“Adaptive Equipment needs to be safe, fun and effective; it doesn’t have to break the bank.”
If you’re looking for Adaptive Fitness equipment that costs a small fortune, look elsewhere! Because in this article, we’re going to discuss the many ways you can not only get fit, but save money.
Knowing what equipment is needed to help you reach your goals is paramount to your success. As a trainer who’s worked both in commercial gyms and in home/outdoor spaces, I’ve seen a lot of contraptions that promise incredible results. Some of these products live up to the hype, while others seem to spend more time gathering dust. Use these ideas to help decide what’s needed now and what may not be needed at all.
Home Equipment
Sometimes everything we need is right at home. This certainly can be the case when it comes to adaptive exercise equipment. From broomsticks to bedding, water jugs to weighted bags—if we take a look around we might find everything we need. A broomstick/mop handle can be used as a dowel, helping with everything from mobility to accuracy. Ever tried lifting an object using two sticks? Try it and feel how much your shoulders fire up. A king bed sheet or two can be taped up to act as a battle rope. Once anchored around something, you can wave it, swing it, pull it, spin it, jump it, drag it, and more. Paper towel rolls make great targets for bowling or using as obstacles. Water jugs can be filled to various amounts providing an inclusive resistance training option for everyone.
DIY
Create your own custom equipment and get the satisfaction of knowing you saved money while being creative. Weighted equipment you can easily build yourself include sandbags or a weighted sports ball. Making a small hole in a tennis ball or racquetball and filling it with sand can add weight for strengthening the hands and arms. Larger sports balls like basketballs and volleyballs would need to be filled with a sand/fabric blend to get the desired weight and fill. Once you have the weight you want, wrap them up with tape, so no sand falls out. Additionally, a sandbag can be made from sandwich or gallon freezer bags, some mattress topper, and some industrial tape. Fill the bag, wrap in foam, wrap in tape, and there you have it. Pick your favorite colors and create different weights.
Home Store
A quick trip to your home supply store can yield a number of tools that can help your fitness needs. A flexible hose is another great option for a battle rope. So is a closet dowel for your mobility bar. A resistance bar can be made with PVC pipe, sand, and PVC end caps. Wooden blocks used for targets, obstacles, steps, and more can be found sometimes for free in the cut wood pile in the back of the store. Most big stores will even cut blocks there out of a 10-foot 1×4 or 2×6. This would get you 5-6 blocks out of one piece of lumber. Grab a couple rolls of industrial tape in different colors and you can customize your equipment to make it easy to recognize and utilize.
10 Creative Home/DIY Items
- Resistance Band (Bungee cord)
- Sandbag
- Wooden Dowel
- Sports Ball with air
- Sports Ball with sand
- Long Rope (Rolled Sheet or Flex hose)
- Medium-sized Towel
- 1-3 Gallon Water Jug
- Wooden Blocks
- Paper Towel Pucks (Posterboard taped around roll)
Discount Store
Some fitness trends come and go, but quite often the value of a product is underappreciated without the understanding of how to use it. Many great products find this to be the case and end up on the shelves of discount stores. This does not mean they don’t have value, often quite the opposite for Adaptive Fitness. First off, these products are generally affordable. Ten dollar yoga mats, five dollar Kettlebells, hand weights, wrist weights, medicine balls, and more. These stores are the place to go for getting some basic tools for the job at a price most can afford.
As you can tell, nowhere in this article does it recommend going to an expensive fitness dealer and purchasing some expensive item that does basically one thing only. The idea behind this article was to give you an idea of ways you can get started and continue your training with equipment that can be safe, fun, and effective. Many of the exercises in the TruFit Adaptive Fitness App are designed with this affordable equipment concept in mind. Instruction and explanation are there to give you the confidence you need to perform the exercises both as an athlete and team leader.
Hopefully this article gives you some suggestions to reinforce the idea that you are going to make it to your goals. With the right team, the right equipment, and the right attitude anything is possible.
