I was lifting in my garage this morning and it got me to thinking. I really don’t have a ton of equipment, but what I do have is versatile and adjustable. My home gym allows me to get in a good workout whenever I want and also make both aesthetic and strength gains. In fact, my best strength gains have come by using my home gym!
So I thought I’d sit down and hammer out a quick article about the basics of what you need for your home gym. I’ll also go into a few “luxury” items you can get after you got those down.
Why Have a Home Gym?
We’ll start with the obvious here. You don’t have to pay a membership fee! Yeah, I get it. A lot of gear is pretty pricy on the face of things. Over time, though, there’s no way you’ll save money on a long term gym membership. This goes double if you’re a member of a big global gym that costs thirty or more dollars a month.
Something like an adjustable dumbbell set or an olympic bar and a power cage can save you a ton in the long run.
And my favorite part of it is that you can workout whenever you want. Early morning? Go ahead! Late at night? Sure! It’s your gym! Lift what you want when you want! And the lack of other people means you can lift wearing what you want. I like to lift barefoot, it just feels better to me. Can’t do that at the gym for fear of foot fungus, just make sure to clean up your own space to make sure both it and your feet stay clean.
Home Gym Basics You Need
What you’re going to want to focus on when you start building your gym is free weights. You want something that allows you to perform compound lifts. It keeps things simple, and it also keeps your shopping list relatively small.
For example, my first purchase for my home gym was the “Xmark International Olympic Weight Bench“. Combine this with an olympic weight (45lbs) weight bar and you have a great bare-bones setup. My bench in particular allows me to squat, bench press, and even do curls and leg extensions. And if you have the floor-space, you just take off the bar and do dead-lifts from the floor. Even if we stopped here you’d be pretty much set if you’re willing to do a pretty caveman style workout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPAuOyP-0A
But honestly, you’ll probably want to buy dumbbells as well. They aren’t absolutely vital for your workout, but they’re great for your secondary lifts. And honestly, while traditional dumbbells are easy to lift and nice to look at, they take a lot of space up. That’s why you should start with adjustable dumbbells. They’re not cheap, and they tend to only go up to about 50 pounds, they take up much less space.
“Luxury” Lifting Items
After a solid area to do your olympic lifts and your dumbbells, you may decide you want more equipment. My first purchase was something to make sure I could move my weight no matter how big I get. That’s why my first purchase was the “Gold’s Gym XR 10.9 Power Tower with Push Up, Pull Up, and Dip Stations“. It’s kind of big and cumbersome, but I weight 220lbs and it’s sturdy when I use it, so it’ll hold up most people. I can also do plenty of new workouts on it that I couldn’t otherwise, including pull ups, dips, and tons of hanging ab exercises.
Eventually, you’re also going to want to try to buy some cheap floor padding. As my dead lift as increased, and controlling the decent to the floor can become more of a task. Because of this, I’ve noticed some wear and tear on my weights. This is probably going to be my next purchase.
After that, weight lifting gear is a good purchase as well. My lifts increased by about five to ten percent with my purchases of my weight belt and wrist wraps. The belt I purchased was the “cobra grips” weight lifting belt and the “rip toned” wrist wraps. Other gear I’ve heard people use are things like foam rollers, jump ropes, dip belts, etc. etc.
Finally, after you have everything else set up and have some cash left over, you can dip into buying machines. The first real machine you’ll probably want to get for the home is a treadmill or exercise bike. They’re static, tough to move, and take up quite a bit of space. But there’s something to be said to sitting at home and getting a sweat on without having to go outside and avoid people on the sidewalk, or try to dodge swarms of bugs hungry for your blood and flesh.
Other than that, I don’t really think there’s many “essential” machines for your homes. I could certainly do with a hack squat machine for more quad focus, and maybe a weighted ab machine since those are a bit more annoying to work on the floor. Outside of that, though, it’s gonna come down to your individual taste and how much money you have to spend. Also, the amount of space. Free weight gear can take up quite a bit of space on it’s own, but with that space you have many things that you can do. I don’t even have the time to sit here and list off the amount of exercises you can do with a nice set of dumbbells.
Personal taste, space, and money are going to make no two home gyms the same. But when you start yours, make sure to start with the basics, and be very mindful of the space you have to work with. And at the end of the day, I really feel like it’s worth it to pony up the cash. At least, it has been for me. Working out with no judgement, no time restraints, and no 100 degree heat really has made me fall back in love with exercising.
