Gareth Ramsden PT

Building a home gym.

By Gareth Ramsden - www.garethramsdenpt.co.uk

Ok, so you don’t like waiting for equipment? Your gym gets too busy at peak times when you like to train? Maybe you like to look good when you go to the gym and you just want to train at home so you don’t have to do your hair before going to the gym, for vanity reasons? Well, this article will contain all the equipment and details that you will need to train at home.

There are various pieces of equipment that can be used for home training, including ex-commercial equipment which may be available from gyms that have had new equipment installed. All in 1 makes such as Titan are very useful pieces of equipment, as well as having single barbells, dumbbells, and individual weights.

Ok, so what are the fundamentals for a home gym you ask? ? ?

I would recommend…

A Power-rack

A bench with incline, flat and decline settings

A 7ft Olympic barbell with Olympic weights and dumbbells

EZ Bar

Pullup bar

Dip station or dip bars

Swiss/exercise ball

For cardiovascular exercise, I would recommend…

A spin bike

A treadmill

A rowing machine

X-trainer

Ok, so where do we start. You will need a room or a garage big enough to host your gym. A garage or a double garage is an ideal location to train within. This will give you enough room to host your equipment and have enough room to manoeuvre. If your garage floor is concrete, then I recommend that you look at getting some gym flooring. This can be rubber matting or it could be from interlocking foam which is available to buy.

The foam flooring tends to be cheaper, rubber matting tends to be thicker and also heavier, and will normally cost more than foam flooring.

Foam flooring simply interlocks into each other once laid on the floor…

I recommend eBay for foam matting, it has good matting at a very good price on there.

Rubber matting is heavier and the pieces can be laid next to each other where needed…

You could have a look at http://www.polymax.co.uk for rubber matting, they make it for horse matting, so it is very heavy duty.

Once you have your flooring laid, it is now time to put the equipment into the room. To start with, we will look at a power-rack.

Power-racks are a fantastic way to ensure safety when training at home, alone. There are various settings in regards to the pins, which can be changed in order to change the height the bar rests at, and also catchers which can stop the bar from dropping onto the individual that is training.

Power-racks are also very beneficial in terms of being able to overcome plateaus by setting the catchers and pins at differing heights where individuals may struggle during a lift such as the bench press for example.

I personally have experience with the following power-rack and highly recommend it…

That is the Powerline Power-rack, PPR200 (PL-PPR200) model. Check out GymRatz on the following link, a very good company with excellent customer service…

http://www.gymratz.co.uk/weight-training-gym-equipment/item455.htm

The power-rack is very sturdy and is an excellent piece of equipment to have in your home gym. It makes squatting very easy, benching is easier and safer, and the pulley attachment which the power-rack now possesses is a benefit, allowing for more exercises such as lat pulldown, tricep pushdowns, and rope crunches. Rack pulls are also another fantastic exercise which are done from the power-rack.

Ok, so you have your power-rack positioned, it is now time to get a bench to use for your training. I recommend that you get a bench which is capable of incline, flat and also decline positions and settings. Purchasing a bench with all 3 abilities will allow for many exercises to be completed during your workouts, thus allowing for more muscles to be hit during your routine.

Body-Solid are a very well known name, and a very reputable company. The have produced the following bench which is of commercial quality, capable of incline, flat and decline positions.

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/utility_benches/bodysolid_flat_incline_decline_benchfull_commerical_grey/7080_p.html

(Female not included).

The above bench is a very sturdy piece of equipment and has very thick padding which allows for comfort as well as stability.

The benefit of the above bench is that it is possible to purchase a leg attachment for the bench which allows for leg curls (both leg extensions and hamstring curls) in order to allow for more leg exercises into your routine.

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/bench_attachments/bodysolid_leg_developer_attach_6_roller_for_bsgfid71/7082_p.html

Ok, you now have your power-rack and your bench, you now want some weight to push during your workouts. There are various sets available, notably classed as Olympic and standard sets. Olympic sets have the thicker of the 2 bars, with a diameter of 2 inches, as well as being heavier. A standard Olympic bar (7ft in length) is 20kg, where as a standard 7kg bar is around 10kg in weight.

It is also possible to buy rubber weights, as well as cast iron weights, for those who like to drop the weights, however, with your rubber/foam matting on your floor, it shouldn’t matter too much.

A 145kg Olympic set would be a great place to start from…

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/olympic_weight_sets/bodypower_145kg_olympic_weight_set_/8930_p.html

With this, you get –

• A 7ft Olympic bar
• 2×20kg plates
• 2×15kg plates
• 2×10kg plates
• 4×5kg plates
• 4×2.5kg plates
• 4×1.25 plates
• Spring collars for safety to stop the weight from slipping from the bar.

Another option, as mentioned above, is to purchase a ‘Standard’ weight training set, such as the one in the following link…

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/standard_weight_sets/bodypower_104kg_7ft_combi_standard_weight_set/9682_p.html

With that set, you get –

• 1 x 7ft Solid Smooth Standard Barbell
• 1 x Pr Regular Spring Collars
• 2 x 14" Solid Spinlock Standard Dumbbells
• 4 x Spinlock Collars
• 2 x 15Kg Cast Iron Standard Discs
• 2 x 10Kg Cast Iron Standard Discs
• 4 x 5Kg Cast Iron Standard Discs
• 4 x 2.5Kg Cast Iron Standard Discs
• 6 x 1.25Kg Cast Iron Standard Discs
• 6 x 0.5Kg Cast Iron Standard Discs

The benefit with the ‘Standard’ weight set is that you get a pair of dumbbells which will allow for extra exercises to be completed during your workout. If you were to purchase the Olympic weight training set, you receive more weight but you do not have dumbbells, you would have to purchase Olympic dumbbells separately.

It may also be worth purchasing a few other bars such as an EZ Bar which can be used for bicep curls as well as CGBP (Close Grip Bench Press) as they are easier on the wrists, due to the position they place your hand in.

Ok, so your home gym is now looking the part, it is coming together nicely. A power-rack, a bench with variable settings and plenty of weights to use. 2 exercises which are excellent and should be included in a solid routine are pull-ups/chinups and dips. They are both excellent exercises, where weight can be added via a dip belt, in order to make the exercise harder via added resistance.

The equipment so far won’t allow for the above to be done, easily. With that in mind, it would be worthwhile purchasing a dip station with a pullup station. I have experience with this exact powerstation, made by Marcy…

See Premier Sports and Fitness for a very good price…

http://www.premiersportsandfitness.co.uk/marcy_md2100_power_station.html

A very sturdy piece of equipment and a very useful one too. Pullups, chinups, dips, and also leg raises are now capable with this piece of equipment. A very useful addition to your home gym, allowing for more chest, back, tricep, and abdominal work.

Ok, finally, the last piece of equipment that I recommend for the time being is the Swiss or exercise ball. In my opinion, a very over-looked piece of equipment, which is very useful for core stability work. Advanced trainers sometimes utilise a Swiss ball instead of a bench in order to make the exercise harder, as it brings more muscles into play. Additionally, for people who are in rehabilitation following injuries, Swiss balls may also be used during their routines, in order to work muscles which may have been affected by the injury.

Swiss balls are available from Argos…

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3023792.htm

Abdominal exercises are very effective on the Swiss ball, such as…

• Swiss ball crunches
• Swiss ball rollouts
• Leg rollouts
• Leg raises

Ok, so that is your home gym completed in terms of weight training equipment. Cardiovascular equipment will also be added to your home gym, via the means of…

• A treadmill
• A bike
• A spin bike
• Rowing machine
• X-trainer
• Air walker

All of the above equipment is available for home use, as opposed to the bigger machines which are utilised in mainstream gyms, names such as Life Fitness, Pulse, etc… They are all excellent pieces of equipment to include within your home gym in order to gain cardiovascular benefits of exercise.

There are various sources for the above, however, I recommend checking eBay for ex-commercial equipment, as it will be sturdier and has the chance to last longer. There are many good deals to be had on eBay, in terms of ex-commercial gym equipment. Both weight training equipment and cardiovascular equipment is available on eBay, so I recommend checking it out every week when you are looking for some new equipment.

http://www.ebay.co.uk

So there we go, you have your own, home gym. No more gym fees per month, no more waiting around for equipment, train whenever you like, in whatever you like. Get a CD player in your home gym, get some music sorted out to your own liking, and train in the surroundings of your own home/garage.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact myself.

Gareth.