Workout World). They may be pricey, but a big set on a clunky rack will set you back just as much.

Chin-up bar:If you consider yourself to be a bit of a handywoman, you can make your own using a piece of 2.5cm-diameter metal pipe. Otherwise, buy a pre-made joist-, wall- or ceiling-mount chin-up bar, or the kind that hangs on a door, like the cheaper-than-a-movie-ticket Multi Function Door Trainer ($9.82, Big W).

“I like a product called the Perfect Pullup [available at Skyfit], because you can lower the bar’s height to perform inverted rows,” says Campbell.

RELATED:Perform the perfect chin-up

Bench: A basic flat bench is fairly inexpensive (you can get an Avanti one from Workout World), but Campbell recommends an adjustable bench (Avanti; $299, Workout World) so you can do moves on an incline and decline.

Fitness ball: This has more nicknames than Michael Jackson – it’s also known as a Swiss ball, stability ball, physio ball and exercise ball. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the bomb for core exercises, plus it can double as a cheap substitute for the bench.

Campbell recommends the heavy-duty balls by Sissel (from CSMTC). Flat-ab pilates with a fitness ball

The extras

Barbell & weight plates: You’ve got two options: a standard barbell, which is cheaper, or an Olympic barbell, which weighs about twice as much and is the kind you’ll find in most gyms.

Campbell’s advice: “If you already have a standard bar, your muscles won’t know the difference, but opt for a women’s Olympic barbell ($399 excl. weight plates, at Gym and Fitness) if you’re starting your home gym or upgrading and can afford it.” (Olympic weight plate sets start at about $300.)

Power rack: You need a power or squat rack to do barbell squats, but that’s not all they’re good for.

“You can buy one equipped with a chin-up bar and high and low pulley systems for doing lat pulldowns, cable rows and just about any other cable exercise,” says Campbell. Nab one for $690 at Gym Trader.

Cable station: Like to mix it up? This gives you hundreds more exercise variations. The most economical – in terms of money and space – is a cable pulley system attached to a power rack.

But if you have the space and the cash, the Free Motion EXT Dual Cable Cross is top notch – the arms swivel into 108 different positions, allowing you to work every muscle from every angle.

See for yourself at Freemotion Fitness

EZ-curl bar: This angled bar is easier on your wrists than a straight bar when you're doing curls.

Kettlebells: These Russian imports, which look like bowling balls with handles, have been around for years but are just now taking hold in gyms and exercise routines across Oz.

You can sub them for any move you'd do with dumbbells, and they'll make the same exercises more challenging because the weight is off-centre – forcing your stabiliser muscles to work even harder.

Medicine ball: This is what the doctor ordered for core exercises, sports-specific training, and even as a way to make push-ups harder (place each hand on a ball).

Buy one that bounces so that you can throw it against a wall, catch and repeat. [http://sportingedgeaustralia.com.au/pages/Home.aspx |Sporting Edge Australia|target=_blank] has a great selection.)

Valslides: Like ice magic, these foam-topped plastic sliders transform hard floors and carpets into ice rinks, intensifying old standbys like lunges by decreasing your stability and keeping your muscles under tension for the entire movement. Find them at Val Slide.

TRX Suspension Trainer: This set of nylon straps allows you to take your workout anywhere. Lock 'em onto any elevated fixture – a pull-up bar, door, tree branch – and you you’ll be equipped for hundreds of lower-body, upper-body and core exercises that can be adjusted for any fitness level.

Check it out at Suspension Training Australia.

Blast straps: Just loop these over any sturdy bar, adjust the strap length, and you can do suspended push-ups, chin-ups and inverted rows.

Because the straps aren’t stabilised, they allow you to challenge your body in all three planes of movement – forward and backward, up and down, and side to side – helping you eliminate weak spots and correct muscle imbalances.

Get some at Elitefts.

Step or box: You can do step-ups on a bench, but a box or step works better because you can adjust the height. I really like the box squat box at Elitefts – it provides a stable, no-slip surface to lift from, and you can quickly raise and lower the height for step-ups, single-leg squats, box lunges, split squats, depth jumps and elevated push-ups.

Large bands: These are oversized rubber bands that allow you to perform assisted chin-ups without a special machine. Look for Superbands at Gym and Fitness and flex bands at Elitefts.

RELATED: 15-minute resistance band workout

Mini bands: Also known as thera-bands, these small elastic bands are super at working your glutes and your inner thighs.

Bosu ball: Bosu stands for “both sides utilised”, and the ball makes push-ups and hip raises more difficult. You can find it at just about any fitness outlet.

Sandbag: The sand shifts as you lift the bag, changing your centre of gravity, forcing your core to work harder while it keeps you from falling over. Plus, a sandbag is odd-sized compared to a barbell or dumbbell, so it more closely mimics the objects – think baby or suitcase – that you have to pick up in real life.

One problem: the sand leaks out of some cheapies. Solution: the Woody Bag (Strengthpoint), which houses the sand in a rugged PVC shell.

Airex Balance Pad: Doing lower-body exercises while standing on this soft foam pad forces the muscles that stabilise your ankle, knee and hip joints to work harder.

Pick one up at Sportstek.

*Note: Calculation based on average gym membership cost in Australia from Gym Prices.

**Words adapted from The Australian Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises