Many weightlifters fantasize of having a private training area that is completely customized and outfitted with just the best equipment. It’s not impossible to realize your goal of having your own home gym. It will require some planning and money, but like training itself, establishing a home gym is an investment that returns dividends over time.
A home gym is practical, economical, and more private. Better still, if you practice for a certain activity, you may simply require the equipment for your home. A weight rack, a barbell, a sturdy bench, and some weight plates are the bare minimum for a home gym. Depending on your preferred mode of exercise, other pieces of equipment like dumbbells, kettlebells, plyo boxes, and cardio machines may also be necessary. We’ve put up a list of the basics for a home gym so you can get started.
Weight Rack
A power rack is equivalent to the dining room table in a home gym for strength athletes. In other words, it’s the big event, when all of the biceps ninjas will congregate to squat, press, and deadlift every weight plate they own. As you raise your barbell for various exercises, it is held in place by a weight rack.
A good weight rack, however, should do more than just keep your barbell in place for sets of bench presses and squats. If you desire, you should be able to add additions like dipping bars, cable pulleys, and additional plate storage. The appropriate weight rack may and should be the main focus of your exercise.
Squatting and bench pressing are two workouts that everyone who practices strongman, powerlifting, or CrossFit performs, and you need a rack to execute them. As a result, it is in your best advantage to invest in a piece of equipment that can be customized to meet your individual needs.
Kettlebells
For those who maintain a home gym, kettlebells provide a special set of benefits, including the fact that they take up little room and can be used for a variety of exercises. They can be hurled and slung about more easily than barbells and dumbbells, making them perfect for explosive, power-building workouts.
Anybody, regardless of whether or not they engage in a sport that involves kettlebells, may benefit from the power-building potential of this unusually shaped equipment. Swing a hefty bell to build up your hip strength, or swing and clean a smaller bell for a finishing move that will get your heart rate up quickly. You may even create a full-body flow by combining a number of specific kettlebell actions.
Dumbbells
A barbell requires the use of both hands, while dumbbells only allow for flexibility on one side. Even when lifting two dumbbells simultaneously, each weight needs a different muscular activation to retain it. Yet, by doing unilateral exercises like dumbbell rows, you may boost your total capacity and focus on one side of your body at a time.
Dumbbells may be purchased in pairs with preset weights or as an adjustable pair. Individual dumbbells are more costly than bumper plates, but they are more durable and come in a larger range of weights. Weight-adjustable dumbbells typically vary from five to fifty-five pounds. Despite this, they often weigh between 50 and 60 grams and are constructed of a less durable plastic.
Adjustable Bench
Sometimes free weights aren’t enough, and you need something for your home gym that allows you to target numerous muscle groups. In other words, you need something adaptable.
By utilizing an adjustable bench, you may isolate certain muscles like as your back, triceps, biceps, chest, and legs.
In an ideal world, adjustable benches would feature a little incline when fully extended and allow you to adjust the back of the bench to a precise 90-degree inclination. Some benches additionally have a preacher curl or a leg curl/extension attachment, enabling users to do workouts that target the upper and lower bodies while only utilizing one bench.
Horse Stall Mats
The flooring of a home gym is an important but sometimes overlooked part of the whole facility. To fully protect your floor from cracking and damage during resistance training, you need a thick layer of rubber or similar protective material on top.
The cost of horse stall mats is often less than half what fitness firms charge, despite the fact that many of them charge hundreds of dollars for a few square feet of mat.
Horse stall mats are normally 4′ by 6′ and 3/4″ thick. As utilizing a mat with a thickness of less than 3/8 of an inch would significantly increase the possibility that anything would be dropped on the floor and cause damage, we do not advise using one in a home or garage gym. Instead, we advise utilizing a mat that is at least 3/8 inch thick.
Advantages of the home gym
You can save time
Saving time is definitely one of the main arguments, because few people will be close to the gym from home or work. In big cities this can be quite easy, but after all, not everyone lives in a metropolitan area, and even more so, not all gyms are worth recommending.
It often happens that the nearest gym does not inspire confidence and you have to go several kilometers away. Residents of small towns or villages will have to get to it, which not only takes up a lot of precious time, but sometimes even difficult. All it takes is a sudden snowfall, and communications are down, and kilometer-long traffic jams form on the roads. The vision of a long trip can effectively dissuade you from leaving your warm home.
In any case, the time allotted to get to a place where you can work out should be used more efficiently, and a home gym will certainly allow you to do so.
You don’t have to wait for the gym
Another issue related to time, this time waiting time. The best gyms are usually so popular that finding a free exerciser can sometimes be a painful task.
Yes, you can use a variety of equipment, but if you have a workout plan, that’s when the problem arises.
There is no such problem at home.
This is very important because having to wait or think about changing your plan significantly can effectively reduce your motivation to exercise.
Independence
Sometimes it is very difficult to plan your day carefully, plus unexpected things can happen. A home gym allows you to perfectly adapt your workout time to changing responsibilities and classes.
It’s definitely a great convenience because you exercise when you have free time.
Physical comfort
Many people would like to go to the gym, but are just ashamed of their poor condition or body flaws.
Yes, the gym will improve those parameters, but you know nothing will happen right away.
Not everyone manages to overcome their fears.
Some also do not like to exercise because of their shyness.
In such a situation, the home gym is the way out.
It is easier to concentrate
A gym where several or a dozen people are working out at the same time can be easily distracting. Unwittingly your gaze shifts to others, comparisons, rivalries and often unproductive conversations begin.
If you add in the time spent waiting for the gym, you often find that you need to spend more time working out intensely or you are not using your stay effectively.
If you’re highly motivated, it’s your own private gym that will allow you to maximize your focus on exercise.
The issue of hygiene
It is worth remembering that the equipment in the club is used by different people. It’s hard to assume that each of them takes proper care of their hygiene, and then using such equipment may not be very comfortable.
Savings
A home gym can be a worthwhile investment for those who really want to work out.
The cost of organizing it at home pays off relatively quickly, and you do not need to buy all the equipment at once, and the costs can easily be spread over time, which is also a big plus.
Conclusion
The key to setting up a home gym is finding the right space and planning the setup based on the budget available (or planning for equipment that will be purchased gradually).
How much space do you need? Not everyone can afford to find a 30-meter room for exercise equipment, but the lack of a large space should not discourage you.
Contrary to appearances, most home gyms are a few to a dozen square feet and are located in extra rooms, garages, basements or unused attics.
What do you need to keep in mind when adapting a room for a home gym?
- The key issue is to finish or renovate the room appropriately so that it is comfortable and safe to use.
- It is absolutely essential that the gym has adequate ventilation. We breathe more, sweat more and feel warm when we exercise – it is important to ensure good drainage of unpleasant odors and a good supply of fresh air.
- The finish of the floor is also important. It should be non-slip. Smooth tiles are not suitable. It is worth turning to rubber surfaces, which provide athletic shoes sufficient resistance and at the same time very easy to clean (unlike carpets).
- It is also worth paying attention to the finish of the walls in the home gym. Washable latex paint (such a surface can be cleaned when wet) or tiling with ceramic tiles are especially good.
