The place I work has decided to put in a gym. This would be very, very convenient. Problem is that it is going to be really small. I can certainly come up with what I think it should have (squat rack, bench, deadlifting area) but I figure you all would probably have a good idea of must-have equipment.
Here is the question for you: What is the best small gym you’ve seen? Why was it the best?
Or, what is the most useful (=multi-purpose) piece of equipment you’ve seen?
Cheers,
– jj
How small is small?? There’s a lot of good equipment you can fit into a small space if you’re smart about it
I’d say the most versatile piece of equipment would be a power rack. If you make a cheap platform out of plywood and horse mats you can bolt your rack to that. You’d be able to squat, bench and deadlift in it. It’s not the most ideal setup but it’ll get the job done in probably the least amount of space.
I plan on doing this very thing in my garage when I get the money. Right now the wife isn’t signing off on it. We just found out she’s pregnant and I keep telling her the baby will need a garage gym but she doesn’t believe me. Women.
My garage is 144 square feet and some serious work gets done in there with room to spare. You might have to give up your pec dec and leg press, but I am positive you have plenty of room for a rack, weights, a bar, and a bench. If you need more than that, then I dont know what to tell you.
As long as you can squat, the gym is big enough. A power-rack, olympic barbell and plates does not take much space.
IS it really a gym without a pec deck? Seriously how else will you get all swole up?
I trained for two years in a 10x12 shed
Had a horse stall mat, a power rack, two plate trees in each corner and a set of power block dumbells. I would move a bench in and out.
You NEED a decent power rack with a chin up bar on it, a decent flat bench, a decent barbell, and plates. This probably requires around 80-100 sq ft.
Everything else is accessory shit, which you don’t need but can be nice if you have extra space.
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
You NEED a decent power rack with a chin up bar on it, a decent flat bench, a decent barbell, and plates. This probably requires around 80-100 sq ft.
Everything else is accessory shit, which you don’t need but can be nice if you have extra space.[/quote]
Word. For my first 1.5-2 years of lifting, I worked out of my room, about 18x20 feet. Sounds like a good amount of space…except that it was an attic, so I had an angled roof that started about 2 feet high on the walls, 2 rafters and a chimney in the room, 2 beds, 2 bureaus, and a desk. If I was able to make that work…shiiit.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
You NEED a decent power rack with a chin up bar on it, a decent flat bench, a decent barbell, and plates. This probably requires around 80-100 sq ft.
Everything else is accessory shit, which you don’t need but can be nice if you have extra space.[/quote]
Word. For my first 1.5-2 years of lifting, I worked out of my room, about 18x20 feet. Sounds like a good amount of space…except that it was an attic, so I had an angled roof that started about 2 feet high on the walls, 2 rafters and a chimney in the room, 2 beds, 2 bureaus, and a desk. If I was able to make that work…shiiit. [/quote]
x3 And for some of the accessory shit, I suggest buying two adjustable olympic db handles. A fraction of the cost of fixed weight dbs, takes up a lot less space and is almost as good.
[quote]kakno wrote:
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
You NEED a decent power rack with a chin up bar on it, a decent flat bench, a decent barbell, and plates. This probably requires around 80-100 sq ft.
Everything else is accessory shit, which you don’t need but can be nice if you have extra space.[/quote]
Word. For my first 1.5-2 years of lifting, I worked out of my room, about 18x20 feet. Sounds like a good amount of space…except that it was an attic, so I had an angled roof that started about 2 feet high on the walls, 2 rafters and a chimney in the room, 2 beds, 2 bureaus, and a desk. If I was able to make that work…shiiit. [/quote]
x3 And for some of the accessory shit, I suggest buying two adjustable olympic db handles. A fraction of the cost of fixed weight dbs, takes up a lot less space and is almost as good.[/quote]
That helped too, even though they started to bend lol.
I had 8 people training in a 1 car garage. You can do a lot with just a little bit of space.
[quote]Wild_Iron_Gym wrote:
I had 8 people training in a 1 car garage. You can do a lot with just a little bit of space.
[/quote]
I’m seriously jealous of that home gym setup, looks as good as it gets as far as home gyms go. How much did all that end up costing total?
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
That helped too, even though they started to bend lol. [/quote]
Lol. How freakishly strong are you?
[quote]Wild_Iron_Gym wrote:
I had 8 people training in a 1 car garage. You can do a lot with just a little bit of space.
[/quote]
That is soo awesome in so many levels
[quote]jj-dude wrote:
The place I work has decided to put in a gym. This would be very, very convenient. Problem is that it is going to be really small. I can certainly come up with what I think it should have (squat rack, bench, deadlifting area) but I figure you all would probably have a good idea of must-have equipment.
Here is the question for you: What is the best small gym you’ve seen? Why was it the best?
Or, what is the most useful (=multi-purpose) piece of equipment you’ve seen?
Cheers,
– jj[/quote]
a nice power rack and a bench would be enough, you can do your squat work there and then adjust the pins and set the bench so you can do your press work, if possible get some custom lox and paralell boxes =)
[quote]UrbanSavage wrote:
[quote]Wild_Iron_Gym wrote:
I had 8 people training in a 1 car garage. You can do a lot with just a little bit of space.
[/quote]
I’m seriously jealous of that home gym setup, looks as good as it gets as far as home gyms go. How much did all that end up costing total?[/quote]
That setup costs around $5k getting most of the stuff used. That’s including what other people bought too. If you get specialty bars, those add up fast. I spent another $5k plus other people brought stuff when we moved to a bigger location. Then I’ve added another $2k of stuff since moving into it.
Was she included?
we have groups of up to 11 in the summer training in a one car garage. We’ve got a power rack with a homemade monolift attachment for us gearwhores, a competition bench, a small deadlift platform with band hooks, and are working on getting one of the Orlando Barbell home GHR’s in there as well. If there’s a will, theres a way. Now I can’t imagine training anywhere else
On this very topic: I’m considering putting a gym in the second bedroom of my basement apartment and have been scoping out inexpensive/small racks. Anyone have any suggestion?
If I’m going to be the only one using it, has anyone ever tried putting together a rack out of 2x4s that’s just not adjustable? Just curious.