It’s time to get fit – but who can face the weather, or the dark mornings outside? The most motivating way is to invest in a few pieces of at-home equipment and turn your living room into a state-of-the-art gym. Just choose pieces that tuck away neatly and don’t cost the earth.
The Eight Sleep Pod 4 Ultra
Pod
Using this for nine months has transformed my sleep: the “pod” is a mattress topper which can control your temperature throughout the night; it automatically adjusts it (each side of the bed has different settings) and boasts that it can improve the amount and quality of your sleep (which it tracks on your app). The latest app update also now includes snoring tracking – essential for those morning-after-the-night of your partner snoring to show them just how noisy they were. The newer version of the pod – the Pod 4 – does all this whilst also using ground-breaking technology that eliminates snoring by gently elevating the bed when snoring is detected. Not only a sleep saviour, but probably a relationship saver, too.
The Fold reformer, £1899
Fold
Forget the exercise bike gathering dust in the corner, the latest bit of at-home kit is a reformer Pilates bed. The Fold Reformer is an attractive, sleek design, but handily folds up and can slip away under the sofa. The bed comes with a three-month FOLD app membership, along with a starter pack of kit, so you can start the new year in a more flexible way.
The Lumi Sauna pro
Lumi
Saunas are proven to extend your life: a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that frequent trips to the sauna – over three a week – were associated with less heart attacks. The most convenient way to sauna has to be in your own home – which makes this attractive LUMI Sauna a particularly appealing option.
Can’t fit a sauna into your bathroom – or don’t quite have the budget? A portable Infrared Sauna Blanket might do the job. It is easy to set up, heats up quickly to provide a deep, relaxing session perfect for muscle recovery after a heavy gym session or potentially a metabolism boost – and crucially is easy to fold away again. £549, uk.boncharge.com
The Light Salon boost mask
Light salon
If you suffer from acne or rosacea, then LED has been proven to help. But while trips to a medical-grade machine at a beauticians might be unaffordable, an at-home device could be just the gadget you need. The LED face mask from Light Salon is clinically proven to trigger cellular renewal, and along with pesky spots, 96% of users say using it has diminished their fine lines. Nutritionist Rose Ferguson is a fan.
Blue Light Blocking Light Bulb
Health podcasters frequently talk about the dangers of blue light – and it’s not just from your screens. By replacing the bulb in your bedside lamp with this blue light blocking bulb you could increase your body’s melatonin production, and thus aid your sleep. I also like the plug-in night lights for my children’s rooms – because I definitely don’t want anything that disrupts their sleep.
Red light therapy has attracted more than 6,000 studies on its ability to help relieve joint pain and stimulate damaged tissue healing. This portable device taps into that science: it straps around a joint and using LEDs and lasers it helps stimulate blood flow and energy production in the mitochondria – helping to speed up the healing process. So confident are the makers that you will see a difference in two weeks that There’s a 30-day money back guarantee.
This is a sleek, well-designed all-in-one weights bench that looks like a beautiful blanket box but contains the whole range of weight plates (35kg in total), barbell, weight collars and dumbbells that you need to do an effective at-home strength workout.
There might be more technical running watches out there, but the Apple Watch is still the best all-round tracker-cum-watch. The new features on the series 10 include a new depth gauge for snorkelers and sleep apnoea notifications – essential for those who suffer from disturbed sleep work out what’s going on. The existing functions are still brilliant: the Workout app tracks almost any workout, from swimming to yoga to running, whilst the Activity ring, which you can customise to have on the face of your watch, is an easy-to-glance at way to track steps and general movement – meaning you’re more likely to hit your goals.
One of the biggest Instagram fitness trends is “rucking” – or wearing a weighted vest while you walk. It’s got various benefits, including building bone strength as well as muscle strength and burning more calories than walking alone. This adjustable weight training vest allows you to change the weight between 6 to 10 kg as you get fitter. This month Gymbox are about to launch a new rucking class – so get in training now. (Parents: you can also use a toddler).