What Equipment Should You Get When Building Your Own Gym?
It’s often heard that a good workout can be done with just our body weight. That’s true, however that is sufficient only for so long. In order to improve your performance and go to that next level on your fitness journey, it’s almost necessary to add some additional weight. We need equipment, something to challenge our body more. If you intend to build a private gym (let it be at home or for your business as a personal trainer), this blog is for you! We’ll explain what you should pay attention to when building yourself a space for body and soul, why you need certain gym equipment and introduce the best price/performance deals.
GYM ESSENTIALS
The first group on our list includes the essential items. Getting these, you’ll be ready to hit every muscle group:
Dumbbells - There is no doubt that dumbbells are one of the most important parts of every gym. They offer unmatched flexibility, and with them, you can hit every single muscle from head to toe. Our favorite thing about them is that we can store them anywhere (they take little to no space) and we can do anything with them! There are unlimited possibilities with these! Also, the price is very affordable and it is the best value for money, especially because they give you so much variety in your workouts!
We recommend these dumbbells.
Pull-up bar - One of our favorite parts of the gym. There is no better feeling than doing the first clean and perfect pull-up. It allows you to perform pull-ups, and chin-ups, you can also do lots of ab and core work on it. Your shoulders will be healthier than ever, you’ll improve your forearm strength and every time you stretch by hanging from it, your spine will say a big "Thank you!".
But we prefer this next item rather than only a pull-up bar.
Squat rack - it’s the whole structure and the pull-up bar is already on there. At first, you might think that this is a bit extreme. But believe us, it’s not. If you want a complete, whole body workout, this is a must-have! We all know that you can do back squats, deadlifts and bench press with a barbell alone, but that’s not safe (especially if you’re training alone, without your spotting partner), it’s also a lot harder to perform these with just a barbell. Putting the safety arms at an appropriate height, and you can go all-in, exercising to your new personal best, all by yourself. There’s storage for the weights, you get so many varieties of exercises you can do with the structure and it’s truly amazing! However, when buying a quality squat rack the price can be higher and it can take up a lot of space (depending on the model, some of them are actually really space-efficient). But the number of exercises it allows you to perform, makes it well worth the investment if you have the required space. You can also place lots of add-ons on it and create a customized space with even more varieties for your workout!
Here you can find our squat racks and other structures.
In addition to a squat rack, our advice would also be getting some bumper plates and a barbell to really use its potential to the maximum!
Bench - it’s very hard to perform exercises safely and conveniently without a bench. While you can do some movements and exercises on the floor, or using regular furniture, that is far from ideal. You can get seriously injured and nobody wants that.
Accessories
You can go without these items, but having them will allow you to hit your muscles in many different ways:
Loop bands - it’s an awesome product to target specific muscle groups, make your workout a bit harder (or easier with specific movements like pull ups), plus they are great for an effective warm-up.
Flooring - choosing the right flooring for your gym will protect your space and allow you to have a good grip during workouts.
Free weights and other small accessories
Adding products like kettlebells, jump ropes and different smaller accessories enable your workouts to be more diverse.
Our final and most important tip for building your own gym is to start with essentials and then slowly add more equipment as your needs grow. You don’t want to clutter your space with products that you won’t use. If you feel overwhelmed and need help deciding what to get, reach out to our team and they’ll be happy to help you find the perfect equipment package for you.
REMEMBER: It’s one thing to buy the gear, but working out regularly and being persistent is something entirely different. Put the work in. Start slowly, stay dedicated, and sooner or later you will start noticing results.