Six leading personal trainers have shared their top recommendations for home fitness equipment, emphasising versatility and lifestyle integration. Dalton Wong, who trains elite athletes and actors, advises focusing on strength, flexibility and mobility indoors, while doing most cardiovascular exercise outside. He suggests investing in three categories: resistance (weights, bands or gliders), restorative (yoga mat), and regenerative items (tennis ball, foam roller or massage gun).
Ty Paul, who works with Olympic athletes and Premier League footballers, says to choose equipment that can serve multiple fitness goals and age groups. Wong highlights the weighted vest as a versatile tool for burning extra calories throughout the day and increasing resistance during squats, lunges or push-ups. A tennis ball, he notes, is excellent for releasing tight muscles in the feet, glutes and back.
Former Olympic triple-jumper Michelle Griffith Robinson, now a trainer specialising in perimenopausal and menopausal women, stresses the importance of building muscle through bodyweight exercises before adding weights. She recommends press-ups against the wall, squats and step-ups on stairs. For those following online videos, she advises checking the trainer’s qualifications and reputation.
Skipping ropes are praised by both Wong and Griffith Robinson as a portable tool that can significantly improve fitness in just ten minutes a day. Griffith Robinson also notes it is beneficial for pelvic floor control. She warns against ab stimulator machines, noting they are ineffective unless combined with proper diet and exercise, and that medical-grade versions are expensive.
Griffith Robinson advises strengthening the core naturally using a skipping rope held taut in a squat position, or using planks with correct form, instead of ab rollers which can shorten hip flexors. All trainers agree that the best kit is the one you will actually use consistently as part of your daily routine.
