So you’re looking into buying home gym equipment to build a workout spot of your own? Great choice!
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In this guide I’ll go through the process I took to build out my home gym, what equipment purchases I’ve made, what the essentials are, and my recommendations for each category. Let’s get into it!
Disclaimer: If you’re coming over from the Financial Independence Part 1: Optimizing Your Money Mindset article, these prices have unfortunately increased quite a bit since my purchase pre-COVID.
The "Why" of My Home Gym
“Why go to all the work and expense of buying home gym equipment and building it out when you can just keep the gym membership and probably have a lot more equipment to use?”
I think this is probably a big question for a lot of people, with good reason! I found that I was rarely using my $115 per month gym membership to the max. I’d stop in, work out, and leave. Sometimes I’d use some machines, I never did any classes, and I only stepped into the sauna a handful of times. For the most part, I just used raw weights and some cables.
I looked at what I was getting for my money at the gym and wasn’t satisfied. I priced out the home gym equipment and found that I’d break even with my expenses in around 8 months after cutting the $115 per month membership. Note that this was accounting four the half rack, dumbbells, and olympic weights – I didn’t factor in the rower, exercise bike, or cable machine I have now.
From that perspective, it was a no-brainer. I love working out every day and have no plans of stopping, so finding a way to put additional money into investments once the initial cost was covered had me sold. After discussing with my wife, I got straight into the purchasing and setup!
The FIThinking Home Gym
You can see in the photos above that I really didn’t start off with much. My initial setup consisted of the Bowflex adjustable dumbbells, a weight bench, and an old treadmill of my wife’s. The mirrors were a surprisingly good deal – around $45 each at Home Depot, and they came with the mounting hardware!
My next purchases were the Fitness Gear Pro Half Rack ($449 as of this posting) and Fitness Gear 300lb Olympic Weight Set ($399 as of this posting). I picked these up from the local Dick’s Sporting Goods and have been very satisfied with the quality and performance.
The change in scenery was thanks to a flood that took out a lot of what we had down there. Thank goodness for insurance claims!
About a year later during COVID I had a started really missing cable machines. Unfortunately, everything that had to do with home-based activites was significantly overpriced for at least all of 2020 and into 2021. I bit the bullet and paid the COVID tax on the cable machine, which came to around $800. Today it can be found for around $450 and is linked below. It hurts to think about paying nearly double, but I’ve made great use of it and it helped me to mentally make it through COVID. No regrets!
The next purchase was my ProForm Sport RL Rower from Costco. I paid $399 for it and it came with a 1-year iFit online class membership, which was a $400 value on its own. A great deal for sure, and I’ve been very pleased with this as well! Highly recommended if you have a Costco near you and they have this in stock.
Around a year or so later, my last and most recent purchase was the ProForm Tour De France CBC Interactive Indoor Cycle from Costco. This was $399 as well and also came with a 1-year iFit membership – that makes two years of classes for free!
Along the way I’ve had miscellaneous purchases like a leather weight belt, chain weight belt, wrist wraps and supports, wall charts, etc. I’ve included either the specific products I purchased, or a substitute, in the product list below and have them broken into three different price brackets.
Adjustable Dumbbells
Let’s start with the dumbbells! You can certainly look at 5lb increments, but you’ll be paying $1+ per pound. As far as I’m concerned, you can’t get a better deal than these adjustable DBs.
The Bowflex adjustable dumbbells are outstanding. The stand would be very nice as well – the price is steep, but it can be pretty taxing repeatedly picking up 50 lb dumbbells from the floor.
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Weight Benches
Weight benches vary in sturdiness, which is where prices can vary. I recommend spending enough to make sure the product you receive has the ability to decline and is well-built – you’ll be putting a lot of weight on this, on top of your own body weight.
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Squat Racks
On to squat/power racks! These are going to be the foundation of your heavy workouts. They’ll hold the weight plates and bar when not in use, provide a safety support in case you try to lift too much, and can also support your pull up and dip exercises. Note: Make sure to take measurements before purchasing! I was lucky – I didn’t measure and mine just barely clears the basement ceiling.
While cheap options may be available, I recommend spending enough to get a sturdy unit that has the following:
– Multiple pegs to support different plate weights (huge quality of life improvement)
– Strong pull-up support that will support extra weight, in addition to your own
– A dip attachment that will allow for close- and wide-grip dips to target both chest and triceps
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Olympic Barbells and Weights
On to the weights! I wouldn’t say that you need to go crazy here. You can always pay more for a name brand product (Rogue, etc.), but the key is that you get an olympic barbell and accompanying weights. There are cheaper, thinner variations that can be more difficult to grip and won’t support heavier weights as well. My recommendation is to spend ~$400 or so – more than this isn’t necessary, unless you’re adding more plates into the cost.
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Cable Machines
All right, here’s the pain point for me! The first option linked below (Marcy 150lb) is the unit that I paid ~$800 for. It’s worked out, but the cables wore pretty quickly and now have some metal exposed.
I recommend waiting to see if this is something you really need before purchasing. If it is something you need, great! Make sure you buy a product that will provide all that you need as you get stronger and diversify your workouts.
Also, make sure to measure your ceiling height if you’re doing this inside the house.
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Exercise Bikes
Exercise bikes are extremely helpful if you’re in a climate where you can’t ride a bike outside. I loved having my exercise bike in the winter, as did my wife. Spend what you’re comfortable with, but I’d encourage you to be realistic with how much you’ll use this before spending bookoo bucks on one.
My recommendation is to get the bike that meets your needs without spending needlessly.
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Rowers
If there’s any one cardio workout that absolutely wrecks me (in a good way!) every time, it’s rowing. I love these things. They provide a full body workout that, if you pay attention to proper form, will build up your cardiovascular endurance very quickly while also toning your muscles.
While the water rowers aren’t a need, they are very cool and could be a visual staple if you want your gym to have a certain aesthetic appeal!
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Treadmills
Treadmills are outstanding, but you really get what you pay for here. If you’re going to be doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) or any sort of intense running, make sure you spend a bit more on this. The really cheap units (like the one I still have) tend to have difficulty keeping the belt moving when an adult is running on it. This is dangerous, and I nearly fell a few times before I wrote it off for that.
The cheaper units are absolutely outstanding for some lighter distracted cardio, though! When I was doing 2 workouts a day, one of them was always a 3 or 4 mph walk with a PS5 game going. The 45 minute workouts flew by and each session would burn between 350 and 450 calories. That’s a great motivator if I ever heard of one.
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Gym Flooring
This is in no way a need, but can provide protective support for your floor in the event that weights fall. They also provide a more cushy support for your feet. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but when I do I’ll be going with barn mats that can roll out evenly.
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Wraps and Belts
Here’s the fun, less-expensive stuff! The wall chart was something that was helpful for me to start tracking my progress before getting into phone apps that can handle it much better than I can. This is a nice aesthetic touch to go on the walls.
Wrist wraps are a need for the heavier pull exercises with the barbell (bent over row, shrugs), and I love having the wrist supports for the heavier push exercises (bench press, shoulder press). Highly recommended.
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As for the weight belts, I strongly recommend spending to get a real leather belt. They may be a bit more at the start, but they’ll last forever. I tried a velcro belt before a leather belt and it just didn’t cut it – the velcro would come undone mid-lift from time to time, and my waist got so small that I eventually couldn’t tighten the belt enough.
The last one here is the chain belt. This guy is incredible for building up your strength with pull ups and dips – just throw a plate or two on there and go. I’d recommend this before getting a cable machine if you’re missing out on lat pulldowns!
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