Your pick of 5 best /5 worst equipment

[lioness]

Best
1. Kettlebells
2. Stability Ball
3. Step/High Step
4. Dumbbells
5. Barbell

Worst
1. Gliding Disks
2. Body Bar
3. Yoga Mat


I could have a longer best list. I use most of the equipment that I have.

[Mary09]

Best:
Good quality treadmill
Yogflex rebounder
Kettlebells
MP3 player
Polar HRM
(The Gymboss & Flowbar are pretty handy, too.)

Worst:
Reebok adjustable dumbbells
Danskin tubing set (one broke, now I don't trust them)
Off-brand step
Danskin barbell (I like it but I wish I'd bought one rated for more weight)
Green Genies (3 lb. balls)

[athompson10]

Best:
1. Club Step - easy to set up, solid
2. High Step - more flexible than my old Firm wood boxes
3. Hex dumbbells
4. Firm barbell (a la Volume 6) - love the padding
5. Extra thick tri-folding mat - a must for my wood floors

Worst:
1. Green genie balls - came with a Karen Voigt workout, hated how they felt sticky, hated how gripping them put weird strain on my wrists and arm muscles in a not-good way
2. Pushup handlebars - smelled like burning rubber, felt sticky in my hands, Hex dumbbells work just as well
3. Tubing - in the bottom of my equipment bin, never used
4. Medicine balls - ditto
5. Old Navy V-neck exercise bras - I'm busty and should have known they wouldn't provide enough support but I thought they'd be cute for yoga. Not cute when your boobs are hanging out in any downward facing position.

[SharonNYC]

Best:

Harmony yoga mat/Manduka purple yoga mat
Yoga straps/blocks and other props
dumbbells
therabands/heavy-weight tubing
The Squeeze's semi recumbent stationary bike
My entire ball collection

Neutral about:

Stability ball -- I like it but I don't use it very often. When I do use it I'm glad I have it.

Pilates circle -- see above

Worst (kind of wasted my money):

Barbell -- I prefer dumbbells

Step Co. step, although it was in frequent use at one time...until it really did a number on my knees, so now I wish I'd never bought it. (If I use it now, it's as a yoga bolster)

[patchworkpenguin]

This list includes all my equipment!!!

Best
-hex dumbells 3 - 25 lbs
-Club Step- as weight bench
-Gaiam pilates mat
-stab ball {It has a fun factor, but I don't use that often, I store it on top of the TV in my sewing room}
-Danskin Balance Disc cushion { $5 throw pillow- I use it as a pillow when I sit on our hardwood floors to brush the dog, etc}

Worst
-#9lb Body bar bought for Absolute Kbox; I'm afraid I'll break something swinging it, so I started using it as a prop during balance work.
-Barbell {I don't do enough workouts that use it, its loaded for squats, but even with the clips I find it hard to change mid workout, so it sits in the corner of my 'workout closet'
-Club step-as a step. I'm too much of a klutz.
-Tubing- I'm afraid they will break, so I use dumbells
-Med ball- I don't have many workouts that use it.

[tytbody]

Originally Posted by athompson10

Best:
15. Old Navy V-neck exercise bras - I'm busty and should have known they wouldn't provide enough support but I thought they'd be cute for yoga. Not cute when your boobs are hanging out in any downward facing position.

I hate that and they say not to wear T-shirts when we exercise cause there are so many other fashion things to wear. Well I agree, it ain't nice when they great you in the face....

Now back to our lists of unfavored equipment. lol and most loved.

OP, could you now take all this equipment and put it in a chart and tell us what is the most used or highest rated to the least rated. I'd like to see it on paper. (or b/w as we have here)

[fuzzie]

BEST:
1. Fluidity barre
2. Bosu
3. Little balle for barre workouts
4. Resistance bands

WORST:
Rebounder!

[TonyaC]

Great thread!

Best:
1. Club-size step - I've had it for over 10 years and it's still in excellent condition.
2. Squat rack (power rack) with lat pulldown/low row attachment & built-in pullup bar - I this thing!
3. Treadmill
4. Harmony yoga mat - So much better than the cheap slippery mat I was using before.
5. PlateMates and fractional plates - Great for small increases in weight.


Worst (not really bad, just not used as much):
1. Inversion table - I really like it, but I have no room for it and will probably sell it.
2. BOSU - I want to like it, but doing cardio on it is exhausting, and there just aren't enough *fun* videos that make good use of it for balance and core work.
3. Ankle weights (nonadjustable, 5 LB each) - Too light to do any true strength work, and too heavy (for me) for most of the videos that use ankle weights. I feel like I'm going to throw out my lower back when I use them in the abs portion of Butts & Guts. What I need is a set that can be adjusted from very light to fairly heavy.
4. Medicine balls (2KG, 3KG, 4KG) - I hardly ever use them, and when I do, I don't do anything with them that I couldn't do with a dumbbell. Yet I don't feel like I can part with them, and I just bought a rack for them!

[lfcjasp]

My best:

1. Hex dumbells...love the grip and they don't roll all over the place!
2. Mats, yoga and cushioned, all cheapies, all great on a hardwood floor!
3. Steps, both the ancient Bodyshaping little step and my full-size step.
4. Stability ball, yes I have two of those. So versatile!
5. All my bands, from that little Spri band that came with Tracie Long's Yorktown set, through the band that came with my Sin6 set to the blue band I got with Michelle's SSSB! Again so versatile!

My worst:
1. The fanny lifter was an expensive alternative to my Rubbermaid step!
2. That Firm stick...well it's a decent 8# body bar I guess...I so rarely use it though!
3. These little blue balls...the green genie-like balls I got for the TLT's are so much better. More cheapies from Target or WalMart

Hmmm, don't really have too many worst buys. Even that ramp I got for Leslie's Walkblasters found a good home pretty easily! I tend to spend my money on workouts rather than more toys...sometimes limited space is a good thing

[DEEDEE]

Best:
My full size Step
Dumbbells
Roped Bag
Olympic Barbell (it's actually my husband's but I use it often)
Weighted gloves

Worst:
Ramp (what the heck was I thinking?)
Sculpting Stick from The Firm
Short green and pink step