How to Build a Basic Home Gym
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If you want that covetable dad bod you’ve always dreamed of, you have to lift weights CONSISTENTLY.
What has helped me more than anything with being consistent is doing what I can to reduce the activation energy of getting that first rep. If I can just get that first rep, the second rep is much easier. However, after years of going (not going) to commercial gyms, I know exactly how high that activation energy can be.
Imagine having to pack your gym bag, get in your car, drive ten minutes to the gym, park…all before lifting a single dumbbell. Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t have the time to do that if I had an infant or toddler running around.
So cut that part of the equation out:
WORK OUT AT HOME.
Bodyweight exercises in your living room are a good start, but nothing compares to being able to pump iron in your garage. That’s what I’m going to go over in this article: the steps I took to turn my garage into an iron dungeon of rage and testosterone.
My beautiful frame of iron death.
BEFORE YOU START
What I started with in my garage.
Assess Your Needs
Ask yourself what type of exercises will you be performing in your home gym. Resistance training should be part of every program. So some sort of resistance equipment should be your first purchase: dumbbells, bands, kettlebells…all of them are great at helping you build and maintain muscle.
Once you’ve decided what you want to be able to do in your gym, you’ll want to block out some amount of appropriate space that you can use for these purposes. I love lifting weights, so my goal was to have a squat rack, cable machine, flywheel, dumbbells and a hex bar. In my smaller house, the only place that could possibly house these things would be on my half our our two car garage. The caveat was this: I had to be able to park my car inside, as my HOA doesn’t let us leave our car parked on the streets outside.
Measure, Measure, Measure
Having minimal space for gear severely limited my options for equipment. Luckily, the home gym market exploded during the pandemic, and there were plenty of newly released equipment pieces that allowed me to fit everything I wanted into a relatively small footprint.
You’ll need to do a lot of measuring and blocking out of space before making any big purchase.
I recommend you quadruple check your measurements, as nothing is worse than getting a delivery and realizing that your equipment does not fit.
Clear Out the Space
The first step is to clear out any clutter in your garage to make room for your home gym equipment. Get rid of anything you don't need and organize the space to maximize your workout area. Now I get it, when you have a kid the extra stuff starts to pile up tremendously. If you check out my current setup, I had to get a little creative storing things to make everything fit. Honestly, the best thing is to just declutter everything that is not essential. The box your PS5 came in is not essential.
Set Up Proper Flooring
While cement garage floors are durable enough to drop weights on, consider installing some rubber flooring or mats. This will make lifting easier on your feet, protect your equipment and dampen the sounds of lowering or dropping weights.
The go-to flooring is horse stall mats, as they are cheap and quite durable. However, they do have a very strong odor which takes several days or weeks to fully fade.
I opted for a thinner rubber flooring which can be cut to specific length and did not possess that chemical smelling offgassing.
Invest in Quality Equipment
Buy once, cry once. Trust me. Gym equipment, if well maintained will last for many many years. There is some poor quality equipment out there that will at best wear out quickly and at worst be extremely dangerous to use. Imagine your bench collapsing while you are doing a bench press—yeah that’s a trip to the hospital…or to the graveyard.
Now there is a lot of extremely expensive things that are totally NOT necessary and are functionally equivalent to cheaper options. I’d recommend doing a lot of research before you purchase, especially when it comes to big items like your squat rack or your barbell. Up until a certain point, you get what you pay for.
I’ve found REP to hit the peak of the value curve…cheaper than premium brands (Rogue, Eleiko) with very similar quality.
THE GEAR
Level 1. Dumbbells and Bench
If you want a setup that can pretty much get you 80 percent of the way to that dad bod, you can’t go wrong with purchasing some dumbbells and a bench.
For dumbbells, I highly recommend getting an adjustable dumbbell if budget or space is a concern. I love my Powerblocks, which look a little funny, but are durable and have a very easy and quick weight change mechanism.
A kettlebell is also a versatile alternative to dumbbells, as you can use it in a similar manner with the added ability to perform power/ballistic movements like kettlebell swings which are impossible with a traditional dumbbell.
AB4100 Bench
For benches, you want something sturdy and reliable, as you don’t want the legs to bend or break if you are laying on it with hundreds of pounds of weight above your head or neck. Having an adjustable incline is almost a requirement, as having the ability to do incline press/shoulder presses/spider curls make it a much more versatile tool than a simple flat bench. I went with REP AB4100 which has served my needs very well. Rep benches are the best value/quality for the price of brands out there.
Level 2. Barbells, Plates and Racks
Can’t beat the quality and feel of Rogue Barbells.
The next big purchase after getting a nice pair of dumbbells is a dependable, all around barbell. I went with the Rogue Echo Bar, as I love the knurling on their bars which feels aggressive but not cheese grater level. I also found it nearly new on Facebook Marketplace. Their bars also have excellent balance, finish, and exude an overall premium feel. The difference in price isn’t as insane as other items, so I really would recommend getting the best one that you can afford, as it will be one of your most used items.
Weight is weight
Weight plates are something you can go somewhat cheap on as, for the most part, weight is weight. I purchased old Rogue bumper plates on Facebook Marketplace as they were only about $1 a pound. Bumper plates are critical if you are doing Olympic lifts and need to drop your weight, but iron plates tend to cost less and take less space to store.
Spotter arms are a necessity
Finally, your squat rack will likely be your biggest, most expensive purchase when it comes to your home gym. There are many great options, from simple to overdesigned. A simple squat rack will do if you primarily need something to hang your bar for squats/overhead press. If you have the room, a 6 post squat rack is amazing as you can squat and bench inside the rack which is much safer and more comfortable. For me, I had to get a 4 post rack since I need to park my car in the garage. I got the Rep 4-post 5000 rack, which hit that value curve quite well. This was paired with the Rep Ares which is a cable system that includes a functional trainer, a lat pulldown bar and a low row.
NOTE: if you are going to bench at home, please consider spotter arms if you are benching outside of your squat rack frame. People have died violently because they dropped the bar on their neck. Spend the extra money to have that little bit of protection, and if possible make sure you’ve got someone spotting you if you are attempting a heavy bench press.
Level 3. Cables
After getting a decent squat rack set up, some sort of cable or functional trainer set up is one of the most versatile tools you can have for getting into great shape. I opted for the Rep Ares, which slots into my 4-post rack and includes a functional trainer, a overhead lat pulldown, and low row along with dual 330lb selectorized weight stacks. While this is a fancy option, they make much simpler, cheaper options like plate loaded pulleys that attach to your rack.
Level 4. Advanced Equipment
Your home gym is YOURS so you have the freedom to grab any and all equipment that fits your training best. I have been obsessed with the Exxentric Flywheel system, so that was the first thing I bought, even before my squat rack. Some other ideas for secondary equipment:
Specialty bars: Open trap bars, EZ curl bars, and safety squat/multigrip barbells are a great choice for people who have old injury issues they have to work around as they change the ergonomics of the lifts. The Rep Open trap bar is amazing for hex bar deadlifts, farmers carries and lunges.
Landmine attachment: These are cheap attachments to your rack which you can put your barbell into to give you tons of new options for exercises that can help build explosive overhead/rotationary movements as well as provide several row variations if you don’t have access to a cable set up.
Much maligned jammer arms
Jammer arms: Jammer arms are much maligned as they are clunky and difficult to adjust. I tend to agree that they are a lot of trouble, but I got a pair and love them for incline chest press and overhead viking press.
Large machines: The leg press/ hamstring curl/ roman chair / reverse hyper are some big items that are quite popular in the gym community if you have the space to fit them into your garage. While these are admittedly less versatile than the other products mentioned, if you do have the space, being able to load up a heavy leg press in my garage whenever I want is something that I can only dream of.
Personalize Your Space
The funnest part of putting together my home gym was adding my own flare and personality. I added an LED sign for my company on the wall which will be great for shooting videos, as well as an awesome One Piece flag that I bought for my sons birthday. Now its mine.
Organization
A good and bad thing about having a home gym is that you can decide how messy you want everything to be. If you want to just throw everything on the floor, great. But if you want all the little knick knacks off the floor, you can install something like the wall control rack I installed here. As you can see, it also can hold my dragon skull and swords.
This is a helicopter view of my home gym, only touching on the little nuances on how to get the right set up. I would highly recommend checking Coop over at Garage Gym Reviews who is the master at creating an amazing, breathtaking home gym you love.
2 years in, I have to say I have had zero regrets about the purchase of my home gym. My health and body have changed tremendously because of this investment in myself.
I highly encourage you to create your own little box of hell to forge that devastating dad bod that becomes the talk of the neighborhood. Not always good though, I’ve had liens put on my house for walking around my living room naked with the blinds half open.