Fitness Tip Review - A few sets of dumbbells and a bench are all you need to get shredded

TLDL – A couple pieces of minimal equipment can go a long way. My favorite is a barbell and plates but grabbing a couple of kettlebells or dumbbells paired with a pull-up bar is a great alternative.

You certainly do not need a lot of equipment to get shredded. You don’t even need a bench.

The single best piece of equipment you could buy would be a barbell and plates.

But that is obviously difficult to store… and you would need an appropriate place to use it. Perhaps you can store it in your apartment and take it down to the alley to use.

Excluding a barbell, the two pieces of equipment I would get would be either: a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells, and a pull-up bar.

If you choose dumbbells, they do not even need to be the same weight.

You can get a 10kg and a 25kg dumbbell and just perform everything with only one arm a time.

That will be better for function (core training) and it allows you to be able to do more exercises with less equipment.  

You can go with kettlebells if you are looking to teach yourself new movements.

Kettlebells cannot not only do almost everything you can do with a dumbbell, but they’ll make it more challenging due to the offset center of mass.

Furthermore, performing a variety of swing, stability and rotational movements are a lot more natural with kettlebells.

Same as with dumbbells, you can get one lighter and one heavier.

Plus, with their boon in popularity due to their inclusion in CrossFit, you can now buy them in almost any weight intervals… not just 1/1.5/2 pood (16,24,32kg).

A heavy kettlebell is great for squats, swings and carries while the lighter one is better for presses, curls, and rotational / stability drills.

The other piece of equipment I would get is a pull-up bar. The over-the-door pull-up bar would be fine.

You just cannot underestimate the impact pull-ups can have on your program.

Being able to control your bodyweight is an under-appreciated skill and display of athletic ability.

Plus, you will be able to load the pull-up with your dumbbell or kettlebell.

Pull-ups will be the only bilateral movement you can max out with limited equipment.

With just that equipment, you can create millions of fun and effective workouts (Or you can just have me do that for you).

Remember to workout at HIGH INTENSITY if you really want to get shredded.

As for me?

My home gym started with a barbell, plates, and squat rack. I built a pull-up bar and added some home-made rings. Then I added a 16 and 32kg KB, slam ball, sandbag, 50lbs dumbbells, 20lbs dumbbells, landmine attachment, parallel row attachment and some bands attached to the wall.

Buy good equipment, my bar and plates are from 2009.