I don't want to beat a dead horse (who would? what kind of sicko beats a dead horse? a dead anything, come to think of it?), but I haven't belonged to a gym this year. As a result, I've needed to show some discipline inside the house in order to get workouts in.

Now, understand - home is the place I stayed when I didn't want to go to the gym when we belonged to the gym.

So you see the problem here.

But I bought a couple of elements to add to what I already had here and I think I've done a pretty good job of maintaining a workout schedule, gym or no gym.

The picture above gives you an indication of what I'm working with.

I've told you about the kettlebell, and I've had those dumbbells for years. Not pictured, there's an ab roller and a big bouncy ball that my wife has had for years that I use occasionally as well.

But this is about the new stuff.

And after I got some sports store gift cards for my birthday, I added the medicine ball, the jump rope, and that yellow resistance cord to my collection.

I use the medicine ball for work on my abs. I don't have a full understanding of how to use a medicine ball, but I have a much better idea about it than I did with the kettlebell. I've only scratched the surface of the resistance cord, I'm sure. I use it for my arms, mostly, but I'm sure I can do some leg stuff with it as well.

I haven't had much opportunity to use the jump rope yet, since it's a strictly outdoor piece of equipment and the other stuff is for the indoors, but I like having it. Someday I'll bring it with me on a bike ride, find a quiet place where no one is around to laugh at my jump roping ineptitude, and work on my jump roping.

Storage is a problem right now - I don't have a designated spot for the workout equipment. Right now I leave everything pretty much out in the open in the same area as a lot of my daughters' toys. In practice, this is not ideal, because I realize there could be a trip and fall and knocking a head into a kettlebell situation happening...but psychologically, the equipment is right in front of the TV, so if I'm sitting watching TV and doing nothing else, I can lift some weights at the same time.

And my daughters have so far proven responsible around everything. But if I'm not using things for a while I'll move them out of the way.

I always thought having a home gym meant I would have the luxury of a spare room where I had some benches and some serious workout equipment - like what you see at the gym but in your own home.

Turns out, a bunch of small workout equipment in the same room as your kids' toys can do the trick just as well.