This is a guide to help you identify the best pieces of indoor gymnastics equipment on the market, without causing you to spend too much money if you decide to invest in them.
There’s a variety of different forms of indoor exercise that you could go down: improving your flexibility with stretching; getting your muscles more toned and stronger; getting fitter with some indoor cardiovascular exercises like cheerleading.
In the era of the coronavirus pandemic, gym closures loom seemingly indefinitely, so investing in some indoor equipment means that you can keep yourself in shape and healthy without relying on the fate of public amenities in these famously-unprecedented times.
Equally, your own having gymnastic equipment to hand means that you do not have to worry about subscriptions to health centers or equivalent, and you’ll be able to plan your exercise routine solely around your own needs, not having to worry about transport or whether the gym will be open.
With all these factors in mind, it’s worth your time to at least familiarise yourself with what options you have available for doing your exercise indoors: this article will hopefully help you to do so.
Top 7 Pieces of Gymnastic Equipment
1. FC FUNCHEER 9FT Folding Floor Gymnastics Equipment
Product Description
This piece of equipment is essentially a beam that lies on the floor, on which you can practice different forms of balancing, from complex maneuvers like headstands and jump-to-balance moves to simply walking along the 9-foot base.
The beam is an impressive 9ft long but comes in two halves, which are securely joined together via corresponding velcro textures at the end of each piece.
This makes it easy to clear up and store away, so this piece is great for those who cannot dedicate an entire room to exercising in. And what’s more, if space is really at a premium where you live, you could feasibly just use one half of the beam instead.
It’s a great piece for beginners and children: it does not require massive financial investment or a huge amount of space, and its soft texture and lightweight mean that chances of injury are lessened.
2. Double Circle Wood Gymnastic Rings
Product Description
These gymnastic rings will allow you to improve the ratio between your weight and your strength, strengthening your arm and core muscles in particular.
The rings are hung up next to each other from the ceiling or other strong high-up object (like a tree, if outside) via ropes. The idea is that you will hold onto these rings and pull yourself into various positions above the ground, for example, a seated or horizontal position.
The rings would be a more expensive addition to your home gym, but there’s plenty to recommend them.
The rings are wooden, making them stronger and more grippy than their plastic counterparts, and the carabiners are easier to adjust, leaving no excess rope hanging around.
The quality of this piece of equipment is testified by its strength: it can hold up to 800lb. The highly-built nature of this setup might be a little annoying at times: the carabiners can make the ropes a little too heavy and unwieldy for some.
But overall, these gymnastic rings are a great purchase, and in this case, it’s definitely worth paying a little more than you would for others.
3. Myosource Kinetic Bands Tumble Pro X Ankle Straps
Product Description
Ankle straps have numerous uses in gymnastics and weight training, but these ankle straps are for keeping your feet together during maneuvers like handstands, flips, and back-tucks.
By practicing your skills with these joined-up straps, you will develop muscle memory, meaning that it will be ingrained in your body to do these maneuvers with your feet together.
When you take the straps off, you’ll naturally keep your feet together, making you a better and neater sort of gymnast.
They use a one-size-fits-all form of sizing, which means that all ages and sizes of people can use these. But equally, this might cause some problems: the velcro fastening system might mean that if you’ve got thin ankles, there’s a lot of ‘slack’ strap that could interrupt.
This is quite a small potential problem, and at any rate, these are a highly regarded pair of ankle straps, perfect for neatening up your gymnastic technique.
4. Price Xes Adjustable Leg Stretcher Lengthen Ballet Stretch Band
Product Description
This piece of equipment will help you stretch your legs out and become more flexible. It’s especially useful if you’re interested in being able to do gymnastics or dance moves like the splits.
It’s composed of two things: a buckle and a piece of flat rope that has a loop at one end. The buckle is attached to something like a doorframe or a ceiling, and the piece of rope is threaded through it.
You then put your foot within the ‘loop’ end, and use your arm on the opposite side of your body to pull the rope the other way, which will lift your leg.
This product comes in various colors, meaning that children generally really enjoy this product, and could make a really good piece of introductory gymnastic equipment. It’s a great piece of portable and affordable equipment and is a great option for novices.
5. BalanceFrom GoGym All-Purpose 4’x10’x2 Extra Thick High-Density Anti-Tear Gymnastics Gym Folding Exercise Aerobics Mats
Product Description
This is possibly the most simple piece of indoor gymnastic equipment on this list. It’s a fold-up gym mat on which you can do all sorts of different forms of exercise, from burpees to sit-ups to yoga poses.
It’s made from non-absorbent vinyl, and its four different sections fold up into a carry-able case-shaped package, so it’s portable.
It can be joined up to other mats due to its velcro edges, so if you need a bigger soft surface on which to exercise, it might be worth buying multiple mats. It’s a solid two inches thick, so it’s fairly cushioning for small falls, and obviously will just make your floor exercises comfier.
There’s a load of gym mats on the market, but a lot of them are not this thick and not this durable: this mat will make your floor exercises more comfortable and potentially quite a bit safer. So if you’re serious about committing to indoor exercise, this mat is worth considering.
6. Z Athletic Cheese Wedge Inclines
Product Description
This piece of equipment could be understood as a sloped gym mat. As the name suggests, it looks like a thin slice of cheese: the thicker end is twelve inches tall, and the thin end is roughly about 1.5 inches high.
It’s 72 inches long, meaning that it produces a fairly gentle incline. This slope is primarily used for practicing handstands in a more challenging way, and helping beginners with yoga and gymnastic back-bending positions like the crab. It might also be useful for practicing walking or dancing on a sloped surface.
The full ‘cheese’ shape is made from two different parts being attached, so it can fold up into a cuboid block shape. This aspect of the equipment opens up more exercise possibilities for the user: it can be used to practice small jumps, too.
It’s a flexible piece of gymnastic equipment and comes in a range of different colors (though none of them ‘cheese’-pigmented!): black, pink, and purple.
7. Z ATHLETIC 2oz Block Chalk for Gymnastics, Weight Lifting, Rock Climbing, Gym, Crossfit Multiple Counts
Product Description
With all of this discussion of equipment, things like chalk often get overlooked. But having a source of chalk is a vital thing for those who are serious about using indoor gym equipment, and it’s useful for all sorts of different activities: it’s usually provided at gymnastics or climbing centers, but at home, you’ll have to provide your own.
The chalk is used to cover your hands or feet to protect them from blisters and calluses and to help give them more grip.
For example, if you are using the aforementioned gymnastic rings, especially if you are prone to sweating, your hands can easily slip off the rings, potentially causing you to fall, or if you are doing one-leg balances on a beam, you don’t want your foot to slip off.
By having a supply of chalk, you can prevent this from happening, allowing you to focus on the things that matter: your flexibility, your balance, your strength.
This chalk will keep you going for a long time: You will receive 1lb of eight 2oz Chalk Blocks. This is a great investment for those who are committed to pursuing their exercises at home: there’s a lot of chalk to get through, here!
The Verdict
Though not an exhaustive list of the indoor gymnastic equipment available to you, this article should point you in the right direction.
There are all kinds of forms of exercise that you might want to pursue at home, so this covers the basic range of quality items you could invest in.
With that said, there were some pieces of equipment that particularly stood out as important and of good quality — see below.
Three products to buy now
- BalanceFrom GoGym Mat: a gym mat is just so important for all sorts of indoor exercise, so it should be high up on your list of products to try out. And this mat is a durable one, so it’s definitely worth the price of the investment.
- Z ATHLETIC 2oz Block Chalk for Gymnastics: like the gym mat recommended above, chalk is just so important for so many sorts of exercise, preventing slip-ups and protecting your hands and feet from damage. It’s an essential thing to have about.
- Double Circle Wood Gymnastic Rings: this set-up is just so useful and well made: you can be confident of its quality, and the variety of muscles and forms of athletic strength that a set of gym rings will help develop is unparalleled in such a small piece of equipment.
So there you have it: your guide to pieces of gym equipment under $100. If this article has been illuminating, then do check out our other reviews. Happy exercising!