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Equipment for Building a Home Gym in Your Garage

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Memberships to gym clubs can be very expensive, which can be an off-putting factor, particularly when year-long memberships are required with hefty cancellation fees. If you decide not to go for a while or you go on holiday for a few weeks, spending money on your gym membership when you’re not even there to use it can be a real sting. A great alternative is to build a home gym in your garage and, although it will cost quite a lot in up-front costs, it will be well worth the investment after a few months, not to mention the fact that you can work out easily at any time of day!

Here are a few of the top pieces of equipment you can kit your home gym out with:

Weightlifting Bar

Of course, the weightlifting bar is at the top of the list. It’s the ideal piece of equipment for a whole range of strength exercises to work most different muscle groups in the body. Be prepared to spend a bit of money to buy a decent, good quality weightlifting bar, as cheaper models can bend if too much weight is applied, which defeats the object somewhat! You’ll save money in the long run by investing in good quality, strong model straight off.

Bumper Plates

You’ll need some bumper plates to attach to your weightlifting bar in order for it to have any real effect! Although it is possible to practice with just the bar and no weights if you’re a beginner, and you can learn the correct techniques and build up a base strength level. Bumper plates can also be used individually for lifts to create a different weightlifting workout. Get a few different sizes and weights so you can vary your workouts and be able to add heavier weights as you get stronger.

Squat Stand

A squat stand is absolutely vital if you want to make your weighted squat workouts a whole lot more efficient. A squat stand is a frame to hold your weightlifting bar when you’re doing squats with your barbell, and it can help to improve your technique and help keep you safe from any damage you might do to yourself without the frame.

Skipping Rope

Some fast-paced, aerobic exercise is a great way to keep your fitness and stamina levels up, and a jump rope is the perfect lightweight, fun way to do this! Of course, you can go for a run to get a good aerobic workout in with no special equipment, but a skipping rope is so cheap and small, that you might as well get one for when you’re bored of running – skipping ropes are so much more fun!

Pull-Up Bar

For a different kind of strength workout, consider getting a pull-up bar to work on your upper body strength using your own body weight for resistance. There are many different types of pull-ups, chin-ups, and kips to master, and there’s nothing quite so satisfying as knowing you can lift your own bodyweight!