Exercise at Home: 4 Household Items To Use As Workout Equipment

Exercising at home ​can keep you fit, just like it does in the gym. Just replace weights with commonly used household items.

Do you find it difficult to exercise properly without gym equipment? Senior Physiotherapist Chitra D/O Chandran from Sengkang Community Hospitalopens in a new tab (SKCH) shares a simple solution. SKCH is managed by SingHealth Community Hospitalsopens in a new tab (SCH), a member of the SingHealthopens in a new tab group.

You can exercise at home, plus you don’t need sophisticated equipment to keep fit,” Chitra explains, “Commonly-found household items can easily serve as good alternatives to gym equipment such as dumbbells and weights.” These include:

1. Filled water bottles

Filled water bottles make great dumbbells! You can start with smaller 500ml bottles before moving on to 1L or 1.5L bottles. You can also reuse soap bottles or juice cartons - make sure to wash them cleanly first!

Suggested exercises: Bicep curls, lunges

 2. Towels

Dry towels are a great addition to helping you stretch out before/after an exercise. To add a challenge, you could use a damp towel too – but remember to wring out all the water first!

Suggested exercises: Loop a towel around your arm or leg when stretching

3. Rice / flour bags

Coming pre-packed, these heavier sacks are easy to grip on to and work great for overhead weight-lifting exercises, squats, and even planks. Larger rice bags can go up to 5kg and 10kg,  providing a good challenge.

Suggested exercises: Squats, weight-lifting

4. Chairs / boxes

A sturdy chair or weighted storage box can help to provide an incline for planks, push-ups, tricep-dips, and more! Experiment with different heights to challenge yourself. Chairs also provide a good grip for balancing or chair-based exercises.

Suggested exercises: Inclined planks, step up/step down exercises

As a complement, Chitra also recommends getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week.

“Break it up into multiple sessions, like 20 to 30 minutes daily. Some physical activity is better than none, and can help offset some of the risks of being sedentary, like high blood pressure (hypertensionopens in a new tab).”

Ref: K21

Check out other articles on exercising at home:

Exercise at Home: Workouts for All Ages and Fitness Levelsopens in a new tab

Tips to Exercise Safely at Homeopens in a new tab

How to Exercise Effectively at Homeopens in a new tab

The 10-minute Morning Workoutopens in a new tab

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