Best Home Exercise Equipment for Weight Loss

What is the best home exercise equipment for weight loss?

There are two basic fundamental principles in weight loss and you already know them: diet and exercise.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on exercise… more specifically, equipment that will assist in your weight loss.

These will be centered around those that focus on cardio as they help elevate your heart rate much better than any strength training equipment.

Jump Ropes

They’re cheap, they’re safe, and you can use them anywhere (as long as you don’t have neighbors downstairs).  Even if you’ve never used a jump rope a day in your life, they’re so simple to use, most of you can be skipping within an hour.

But these aren’t the only reasons – the best reward is its ability to burn calories.

Information is scattered across the internet telling us how many calories can actually be burned but unfortunately, there is no set or defined calorie count.   

According to Medical News Today, a 160 pound individual can burn about 291 calories by using the jump rope for 30 minutes.

An important point to remember. When you factor in your weight, intensity level, and duration, skipping can comparatively burn more calories than any other equipment.

They’re undeniably one of the most effective tools if used consistently.

With prices starting from a few dollars, there’s really no excuse not to use them.

There are some things you want to consider when shopping, however:

• Adjustability – Make sure they’re adjustable for obvious reasons.
• Weight – Jump ropes come in various weights.  Stick to the minimum/light ropes unless you’re more advanced. 
• Material – This is just a matter of preference.  They come in pvc, polyester, or cotton.  Just an fyi, the pvc tends to hurt the most on your ankles.

Battle Ropes

Battle ropes are a relatively new form of cardio workout that came into popularity around 2010.  

The basics behind it is waving or slamming heavy ropes for a period of time to elevate your heart rate. 

This is one piece of equipment that will require some room as the length of the ropes range anywhere from 30 to 50 feet.  

Unless you have a large home, you’ll probably need to do this outdoors and if you don’t have anywhere to anchor to anything,  you just need a post, tree, or any other object you can wrap the rope around.

There’s really no definitive study that reveals the amount of calories you can burn but by factoring heart rate, you can probably expect to burn up to 300 calories for a half hour workout.

Heavy Punching Bags

Put on a pair of boxing gloves and hit a bag consistently with some effort for 30 seconds.  

Breathing hard? Feel your heart rate spike?

There’s a reason why boxers use heavy bags ‒ improving strength, cardio, weight loss, and a multitude of other benefits.

Use it to punch and kick but move around.  Being stationary while hitting the bag isn’t going to produce results.  You need to put effort into your workout.  

Depending on the weight of the bag, you can hang them virtually anywhere.  Or make it convenient for yourself and get a stand.

Data from Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services indicates that a 190 lb. individual can expect to burn about 518 calories per hour.  Of course, that’s dependent on effort and movement.

Indoor Bikes

Everyone knows spin bikes are a great cardio tool.

Next to skipping, they’re one of the safest and effective equipment you can use to lose weight.

Most indoor bikes allow you to monitor your progress, track your time, cadence (RPM), calories, distance, and a slew of other important data.

Now, the new “connected” bikes also provide access to live and on-demand classes available 24-7 for a monthly subscription.

There’s no doubt bikes can be a fat burning furnace.  They say an average person at an average pace can burn about 500 calories an hour on an indoor bike.  Pick up the pace to reduce the time and increase your calories.

Treadmills

Walking is probably one of the most underrated forms of exercise.  

It’s one of the safest and easiest ways to lose weight.  And if you so choose, you can increase its effectiveness by ramping up the level of intensity by walking up a hill, add ankle weights, carry dumbbells, etc..,

And like most equipment, treadmills now come with smart technology connecting the equipment to the internet allowing the user to stream on-demand and live classes.

To figure out the amount of calories you can burn during a walk, you can use the following formula:

calories burned = BMR x METs/24 x hour

Rower

You don’t have to be an Olympian or join crew to get into rowing.

With the rowing machine, the experience and big benefits are brought into your home.

And thanks to CrossFit, it’s become a popular choice among those looking for a full body exercise with minimal impact.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, the average user can burn anywhere between 200 to 400 calories in 30 minutes depending on weight and intensity.

Even Oprah is familiar with the benefits of rowers and added the Hydrow Live Outdoor Reality Rower to her list of favorite things for 2021.

Elliptical

Ellipticals are great alternatives to treadmills with some added benefits – they reduce the impact you typically get from treadmills and condition the arms.

In terms of weight loss, some will argue in favor of treadmills but a number of studies have revealed that there is no significant difference in the amount of calories burned.

So, it’s really a matter of preference.

You can expect to burn approximately 250 to almost 400 calories in about 30 minutes.

One important factor to consider is the length of the stride.  Your height will determine the optimal stride length when shopping for an elliptical.