Deciding that you want to start a home gym is an exciting moment. But, you may not know how to go from “I want a home gym” to “I have a sweet home gym”. This guide is here to help you on that journey. We will walk through the questions to ask as you set up your home gym, and then help you decide on your first equipment purchases. These essential home gym equipment choices will set the foundation for your gym for years to come.
You may want to check out our 5-step process to planning your home gym, which will set the stage for the equipment essentials we cover below. The 5-step guide also goes deeper into training styles, space choices and gym design.
The First 4 Pieces of Equipment You Should Buy For Your Home Gym:
- Squat rack – this is the centerpiece of your gym, which everything will build off of. We recommend this rack:
- Do-it-all barbell – a solid barbell will be a part of nearly every exercise you perform in your home gym. Good bars don’t have to break the bank, and we recommend this budget-friendly bar:
- Bumper plates – bumper plates are quieter than metal plates and can be dropped, which make them great for functional fitness or weightlifting. But bumpers are more expensive than metal plates. Nonetheless, we recommend these:
- Full-body cardio machine – fitness goes beyond just being strong. Conditioning should be a foundational aspect of your training, so choose a machine that you’ll use – whether it be an air bike, rower, ski erg, stationary bike or sled.
What Type of Training Will You Be Doing in Your Home Gym?
This question should be the number one thing you think of as you begin your list of equipment for your home gym.
If you want to stick to bodyweight workouts and the occasional yoga class your home gym equipment list will look completely different than someone looking to do weight training or functional fitness training.
The equipment we suggest you start with will focus on a strength training/functional fitness gym. These gyms allow for the greatest flexibility in training styles and seem to be the most popular because you can train for health, strength, aesthetics or just general fitness.
What is Your Starting Budget?
We have established that a very good home gym can be started for about $1000-1500. This is about the cost of 1-2 years of commercial gym memberships, depending on the gym’s style and location.
You can certainly spend more, or less, when starting your home gym but the $1000 price range is a solid place to start. This will allow you to buy the equipment you need for your training but will require a bit of homework to make sure you’re not wasting budget on equipment that is over-priced for what it delivers.
Budget restrictions are also why we strongly recommend purchasing ‘Tier 1’ equipment when starting your home gym. Our 5-step process to starting a home gym highlights the tiered approach to buying home gym equipment. In that guide, Tier 1 equipment is defined as ‘the most important equipment for your training needs. This equipment is essential for you to train, and you will (likely) buy it new and from reputable brands.
The Essential Home Gym Equipment
There are 4 pieces of equipment that are essential when starting a home gym. These pieces – a squat rack, barbell, bumper plates and cardio machine – will allow you to gain strength, increase muscle mass and become fitter without extra fluff. The base of your home gym will comprise of these 4 pieces of equipment for years to come.
Squat Rack
Squat racks, power racks or squat stands are usually the most expensive piece of equipment in a home gym, and for good reason. Most of your workouts will center around your rack – whether it be squatting, pressing (bench or overhead), gymnastics work on the pull up bar or accessory lifts that are assisted by the rack’s accessories. This is why we continue to dedicate a ton of time to producing the best information possible on all things squat rack.
Squat racks come in all shapes and sizes, and you can most certainly find a rack that will fit in your home gym. In addition to free standing squat racks, like shown above, there are also wall-mounted foldable racks that can help you save space when not in use.
Most squat racks are built from heavy duty steel that is capable of withstanding almost any amount of weight that you could throw at the rack. Companies also make a ton of accessories and attachments for racks so that you can customize yours to fit your training needs.
Good racks can be found from reputable brands for $300-500. Overbuilt racks beyond what is needed for home gyms can come in at $2000+.
Barbell
Barbells come in a number of shapes, sizes and weights. You’ll want an Olympic barbell, not a standard barbell, for your home gym (read about the differences here).
Olympic barbells have 2” diameter sleeves and fit Olympic plates – both metal and rubber varieties. A good barbell will run you about $250-400, depending on the brand and it’s intended use. We think a solid, budget-friendly bar that can perform in any type of training is best for most home gyms.
Our #1 recommended budget-friendly barbell is the: Rogue Echo Bar – here’s our review of it.
Barbells are typically categorized into weightlifting, powerlifting and hybrid style. Each has their unique components, mostly differences in their knurling, whippy-ness, and the spin of the collars. If you’re performing general strength training, or a combination of all types of training then an Olympic weightlifting or hybrid bar is best for your home gym.
Most barbells will weigh 45 lbs or 20 kg. Bars used in women’s strength competitions weigh 15 kg, so you will also see several 35 lbs or 15 kg bars on the market. Women’s bars also have small diameter shafts because women typically have smaller hands. (I’m not a big person and I prefer to do Olympic lifting on a 15 kg bars because they’re easier to hold on to).
Bumper Plates
Assuming that you are strong enough to lift the barbell you buy, then you’ll need to buy some weights to put onto the bar. Bumper plates are suggested as a starting point for home gyms because they’re safe to drop, quieter, and allow you to perform any style of barbell training. Your alternative is metal weight plates.
There are multiple types of bumper plates available on the market. We use a combination of hi-temp bumper plates and competition level plates from Rogue in our home gym.
Bumper plates generally weigh between 10-55 lbs or 5-25 kg. For smaller jumps and to continue to overload your lifts, you will want smaller plates called change plates. These are sometimes called fractional plates, and they’re used for small increases in weight. Some may weigh as little as a ¼ lb.
Honestly, Gluck’s Gym created the best resource we have ever seen when it comes to comparing bumper plates, so we’ll link it below and recommend you watch it.
Cardio Machine
Every home gym should have one piece of full-body conditioning equipment, regardless of whether you are chasing max strength numbers or functional fitness. Therefore, your fourth home gym purchase should be a full body cardio machine (that you will use!).
We all love to hate on our cardio machines (looking at you Echo Bike!), but increased cardiovascular fitness will help you recover between sets and training days, improve your ability to get oxygen to muscles during hard training and will set you up for a healthier long-term life.
We have a Rogue Echo Bike in our garage gym, and we love it because it’s easy to adapt to interval sessions, longer duration work and because you can choose to use your arms, legs or both. It is an incredibly intense machine when you want it to be, but can also be adapted to be lower intensity too. The versatility is great.
Other great options include a standard spin bike, which is the most budget-friendly option, a bike erg, skier or rowing machine.
Really, you want the piece of equipment that you’ll actually use consistently and will enjoy the most.
Choosing Your Home Gym Gear
Buying your home gym equipment is a huge investment – in your gym, your health, and in yourself. You shouldn’t rush the process.
After you’ve set your starting budget, you will have to look through company websites and second-hand markets to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Remember that these purchases will set the foundation for your gym for years to come. So, please don’t hesitate to drop a comment or question below and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.