Building a Garage Gym For Athletes… On a Budget

By admin | February 7, 2008

More people than you’d think have home gyms to help them achieve their fitness goals. There are all kinds of reasons why someone might want to build their own garage gym. Off the top of my head I can think of some reasons like:

-Convenience of being at home rather than having to go to the gym.

-Avoiding pushy or ignorant people.

-Paying monthly gym fees.

For athletes there’s all of those reasons but but a few other reasons come to mind:

-Avoiding distractions from other members. Athletes tend to have more focused workouts than your average gym rat and every gym has some idiot that can’t seem to let other people train.

-Freedom to do what you like. As an athlete there are a lot of exercises that go against most people’s steady diet of curls and calf raises. Snatches, cleans, carries, deadlifts, and throws are all sometimes considered “non-friendly” in public gyms.

One of the big issues setting people back from building their own garage gym is the perception that it’s too expensive. That’s simply not the case. My goal was to set up a plan for a garage gym for $500. I want you to keep a few things in mind before you check it out, though.

1. This is an athlete’s gym. This isn’t full of Bosu balls and ellipticals. The equipment I chose is to make you stronger, faster, leaner, and bigger. Everything is there to make you a better overall athlete.

2. I was working with $500. So, we’re missing some toys and the material isn’t necessarily the absolute best stuff on the market. It is well-reviewed stuff, though. I’m not having you buy pure junk. If you’re very strong then I’d probably recommend shelling out for top quality equipment.

3. I did want to include some toys. You can get a hell of a workout with a sandbag and your bodyweight, but that’s not much of a garage gym. This gym is everything I would need to train a successful athlete and keep some variety in there.

4. I didn’t include shipping costs and I didn’t check out Craig’s List, newspaper classifieds, garage sales, etc. This could obviously affect the pricing.

Ok, enough talk. Here’s the gym.

Squat Rack: $109.00 from Amazon. This rack is designed to allow you to squat out of it as well as use it for bench pressing. The reviews are good, which is important. I’d love to have a full squat cage, but when setting up a gym on a budget you look for utility. If you had some more money to throw into this project then that’s one area I’d upgrade.

Flat Bench: $45.00 from Amazon. Again, no frills here but it’s a well-reviewed product. It doesn’t just have to be used for bench pressing. The flat bench is a good height for high box squatting, step-ups, split squats and other exercises.

300-lb Olympic Weight Set: $100.00 from a local store. Most of the local big chains like Sports Authority or Dick’s Sporting Goods will have these on sale quite often for about one hundred bucks. They’re usually about $150.00 at regular price. These come with an olympic bar, collars, and 255 lbs of olympic plates (the bar weighs 45 lb). I would recommend shelling out $10 on a decent set of collars if you have the extra as the ones that come with these sets usually suck.

Two Olympic Dumbbell Handles: About $30 each locally. As great as a full set of fixed dumbbells would be they’re not cheap and they take up a lot of space. These will do the job until you have a bit more cash.

Medicine Ball: $15.00 from Amazon. I chose the ten pounder as a good middle-of-the-road weight but you can obviously adjust that. A good medicine ball can be used for abdominal exercises, swings, throws and all sorts of other stuff. You could probably get one locally for about that same price and not pay the shipping.

Jump Rope: $10.00 locally. Get a decent jump rope for yourself. I’ve talked a lot about them lately so I won’t beleaguer the point but they are a great cheap fitness tool.

Ok, now let’s build some stuff!

Tire Sled: Cheap. Go to your local tire shop and see if they’ll give you a truck tire that they were planning to throw away. They usually have to pay a disposal fee for them so they’re just as happy to see you take one away. In the rare event that they want you to pay something then it won’t be much. Get some strong rope, about 20 feet worth. This might cost a few bucks. Tie the rope through the tire. Ok, now you’ve got a tire sled. If you put an old board in the middle of the tire then you’ll have a platform to add weight to.

I personally drilled a couple of holes in the wall of my tire sled and put some big eyebolts in there for the rope to run through. That way the rope doesn’t end up getting rubbed on the concrete or whatever you pull your tire on. They cost me a few extra dollars but do make things more balanced.

Sledgehammer: About $25.00 for a 12 lb hammer. Sledgehammer training has been used for years by boxers and is a fantastic way to develop your conditioning and grip. Remember that it is really a conditioning tool so you don’t need a ridiculously heavy hammer to do the job. Beat on the tire from your tire sled or get another, bigger tire from the tire shop.

Sandbags: Build a heavy and a light one for about $60.00. Sandbag work is great for athletes as the moving sand forces you to stabilize the load. Cleans, presses, carries, and snatches are all great sandbag moves that will work your primary movers as well as building a crushing grip. I like to have a heavy one and a light one for different exercises. Check out this awesome sandbag building guide from Ross Enamait.

http://www.rosstraining.com/sandbagconstructionkit.pdf
Ok, let’s total it up:

Squat Rack: $109.00
Flat Bench: $45.00
Weight Set: $100.00
DB Handles: $60.00
Medicine Ball: $15.00
Tire Sled: $5.00
Sledgehammer: $25.00
Sandbags: $60.00

Total: $419.00!

That saves you about $80.00 to spend on flooring, a cd player, extra weight, more toys, or whatever you need to round out your gym! One thing I would add if you have the wall space or a door frame is either a homemade chin-up bar or one of those door frame jobbies (if you’re light enough). Some people don’t have the space for them so I didn’t include them in the “necessary equipment”.

Having your own home gym doesn’t have to be a budget breaker and it can go a long way to improving your performance and fitness. Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you start your gym. Remember that it’s an ongoing process and that you can pick away at it. Before you know it you’ll be spending most of your workouts at home away from the drama and BS of a public gym!

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