Intro
While home gyms certainly aren’t a new phenomenon, they have regained popularity since 2020/pandemic. Home gyms can range from an exercise mat in the living room to a garage rivaling the local CrossFit box. Today, I’ll take you through a brief history of my various home gym setups, my current setup, and some things I’ve found helpful to consider when setting up a dedicated space in my home for exercise.
Humble Beginnings
I developed type 1 diabetes while I was in undergrad, so I started my exploration of exercise on no budget and with very little time. I began running and basic bodyweight training, so I didn’t need any equipment other than running shoes, a mat, and some space to get into a push-up position. Toward the end of undergrad, I was promoted to manager at the retail store where I worked, so I found myself trying out weighted movements at whichever box gym currently had a special on monthly memberships.
Traveling Light
In 2013, I moved across the country. I wanted to keep up my strength training while on my road trip, as well as have something I could do as soon as I moved into my new place (to keep up my exercise habits until I started receiving paychecks). I paid $60 for a year subscription to a bodyweight workout app, unfurled my gym mat, and started performing burpees, squats, pushups, and situps, following a high-intensity and high-rep calisthenics plan. It wasn’t fancy, but it complimented my running practice and only took about 30 minutes/day.
My First Equipment
Fast-forward to 2017. After being in and out of a few gyms and moving back across the country, I returned to my mat and, this time, a pull-up bar. This was another busy time in my life; I had returned to school for massage therapy and was concurrently studying to be a personal trainer. I took the opportunity to learn more about bodyweight calisthenics, specifically how to build strength with just my body weight as resistance. I eventually purchased a set of resistance bands to help me progress with pull-ups (one of my most challenging exercises) and to add load lunges, single-leg RDLs, as well as supplement with isolation work. I also happened to find a doorway suspension trainer for $4 at TJMaxx (gotta love a discount retailer), which opened up even more ways to progress.
In My Pandemic Era
Ah, the pandemic. 2020. Everything shut down. I used some of my pandemic assistance to purchase gymnastics rings (~$70), some adjustable dumbbells from OfferUp for $20, and some PVC pipe to construct high parallettes (~$40). My brother offloaded an entire set of plates and a barbell at my parents’ house, so I drove across the state to my parent’s house to pick them up. Talk about an upgrade! Tracy (the other part of F.I.C.) sent me a plyo box for my birthday in 2021. This was the absolute height of my home gym’s complexity and variety of equipment.
What a time to be alive. At least I had decent workout equipment to keep me company.
I also took this time to experiment with constructing my own workout equipment, as well as searched for everyday objects I could employ.
Left: My homemade Bulgarian sandbag, with another bag of sand on top.
Below: A five-gallon bucket and a bundle of firewood. I carried this for laps around the house.
The pandemic also gave me the opportunity to make another cross-country move. I gave away the sandbag, sold the barbell and plates to a friend, and packed the rest into my car. I created a multi-functional area in my new apartment and continued to make gains on the rings.
Current Set Up
City (and now country) living has required me to move around a bit, and I have shed the parallettes, as they were not providing any additional training benefit (the rings are quite versatile). The configuration pictured below is my current setup, with the addition of a 10lb steel mace I purchased in September 2023 and a weighted vest I just picked up for $20 on OfferUp. The spin bike belongs to my partner, but I have been known to hop on it from time to time.
Above: My rings in the loft.
Right: My mat, plyo box, DBs, vest, etc., and mat on the barn floor. Not glamorous, but effective.
What I’ve Learned
You can do a lot with a little, but it requires creativity and patience.
What you exchange for the cost of a gym membership is also the convenience of being able to plop yourself from one specifically designed machine to the next. I have been able to re-create at home nearly every exercise that I can do at the gym, but it has required time, thought, effort, and experimentation. If you have equipment at home, then the skill and movement transfer is more direct (e.g., banded row vs. cable row). If you are using only your bodyweight and available household surfaces, the transfer is sometimes less direct (e.g., bodyweight row in between two chairs vs. barbell row).
You have to put on your thinking cap and experiment with different ways to build resistance and intensity. When you are at the gym, you can simply pick up a heavier dumbbell or load more plates onto the bar. At home, you may have to experiment with varying work/rest ratios, isometrics, different body angles, and different movement pairings/stacking to provide increased resistance and proper muscular fatigue, especially when training for hypertrophy.
Planning your workout is even more critical.
See point 1. There aren’t any group classes, machine circuits, or any other preloaded ideas about what to do when you’re at home. A little forethought can ease the lack of convenience, as well as set you up to spend most of your workout time, well, working out instead of figuring out what to do next, how to set up and perform the exercise, etc.
Get to know your space. You may learn you have more anchor points for resistance bands and surfaces that allow for dips and rows than you originally thought. Taking a few minutes the week or day before your scheduled workout will save you time and make the workout more enjoyable (and the decision to exercise at home more sustainable).
You have to take your exercise time at home as seriously as you take any other gym time.
Whatever rituals or routines you would set up to prepare for the gym, do that for your home gym: setting out clothes, filling a water bottle, picking a playlist, etc. Give yourself the cues you need to shift into your training mindset.
Set boundaries with whoever else lives with you. You would not be available if you went out to the gym, and you are not to be interrupted during your exercise time at home.
If you want to re-create the social aspect of a group class, have your friends over for a video exercise class or follow a plan together. Bring your laptop or phone into your home gym and video call your bestie for the evening workout.
tl;dr: AI-Generated List of Considerations for Setting Up Your Own Home Gym:
Space Assessment: Determine the available space and choose equipment accordingly.
Equipment Selection: Consider your fitness goals, budget, and available space.
Functional Layout: Arrange equipment for efficient movement and safety.
Safety First: Prioritize safety by using proper lifting techniques and equipment.
Personalization: Tailor the gym to your individual needs and preferences.
Conclusion
Whether simple or fully equipped, a home gym can be an effective and functional training space that saves you time and money. While working out at home requires thoughtful setup and a little creativity, I have found it to be the ultimate way to sustain movement and strength training in my life through drastic changes in resources, time, and energy. Have a home gym setup or journey you want to share? Leave a comment below or reach out to us on social media: Instagram @fitnessincontext or YouTube Fitness In Context.
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