Workout Equipment
Home Gym
Covid illustrated the importance of having your own training space. Gyms are great but home gyms can be awesome.
I’ve been accumulating fitness equipment for the last 20 years and I still use my Perfect Pushups that I purchased my freshman year of college!
How do you start a home gym?
Step 1- Define your space
We started the process of building a new house 6 years ago and I designed my entire basement around the home gym. Think about what you want your home gym to look like 10 years from now. What do you want your garage/basement/guest room/etc to eventually evolve into and do you have enough space to make that happen. The less space you have the more creative you can be when planning.
Step 2- Start Small
In residency we were broke. I had no money, kids, and would buy a dumbbell at a time from Play Again Sports. I eventually hit the mother load when I found a company in Birmingham that sold used High School athletic equipment and weights. I purchased a Full Rack, 300 pounds of weights, and a couple random used dumbbells. Every year I buy a couple more pieces of equipment. 15 years later I have a pretty sweet gym.
Step 3- Think multi-use
The key with a home gym is: getting the biggest bang for your buck and efficiently using your space. You don’t want to purchase a massive piece of equipment that you will only use occasionally. You want your first purchase to be the most versatile piece of equipment in any gym. What is that?
Basic Equipment list in order of purchase
Rack- I would recommend the Rogue Monster RM-4 100” Rack. The number of accessories are awesome and the quality superb. If you are on a budget then I would purchase the rack I have: Body Solid Power Rack. I love this rack and the spotting bars. The dip attachment is great and it was a fraction of the cost of the Rogue (and Rogue didn’t exists when I purchased mine). If you have limited space consider one of the folding racks.
Barbell- If you have a rack then you need a barbell and some weights. I have two bars and my buddies really dislike the one I purchased from Rogue because the diameter is too small (ie it kills your hands on bench). I just ordered the wrong one and as a result still use my original bar from Wright Equipment. A bar is something that you want to get right and make sure you like the diameter.
Weights- I have both steel plates and bumpers. The one thing about bumper plates is that the tolerances are tighter and do not fit on my leg press bar. Weird but Body Solid made the bar too thick on its leg press machine and it is very difficult to load with bumper plates.
Bench- there are a ton of options on benches but in a home gym you want something that is multifunction. I really like my Powertec Bench with the leg extension/curl attachment. They discontinued the model I have but the new bench looks better in that it declines. I like that this bench allows for complete range of motion (shoulder press to decline) AND you can do legs with the optional attachments. They have a bunch of other attachments that I haven’t tried yet but the preacher curl would be my next purchase. Note- the leg extension and curl machine from Prime Fitness cost $4500.
Dumbbells- I like the rubberized dumbbells and there are bunch of options here. Find some you like locally! Shipping on weights almost doubles the cost.
Ok so you could probably stop here and be good. Getting the book Starting Strength and have at it!! The first five are all I had for 10+ years.
Round 2 Purchases- So you like working out at home and want to start investing more heavily!
Cardio Equipment
Cycling- I have 3 bikes in my home gym now…
A) My wife loves her Nordic Track S22I bike and secretly I really like it as well. The classes are great and I really enjoy the mountain bike/scenic rides that I believe are lacking on the Peloton. The automatic resistance changes are nice as well and really add to the experience. Plus the iFit subscription covers our treadmill as well. I do like how iFit will now push workouts to Strava (which can then push them to my TrainingPeaks account). After two years I did have to change the resistance motherboard. It took 10 minutes.
B) I have a Wahoo Kickr hooked up to my road bike for Zwift workouts. I love the road biking feel and the workouts I get from Matt Dixon on Purple Patch Squad are phenomenal.
C) Rogue Echo Bike- this bike is a beast. For HIIT workouts, being able to just jump on this bad boy and get after it for 20 minutes is great! Get the phone holder and the water bottle holder.
Running- I prefer running outside (trail, road, track, wherever) but I do love our Nordic Track Treadmill. The iFit workouts take your mind off running on a rainy day.
Rowing- the Concept 2 rower is great.
SkiErg- the Concept 2 SkiErg was a purchase that I wasn’t 100% sure was the right decision. I use this in a circuit with the Echo bike and rower on HIIT days. Mark Twight programs this in to quite a few of his workouts over at non-prophet. I do feel like it is making me stronger and has been a nice replacement for my swimming workouts when I’m not in the pull. Great machine, small footprint, but definitely non-essential in a home gym.
Strength Equipment 2.0
Lat Pulldown, Seated Rows, Tricep press, cables, selectorized machines, plate loaded exercises… The list of machines and exercises is pretty endless. Just look at all the Hammer Strength, Life Fitness, Prime Fitness, and other fitness company offerings.
Which machines give you the biggest bang for your buck in the smallest foot print possible?
If I had to do it over again where would I start for specialized Strength Equipment?
Functional Trainer from Prime Fitness- This cable machines gives you an amazing number of movements in one machine and space. I purchased the Rogue Lat Pull Down/Low Row Machine as it was half the price but wish I would have started with the functional trainer. Reasons: the Rogue machine really only works for Lat Pull down, tricep press, and rows. It is terrible for bicep curls and is not adjustable.
Leg Press- I really like my Body Solid Leg Press Machine. I use it exclusively for calves and leg press. The Hack squat kills my knees.
Core Training- you can do most core exercises on the ground and with the functional trainer but if you want to take your core work to the next level here are some options:
a) Bumper Ab Roller from Rogue
b) Back and Side Extension from Body Solid- Ok so I’m not the biggest fan of the GHB machines and I like these roman chairs because they allow you to do back extensions and Spinal Side Bends from a less compromised position (for a wider range of athletes). I actually have the Pro Oblique from Rogue. It was expensive and quite heavy but is a great piece of equipment.
c) Prime Hybrid Core Machines- Really want to spend some money on core? Look no further than the Hybrid Abdominal Crunch, Rotary Torso, and Back extensions machines from Prime Fitness. Bryson Dechambeau’s trainer has a nice video highlighting the importance of these movements on GQ’s website.
d) Ab sling straps- great for isolated core work and inexpensive($24). No need to get the $90 ab strap from Rogue as these from Dmoose are great.
e) Abmat- great for crunches/sit-ups
Hip Training
a) Prime Fitness Hybrid Multi-hip- unbelievable options for strengthening your hips
Other machines/equipment
a) Forearm trainer- Pinch Grip Trainer is great and I use these twice weekly. I use a kerrison rongeur in the operating room and this machine has given me so much more power with the Kerrison that my control is even better now than it was 5 years ago.
b) Specialty bars- Trap Bar Deadlift is a must for anyone willing to do deadlifts and the Rogue Curl Bar is great for curls. Note- I purchased the Rogue Safety Squat Bar and everyone at my home gym refuses to use it. I didn’t love it but my buddies all said it caused significant neck pain… So now it is a wall ornament.
c) Rings- I use my rings every week for pull-ups, dips, supine rows and the kids love them
d) TRX straps- these are also great but get used less than the rings
e) Bands- We have a full complement of bands that get used frequently
f) Heavy Bag- a boxing and kickboxing workout is a great way to get the HR up. Just be careful and wrap your wrist to avoid injury
g) Kettlebells and Medicine Balls- great for crossfit style workouts
h) Back roller- hurts so good
i) TV with Apple TV and Sonos surround- great for music, watching the game while working out, and also accessing workout videos. My wife loves the beachbody.com #muscleburnsfat and barre series.
j) Wall mounted Barre for Pure Barre type workouts (and sissy squats).
k) Landmines- you can just shove the bar in a corner or Rogue makes these nice attachments (you will need to drill an additional hole in your body solid rack if you don’t have a Rogue rack).
l) Box or plyoboxes- I do love some box jumps. Just be careful
