A rack, a bench, and a barbell are the undisputed heart of a serious home gym. But the big-ticket items are only half the story. The true functionality and versatility of your space will be unlocked by a small set of high-impact, essential home gym equipment accessories.
The thing with accessories is that they can quickly sprawl out of control. If there has ever been a space to be 80/20, or even 90/10, or even 99/1, it’s with deciding which accessories are essential and which are optional. (The idea that 20% of the items deliver 80% of the value).
These are the tools that fill the gaps, add variety to your training, and protect both you and your investment. We’ve curated a list of the “must-have” items that will complete your home gym, ensuring you get the most out of every single workout.
1. Proper Flooring – not small ticket, but arguably the most essential
Before you move in a single piece of equipment, you need to protect your floor. While many advocate for horse stall mats, which are effective but can have a strong odor, a set of 1/2-inch or 3/4-inch thick interlocking rubber tiles is the professional standard for a dedicated space. This will protect your floor from deadlifts and even dropped weights, while also providing a stable, non-slip surface for lifting. For those on a tighter budget or in a temporary space like an apartment, interlocking EVA foam mats are a cheap, comfortable, and effective alternative for floor-based exercises and light dumbbell work (housing all your other home gym equipment accessories).
2. What the Hell, Kettlebell accessory or even a standalone item
A kettlebell is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment you can own. It’s best known for the kettlebell swing, an exercise with the unique superpower to train explosiveness and cardio simultaneously. For most men starting out, a single 35lb kettlebell is the ideal weight, perfect for swings, goblet squats, and rows. This is one item where buying used makes a lot of sense; as long as the handle is part of a single, solid casting and isn’t welded on, an old, beat-up kettlebell will perform just as well as a new one and often looks even more badass.
3. Slack for buck: Resistance Bands are the most obvious home gym equipment accessory
Resistance bands are cheap, take up virtually no space, and are incredibly versatile. A good set of bands can be used on their own for warming up, mobility work, bicep curls, and shoulder presses. You can also wrap them around your dumbbells or kettlebells to add accommodating resistance, making your weights feel heavier at the top of the lift. We recommend a set of 4-5 bands of varying thickness, which can provide up to 85lbs of resistance, or even more when used together.
4. Squats for the arms: Parallettes are like squats for the arms and therefore an essential home gym equipment accessory
While a pull-up bar is a fantastic tool, it’s often part of the squat rack itself. For adding high-value upper body and core exercises, we are huge fans of freestanding “parallette” dip stands. An investment of around $60 gives you a dedicated station for dips (the squat for your arms), bodyweight rows, and core exercises like L-sits. None of the exercises you do with parallettes are easy, but they deliver serious gains and add a crucial dimension to your training that weights alone cannot.
5. The Cardio Option: The Jump Rope
While our first recommendation for cardio is always to “run outside,” if you must have a dedicated piece of indoor cardio equipment on a tight budget, nothing beats the jump rope. It is incredibly cost- and space-effective, and the potential cardio and conditioning gains are undeniable.
If you’re looking at Essential Accessories, you’re probably quite ahead in your home gym planning, but to have the full view, make sure you look at our Ultimate Guide.