Having worked out at various gyms over the years, from the high school gym to many public gyms, I finally decided this year to make the switch to a home gym.
Note, that this home gym I’m speaking of is specific to strength training purposes. It addresses my needs perfectly, and leads to much more productive workouts.
In this post, I describe how I set up the gym, and why I did it that way.
Where I bought my stuff
First note, I’m in Australia, so I naturally bought my equipment from an Australian retailer. Look up the various Country-specific message boards to find out where you can get the best deals, or simply do your own research. I will say, that getting this kind of equipment is easier in the USA compared to anywhere else, and a good place to start for people living there would be BB.com.
In my case, I got the gym online, at Gymandfitness.com.au. I paid by direct debit of my bank account, and the delivery arrived promptly in about 2 weeks from start to finish (from the time I clicked pay to the time it was in my garage).
What I bought and why
Here’s a list of what I bought
- Force USA power rack + Lat Tower with dual pulley system + Dip Handles
- Force USA Flat-Incline-Decline (FID) bench + Leg Curl Attachment
- 4 x 1x1m2 Rubber Gym Mats
- 215kg Olympic Weight Plates (6 x 20kg, 4 x 10kg, 8 x 5kg, 4 x 2.5kg, 4 x 1.25kg)
- Olympic Barbell with Ball Bearings (20kg)
- 2 Olympic Dumbbell Handles
- Pulley Attachments
- Barbell Squat Pad
Before we start, it’s important to know the term, “rating”. Oftentimes you will see a product description which says, “X power rack rated to 1000lbs”. That basically means that the power rack is able to safely withstand 1000lbs of weight.
First and foremost, I had to get a power rack which provided a safe space to lift. The Force USA power rack was a decent price and was rated to 700lbs. Since I’m not one to lift super heavy weights (700lbs is a lot), it was sufficient. Typical ratings for racks fall between 700lbs – 1000lbs, and you should always get a higher rating of you can. Of course, a higher rating commands a higher price, but would potentially be safer.
For those who are unfamiliar with a power rack, the picture above should illustrate how the rack functions. It is basically a metal structure with safety pins that can be adjusted to different heights. They serve as a safety mechanism, since the lifter can abandon a failed lift by dumping the bar on the pins instead of getting crushed.
My rack in particular came together with a lat pulldown tower, which had a high and low pulley attachment (pics) rated to 120kg to allow for pulldowns, tricep pushdowns and rows. It also came with some dip bars which were rated to 150kg.
Now that I have my rack, I need the actual weights. For that, I got an Olympic Barbell and some Olympic weights plates. There are two types of barbells, Olympic and Standard. The difference is most easily seen in the hole size of the plates, with the Olympic plates typically having a 55mm hole size and the standard plates a (find info) hole size. An Olympic Barbell is typically 20kg with the standard one being usually 17kg.
The most important reason however, is that an Olympic Barbell is used for Olympic lifting; it’s a heavy duty bar capable of withstanding much more weight. Typical ratings for an Olympic Barbell range from 750lbs to 1500lbs. The one which I got was a 1500lbs barbell with ball bearings (meaning that the ends can rotate freely).
For weights, it will depend on how strong you think you will get. My current configuration (6 x 20kg, 4 x 10kg, 8 x 5kg, 4 x 2.5kg, 4 x 1.25kg) allows me to load most of the weight on a barbell (for about 200kg), and allows for two 30kg dumbbells (5kg x 4 + 2.5kg x 2 + 5kg Dumbbell Handle. Not simultaneously with the barbell of course). I will very likely get more 20kg or 25kg plates in the future, but for now the above will suffice. Scale up or down depending on your needs, and don’t forget to include multiples of 4 if you want to load 2 balanced dumbbells (1 plate on each side of the dumbbell).
For my bench, I got a flat-incline-decline bench with a leg curl attachment.
The leg curl attachment is rated to 100kg, and allows for greater exercise choice, as with the multi-use bench. Benches typically come in either flat, flat with incline, or a flat-incline-decline like mine. What that tells us is basically what sort of angles one can set the bench to. For my own, I can go from 90˚
to a flat 180˚
to around 210˚
Next, I got some pulley attachments like a tricep bar to give me more exercise choices (like tricep pushdowns), and a squat pad, which I actually use for hip thrusts and not squats.
Cost
Grand Total ≈ AUD$2400. I got lucky with a 10% Australia Day discount. So make that ≈ AUD$2650 without the discount
A detailed breakdown would be:
- Force USA Power Rack with Lat Tower – $999.00
- Attachment Pack (Tricep rope, etc) – $80.00
- Rubber Gym Flooring x 4 – $120.00 Total
- Force USA FID Bench with Leg Curl Attachment – $419.95
- 215kg Olympic Set (Weights, Barbell, Dumbbell Handles) + 4 extra 5 kg plates – $859.00
- Discount – $250.78
- Shipping and Handling – $154.00
Total: $2426.48
Caveats
The first caveat is that most equipment for a home gym will need to be self assembled. So if you do order something, be prepared with your spanners and screwdrivers (making sure that you got the right types and sizes). Also, the entire package was really heavy, and it would be great to have some help with moving and assembly.
Second, you had better have enough space for the gym. A rack may only cover an area of 1.5m x 1.5m, but you should leave some space for taking out support pins as well as for moving your bench around. I would recommend at least a 2.5m x 2.5m area as a minimum requirement. More is better of course.
Another space consideration is height. If your rack has a chinning bar like mine, then I would expect it to be at least 220cm high. You will just need enough height to clear the height of the rack. Do note, however, to factor in the height of anything below the rack such as a lifting platform.
On that topic, if you are doing lifting for sports-specific reasons or otherwise, which require “big lifts” like clean and jerks, snatches or deadlifts, then you may want to build/buy a lifting platform to give some added protection to your floor. If not, standard rubber floor mats should give your floor enough protection.
Pros
I personally had some reasons to get a home gym. First, was cost. Given that I’m in Uni for 5 years, and the cost of a year’s membership to the University Gym is $500, that works out to a $2500 total. If I were to join a public gym, that cost would shoot up to at least $600 a year and likely more.
Basically, for the same price as a Uni gym membership, I get my own exclusive setup in an environment of my choosing, without worry of the commute, and without worry of the bros (guys, you know what I mean). I also didn’t need the fancy gym equipment in the Uni gym, but I’ll come back to this point in one of the potential cons.
In short, more focused and productive workouts.
Cons
The only real downsides to a home gym is that (a) you will have to maintain your equipment, and (b) it may cost a lot depending on what equipment you buy. (a) is pretty easy, and a standard wipe down every now and then will suffice. Point (b) is more pertinent. Some gym equipment is very expensive to purchase on your own. Good examples would be the hack squat, leg press, etc.
This is important to consider, because a home gym may limit your exercise choices unless you have a HUGE budget and enough room. This is then important, because some people may have biomechanics which make them unsuited to various exercises. Despite exercises like the squat and deadlift often being touted as “absolutely necessary” to make great strength gains, this is fundamentally untrue (link to lyle mcdonald article) unless one has to do them for a sports-specific purpose. For some, doing these exercises may lead to slower gains at best, and injury at worst. In that case, going to a commercial gym whereby a whole range of equipment is available might be the smarter option.
Also, because machines force the body into a certain range of motion, they can be used successfully in an injury rehabilitation program to effective train round the injury, but that is a topic for another day. While this is possible with free weights, one has to get really creative.
Final Words
I hope that has given you some perspective on the setting up of a home gym, it’s pros and it’s cons, and ultimately to tell whether or not it is a suitable option for you. Personally, I think it was one of the better decisions I have made.
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