Why You Can Trust CNET 5 great additions to your home gym for $30 or less
Take your workouts up a notch with affordable pull-up bars, resistance bands, cordless jump ropes and more.
It's still not safe to go to a gym. And while there are plenty of ways to exercise at home for free, you might find yourself missing certain equipment: weights, pull-up bars and so on. Thankfully, you can build out your home gym without spending a lot. Below I've rounded up five great workout items, all priced $30 or less.
Note that the prices listed here are correct at the time of this writing, but are subject to change. Same goes for availability: Everything is currently in stock, but products sometimes sell out.
Jumping rope is one of the all-time great cardio exercises, whether as a warm-up or just part of your overall circuit. But unless you have a space with high ceilings, it's tough to do indoors.
Problem solved: This kit includes a "cordless" option, meaning the plastic rope can be replaced with a pair of short cords, each with a ball on the end. Now you can get the effect of jumping a rope, just without the actual rope. (This is great for beginners, too, as there's nothing to trip over.)
One of the handles has a built-in digital counter as well; it can display number of jumps, calories burned and so on.
The rope listed here is one of dozens available from Amazon; it's among the cheapest, but if it sells out, you can find lots of similar ones priced around $15-$20.
I always thought this was kind of a silly thing to buy -- until I started doing certain kinds of workouts. High-intensity interval training, dips, push-ups... those exercises and more all benefit from one of these platforms.
This is one of the least expensive steppers I've found (many similar ones run $40-$60), and I like it because it lets you adjust the height: 4, 6 or 8 inches.
These travel-friendly tubes may seem overly basic, but they let you perform a surprisingly wide range of exercises -- everything from curls and rows to flys and presses. This set comes with a door anchor, hand grips and ankle straps.
Use promo code CNETFBNDS to get this for just $16 shipped. Amazon is home to many virtually identical products, but most of them are priced $5-$15 higher.
This "door gym" is great if you're missing the pull-up station at the gym. Just place it over a door frame and you're good to go; it's just as easy to remove when you're done.
The bar offers five different grips, meaning you can do a variety of chin-ups, pull-ups and even leg-lifts. You can also set it on the ground and use it for mixed-grip push-ups. I've owned something similar for years and consider it essential home-gym gear.
A medicine ball makes a great addition to any ab workout, and Target has the best prices anywhere: $13 for the 6-pounder and just $25 for the 15. (The ball is available in 8, 10 and 12 pounds as well, and priced accordingly.) They're almost double if purchased directly from Century.
I haven't tried one myself, but the user reviews are overwhelmingly positive.
So there you have it, five super cheap (but super worthwhile) additions to your home gym. Have you found other affordable exercise gear you'd like to recommend? Hit the comments!
CNET's Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on tech products and much more. For the latest deals and updates, follow him on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up for deal texts delivered right to your phone. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and check out our CNET Coupons page for the latest Walmart discount codes, eBay coupons, Samsung promo codes and even more from hundreds of other online stores. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Answers live on our FAQ page.