THE BEST
1 - Iron Gym pull-up bar, £15 The Iron Gym bar slots across a doorway in seconds and it’s perfect for high-rep sessions. Instead of three sets of ten, use world record holder John Bocek’s system. “Do two to three reps every three seconds,” says Bocek. “Repeat for ten to 20 minutes.” Simple, but effective.
2 - Wolverson gymnastics rings, £40
Cheaper than a suspension trainer and more versatile. Loop them round the pull-up bar or tree branch in your garden and use them for chin-ups, press-ups, dips and inverted rows to reduce the stress on your elbows and wrists, and to make the moves tougher.
3 - Ab mat, £8 Your lower back is important, so invest in it: an abs mat takes the strain off your spine while forcing your core to work instead of your hip flexors during sit-ups. Use for leg raises, V-sits and lower ab sculpting hollow rocks.
4 - Trigger Point massage ball, £7.86 Tight muscles and poor mobility are a lethal combo for daily pain and injury. Massage away the risk in front of the TV. Tube-shaped foam rollers are perfect for large muscles like the hamstrings, calves and quads, but this ball will target tissue that needs pinpoint attention – especially your glutes.
THE WORST
1 - Slendertone Abs Toner, £129.99 Sit back, put your feet up, crack open a can, drizzle turkey fat down your pie hole and smile smugly, because those electric shocks zapping your stomach are doing all the fat-burning, muscle-building work for you. Right? Wrong. Save your cash – and your heart – with ANYTHING else.
2 - Davina Aerobic Exercise Hula Hoop, £13 - We aren't dissing hula hooping, we are saying your home is better suited to other exercises. If you’ve got the space and rhythmic co-ordination to lasso this home-wrecking contraption about your sitting room… well, you’d be better off doing a bodyweight circuit of lunges, squats and star jumps and saving the gyrating for your favourite night spot.
3 - Shake Weight Female Exerciser, £20 - Ladies, vigorously shaking your hand up and down, side to side will not make you fit and could give you carpal tunnel syndrome. Besides, men have been following this training protocol for a millennia but there’s still plenty of fat tossers out there.
4 - Chair Gym, £70 Haven’t you heard? Chairs are worse than smoking and will categorically (NB not categorically) give you cancer. No matter how you try to dress them up with pulleys, handles, bells and whistles. Plus it doesn’t even swivel. No fun.
See the December 2015 issue of Men's Fitness, out now, for great ideas for home exercise kit gym-free workouts.
This content is from the experts at Men's Fitness magazine.
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