Sport + Fitness

A glance online will illustrate just how many pieces of equipment there are for home use and it can be confusing to know which ones to pick.

If you are using a fitness programme to work to then weighted armbands will go a long way to adding tone for relatively little kit and cost. Just pick your funky colour. A weighted jump rope is actually a weighted skipping rope and can really increase the resistance of this simple exercise.

Why not add dumbbells to your work out? Space-saving and economic, this is such a simple way to build up the impact.

Apart from what you are wearing, there are three essential pieces of kit to take with you when you go running. Always have a watch or timing device as this can help with interval training and timing your rest periods.

An iPod or headphones are useful if you want to listen to music as you run but always take care if you are running on the road or where there are pedestrians. The GPS on your phone can be useful if you lose your way.

Don’t forget to take water with you, there are lots of different devices to help you carry it. You should plan for the temperature to be 15 to 20 degrees warmer than it actually is.

For a compact gym where space is at a premium, one of the best value pieces of fitness equipment you can buy is a folding exercise bike. This tucks away when not in use and is easily portable so you can move around and find a quiet room in the house.

The advantages of a folding exercise bike are not simply ease of storage, even when they are in use, folding exercise bikes require very little floor space and area which is also an important consideration.

Interestingly, folding exercise bikes tend to be cheaper than rigid alternatives as well. The frames need to be lightweight to fold down and they are usually made of less expensive materials.