#248 – Getting Started #4: The Equipment You Need for Your First Home Gym

Once you’ve made the decision and started traininginstead of exercising, it doesn’t take long to realize the average commercial “globo gym” is woefully inadequate for productive barbell training. Waiting to use the squat rack while someone finishes their high-rep curl set, poor quality barbells, dodecagonal plates, not being allowed to use chalk — these are just a few of the reasons that most trainees at Barbell Logic choose to build a home gym.

With a modest outlay, you can equip a home gym with high quality equipment that will allow you to continue getting strong for years, and will last long enough to hand down to your children. In addition to the gym equipment, you will also need a few key pieces of personal equipment.

The Gym

What you need:

• Barbell
• Plates
• Microplates
• A rack — commonly known as a power rack, squat rack, or sometimes a power “cage”
• Bench
• Platform

Personal Equipment

Both home gym lifters and commercial gym-goers will need:

• Weightlifting shoes
• Belt
• Wrist wraps (optional)
• Lifting straps (optional)
• Knee sleeves (optional)

Some of the brands we like and mentioned on this podcast:

• Rogue Fitness
• Rep Fitness
• Microgainz
• A7 International
• Dominion Belts
• Fringe Sport
• Nike / Adidas / Reebok / Rogue Do-Win (for shoes)