The Most Underrated Pieces of Gym Equipment You Should Be Using

Enter any gym and you will witness the same script: the benches full of individuals performing chest presses, facilities that are squat racks where people take selfies between sets, and the treadmills swarming with the cardio population. However, in the corners and along the walls are tools which are seldom given the attention that they merit can give strength, steadiness, and agility, just like the costly machines.

These are the least well-known pieces of gym equipment you need to start incorporating into your workouts, and the reasons why they need to be considered a permanent addition to them.

1. Resistance Bands: Little, Inexpensive, and Brutally Effective

Resistance bands are not the most attractive things in the world; a loop of elastic is not an item that screams about gains. But that’s the beauty of them. Bands are capable of working muscles in a full spectrum of movement, maintaining tension, and testing stabiliser muscles in a way not achievable with weights.

They are best used in warm-ups, mobility exercises, and activation exercises. When performing squats with a mini-band around your knees, your glutes can work harder. Rowing or pressing with a heavy band anchored on the base provides resistance that builds as you extend, and this teaches you to exert the entire movement.

They are also arthritis friendly, pocket-sized, and cheap as chicken meat. You are missing one of the most versatile tools in the gym.

Test yourself: Perform 20 reps of band pull-aparts twice pre-upper-body. Your shoulders will be grateful.

2. The Trap Bar: Power Building with Out the Back Strain

The trap bar (or hex bar) does not get as much love as it should. Perhaps it is strange that individuals pursue barbell PRs. However, when you are interested in a much safer and more balanced method to develop total-body strength, the trap bar cannot be beaten.

When you get into the frame, you retain the load behind your body rather than in front of it. This puts less strain on your lower back and allows easy good posture. Your wrists and shoulders also feel more comfortable in the neutral grip.

It is ideal for deadlifts, shrugs, farmer carries, and even jump squats. You will have solid legs and butt, but you will not experience the same fatigue on your spine as with heavy straight-bar deadlifts.

Test it: Replace your usual deadlift day with 5 trap-bar deadlifts, 4 sets at 70 per cent of your maximum. Pay attention to the explosive drive using your heels.

3. The Attachment of the Landmine: Minimal Ego, Functional Power

One of such attachments that most people pass by without even noticing is the landmine. It is simply a barbell attached to a pivot sleeve, allowing it to swing about in an arc. It is so easy to do, but it opens up a world of creative and powerful training choices.

Compared to overhead presses, landmine presses are less taxing on the shoulders. The rows of landmines train your lower back and core without undue force on the lower back. Rotational landmine twists build on severe oblique and hip power, which most conventional gym workouts fail to consider.

The bar rides on a fixed track; it is also good for teaching beginners the right movement patterns before developing into free weights.

Give this a go: Incorporate 3 rounds of 10 landmine presses into your next push session. The angle is right to your chest and shoulders, and the stability challenge will put you in your place.

4. Cable Machines: The Secret Weapon of the Bodybuilder

People call cables fluff equipment, and it is a big mistake. Cables do not rest during the exercise as dumbbells or barbells do, so your muscles do not have time to take a rest.

This is why they are the favourite of bodybuilders to complete exercises and isolation work. However, cables are not only used on vanity muscles. They are also good at functional training. You are able to simulate real-life movement patterns, motion, chops, lifts, and pulls as you test your stabilisers.

It can be used endlessly in single-arm row, face pull, fly, triceps pushdown, woodchopper, and hip adduction, all on the same machine.

Workout: Do 3 sets of 15 cable face pulls at the end of your next pull day. You will tighten your back and butt, and posture.

5. The Sled: Power and Conditioning with Brutal Simplicity

Prowler sleds are the equaliser of all things; they do not know about your ego, your program, or the amount of bench you do. You should push or pull one, and you will know why athletes are so fond of them.

Sled work creates crude power, leg push, and conditioning without the eccentric (lowering) phase that makes one sore. That is, you can work hard without destroying your recovery. It also develops some mental toughness; there is a primal nature in grabbing your hands on a sled and steaming it to the point of burning your lungs.

Try this: Push a weighted sled 20 yards down and back 4 rounds. Rest 60 seconds between runs. It is pure, drastic and very efficient.

6. The Bulgarian Bag: Strength of Old-School Power and Grip

Bulgarian bags are not a common sight, but one of the secret weapons to rotational strength, a strong grip, and total body coordination. The bag is crescent-shaped and can be swung, thrown or even spun, which involves working your core and shoulders in dynamic motion.

They are particularly popular in combat sports, functional fitness, and in athletes who require real-life strength, rather than gym figures. Furthermore, the bag is so clumsy that it makes your stabilisers over time.

Instructions: Do 3 sets of 10 spins of the bag in each direction. It is a killer core exercise that develops shoulder endurance as well.

7. Gymnastic Rings: Modest means, Rough Ends

When you have ever attempted ring dips or ring rows, you will have found how soon they reveal weaknesses. Rings require stability, coordination and complete full-body control. All the little muscles in your shoulders, core, and arms are forced to contract to maintain your balance.

They are the best to gain strength that is transferable beyond the gym, and they are easily portable everywhere. Start with the basics (rows, push-ups, dips) and you will see significant benefits in strength and muscle tone.

Experiment: Use 3 sets of ring push-ups with your chest exercise. The difference in muscle activation will be felt immediately.

The Bottom Line

When underestimated, it is simply ignored, not inefficient. Heavy lifts and big shiny machines take centre stage, but the best athletes know a secret: The real progress is made when they know how to use the tools that no one seems to notice.

The next time you visit the gym, avoid the congested bench press section. Rather, use a resistance band, a sled, or gymnastics rings. You can find a new favourite training technique.