Text size
The health crisis upended a world of fancy gyms and personal trainers. Fear of infection keeps millions of Americans at home, and it will be many months until enough people are vaccinated to quell the pandemic.
The good news is you can remain reasonably fit without a gym full of shiny equipment. I wrote a column earlier during the pandemic about workouts you can do without any equipment. Here’s one on strength workouts that you can do with the simplest of equipment: a barbell and plates.
You can get a basic barbell and weights for a little as $250, and a higher-quality set for twice that much money. The cost is roughly equivalent to a year’s membership in a gym, so it makes sense even as a stopgap measure.