So you want to build your own home gym but you have no idea what kind of equipment to buy. There are two main limiting factors in outfitting a workout area in your house or apartment—space and budget—but with proper planning, you can design an exercise studio perfectly tailored to your needs. Simply start with the essentials, and then branch out to more specialized equipment as you need it. Below are a few of the essentials that can get your started on your home gym journey.

Quality Mats

No matter what your plans are for your home gym a good quality floor mat is key. You can opt for the single mat for stretching and floor work or go shoe hog with an entire flooring system but be sure to go with a high quality, durable product. Rogue Canada has some great products in this (and most) category from floor mats to olympic lifting platforms, as do spots from Fitness Experience to Home Depot.

Fitness Experience Flooring

Rogue Mats

Suspension Trainer

Maximizing use of space and finding tools with multiple uses are keys when designing your home gym. One of the best pieces of equipment for both those concerns are suspension trainers. The TRX Home2 System is one of the best purchases you can make for your home gym. It includes the latest TRX Suspension Trainer for homes, as well access to the TRX app. (With more than 80 workouts designed by world-class trainers, the app will keep you busy.) While the Home2 System costs less than $200, it is one of the bigger purchases on this list. What makes it worthwhile is that Suspension Training offers a full-body workout that can be modified for any fitness level.

Resistance Bands

Easy to store, easy to use, easy to afford and easy to scale. Resistance bands are a great addition to any home gym. From stands of tubing to elastic loops and heavy resistance with handles, resistance bands come in many shapes and sizes and can be used to add to any fitness routine. Depending on your fitness goals, resistance tubing can be your main source of muscle building or an add oil that enhances lifts. They are a rehab essential as well when working through those nagging injuries that we all get from time to time and a key part of training for pliability as shown in the TB12 method. Every major fitness retailer has dozens of options for you and can help you decide on what you need based on your goals.

Fitness Experience Tubing

TB12 Workout Gear

This list is a great start for your home fitness journey but isn’t all inclusive by any means. Everyone’s goals are different, require different levels of equipment and different levels of motivation. The key with any of them is to get committed, get started and get moving!