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Although fitness and exercise is my business, like anyone with a busy work and home life, I have to be proactive and organized to fit in my own training after helping others all week long.

One way that I manage is to be prepared for anything that might interfere with the workout that I planned for myself on any given day. Sometimes this means that I can’t make it to the gym. On those days, I’ve assembled what I call my “Fitness 6 Pack.” These are the tools that I rely on, at home, for when I have to put my Plan B into action.

Here is what is in my 6 pack:

1 — Resistance Bands with door attachment. Virtually all of my home-based clients have resistance bands as part of their arsenal. They are the best “go to” device for muscle building when funds or space are limited. The kit that I prefer has the ability to expand from 10 to 150 lb and includes an attachment for any door that creates a pulley system allowing you to perform exercises for all body parts in unlimited ranges of motion.

2 — Adjustable dumbbells. When I started doing mobile personal training in 1992, I purchased my first set of adjustable dumbbells to carry to clients homes in my Jeep. Since then, I have had multiple sets in constant use in my studios as well as in my home. During the pandemic lockdowns, my home gym featured a set that could expand from 2.5 to 120 lb. This meant that my son and I actually got stronger by training at home when we couldn’t get to the gym. The Powerblock brand is the best, although it can be a very expensive purchase for the largest set.

3 — Stability Ball. Some people call these “yoga balls” or “gym balls.” Stability balls are large rubber balls that are inflated to be used in a variety of ways in workouts. The reason that they are called “stability balls” is due to the fact that they are “unstable” and will force your body to develop stability as you work with them. You can use your ball to make exercise very gentle or incredibly hard. I like using mine as a replacement for a regular bench when doing presses and for abdominal crunches.

4 — Stairs. While stairs aren’t really a device, they offer a huge variety of training options for home workouts. For people who cannot do a traditional pushup, placing the hands at the fourth or fifth step gives them enough of a boost to do “real” pushups for the great upper body strength benefits. My clients and I also use stairs for running, walking, sprinting up and down as well as for lunging and doing triceps dips.

5 — iPhone. My phone is in constant use when I am working with clients and when I am training on my own. I use it for measuring training runs, walks and bike rides. It has a step counter and calorie tracker as well as a timer that signals rest and work starts and stops along with a daily food journal and nutrition analyzer. I even use an app on the phone to assess a person’s ability to walk when suffering from back pain and have hundreds of workout files secured in the Cloud-based folders ready for me to access at any time from anywhere. Additionally, my daily morning mindfulness meditation practice is guided by an app that I pay a nominal fee for every month. If you have a smartphone and are not making use of the apps available, for free, to help with your health, fitness and nutrition, you are definitely missing the benefits of an incredibly powerful tool.

6 — TRX suspension trainer. TRX is the brand name of a device that is, essentially, a long strap with handles at each end which gives exercisers the ability to perform a large variety of “pulling” movements using one’s own body weight. It is a great addition to standard weight training and body weight training which is based mostly on “pushing” movements. That you can change angles to use your full weight or only a fraction of it makes it adaptable for a wide range of fitness levels. Personally, I like to use it outdoors in the summer for a change of scenery and change of pace by looping it around the tree in my yard.

You might have noticed that I did not include any “cardio machines” in my 6 pack. While I do have an exercise bike at home, my preference is to jog, hike, climb escarpment stairs or mountain bike for my endurance exercise to reap the additional benefits of being out in nature.

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