In my article on the must have essentials found in all great home gyms, I made the case that resistance training is king. I feel that of all the types of training one could do at home, old school weight lifting is still the most effective. That’s not to say that I don’t take part in other types of training. I do. Yoga, kettlebells, calisthenics, and HIIT are all things you can find me doing …
9 Must Have Essentials Found in the Best Home Gyms
A lot of the articles on this site address the issues of space and budget constraints. Building a great home gym when you are short on space and/or money can be challenging at best. But what if you have both the space and the budget? What then? Even after limited casual shopping, you’ll find more home gym equipment than you could ever possibly use. It’s a big part of why I put this website together. …
How to Fit a Gym You’ll Love in a Small Apartment
While my current home gym is located in my garage, that wasn’t always the case. I’m very fortunate to have a two car garage and only one car. That has allowed me the room to build a home gym I could only fantasize about previously. Apartment Gym Challenges For many years, I lived in an apartment. No garage. No extra space. No squat rack, barbell, or bumper plates. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t work …
The Complete Guide to Selecting Your Ideal Squat Rack
I vividly remember the day my power rack arrived. Fedex freight tracking showed it arriving in the early afternoon on a Wednesday. I called in late to work and waited anxiously for it to arrive I was so excited. At about 2pm, the truck dropped a 400+ lb. pallet right outside my front door. I signed and began the arduous task of getting it through the house and into the garage. I would have to …
How to Buy the Perfect Barbell For Your Home Gym
Even if you limit your search to Amazon and a few quality barbell manufacturers, there are easily over 100 different barbells to choose from. When putting together a home gym, it can be hard to figure out which one is right for you. Especially considering it’s one of the most important purchases you’ll make when it comes to weight training. A barbell is what connects you to the weight you are lifting. Picking the right …
How Much Does it Cost to Build a Home Gym You’ll Love?
The first thing most people consider when building a home gym is where in their home it might be able to fit. A millisecond later those same people are usually wondering what their new gym is going to cost. It’s probably a safe assumption that budget is one of, if not the, primary concern of most people putting together a home training area. How much does it cost to build a home gym? It all …
Easy Ways to Keep Deadlifts From Damaging Your Floor
The weight dropped with a thud that shook the whole house. I hadn’t expected to lose my grip, but the bar (which was loaded to just over 300 lbs.) slipped without warning. After I inspected myself for injury, I checked the weights for damage (at that time I was using a set of sharp edged iron plates). Then I held my breath and gingerly lifted the carpet remnant that served as my gym floor to …
Getting the Smell Out of Your Rubber Gym Floor
When people ask about the best flooring for their home gym, the answer is almost always rubber. Rubber flooring has a ton of benefits and is the ideal floor for your home fitness area. That said, it’s important that you use the right kind rubber. If you don’t, you can run into a few different problems, not the least of which is odor. And we aren’t talking the “oh it kind of smells like tires …
What is Barbell Whip?
I thought buying a barbell was going to be easy. It’s a metal rod that holds weight, how hard could it be? Apparently a lot harder than I thought. Did I want a 28mm or 28.5mm shaft? Did I want bearings or bushings? What kind of knurling and knurl marks did I want? Which of the seemingly endless coatings should I buy? And then they threw in the term “barbell whip”. No one seemed to …
Spotter Pins or Saftey Straps – Which is Better?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t want to die trapped under a barbell. You might laugh, but my fear is real. Lifting at home alone without a spotter can be dangerous. There are quite a few ways to mitigate the danger, but one of the most common is a power rack attachment that can spot for you when a person isn’t available. That attachment comes in three primary forms. Spotter/safety …
