Are you a stay at home mom or a work at home mom who wants to get in shape? Do you work outside the home but can’t find time or funds to get to the gym? Between daily responsibilities, work commitments, and kids’ schedules, getting to the gym is often the first self-care priority that we seem to push aside.

We all know how important physical fitness is to remain healthy and strong. With all the commitments that moms have during the day, how do you fit a valuable and effective workout into your full schedule?

The solution, building your own home gym.

Now, I am not suggesting buying bulky workout equipment or an elliptical. Even though you may ultimately choose to upgrade to these options in the future, it is not an essential component to getting a good workout at home. Below I will show you how you can set up a valuable home gym, at a fraction of the price of an annual gym membership.

Deciding on a Space

Choosing where you want to set up your home gym is important for anyone wanting to workout at home. The basement, garage, guest bedroom, or even a back porch are all excellence areas for exercise. Even a small area—like the living room—can double as your workout space too.

When I lived in the Midwest, a small area of my basement doubled as my home gym. When we moved out West and no longer had a basement, I used a portion of the garage as my gym. Wherever you decide to create your home gym, make it your own.

Equipment Needed for a Home Gym

The equipment that you will need depends on your goals. Here are a few ideas of equipment you may consider

Fitness balls. These big balls are great for doing abdominal workouts. Most fitness balls can be purchased for $5 to $30. Be sure to choose one that comes with a pump.

Barbell and plate set. This is an essential piece of equipment for your home gym if strength training is your primary goal. With barbell and plate set you can work your legs, back, shoulders, chest, arms, and shoulders. You can find all many plates and barbells for sale on the internet. Opt for an Olympic bar so you can rely on its sturdiness. These bars, however, are about 7ft wide make sure your home gym space is large enough to accommodate the equipment.

Hand weights. Don’t have room for a barbell and plate set? Opt for a more convenient dumbbell set in various weights. You may want to start out with light hand weights (1-2lbs) and add higher weights as your strength and fitness improves. Here is a great starter set from Amazon.

Bench. Make the most of your barbell or hand weight sets with a bench. Choose a bench that can incline and decline function. I like the RitFit Adjustable/Foldable Utility Bench for Home Gym for all of its function and compactness.

Step or box. Having a step or box can help you to get a great aerobic workout. I created THIS WORKOUT to use in conjunction with hand weights to get an amazing High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout. I used this workout exclusively for six months and lost over 40lbs!

Fitness DVDs.  Want a little guided direction to your workouts? DVDs are the answer. There are thousands of fitness programs to choose from as little as $10. You can choose from yoga, pilates, aerobic exercises, HIIT, even weight lifting DVDs. The DVDs you choose should be based on your goals and fitness level.

YouTube videos. Don’t want to spend money on DVDs or don’t have a TV and DVD player available to use in your home gym? No problem. YouTube has TONS of fitness video available on many fitness channels. Check out my article: 5 YouTube Channels for Fun At-Home Workouts.

Workout Apps. There are a multitude of fitness apps available in the app store. Here you can choose an app that fits your goals and even (with some apps) interact with others that are also working toward the same goals as you.

Creating your own home gym is exciting. You get to plan your gym space and workouts to meet your fitness needs and goals. If you start to get bored with your workouts, you can just restructure your fitness program with various new equipment, DVDs, and apps.

Now go set up the home gym of your dreams today!