NOTE: IF YOU LIKE A PRODUCT, CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW PRICE & BUY IT (PAGE WILL OPEN IN A NEW TAB).12 Best Dumbbells for Home Gym + What You Need, Basic Home Gym Equipment
A curated list of the best dumbbells for a home gym, best basic home gym equipment, and the top reviewed, affordable home benches, dumbbells and gym machines — plus details on what you’ll need to build your very own home gym.
Many hours of product research went into curating and writing up this collection. When looking for gym or workout equipment to build a home gym — or simply supplement a home workout — there’s a number of things to consider and products to look into. For one, if you’re interested in getting only core workout equipment, as opposed to more specialized equipment for targeted exercises, we recommend looking into the Bowflex and Perfect Fitness gym equipment below. The products we reviewed and selected below should offer you a staple workout to hit your larger, basic muscle groups. Be sure to read the notes we provided about how to use these products, but please note that we are not fitness professionals; these are simply our educated opinions. Additionally, if you’re looking for basic home gym equipment that not only provides a quality workout, but also saves you space, we recommend looking at the adjustable dumbbell equipment below. Moreover, since affordability is always important to consider when building a home gym, we selected a few products for the ‘Budget Picks’ section that we recommend you check out, each is under $100. Nevertheless, overall, in this collection you’ll find a few of the best, top rated and reviewed gym equipment to get your home gym started. If you have any questions, or want some more recommendations on what you need to build your own home gym, let us know in the comments. We respond quickly.
Curated
Researched
human-verified
products considered
hours of work
cups of coffee
Qualities we looked for overall:
+ Space-saving or modular design.
+ Lightweight and portable design.
+ Offers a diverse range of movements, exercises and workout positions.
+ Offers multiple weight or resistance options, ranging from 5 to 50 pounds (for select products).
+ A workout / gym equipment essential, covering a main muscle group, such as biceps/triceps, core, back, chest and/or glutes (relatively subjective preference / quality).
+ Made with high quality, durable materials like cast iron or stainless steel (for select products).
+ Reviewed and/or recommended by established health and fitness magazine, such as Men’s Health (‘Fitness’ section).
+ Well reviewed by customers (i.e., 3.5 stars and over).
Qualities we tried to avoid overall:
– Bulky or heavy gym equipment (over 200 pounds not preferred).
– Cheap construction.
– Non-reusable design (i.e., disposable, one-time use).
– Products with a high number of bad reviews.
Editor’s Top 5 Rated Selections
12 Best Dumbbells for Home Gym + What You Need, Basic Home Gym Equipment // In our opinion, these are a few of the best products we came across in our search, given the overall qualities that we were curating for in this collection. We focused on the following qualities when curating for this particular selection of products:
+ Space-saving or modular design.
+ Lightweight and portable design.
+ Offers a diverse range of movements, exercises and workout positions.
+ Offers multiple weight or resistance options, ranging from 5 to 50 pounds (for select products).
+ A workout / gym equipment essential, covering a main muscle group, such as biceps/triceps, core, back, chest and/or glutes (relatively subjective preference / quality).
+ Made with high quality, durable materials like cast iron or stainless steel (for select products).
+ Reviewed and/or recommended by established health and fitness magazine, such as Men’s Health (‘Fitness’ section).
+ Well reviewed by customers (i.e., 3.5 stars and over).
*While we work to ensure the products we select possess these qualities, actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our web site. Do not rely solely on the information provided here.
Details
Premium Quality, Rubber Coated Tri-grip Olympic Plate Weights Set, 115 lb Total with (2) 25 lb. (4) 10 lb. (4) 5 lb. (2) 2.5 lb.
By: XMark Fitness
Details
Adjustable, Space Saving Home Dumbbell Weight Bench, XM-7630, with Ergonomic 3 Position Adjustable Seat, in Gray or White.
By: XMark Fitness
Details
Olympic Safety Squat Bar, Constructed from 30mm Solid High Tensile steel, and Designed with Handles at the Front of the Bar to Reduce Shoulder Strain.
By: Xtreme Monkey
Details
Best Selling, Top Rated Bowflex PR1000 Complete Home Gym, From 5 to as Many as 210-Pounds of Resistance.
By: Bowflex
Editor's Note
The Bowflex home gym is one of top rated and most well reviewed home gym machines we found during our search. The Bowflex machine provides a total body workout, including a rowing machine rail, horizontal bench press, lat pull down, incline and decline bench press, shoulder raise, triceps pushdown movements, bicep curl option, and several seated options for calf, hip and thigh workouts. In short, the machine is designed to offer over 30 exercises, for virtually all parts of your body. It’s helpful to note that the machine doesn’t use weights, per se, but rather a resistance rod technology, offering 210 pounds of power rod resistance. If you’re more interested in this piece of equipment, we recommend clicking through the view the specs and pricing options. In our opinion, this is one of the best, staple machines for a home gym.
Details
Best Selling, Top Rated 552 Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells, Saves Space by Eliminates the Need for Multiple Dumbbells, From 5 to 52.5 Pounds.
By: Bowflex
Editor's Note
This is another top rated piece of workout equipment by Bowflex. The SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbell eliminates the need for multiple dumbbells by offering an innovative, versatile workout solution. These adjustable dumbbells can be customized from 5 to 52.5 pounds. Effectively, you select the amount of weight you’d like to exercise with via the side dial and the weight platform attaches/detaches that weight to the code dumbbell handle. You’re able to do everything from a bicep curl, overhead triceps raises, chest flys, goblin squats, shoulder raises…pretty much anything you would normally do with dumbbells. It’s affordable, space saving and super useful for a home gym – another one of our top, best picks for a home gym.
a few more curated collections, by The Bestlyy Editors
Continued, Part 2, 5 Budget Picks
12 Best Dumbbells for Home Gym + What You Need, Basic Home Gym Equipment, Featuring The Best Equipment for a Home Gym with the Top Rated & Reviewed Fitness Gym Equipment like Dumbbells, Benches & Bowflex Machines.
Budget Picks
12 Best Dumbbells for Home Gym + What You Need, Basic Home Gym Equipment // These are a few solid choices if you’re on a budget, each product is under $100. We focused on the following qualities when curating for this particular selection of products:
+ Affordable (i.e., under $100).
+ Space-saving or modular design.
+ Lightweight and portable design.
+ Offers a diverse range of movements, exercises and workout positions.
+ Offers multiple weight or resistance options, ranging from 5 to 50 pounds (for select products).
+ A workout / gym equipment essential, covering a main muscle group, such as biceps/triceps, core, back, chest and/or glutes (relatively subjective preference / quality).
+ Made with high quality, durable materials like cast iron or stainless steel (for select products).
+ Reviewed and/or recommended by established health and fitness magazine, such as Men’s Health (‘Fitness’ section).
+ Well reviewed by customers (i.e., 3.5 stars and over).
*While we work to ensure the products we select possess these qualities, actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our web site. Do not rely solely on the information provided here.
Details
Perfect Fitness Rip Deck System for Perfect Pushups, Combines Two Planes of Motion with Rotating Pushups and Sliding Chest Fly on Lightweight Portable Track.
By: Perfect Fitness
Editor's Note
At only $25 dollars (at the specified date this article was published), this pushup rail system is a super helpful way to target your chest and pec. muscles without the use of weights and chest pressing machines. It’s a lightweight piece of equipment and can be customized for a number of chest workout movements.
Details
Best Selling, Top Rated Perfect Fitness Ab Carver Roller Pro, Made with Carbon Steel Spring and Ultra Wide Wheel for a Wide Range of Movement.
By: Perfect Fitness
Details
Best Selling, Top Rated Multi-Grip Chin-Up/Pull-Up Bar, Designed for Doorway Exercises, and Made of High Grade Steel, Holds up to 300 lb, Offers Multiple Grips and Variations.
By: ProSource
Details
132 Lb Barbell Dumbbell Weight Set for Curls or Squats, with Steel Rod.
By: Giantex
Details
Adjustable Dumbbells, with Quality Cast Iron Weight Plates and Solid Chrome Handles, with Sixteen 5 pound plates, Four 2.5 pound plates, and Four 1.25 pound Plates.
By: Yes4All
a few more curated collections, by The Bestlyy Editors
Continued, Part 3, 2 Great Extras
12 Best Dumbbells for Home Gym + What You Need, Basic Home Gym Equipment, Featuring The Best Equipment for a Home Gym with the Top Rated & Reviewed Fitness Gym Equipment like Dumbbells, Benches & Bowflex Machines.
Extras
12 Best Dumbbells for Home Gym + What You Need, Basic Home Gym Equipment // These are a few more great options that follow the overall qualities we looked for. We focused on the following qualities when curating for this particular selection of products:
+ Space-saving or modular design.
+ Lightweight and portable design.
+ Helps to supplement a movement or specific weighted or non-weighted exercise.
+ Well reviewed by customers (i.e., 3.5 stars and over).
*While we work to ensure the products we select possess these qualities, actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our web site. Do not rely solely on the information provided here.
Details
Best Selling, Top Rated Puzzle Exercise Mat, Made of EVA Foam, Designed with Interlocking Tiles to Protect Flooring for Gym Equipment and Cushion for Workouts, in Black.
By: ProSource
Editor's Note
A quick note: If you’re looking to purchase physical weighted plates for chest presses, dumbbell curls, squats, etc., we recommend looking into home gym floor mats. We’ve heard to many bad stories from friends who have thoroughly damaged their floors. Better safe than sorry.
Details
BD-9 Power Squat Stand with 42.75-Inch Upright Posts, Weight Catches, and Adjustable Base.
By: Valor Fitness
tags: best dumbbells for home gym, what you need to build a home gym, best basic home gym equipment, best equipment for a home gym, top rated home gym equipment, reviewed fitness gym equipment, best dumbbells, best home benches, best affordable home gym equipment
