I'm interested in getting some items to help me with exercising in my home. I have an exercise bike and resistance bands, but nothing else.

Could you list your 3 favorite items for exercising in your home? (stability balls, weights, etc). I'm also interested to hear what didn't work so well. Thanks!!

Ah, you just listed them in your examples. Stability ball and dumbbells. That's all I need. I belong to a gym and that's pretty much what I use there. 90% of my lifting is with free weights and body weight (squats, lunges, push ups, pull ups, sit ups, etc.)

big patch of floor, i find the old sytle excercises have the most effect. push ups, sit ups, squats, kicks, punches, I can get a great workout with no equipement at all, and I love it. (I do have everything at home from cross trainer, treadmill, weights.. etc) but at the end of the day its my lounge room floor space and maybe my joggers for a walk or run outside. (I also love yoga, so a good yoga book to take you through the basics)

what didn't work.. any of those tv miracle machines (ab circle pro, .. blah blah)... I used to get suckered in all the time

Stability ball, dumbells, and a yoga mat. The latter, in addition to being used as a yoga/pilates mat, is a great "space creator" for abs and lifting routines. It creates the mental "Here is where I work out" boundary. It's colorful and pretty and I like the fact that it's my own little workout space distinguished from the rest of the house. Little mental things like that help motivate me a lot

I do almost all free weights and dumbells. If you did nothing else pushups are a great excercise. For cardio I run on the treadmill, run outside and us an ellyptical trainer. For home Cardio equipment a bike is ok but I think treadmills are the best. A good treadmill is costly though (as is a complete dumbell set). More and more people are into kettleballs, i've never tried them other than picking them up in a store. They seem to cost about the same as dumbells.

My 3 favs: my treadmill, my iPod, my VFF's (but I am a bit wacky like that!)

I like my treadmill, yoga mat, and dumbbells.

I found a total gym on craigslist a few months ago. Really love it. I'm able to do a full circuit workout with two sets in 20 to 30 minutes. I don't have to move weights around and all that, it's so easy because I just change positions for the different exercises. I also have an exercise bike.