I received an email advertisement this morning about a fitness equipment special. It made me laugh:

fitness equip sale

Only $23,100! For 14 pieces of equipment that each only does one thing (poorly at that). Oh and then consider how much space I’d need in my gym to house this $23,100 of almost useless equipment.

I looked around my gym and thought about what I would include in a “14 piece circuit”. This is what I selected:

wpid-IMAG2214.jpg
14 piece circuit for $1,188.

The 14 piece circuit I selected includes:

  1. TRX suspension trainer
  2. Barbell
  3. 45# plate
  4. 45# plate
  5. 25# plate
  6. 25# plate
  7. 10# plate
  8. 10# plate
  9. Bench
  10. 20# Kettlebell (KB)
  11. 30# KB
  12. 40# KB
  13. 50# KB
  14. 12″ plyo box

This was a quick decision and I tried to not include big ticket items like a functional trainer. You can accomplish a whole lot with the 14 items I selected! Oh, and you can buy it all for $1,188 instead of $23,100. I suppose technically I cheated as I didn’t include collars for the barbell. Realistically I would have included a chin up bar instead of the plyo box, but my chin up bars are attached to the power rack so visually I couldn’t swing it. I do love the plyo box though as it can be very helpful as a check for improving quality on things like goblet squats: A bench is generally too high for that.

Foam roll would be the next item I’d add, then a few mini-bands, and if I could expand a bit further I would buy a carabiner and strap to use for adding weight to inverted rows, hip lifts, and chinups. This would add about another $75.

What would you include in a 14 piece circuit, and would it “only” cost $23,100?

Elsbeth Vaino, CSCS, is a personal trainer in Ottawa who is currently shopping for some new equipment for her imminent expansion, but doesn’t intend to spend $23,100.

2 Comments

  1. It is true that lots of equipment is peddled that no one really needs. Because i travel quite a bit i am always far away from a home gymn. I’ve taken up calisthenics but i’m sure my gains are slower than they would be if i was using the right equipment

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