Work It Out: How to Pick Equipment for Your Home Gym with Chris Dempers, ACSM EP-C

Podcast Transcript

John Horton:

Hello, and welcome to another Health Essentials Podcast. I'm John Horton, your host.

If you want to start working out more, a home gym may be the solution. Surveys show that folks with exercise equipment under the roof are more likely to break a sweat a few days a week. But what should be in your home gym to make it useful? Free weights? A treadmill? Giant rubber bands used for resistance training? And how much equipment do you really truly need to get a good workout? We've asked exercise physiologist Chris Dempers to come and spot us for the heavy lift of putting together an ideal home gym. He's one of the many trusted experts at Cleveland Clinic who visit our weekly podcast to help us become healthier versions of ourselves.

Now, let's work out these exercise equipment questions so we can actually start working out. Chris, it's always great to have you on the podcast to talk exercise and fitness. I've got to be honest, I usually leave our chats ready to go and work out.

Chris Dempers:

Hey, John, thanks for having me on today.

John Horton:

Before we start talking about exercise equipment, which is our big thing today, let's talk about exercise itself and, specifically, how few of us are doing it. A CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] report I read said that only about 1 in 4 people get the recommended amount of physical activity a week. That's not very good.

Chris Dempers:

No, that's not good at all. I feel like there's a lot of factors in that in this day and age — time restraints are one of them, economic things, people may not be able to afford gym memberships and that kind of stuff. There is definitely a decline in exercise and a rise in a lot of health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, stroke — and these are all things that can be prevented with proper exercise.

John Horton:

Well, and we're going to take a step toward that today by creating the perfect home gym for people. So what's a good place to start if you're going to look at getting a home gym going?

Chris Dempers:

One of the things you want to consider would be where are you going to put it.

John Horton:

That's a good call. You got to pick out the right spot.

Chris Dempers:

You live in a one-bedroom apartment, do you have a house with a spare bedroom or a basement or a garage gym? So there's a lot of different factors to consider, and I would go with on the side of what level of fitness-

John Horton:

…Are you at.

Chris Dempers:

So if we're talking about someone who's more of a novice, then let's start off with a smaller space, a smaller amount of equipment and work on building your way up from there. So you can do a lot with a little.

John Horton:

OK, well, and that's good news because I know a lot of people … you're cramped with space, you may have an efficiency apartment or just, like you said, you're in a one-bedroom and you need to just fit it in where you can. It sounds like there are options in those cases.

Chris Dempers:

Absolutely. And make sure the option of your space is also safe, that you're not kicking coffee tables or jumping up into a ceiling fan or anything like that. So make sure it's a nice safe environment.

John Horton:

Yeah, the ceiling fan is a good tip because I've seen enough of those videos online where people did not take that into consideration.

Chris Dempers:

Absolutely, yeah.

John Horton:

All right. So now, we've gone through our place, we found the perfect spot without ceiling fans or other things in the way, how are we going to fill it?

Chris Dempers:

You want to look at what are your fitness goals, so what type of exercise are you wanting to accomplish, and that will narrow your path of what type of equipment do you need to get. Prime example, if you live in a second-floor studio apartment, buying 500 pounds of bumper plates in a bar, doing powerlifting in your living room — probably not a good idea.

John Horton:

Your neighbors wouldn't like it, that's for sure.

Chris Dempers:

No, definitely not. Definitely not. But it's what type of fitness you want to accomplish. Once again, let's start off with the novice, the beginner. So if they're just looking at getting in better physical shape, the basics, let's drop a little bit of weight, let's increase a little bit of muscle mass, just try to become a little bit overall healthier. So once you have that in place, we can start looking at all the fun toys.

John Horton:

All right. Well, let's talk fun toys here. So we're going to start picking things out. What are some basic items people should consider depending on what they're looking to do?

Chris Dempers:

So some of the basic items would be small dumbbells, bands, yoga balls, medicine balls, kettlebells, jump ropes. So these are all easily you can tuck them away in a closet, underneath a bed — not going to take up a ton of space and very affordable items.

John Horton:

Now, when you start talking about the dumbbells and the kettlebells and things like that, how much weight do you need? Or is this the sort of thing where if you're just looking to get a little home gym set up, you could go less weight and you just look to do more with reps as opposed to lifting trucks?

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, and at that point, starting with that novice person, building up that muscular endurance, so doing higher repetition exercises would require a less amount of weight. Average male, I would recommend anywhere from five pounds to about 20, 25 pounds weights. There's a lot you can do. Average female, I would say anywhere from the three pounds to about 15 pounds.

John Horton:

Those are some great tips because I think everyone … you worry about that, you get there and they got that entire, at the store, the huge selection of them and you don't know what you really should have, what you need.

Chris Dempers:

And you can utilize all those dumbbells for a total body exercise. So it's not just using them for your arms, you can hold them and do squats, you can do lunges, you can do weighted ab crunches with them, so they become very versatile. So that's where you'd want something a little bit on the lower weight and work your way up higher.

John Horton:

Now, they're going to start looking at some bigger equipment, you have a little more space, is this where you start looking at maybe treadmills or weight benches and things like that?

Chris Dempers:

Yeah. So if you do have the space and you're looking at making that investment, the bigger the pieces of equipment come with a cost as well. So pretty much anything you see in a commercial gym, you can now buy at home. So a lot of these companies make home gym equipment. So you can get really sturdy squat racks, your top-of-the-line. If you are a marathon runner and you live in an environment where it's cold eight months out of the year, where I used to live up in Canada, purchasing a higher-grade treadmill to run inside would be beneficial for you.

John Horton:

So it sounds like you really do need to tailor it to what you want to do and then go and pick that equipment out.

Chris Dempers:

Exactly.

John Horton:

Now, since cost is always an issue, are there certain things that are just a low price tag sort of item that you should get and you're going to get a lot of bang for your buck out of them?

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, I'll do you one better, free.

John Horton:

Well, I love free.

Chris Dempers:

It's the body you're given, so bodyweight exercises — you can come up with a phenomenal routine just using your own body weight. Prime example, pause the podcast right now, start off with three sets of push-ups, 10 repetitions, three sets of squats, 10 repetitions, three sets of sit-ups, 10 repetitions — guarantee your heart rate's going to get up.

John Horton:

Wow. So it's that simple?

Chris Dempers:

Yep. You're utilizing your own body weight, it's still going to develop strength, endurance, burn calories. So just using the body you've been given.

John Horton:

Do you need to go and look to buy the benches that you see with a lot of stuff or can you just use what you have?

Chris Dempers:

For the most part, you can use what you have, depends on what you're looking at getting into. So if you do want more of that standard — you want to do some chest press, like with the dumbbells — I would recommend one of those benches. It's going to make it a little bit safer. Your foot ottoman might not be as sturdy as you think.

John Horton:

Are there other things that you should look at when purchasing equipment — versatility, size, construction — what sort of things are tops on your list?

Chris Dempers:

A lot of places do sell home equipment, so you've got your sporting goods stores, like Play It Again Sports, DICK'S Sporting Goods, even Walmart, Target — they'll have some equipment there. The nice thing about that is you actually get to visibly see it in person, feel and touch it. You can gauge the quality of the materials. Now, when you order online, you're relying on the reviews and, hopefully, you get a decent product, but do your research — there's a lot of good companies out there.

John Horton:

I got to say, you've really made it seem very simple as to what it would take to put together a home gym. It sounds like you don't need much.

Chris Dempers:

You can do a lot with a little, just a combination of bands, some dumbbells, some kettlebells and there are hundreds of different variations of exercises you can utilize with those.

John Horton:

What are a couple of things that nobody thinks of getting that they might really need and use in a home gym setup?

Chris Dempers:

As we start exercising, recovery is also part of the process. So a lot of people forget about stretching. Two things I would recommend would be one of the stretching straps, but you can also go on a cheaper route — you can use a belt or a towel to aid with that, you can wrap it around your ankle to help with hamstring stretching. And then also a foam roller. So you can roll out those knots and those muscles using tennis balls, using lacrosse balls, get those stubborn knots on your back, a lot of little tools like that, but adding the stretching component in with the strengthening component, you're going to feel a lot better.

John Horton:

Should you invest in a mat? I know you see that a lot.

Chris Dempers:

Yeah. Once again, it depends on the exercises you're doing, what type of flooring you're going to be on, exercise mats are very important. So if you're going to be doing more of a yoga, the grippiness of that mat will help prevent you from sliding off. Also, having a mat with the dumbbells, placing it back down on the mat … I know, if I were to do it on my hardwood floor at home, my wife would kill me, so having a mat down would be nice.

John Horton:

Well, I got to say, I'm a pretty sweaty guy, so I think my wife would want me to have something down just so I'm not dripping on the carpet or anything like that, too. In a lot of gyms, I know you see mirrors. Is there a value in getting that so you can watch yourself work out and really look at your form and how you're doing it?

Chris Dempers:

So you get a lot of the misconception on why do they have mirrors in there. Is it this ego thing? Everybody's just staring at themselves.

John Horton:

It's not just people checking themselves out, right? Not vanity?

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, there's a lot of that. They typically have their phones out taking selfies, but it is to watch your form. So form is really important through the exercise process. Improper form is going to lead to a higher risk of injury. Even starting off with a just standard tall mirror, do your workouts in front of that, watch your technique, watch your form. Nice thing, too, is there's a lot of YouTube videos out there on different exercise programs, so try to mimic what the instructor's doing.

John Horton:

So you were talking home gym, you had mentioned gym memberships earlier, what are the pros and cons of a home gym versus the membership?

Chris Dempers:

I would say convenience factor. So nowadays, a lot more people are commuting to work, so how much time are you willing to designate to working out? So if you're going to go work out for the recommended 30 to 40 minutes and you got a 15-, 20-minute commute there and back, so you're looking at a two-hour window, now you need designated for the gym. And I don't know about you, I barely have 20 minutes to eat my food at lunch, so having a two-hour window set aside in the day for that gets a little hard for people. And then also, the cost of gym memberships. And then, you have to be going all the time. Maybe your schedule is so inconsistent that by the time you're done work, the gym's closed.

John Horton:

Well, and it sounds like even if you have it available there, even if you don't have a huge block of time, if you just go in, if you can get a 10-, 15-minute workout in, there's value in doing that.

Chris Dempers:

Oh, absolutely. It's some movements better than no movement, but if you have the home gym, then you can set aside a time whenever you want.

John Horton:

Chris, ahead of this podcast, we asked folks on Cleveland Clinic's various social media channels if they had home gym questions, and what do you know? They did. So if you're ready, let's tackle a few of them.

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, absolutely.

John Horton:

All right. One of our listeners wants to know if they can just forget any sort of equipment and just create an area where they can focus on bodyweight exercises, which I think you already said was a good idea, but is there a special tip they should know about doing that?

Chris Dempers:

Absolutely, bodyweight exercises are a great way to start, very cost-effective. Now, as you get accustomed to it, things get easier, you want to challenge yourself a little bit more. What I would recommend the next step-up would be a suspension trainer. So you're still utilizing your body weight, but now you're at different angles, so it does cause a little bit more tension on the muscle.

John Horton:

So, if you could really briefly describe what suspension training is?

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, so suspension training is, I guess the easiest way to describe it, most people have seen the Olympic rings, so the system's like that. One of the most popular ones is called the TRX. So they have two handles, they're typically going to be attached to a door, or you can wrap it around a pull-up bar. You want something sturdy that's not going to give way as you're leaning against it with your body weight. So they do have little attachments for that.

John Horton:

Now, if you are going to go the body weight route and not do the equipment, is it still important to set a dedicated area up just so that way you have a zone that you go to where it's like now it's workout time?

Chris Dempers:

Absolutely. Routine is really essential to getting in the habit of exercise. So trying to designate a specific time every day or every other day, whatever your routine's going to be and have that area is going to get you in that habit, and it's more likely that you're going to stick with that habit going forward.

John Horton:

Another question that got thrown our way involved walking pads. There are cool little things that you're starting to see in team online meetings and things like that. They wanted to know if they are worth buying.

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, absolutely, I think they are. It gives you that option during moments where you normally would be sedentary, now you're at least burning some calories. It's not going to replace, I would say, running outside, but during a time where you're not normally burning calories, and then, now you are, will aid in weight reduction.

John Horton:

And this last question involves somebody who's looking at their wallet and they want to know if they can look to health insurance to cover the cost of exercise equipment.

Chris Dempers:

Oh, good old health insurance, right?

John Horton:

Yeah, you want it to cover everything, but... So can you get help here?

Chris Dempers:

Short answer, not really.

John Horton:

OK, probably not.

Chris Dempers:

Probably not. There are instances, if there is a script … so if they're going through physical therapy, occupational therapy, home health stuff, there may be a possibility to have some of that equipment written off. But what some of the insurance providers are doing, they are offering, under certain plans, gym memberships. So essentially, they will reimburse the fitness center for your attendance at the gym.

John Horton:

Well, that's something I guess, so you take what you can get.

Chris Dempers:

Absolutely.

John Horton:

All right. Well, Chris, you've given us a ton of information and I feel like we've done some seriously heavy lifting today when it comes to putting together a home gym. So before we part ways, do you have anything else to add about setting up a home workout space?

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, I think everybody can do it. Even those who do attend a fitness center on a regular basis, there's days where you might be a little too busy and you can still do something at home. So there is no reason not to exercise. You can always designate a small space to get some sort of exercise in that day. The big thing is just keep moving. And the more we move, the healthier you're going to become.

John Horton:

All right. Well, I feel like I'm ready now to go dust off the weights that I have right over there as soon as we're done here, but I appreciate you coming on and inspiring us all to get a little healthier.

Chris Dempers:

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, John. I appreciate these opportunities to come on here.

John Horton:

With all the fitness equipment options out there, putting together a home gym can seem overwhelming. Narrow down your choices by focusing on what you want to do in your exercise space, then fill in the gaps with some basic items that fit into most workout plans. Once that's done, get ready to get sweaty.

If you liked what you heard today, please hit the subscribe button and leave a comment to share your thoughts. Until next time, be well.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for listening to Health Essentials, brought to you by Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Children's. To make sure you never miss an episode, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or visit clevelandclinic.org/hepodcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your own physician.