Home exercise gear that works: weighted hula-hoops, bala bangles, smart skipping ropes and yoga wheels

With exciting, unusual fitness kit selling out across retailers, we’ve rounded up the props that are going to help you achieve your fitness goals (and actually work)

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Keeping an exercise routine interesting and fresh is always a challenge. And with gyms open but Omicron on the horizon, we may be doing ad-hoc home workouts for a while yet.

But as anyone who has an unused ab-cruncher gathering dust under their stairwell knows, it’s all too easy to invest in a piece of equipment that you think will augment your routine, but rapidly gets abandoned. What, then, are the fitness gadgets and new pieces of kit worth using?

We’ve been working out in our living room for eighteen months now and have spent that time trying out a myriad of fitness kit. And apart from the two obvious choices - a treadmill, and a kettlebell, these are the pieces of exercise equipment we’ve found genuinely fun to use - and have helped garner results.

As a side note, if you haven’t already updated your gym wardrobe, it may give a flagging exercise regime the shot in the arm it needs. Check out our guides to the best male gym clothing, women’s exercise clothing, gym shoes, and women’s and men’s running shoes to find the gear to help get you through your training in style and comfort.