BUILD YOUR HOME GYM
HOME GYM MUST HAVES
A home gym can be an awesome addition to your home, but also to your fitness regime. You can save yourself a lot of time during week by training at home as opposed to driving to a gym, parking, dropping stuff in a locker, fighting for machines and equipment during your workout and then either getting ready at the gym for your day and heading to work or driving back home.
Now there are downsides to a home gym as well. Space being one of the main issues. You need to have enough space to get in a workout (and of course this depends on your workout routine). Generally speaking you can get by with as little as a 6 foot by 6 foot space if it’s just bodyweight and dumbbells, but if you start to add more equipment like a rack or weights, it will require a larger space.
Personally we have been able to build out a gym in an 11x12 foot extra bedroom in our home. Here is what we have in it:
Flooring - We purchased 3/4” horse stall mats at Tractor Supply Co. They are 4x6’. I covered the entire floor to protect our nice hardwood floors.
We have a Rogue Monster Light Squat rack that has a pull-up bar and safety bar attachments.
We have a Hoist adjustable bench that I can also equip with a leg attachment when needed to do hamstring curls and leg extensions.
We have a Concept 2 Rower.
We have Fringe Sport bumper plates (10-15-25-35-45lb pairs) on a plate tower.
For dumbbells we have an adjustable set of Bowflex 552’s on a stand. (I replaced all my dumbbells that I had on a dumbbell rack in order to save space.)
We have a small walk-in closet in this room which is great because I have shelves built so I can hold different balls and accessories out of the way of the floor.
It’s not a huge space, but it has been just fine for one person. I have trained a single client in the room and it works though it gets a bit tight depending on the moves. I use the hallway for doing walking lunges or carry’s.
Let’s assume you don’t have an extra bedroom to build out as a gym, what then?
As I mentioned earlier if you can find a space that is about 6x6 foot you can do plenty of workouts in this area. Below is a list of equipment, based on a small space and minimal budget, this is what I would focus on this first:
Quality mat and foam roller. A mat will help protect your floor and feel better underneath you than a tile or wood floor and it will also help if you have carpet and sweat a lot. I actually like an oversized mat over a traditional yoga mat. For your foam roller, I personally like the 36” version as it is more comfortable to me. I like firmer foam roller as well as it will maintain it’s shape better over time.
A set of resistance bands (at least a light and medium). You can do a ton with resistance bands. These can also be used in conjunction with your dumbbells if you don’t have a heavier set of dumbbells.
Set of adjustable dumbbells. I had never used adjustable dumbbells until I bought the pair of Bowflex 552 and now I love them. You can save a ton of space by replacing individual dumbbells with a set of these. My only word of caution is you have to be a bit more careful with them (the Bowflex for sure) and not drop them. If you want something more rugged look at PowerBlocks, though they are a bit more expensive.
A light, medium and heavy Kettlebell. Kettlebells can a really great addition to your workouts with swings and carry’s.
Stability ball. I have mixed feelings about stability balls. On the one hand they can be used for a lot of different exercises and can even be used as a bench for doing bench press. The downside is storing a ball. They just always seem to be in the way and awkward to store.
(Optional) Bench (adjustable even better). You don’t have to have a bench for home workouts, but they can provide you with more security and options on different moves. An adjustable bench that can also fold down and store under a bed is very handy.
You can find anything that I mentioned above on Amazon and probably have it all shipped to your home in the next week. Shop around, but I find the pricing on Amazon to be pretty good and for things like weights, if you can order them from Amazon Prime with free shipping, that is a huge money saver.
A home gym, even though you spend a bit more upfront for equipment, can be a huge time saver while still offering a quality workout.