Easy DIY Projects

Pa Jenn says:

I think people can get started with just a decent bar, enough weights to deadlift, and some rubber mats to protect the floor. You can do deadlifts, Zercher squats, floor press, rows, and OHP (after cleaning the bar up first), and barbell curls and tricep extensions. That'll get you started, but home gym owners are always adding stuff… Maybe pick up an ab-wheel too, they are super cheap, and a pullup bar.

Obviously you'll need more later; some sort of a rack or stands and a bench as soon as possible. Preferably a proper power rack and an extension or bars to do dips. And a dip belt.
Next I'd get bunch of resistance bands, adjustable dumbbells, EZ bar, then other bars (SSB, trap bar, Swizz bar, etc.).
That would make a pretty decent home gym, although adding machines (especially a cable machine) would be nice.

Robert Reid says:

u look massive in ur thumbnails…I keep forgetting ur like 4'3…….

648392 says:

1. Power rack with safety bars and pull-up and dipping bar attachments.
2. Adjustable Bench for flat, incline, decline bench press and seated military press.
3. GHD (Glute Ham Developer)
4. Olympic barbell and weight plate set with at least 300lbs of plates.
5. Adjustable dumbbell handles.
6. Several 4×6 rubber mats to protect your floor.

truth teller87 says:

Yea fat boy! Lift that weight!! One tubby tubby! Two tubby tubby!!!

DRSmetal says:

I'm using a Total Gym and I love it. Very versatile.

wandererstraining says:

That's very similar to what I'm getting, Steve. I'm moving in a new apartment this Friday, and I bought a bunch of equipment already:

-Squat rack (I live in Canada, and here, we have the company Northern Lights that builds racks that you can piece together in a similar fashion to Rogue. I picked the F2.)
-Dip bar attachment for the squat rack
-Adjustable pull-up bar for rows and stuff for the squat rack
-Barbell with a 2000 lbs rating (I bought everything from the same store because it made more sense, and I didn't trust the other barbells as much)
-Bumper plates
-Rubber coated Olympic plates (all in all, I got for 570 lbs of weights for now)
-Dip belt
-Judo type mats for a stretching area
-Asked my brother to build a couple of wooden boxes for me

That's for the direct strength equipment. A big portion of the money I'm spending goes to soundproofing my setup and distributing the weight to avoid the floors cracking too much. I bought two layers of rubber flooring to cover an 8×12 section of floor, and a bunch of plywood boards. I'm going to put one layer of rubber down to protect the wooden floors. Then two layers of intersected plywood boards to distribute the weight. Then one more layer of rubber. It's not intended to deadlift (I'll still have to deadlift elsewhere), but it's intended to reduce vibrations and make exercises where I don't let the weights drop too fast quiet. So I can still do stiff legged deadlifts, but no conventional deadlifts.

As for the equipment I still have to get, there's a bench, and a GHD (bench to do GHRs and back extensions). I think the GHD is super important, for me really a staple to bulletproof my posterior chain. I haven't gotten those two yet because I'll buy them from a different store that ships for free, while I'm going to pick up the rest on moving day using a moving truck.

I know I'll get a bunch of other accessories over time. But with a basic setup like that, I'll be able to train my ass off and not really lack anything. Even if I don't have a bench right away, I can still overhead press (standing or Z press) and do weighted dips or weighted push-ups (I'm not a powerlifter, and am satisfied to use primarily those exercises instead of benching).

To me, one of the key factors in choosing my squat rack was the possibility of using attachments on it, such as dip bars and straight pull-ups bars. It's super valuable, as I didn't like most separate dip bars I could find. Either they had a crossbar that gets in the way (in the past I used EliteFTS dip bars, but the weights tended to hit the crossbar, and with lots of plates my legs would touch the posts on the sides), or they had a design with more clearance but low rating (like, 300 lbs). Rogue dip bar attachments have clearance, and also they have a 500 lbs rating. The Northern Lights dip attachment is built the same way, and is supposed to have the same rating. The F2 is basically a Rogue R4 clone, but less expensive, and the build quality is good. It's still more expensive than a bunch of other racks. But those racks don't have the same modularity. Their pull-up bars tend to suck more. You'd have to get separate, standalone dip bars, or some other companies offer good racks with good options, but the dip bars suck either in terms of rating or in terms of configuration.

Anyway. I think it's important to really think about what you like to do, what exercises and variations you plan on using, and base your choice of equipment on that. Also, it's super important to make sure you can keep training and not damage anything in your house, or not bother your neighbours. Hence my choice of buying rubberized plates rather than plain steel ones. I might even pad the rack's safety pins and J-hooks with old carpet to avoid making noise as much as I can.

gunnuts82 says:

Definitely a safty cage (squat rack) if you plan to work alone…. A landmine is super versatile also.

Robin Uitterlinden says:

This is my homegym
https://youtu.be/rnN7whr36bg

Chris Rose says:

Ive planned my own lately. My "minimum list" so to speak:
Power cage with deadlift platform.
Straight bar and Ez bar.
Half table.
Adjusteble Cable machine.
Reverse hyper.

Most of these I plan to build myself though. Might also make a side press machine for pure side press volume work. This will be the hardest of all to build because I might need a cnc or laser cutter to make the cog wheels for it.

EDIT: Also a scott curl bench ofcourse. Might add dumbbells in the future if I can get em cheap.

Tom McGivern says:

Great topic. Much better than sets and reps. How about advantages of home vs commercials gym…

UcanbeGOD says:

Loadable dumbbells are a great addition. Not completely necessary, but they save space and offer variety.

Grendelbc says:

Built most of my pretty extensive home gym over time with stuff from craigslist. You just need a bit of patience to find what you want. I've got 25 x45lb Oly plates . Never ran into different diameter problems except the old Weider 44lb ones are a tad smaller than my 45s. Nice power rack cheap when a high school sold off their old equipment. Four 100lb Oly plates and 2x100lb ( Peary Rader Body Culture Equipment – probably worth a pretty penny these days) standard plates. I've got every size of standard 1" center hole plates ever made including the hard to find 15, 75 and 35lbers. Two old Peary Rader standard bars – 6' and 7', rated at 115k psi. Full set to 100lb of various make solid dumbbells including round and globe heads. Built a wooden rack from 2x6s around my bench so I don't have to drag it into the power rack. Dip bars, 3 Oly bars, heavy duty leg extension/leg curl bench, lat machine and a second power rack (old timer from York). Sheet of 3/4 plywood works well to protect floor when deadlifting. Two trap bars including a huge York bar. Ab pulley bench and hyper bench. Hope the kids have enough sense to sell this junk at a profit after I've gone to that great gym in the sky, lol.

bbrock RailFan says:

If you cannot do chins very well I would invest in a solid plate loaded lat pulldown machine.