The best cheap piece of fitness equipment I’ve ever bought on Amazon, for myself or someone else, wasn’t one of the best fitness trackers. It wasn’t a yoga mat, weight set, or even a great discount on one of the best treadmills or other cardio machines. It costs less than $30 (about £25 in the UK or AU$45 in Australia), is easy to use, weighs practically nothing, and essentially acts as a beginner’s home gym.
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If you are just starting out on your fitness journey and are interested in building even a small amount of muscle, the best advice I can give you is to purchase a full set of resistance bands or tubes. they are great. Really, really great, and I couldn’t recommend them enough. If you were to limit me to just one type of fitness kit for the rest of my life—aside from the best running shoes, and maybe a pullup bar—I’d probably choose resistance bands.
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Resistance bands come in different shapes and sizes. Some are simple short loops, and they work well, but the combos I like to use are tubes of different strengths that end in hooks. These hooks can be attached to handles, ankle straps, or a retainer that can be attached behind a closed door.
What you end up getting is a kit that costs less than a round of drinks, but can replicate the effects of any cable- or heavy-duty gym equipment. The resistance bands can be rolled up and fit in any gym bag or backpack, making them perfect for when you’re on the go. You can work out in a hotel, gym, in the park, or at home. If you use a pull-up bar, you can use resistance bands to help bear some of your weight as you work up to unassisted pull-ups.
And if you’re a fitness newbie, home is where the bands really shine. The insane portability of the bands means you can get a full strength workout with no bulky, unwieldy machines or weights taking up a large portion of your floor space. It’s also a less intimidating and possibly safer way to start building muscle.
No matter your fitness level, building and maintaining some muscle is very important, especially if you’re looking to stay healthy in your early years. As you age, your muscles begin to thin out, shrink and shrink, undergoing a process known as muscular atrophy. Fortunately, resistance training can help slow and reverse this process.
Research from McMaster University, Canada (Opens in a new tab) “Resistance training combined with timely protein intake…may represent a very effective treatment strategy to counteract muscle wasting associated with aging and chronic disease,” he says. A strong body means climbing stairs, maintaining grip strength, and improving circulation well into your twilight years.
Some older people may not want to lift heavy things, especially if they have been sedentary for a long time. Elastic resistance bands are often offered as a cheaper and safer alternative to heavy metal or plastic weights. And for more experienced lifters looking for an at-home workout solution, you can simply double up the bands to make it harder to push or pull with increased resistance. This means that one set of bands will last years of practice.
Even though January is coming to an end, it’s never too late to make a change for 2023. For $30 / £25 / AU$45, you’ll never get better value for your money than this.