COVID put me in the house and unable to do anything that I normally did for working out. Plus side? I'm coming up with workouts that I can do from home.

There are tons of exercise plans you can find for free or pay for online, but when you start looking into it, there are a lot of problems. Does it do what you want? Will you stick to it? Is it fun? Do you have the gear? In short, does it work for you?

I tried every workout plan I could and found one that works for me, at my age, with my goals, and that I can come back to everyday.

What are the best and most basic exercises for a home workout?

Right off the bat, I'm going to say you should be walking. It is so slept on that I need to get it out there now. I used to run or bike everyday and I still did not understand the importance of the walking. If you're walking a few miles a day, then congrats, walking is making huge benefits to your general health.

TL;DR What should I do starting out?

How many times do I lift? 5 sets of 5 reps
How heavy? A moderately heavy weight - what can you do safely at about 70% effort?
Which exercises? Deadlift, overhead press, squat, rows.
What accesories? A lot. I'd be lying if I said that was everything. You need to include: abs, YWTL, rotations, walking (did I mention walking?), decline bench. As you progress add pull downs, pull ups, and variations.

One note: it is not the workout plan or the amount of weight that matters right now. The thing you need to establish is consistency. A mindset. You are a person that exercises. This is a thing that you do.

Consistency. The specifics of the workout are actually somewhat irrelevant. The most important thing is consistency. - no burning out, no hurting yourself, and no beating yourself up if the weights go (up/down) depending on the day.

What are the basic workouts?

Walking. I'm serious. Running is fantastic as well, but you also should be walking. Or low biking. Basically you should be moving. Miles.

5x5 aka StrongLifts
Push, Pull, Legs aka PPL

Those are pretty much the two most commonly given workouts.

Let's take a step back. What are the basic movements?

Your body moves in basic ways:

Push
Pull
Hip hinge
Rotation
Carry
Forward, backward, up, and down

A 'complete' workout would include all of these motions. People design workouts to 'hit' all these areas of the body.

People divide up the body into certain areas as well:

Chest
Back
Arms
Legs
Abs

Upper body
Lower body

But these are mainly to make it more interesting.

When you're designing a workout, just think about how your body moves and how to get it to move.

The other variable is intensity. For me? I am just starting out and I am a proponent of doing what you can do regulary. No point in going super hard for a few weeks, then stopping completely. Does make sense to push yourself instead of just looking at your phone most of the time.

Working out is an art.

There are not hard and fast rules that work for everyone. There are basic concepts, basic body mechanics, and guidelines that help.

Even a simple and very common suggestion like 'do squats' has nuance. Some people have bodies that do not squat well. Some are too weak to start with weight. Some have no idea their form is terrible. All those people need different deviations from the common advice. Personalize it to you.

What equipment should I buy for a home gym?

Could start with running shoes and do body weight workouts.

Some weight is useful. For a while I was using a canvas army surplus bag ($20) filled with sand ($20).

Dumbbells. If you can afford it, $200 should buy you two 50-lbs adjustable dumbbells. Those are useful for many exercises. You can do rows on a chair, bench from the floor, squats as bulgarian split squats, seated or standing overhead press. I still use the dumbbells for workouts. If you want to buy one? Get a lighter one and a heavier one when you need it. Like 15 - 25 lbs and a 40-50 lbs one.

Kettlebell. Every home workout seems to involve kettlebells. I get it. If you are a guy, the standard recommendation is start with a 35 lbs one. When I started, that was too heavy for me. I used a 20 or 25 lbs one. If I had to buy it? Sure I might start there. They are about $30 I think if you get them on sale.

Barbell and weights. To do deadlift and legs, it really helps to have these. If you start with nothing, I think I would start with a light dumbbell. Do a lot of stuff with that. Then get a 35 lbs kettlebell. At some point a 53 lbs one too. But in between those you'll probably want to get a barbell and weights.

Deadlift is such a helpful exercise. Floor bench is sketchy, but possible. Sketchy mainly because you probably cannot bench 135 to start, which is what you need to have the weight high enough off the ground. But do it. Squats are available as zercher squats. You can also do power cleans which is a really good exercise as well.

Squat rack. Worth the upgrade. Why? Makes barbell overhead press easier. Makes squats easier. I probably did work out harder when I had no squat rack though because I was doing front and zercher squats and pulling it up from the floor. Now that I'm typing this out, maybe I should mix those in sometimes.

Workout progression. What to do next?

That does not mean this workout plan will work forever. Probably need to do more hamstring and more carry work. But it is a start.

It is simple to remember. Low friction. You can just do it. When I got too 'into it' instead of lifting, I would be looking for my journal, or a pen, or my phone to track it. Right now, I can remember my workout in my head. And I just do what I do based on the day.

Simple is easier to do. And done is better than some 'perfect' workout that does not get done. Or takes so much effort to get done, that you start slacking in other parts of your life.

Working out should be additive. It should add to your life. Not make it harder. Working out will make your life easier. It will improve your life.

Once you get to 5x5 comfortable? Maybe do 4 x 10 of the same weight. Some people think doing higher weights is better too. Depends on your body, how much you warm up, and what you like to do.

Summary:

Concentrate on consistency first. Do that by making it something safe and fun to do. Adjust to what works for you in terms of intensity. The actual weight does not matter as much at the beginning.

5 x 5 at ~70%. Five sets of five reps at about 70% effort.

Deadlift, overhead press, squat, rows. In between sets, do something else like abs, YWTL, other accessory pulls.

Add other stuff? Minimally. Walk a lot instead.