Home Gym Setup
There are A TON of options for setting up a home gym. These are our equipment and gear suggestions that have worked well for us and our trainees.
Minimum space: 11 ft wide by 8 ft deep, but if you have more space that’s great!
Ceiling height: Ensure sufficient ceiling height for the power rack as well as the space you need to complete an Overhead Press and measure it before ordering!
Power Rack
We prefer a power rack with at least 24″ of depth and with “Westside” hole spacing.
Get one that has a pull up bar for pull ups and chin ups.
The Rogue R-3 works well as does the larger Rogue RML-390BT power rack.
If you’re on budget, take a look at the Titan T-2 Series Power Racks.
Olympic Barbell
DO NOT skimp on paying for a quality Olympic barbell. This thing should outlast you, your kids, and your grand kids.
Get an “all purpose” bar that is 28.5mm in diameter, DOES NOT have aggressive knurling, and DOES have center knurling.
My favorite bar is the Strength Co “Standard” Olympic Bar. The Texas Power Bars “All American” is also a fantastic all purpose bar. Both are Made in the USA.
Weight Plates
For Olympic weight plates we recommend The Strength Co Olympic Iron Barbell Plates.
These plates are Made in the USA and like their barbells, will outlast your lifetime as well as all every last one of your kids and grandkids.
While not competion plates, they are advertised to be within 2% of their design weight.
Flat Bench
For a flat bench, we prefer the Rogue Flat Utility Bench 2.0. The top of the padding on this bench is 18″ from the floor and the bench has 2.5″ of padding.
The version 2.0 bench has a nice “grippy” surface on the pad so you don’t slide around.
Deadlift Platform
For a deadlift plateform we recommend building your own.
Search YouTube for DIY deadlift platform, or watch this video from Alan Thrall of Untamed Strength titled “How to Build Your Own Deadlift Platform w/ Your Logo”.
You can buy everything you need for your own build at Home Depot or Lowes and a farm supply store like Tractor Supply.
Horse Stall Mats
Horse stall mats will protect your gym floor and can be found at Tractor Supply Co or your local farm supply store.
Get the larger 4ft x 6ft mats as they can be cut down.
For the best cutting method see this Testfiy Strength & Conditioning video.
Plate Storage
For Olympic weight plate storage, check out The Strength Co Olympic A-Frame Plate Trees.
We prefer these as they the plate pins are only 1-1/4″ in diameter and allow you to easily take the plates on and off the tree.
Gym Timer
Using a gym timer helps to keep your training sets consistent, in addition to keeping you on schedule during your training session.
We’ve tried many timers and prefer the Lavatools KT3 Kitchen Timer (Amazon) due to the ease of use and the pre-programmed 3 min and 5 min timer buttons.
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