Building your own gym starts with realizing you need almost nothing: a sturdy pull up bar, a jump rope, and a kettlebell or a garage sale set of dumbbells cover a tremendous number of workouts, and you grow from there one piece at a time. A listener emailed asking how to set up a home gym, and I am qualified to answer mostly by my mistakes, my own setup has spiraled completely out of control, with a 40 foot rig in the driveway, thirteen rowing machines, and five assault bikes. In this Physical Friday I lay out exactly what I would buy if I started over, including the one piece of gear I consider the most useful thing I own.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Start by accepting that you do not need anything, and that you can make most of it. A hundred dollar medicine ball can be a Walmart basketball with a hole poked in it, filled with sand, sealed with a tire patch kit. The internet is full of plans for homemade fitness gear. When you do buy, start with a pull up bar, a jump rope, and one or two kettlebells, and pick up a garage sale dumbbell set for pennies on the dollar.
A pull up bar, and do not skimp on it. A pull up bar takes a lot of torque, and I have broken homemade versions built from plumbing parts and worn out ones built from four by four posts and fence pole. Rogue Fitness makes a rafter-mount bar that screws directly into your garage rafters and heavy duty over-door models. Avoid the old twist-to-widen doorway bars, they hold a forty pound kid and not much more, and you will hurt yourself.
A yoke is basically a squat stand with feet, and it is the single most useful piece of gear in my entire setup, I own two. You can push it as a sled, carry it as a strongman yoke, use it as a squat rack or a bench press station, set the crossmember low and lift things over it, and with a pull up bar across the top it becomes basically your entire gym. Rogue's S-series squat racks convert into exactly this, and the taller version handles pull ups and muscle ups.
One barbell with a set of 45s, 35s, 25s, two sets of tens and some five pound change plates, a couple of kettlebells or dumbbells, maybe a medicine ball, a jump rope, and a pull up bar. That is an outstanding home gym that covers Olympic lifting, bench press, squats, and nearly every workout we talk about on this show. A clock can be your phone or iPad. Add a rower or an assault bike later if you want, but you do not need them to start.
No, and I would encourage you not to. A lot of people go overboard quick, fill a gym with gear, and never use it. Go bare bones Spartan at first, develop the habit, consistency, accuracy, then intensity, like we covered last week, and add a piece here or there once you are using the space all the time. If an assault bike would be nice, pick it up in six months after the habit is real.
Invite your neighbors and friends over and start working out together, then when you need gear, everybody kicks in a couple hundred dollars. Nobody gets hurt financially and everybody benefits. That is exactly how my own setup grew, my group does donations, and as things break or new gear becomes available, we just buy it. Keep it all in one central place, your house or somebody else's, and it works great.
I should confess up front that I am not the model of restraint here. There is a 40 foot rig in my driveway, the garage and the outside storage are gone, and the count stands at thirteen rowing machines, five assault bikes, and three ski ergs, more gear than a lot of full time gyms. There is a reason it grew that way, and it involves my training group and one workout a day. The story is in the episode, so press play above.
That is really the listener's question, and after buying, maintaining, and using all of this equipment, my answer is shorter than you would expect. It starts with the one item where quality is non-negotiable and runs through a short list where homemade and garage sale options work fine. The full shopping order, and what I would skip entirely, is in the episode. Press play above.
Because one frame replaces half a gym. Sled, strongman carry, squat rack, bench station, low crossmember lifts, and with a bar across the top, your pull ups and muscle ups too. Load the corner storage with plates and it will not move an inch. I describe the exact setup I use, and the version I would point you to, in the episode, so listen for it.
The failure mode is buying everything in week one and using none of it by week six. The fix ties straight back to last week's episode: consistency, accuracy, then intensity. Build the habit in a Spartan setup, then let the gear follow the training instead of the other way around. How my group funds new equipment together is in the episode. Press play above.
You can spend as much money on this stuff as you want, but you do not have to, and I would encourage you not to. Start small, start almost bare, and let the gym grow at the speed of your habit.
Rogue Fitness is where I get most of my stuff, no sponsorship, I pay them, and their service has been outstanding, but go with whichever supplier you like best. If you build your setup, tell me what you started with at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com. Press play in the player above for the full episode.
Rogue Fitness · yoke · squat racks · pull up bars · barbells and bumper plates · kettlebells · homemade medicine balls · garage sale dumbbells · rowing machines · assault bikes · ski ergs · garage gyms · Physical Friday
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the workouts, recovery methods, and fitness habits that keep me ready for guiding, fishing, hunting, and everything else outdoors, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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