Let’s talk training tools.
Walk into Results Fitness and you’ll see kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands, sleds, medicine balls, TRX straps, cable machines, and plenty of other pieces of gym equipment.
At first glance, it may seem like a lot.
But here’s what’s important to understand:
Here at Results Fitness, the focus of your workouts is NOT the equipment.
The focus is YOU!
Every training tool serves a specific purpose and helps your body develop strength, balance, coordination, mobility, power, endurance, and muscle.
Because real-life fitness has everything to do with building a body that’s capable of doing the things you love for years to come:
• Carrying groceries without struggling
• Keeping up with your kids and grandkids
• Playing golf, pickleball, hiking, biking, and traveling with confidence
• Preventing injuries
• Maintaining muscle as you age
• Feeling strong, capable, and confident in your own skin
That’s exactly why we use a variety of training tools.
Each one challenges your body in a slightly different way so you continue getting stronger, moving better, building resilience, and creating the foundation for a healthy, active life.
And understanding what these tools are and why you use them ensures you get even more out of your workouts!
Whether you’re brand new to exercise or have been training for years, incorporating different types of training tools into your workouts can unlock new levels of strength, performance, confidence and functional fitness.
Let’s break down some of the most common training tools you see and use at Results Fitness and, more importantly, WHY they’re such an important part of helping you feel your best and build the strongest version of yourself.
Common Training Tools
Let’s start with one of our favorites: the kettlebell.
#1. Kettlebells: versatile weights with a handle that allow for dynamic, full-body movements. Kettlebells combine strength, power, coordination, and conditioning all at once.
At Results Fitness, we use kettlebells to help you build real-world strength that improves how you move, carry, lift, brace, and generate power in everyday life.
Common exercises:
- • Kettlebell swings
- • Goblet squats
- • Turkish get-ups
- • Clean and press
#2. Dumbbells: one of the most fundamental tools in the gym. Dumbbells are great for both beginners and advanced exercisers because of their adaptability and wide range of weight options. They also allow for single-sided training, which helps improve balance, coordination, and correct muscle imbalances.
At Results Fitness, dumbbells help you build strength, muscle tone, control, and confidence with movements your body needs for life.
Common exercises:
- • Bicep curls
- • Shoulder press
- • Lunges
- • Dumbbell chest press
#3. TRX Straps (Total Resistance Exercise): use your body weight and gravity as resistance. TRX is especially helpful for building core strength, balance, stability, and body control.
At Results Fitness, it’s one of our favorite modification tools. TRX straps can assist with squats, lunges, and other lower-body movements if you’re dealing with limited mobility, arthritis, injuries, or recovering from joint replacement surgery. These straps allow you to build strength safely while returning to pain-free movement.
Common exercises:
- • TRX rows
- • TRX push-ups
- • TRX squats
- • Plank variations
#4. Barbells and Trapbars: powerful tools for building maximal strength and power. Both allow you to lift heavier loads compared to other equipment.
Barbells: cornerstone of strength training because they help you build total-body strength and progress over time.
Trapbars: the barbell’s ‘safer’ cousin! Trap bars allow for more velocity and power output and are safer and easier to learn for most.
At Results Fitness, barbells and trapbards are used use both to create the kind of strength that supports your body for the long run, and are especially effective for strengthening the muscles that support healthy movement and posture, including your glutes, hamstrings and core.
Common exercises:
- • Squats
- • Deadlift variations
- • Bench press
- • Olympic lift variations
#5. Resistance Bands: lightweight, portable, and adaptable tools that provide constant tension throughout a movement. Bands are great for warm-ups, mobility work, rehab-style exercises, and adding resistance without heavy weights.
At Results Fitness, we use bands to improve movement quality, activate muscles properly, support injury prevention, and make exercises more effective for your body.
Common exercises:
- • Band pull-aparts
- • Glute bridges
- • Lateral walks
- • Assisted pull-ups
#6. Wedgies: angled platforms used to elevate your heels, adjust foot position and improve lifting mechanics. They’re especially helpful for improving form and range of motion.
For example, if you have limited ankle mobility, elevating your heels can help you squat with better posture, more control, and less compensation.
At Results Fitness, we use wedgies to customize exercises to YOUR body so you can move better, train safely, and get stronger with better technique.
Common exercises:
- • Heel-elevated squats
- • Calf raises
- • Toe-elevated RDLs
- • Mobility drills
Why We Use So Many Different Training Tools
One of the biggest misconceptions about exercise is that workouts are only meant to help you look better.
And while strength training can absolutely help you build muscle, lose body fat and improve confidence, the real goal is much bigger:
Building a body that can handle your life!
This is called functional fitness.
Training your body for real-world activities like carrying groceries, climbing stairs, lifting luggage, playing sports, working in the yard, keeping up with your kids or grandkids, and simply moving through life with more ease and confidence.
That’s why using a variety of training tools matters.
Each piece of equipment challenges your body differently and helps you build a more complete version of fitness.
Think about it this way:
Your body doesn’t move the same way in real life every day.
Some days you’re carrying groceries.
Some days you’re lifting luggage.
Some days you’re chasing kids, hauling mulch, golfing, playing pickleball, or spending hours in the garden.
Your workouts should prepare you for ALL of it, and exactly why you use a variety of training tools here at Results Fitness.
- Barbells and trap bars help you build strength and preserve muscle.
- Dumbbells improve balance, coordination and side-to-side strength.
- TRX straps improve stability and body control.
- Resistance bands help activate muscles and support healthier movement patterns.
- Kettlebells develop power, conditioning, and athletic movement.
Another major benefit of using different training tools is adaptability.
One of the reasons our Personalized, Small Group Training model works so well is because everyone can perform the same movement pattern while training at a level that’s appropriate for their body, fitness level, experience, injuries, and goals.
For example, one person may perform a squat holding a kettlebell, while another uses TRX straps for support, and a third uses a trap bar.
Same movement, differen tools, same benefits.
And that’s exactly why you’ll forever hear us preach that strength training is for every body, regardless of age, experience level or starting point.
When the appropriate training tools are combined into a well-designed program, something powerful happens:
You don’t just get better at exercising.
You get better at life!
You become stronger.
You move better.
You build resilience.
You preserve muscle as you age.
You reduce your risk of injury.
And you create a foundation that allows you to continue doing the things you love for years to come.
Because at Results Fitness, you’re not training to get better at exercise. You’re training for everything that happens outside of it!