What Is It You Want To Accomplish?

Every day I watch people working out -- to what end?  If it's weight management, then some of the workouts seem ridiculous--too much machinery and gimmickry (BOSU, kettlebell, Swiss Ball, bands, etc.).  Simple body weight exercises (otherwise known as calisthenics) and some kind of moderate cardio (walking, biking, jogging, etc.) plus decreasing calories is sufficient to start.  If my personal trainer started to give me exercises that would ultimately require me to stay enrolled at a gym rather than transition to my home, I would be suspect.  The average person isn't training for a competition, they are training for life and what better way to train than with normal, daily activity?  If your interests run to sedentary pursuits (reading, watching TV, knitting, etc.) then you want to do the bare minimum so you can, at least, do activities of daily living (cooking, cleaning, dressing, bathing, etc.) and possibly respond to an emergency (climbing out of a window, running for help, etc.) without difficulty and have healthy "numbers" (blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, etc.).  If you have more active pursuits such as gardening, weekend sports, or hiking you may need to be more specific in your workouts but not by much--all these activities are done primarily with your own body weight, so you don't really need more than that to train.  Additionally, you can use different techniques to make body weight exercises more difficult.  The bottom line is -- you have everything you need right at home and within your ability if you want to get in better shape!