🏋️‍♂️ our favorite budget-friendly gym equipment

Today’s newsletter is presented by MAJOR FITNESS. Head here to learn how you can save more than $1000 on select MAJOR FITNESS home gym equipment.

Here’s what we’ve got to start your year off right:

• The best budget home gym equipment

• The top CrossFit athletes of 2023

• Can lifting weights burn fat?

Home Gym

More Gains for Less

The home gym revolution continues to surge, with more affordable, garage-sized equipment coming to the market every year. If you love lifting weights but hate going to a crowded gym blasting music from your list of “thumbs-down” songs, this list is tailor-made for you.

The best budget home gym equipment that we’ve compiled isn’t sold on infomercials that play at 1 a.m. This is solid equipment that wouldn’t be out of place in a high-use training facility. For example, the REP Fitness FB-5000 Competition Flat Bench is a better piece of powerlifting equipment than you’ll find in all but the most dedicated “lifting” gyms (and only $239.99). You’ll also find top-of-the-line air bikes, a luxury of living in the 21st century. 

You can find almost anything you need to build a gym — from staples like squat racks and weight plates to accessories like bands — in the list below.

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CrossFit

Top-Tier Athletes

Just in case you have been living in a cave, under a rock, or on Mars, you should know that CrossFit is a big deal in the fitness world. Like big, big. 

CrossFit attracts top athletes looking to test themselves and compete against similar talents in competitions that span the entire year. And we’ve put together a list of the 10 best CrossFit competitors from 2023.

Several names will be familiar to rabid fans of the “fittest athletes on Earth.” Both Laura Horvath and Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr made the list, with the former overcoming the latter at the 2023 Rogue Invitational. Adaptive athlete Casey Acree also makes the list in dominant form, proving again he is one of the best in the world. See who made the list and who you think may have been snubbed. And, as always, stay tuned for more CrossFit competition coverage in 2024.

Weight Loss

Feel the Burn

Among dedicated gym-goers, a simple question seems to arise all the time: Does lifting weights actually burn fat? The easy answer is that lifting weights, like all activities, requires the body to burn calories, which can burn fat. The long answer, as always, is more complicated. 

To put the science into simple English, lifting weights does burn fat. However, unless you’re going quite hard in the gym and performing lots of multi-joint compound exercises, the amount of calories you expend isn’t as high as a HIIT workout or long-distance run. While strength training does create biological signals that help your body dispose of its fat stores, these processes must occur within the context of a calorie deficit if you want to make real, appreciable changes on the scale.

At the end of the day, the data is clear: If your goal is fat loss, you shouldn’t be avoiding the weight room. But, there’s a bit more to it than that.

Everything Else

Resolve to Keep Your Resolutions

• Put two of your favorite things together, the front squat and overhead press, and do some barbell thrusters. Here’s how to nail it.

• January 1 may be the perfect time of year to set new goals, but for too many, January 3 is the day when it all comes crashing down. This year, let science help you keep your resolutions.

• Weightlifting is experiencing a time of massive popularity. These 10 lifters rose to the top of the heap and proved to be the best of the best in 2023.