You don't have to join a gym to enjoy the bone-building, muscle-strengthening benefits of a strength training workout. If you're willing to invest in a few basic pieces of strength-training equipment, then you can build a sleek, toned body at home, no matter how much space and what sort of budget you have to work with.
Home Gyms
A home gym is the most convenient, but also most expensive option for home strength training. If your other option was joining a gym, the home gym will eventually pay for itself in terms of gym dues saved. Which specific exercises you can do varies somewhat between home gyms, but most are set up to mimic the large-muscle-group exercises you'll find in any gym: Rows, presses, flyes, leg extensions, leg curls and lat pulldowns. Some home gyms also include a leg press, squat station or overhead press.
Body-Weight Training
You also can go to the other extreme and work all your major muscle groups with body-weight resistance only. Exercises such as lunges, squats, calf raises, pushups and pullups are ideal for this minimalist approach, and the only piece of equipment you strictly require is a pullup bar for doing pullups. However, as you get stronger you'll need to do increasingly difficult exercises to continue challenging your body to develop -- otherwise you'll hit a plateau. Options include adding jumping exercises or using a wobble board or stability ball, or gymnastics-style rings, to introduce instability into your workouts.
Free Weights
You can get a full-body workout with just a few dumbbells, or a barbell and some weight plates. The barbell takes up more space than dumbbells. Ideally, you should also have a bench with a safety rack for barbell workouts. With dumbbells, you can more easily work around the lack of a weight bench. Note that although free weights are smaller and less expensive than a home gym, they have a higher learning curve: In order to avoid injury and target the right muscles, you must invest some time in learning exactly what you're doing.
Elastic Resistance Bands
You can use elastic resistance bands to duplicate almost any exercise you'd perform with dumbbells, including a variety of presses, rows, pulldowns and squats. You can even do a few exercises that aren't possible with free weights, such as leg curls and hip adduction. Resistance bands also pack down very small, making them perfect for exercising in limited space.
Kettlebells
Swinging kettlebells delivers cardiovascular and strength training at the same time. You can also use kettlebells to duplicate a number of free weight exercises, including rows and presses. Kettlebells are another compact tool, ideal for strength training in limited space at home.
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