Using Your Mass: The Best Options For Bodyweight Equipment

Going to the gym can be time-consuming and home gyms can be expensive but that doesn't mean that you can't get a great workout at home.

Bodyweight exercises and Calisthenics can be a great way to build strength, tone muscle, and burn fat just the same as using weights.

You can begin bodyweight exercises with little to no equipment. However, once you're comfortable and looking for a challenge, several pieces of gear will help create more opportunities to add variety to your workout routine.

Popular Bodyweight Equipment

As the name implies, bodyweight exercises use your own weight as resistance but in order to target particular muscle groups it may be necessary to use certain equipment to achieve the proper position to begin the exercise.

Equipment such as pull-up bars and dip bars help put the body in a stable position from which you can safely perform the exercise. While Equipment such as weighted vests and Resistance Bands can make the workout a little more challenging. Here are some of the most popular pieces of equipment for body-weight exercises adn their most appropriate uses.

Below you will see some popular bodyweight equipment that we think is a great start for someone looking to start a home fitness routine. Resistance bands are an amazing versatile tool that store better then any other piece of equipment. The ab wheel is the best way to achieve a high intesity core workout. Paralettes or push-up handles open the way for entry to advanced calisthenics movements and still come in the form of lightweight objects that can be put aside and out of mind. For all the reasons stated above, we highly recomend these to be strongly considered to be an addition to your home gym.

Rogue Paralette Set

  • Highly Durable
  • No Flexing Or Creaking
  • Smooth Handles For Damage Free Hands

Rogue Ab Roller

  • Rounded Wheel For Easy Pivoting And Turning
  • High Weight Capacity

Synergee Mini Bands

  • Easy Storage
  • Variety of Different Resistances

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Weighted Vests

These vests are designed for intermediate to experienced fitness buffs who require a little more challenge for their workout. Heavier people burn more calories during their workouts because it takes more energy to move their bodies. Weighted Vests work on the same principle, increasing the mass you need to move during your workout, and burning more calories as a result.

Exercises: Anything that you feel could be more challenging

Rogue Plate Carrier Weighted Vest 

Durable High Quality Vest

If your in the market for a good quality weighted vest that keeps the weight close to your center of mass for a more secure feel, this may be the choice for you.

This vest can be loaded with Rogue's cast iron weight plates or the budget echo plates. The difference between them is the echo plates are not as accurately weighted as the cast iron version. So if your on a budget and are not concerned with the weight being off by a pound or two, probably go with the echo variant to save some change.

The design of this vest is based around being simple and close to your body, to simulate the base movement as closely as possible.

the plates you can load the vest with range from 5 to 20lbs, and the vest can fit two at once. With a max load of 40lbs.

Pros

  • Minimalistic to eliminate excess bulk 
  • Military grade fabric

Cons

  • Front heavy
Weighted Belts

Similar to the Weighted Vests, these belts are designed to hang weight off them to increase the resistance for exercises such as pull-ups and dips. Again, it's important to have mastery over your own body weight before including extra weight into your routine.

Exercises: Various pull-ups and chin-ups, Dips

Rogue Dip Belt

Simple Strong Choice

Rogue's high quality dip belt is an amazing tool to further your progression in key calisthenic and gymnastic movements.

It has an incredibly high weight capacity with strong stitching, ensuring that it can handle heavy weight and last you a very long time.

It comes with strong D-shaped carabiners with 30'' of chain. The heavy duty nylon belt itself is 3'' wide and 30.5'' long, with added padding on the back for comfort.

As far as good quality dip belts go, Rogue stands above the rest. I would highly recomend this for people interested in pushing the upper limits of bodyweight exercises.


Pros

  • Extremely durable design 
  • Back pad for comfort
  • 29,400lbs weight capacity (ridiculous I know)

Cons

  • Fits better for larger people
Pull-Up Bars

These bars are designed to be mounted on your door frame, wall or ceiling and provide an anchor point for pull-up and chin-up exercises. Pull-ups and chin-ups are challenging exercises that require a certain amount of strength and stability in order to perform them efficiently. Having a dedicated bar makes it easier to get into the right posture and execute the exercise accurately.

Exercises: Various Pull-ups and Chin-ups.

Rogue P-3 Pull-Up System

Strong Wall Mounted Pull-Up Bar

The pull-up is a staple movement for upper body strength. It incorporates a large variety of muscles, decompresses the spine, and trains grip strength. With Rogue's wall mounted pull-up bar, you can start your training today on a durable 11 gauge steel bar that can handle more weight then you would ever need.

This bar can be mounted on 16'' stud centers for a customizable width up to 48''. It has the option of being mounted on a wall or a ceiling depending on your specific requirements. If mounted from the ceiling the distance from ceiling to bar will be 14'' or 22'' depending on where u set the bar.the bar itself comes 52'' as the standard option, but the mount is designed to fit 1''-1.25'' pipe that you can pick up at your local hardware store, should you require a custom length.

If your looking for a sturdy choice with no flex with no worrying about it coming down on your head, this is a great option.

Pros

  • Sturdy powerful mounting method 
  • Most durable option available

Cons

  • Semi permanent mounting method
Dip Bars

These are U-shaped bars that surround the user at the waist creating a stable starting position to support the user's weight when performing dips and various other exercises. Dips are often considered as one of the best upper body exercises because they engage multiple muscle groups in one exercise. Dip bars are not limited to dips and offer a variety of other exercises to be performed and can even be used as a less practical "Captain's Chair"

Exercises: Dips, Handstand pushups, leg raises, knee raises, etc

Synergee Adjustable Dip Station

Sturdy Modestly Priced Choice

A good set of adjustable dip bars will open up your choices in calisthenic movements. You can perform not only dips but also bodyweight rows, L-sits, front lever holds, and more.

Its also a good piece of equipment for training beginner movements like push-ups and squats. So those of you looking for equipment for rehabilitation or strength maintenance should consider these.

However, this can also be used as a tool by advanced calisthenics practitioners aswell. Front and back lever holds aswell as the planche hold and push-up variations. Ultimately, if used properly this piece of equipment has plenty of potential strength progression in the form of many different full body exercises.

This product sports a footprint of 27'' by 20.5'' and an adjustable height of 30 - 39'' each. The weight capacity of each is 400lbs so no worries there.

Pros

  • High variety in a sturdy package 
  • Good weight capacity

Cons

  • Awkward to store
Plyo Box

Plyometric boxes are great for building explosive muscular power and strength. These boxes come in various heights, allowing the user to progress or regress exercises as necessary. They are especially useful for box jumps, tuck jumps, and various other plyometric exercises which can help build explosive leg strength, power, and endurance.

Exercises: Box Jumps, Box Squats, Step ups, incline/decline pushups, glute bride, leapfrogs

Synergee 3-In-One Plyo Box

Built In Height Adjustment

A plyo box is a great tool for many different athletic movements or for high intensity aerobic routines. Box jumps and plyo push-ups are some examples of explosive exercises that are used to improve movements like vertical jump height and punching power.

For the average person who is more concerned with burning calories and muscle retention, a plyo box can be used to perform low height box jumps, box step-ups, bulgarian split squats, box dips, decline push-ups and more.

This plyo box from synergee comes in a compact package and is easy to put together. once in one piece it has 3 different heights depending on the side it is sitting on.

the smallest you can get comes in 12-14-16'' and the largest you can get comes in 20-24-30''. It also has a rubber coating to prevent accidents due to slippage.


Pros

  • Comes apart for easy storage  
  • Non-slip rubber coating

Cons

  • Taking it apart is difficult
Gymnastic Rings

Gymnastic rings are suspension training tools that can be used to perform a large variety of exercises. They provide an unstable environment much like balance boards, which helps to activate more muscles than traditional bodyweight exercises and helps to create balance and strength in the arms, shoulders, chest, back, and core. Gymnastic Rings are a truly powerful piece of equipment unrivaled in their versatility and come highly recommended if you can find the space for them. 

Rogue Echo Gymnastic Rings

Great for Calisthenics

Gymnastic rings are not only used for highly technical gymnastic movements, though if that's what your looking for, these are great high quality option. Gymnastic rings also can be used as a simple variation of many strength building and hypertrophy focused movements.

Rogue's echo rings are made in the USA with strong weather resistance plastic, capable of outdoor use. They come in the standard ring size with 1.25'' diameter handles.

This tool is easily one of the most versatile pieces of equipment out there, and its very easy to store and keep out of the way. to get the most out of it you will need to find a way to hang these from a ceiling, rafter or bar. Keeping in mind that your intention is to hang your entire bodyweight from whatever it is you end up using.

Pros

  • High variety of exercise selection  
  • Compact easy to store tool

Cons

  • Some kind of strong overhead mounting method needed to use effectively

Which Piece of Equipment is Best for Me?

There is no correct answer here as each piece of equipment has it's own particular use, however the best piece of equipment would be the one that expands and challenges your workout routine the most.

For example, If you are somebody who enjoys training abs, then a balance board would be a great addition and add levels of difficulty to various exercises. Push-ups and squats on a balance board will add significant difficulty and train your abs to reach new levels.

Bodyweight exercises are efficient on their own but can really shine when combined with a piece of equipment. Use this to your advantage and pick up equipment as your individual muscle groups get stronger and figure out which pieces of equipment will benefit you most.

Are Bodyweight Exercises Right for Me?

Yes, body-weight exercises are a fantastic starting point for people of all fitness levels.  These exercises come with minimal risk of injury and can easily be adapted to suit individual needs by adding resistance, weight, or adjusting position. Whether you are looking to improve your strength, flexibility, and balance, or just trying to stay active; bodyweight exercises provide a great foundation for all types of workouts.  Plus the best part is that they require very little to no equipment.

Denver Matheson
 

I spend a lot of time at the gym and even more time in the kitchen giving my body what it needs to repair itself and grow stronger. The third most important place for any athlete is their research zone. That's exactly why this site exists, to help me share all of the information I've learned throughout the years just like people did for me in the first place!

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