Adding a fitness routine into my day-to-day life has been one of the best changes I’ve made in the past year or so.

I work out in my home basement four times a week for about an hour each day and then spend 1-2 days making sure I do a walk, hike or some other type of movement. My home workouts are usually a mix of exercises involving dumbbells, a workout bench, exercise ball, bosu ball and a lot of body weight exercises like planks. I work on a variety of body areas — back, shoulders, core, biceps, triceps, legs, and mix it up. 

Some people swear by the gym. I’m not one of those people — I would never have enough time to make it work with traveling back and forth to the gym and I don’t do well working out in big groups. The convenience of being in my own home is so amazing and I think a huge part of my ability to stay consistent with my workouts. 

Another thing that makes it so much more successful for me is definitely the gear I use and what I wear. If I’m comfortable and I have everything I could need to do a full workout and feel like I pushed myself, I’ll be successful. I started my workouts with only a yoga mat and two pairs of dumbbells. In the past 15 months, though, as I’ve upped my weights and strength, I’ve increased my workout gear to include 5-pound, 10-pound, 12-pound, 15-pound, 20-pound and 25-pound weighs. I love the Amazon brand ones in neoprene — they don’t hurt my fingers or cause blisters and they seem less awkward to hold?

(I have a life-saving, super-helpful, super-compact dumbbell holder, too).

I also love my exercise ball. I use it for a variety of body weight exercises and moves. A new addition in the last couple of months was an exercise bench. Man, I’m SO glad I got this. I can do a whole new world of exercises and tweak the areas of muscles that I’m working, too. Having a change of ‘scenery” really keeps me interested and excited about my workouts, too. I do shoulder and chest presses, butterflies, skull crushers and more on the bench. I also use it for the dreaded tricep dips, too. Resistance bands are a great way to add difficulty to basic exercises, too. I love mine from Hope Fitness Gear. My favorites are the booty bands, but all of the bands are high-quality and provide a great variety for your workouts. 

And the last equipment item I added was a birthday gift — and a great one! — of a bosu ball. I knew nothing about these but I am learning that they are a ferocious (in a good way) method of adding balance to your exercises — double the work on your muscles! I love ending my workouts with an elbow plank on this bad boy!

You can find more of my favorite workout gear plus some of my favorite workout (OK, and also everyday) clothes here. 

I post exercises and workout peeks a few times a week on my instagram, too.