Minimal home gym

[resle]

Hi,

I just completed my 1st year of uninterrupted workout. I am now thinking of equipping a double garage I am not using, with a minimal home gym.

What equipment would suggest?
I am thinking

- a couple of unloaded dumbbells + a set of dumbbel plates
- barbell + a set of barbell plates
- a bench versatile enough to be used both for bench press and incline bench press
- a bench for incline crunches
- dip station
- pullup bar

Anything else?
Any (Amazon) suggestion for each one of the above?

Thanks

[ncsuLuke]

A landmine would make a nice addition as it would add a variety of exercises with minimal footprint added.

[lsi1]

power rack

Rep and Titan both sold on amazon. Keeps you safe and adds much more functionality.

[Cleveland33]

300lbs weight set and a decent barbell.

That's it

[onlyeatsprotein]

Power rack, 300 pound olympic weight set, decent barbell, and decent bench that can incline/decline/flat for benching. Bonus points for olympic dumbbell handles and microloading plates.

[JustTheDad]

If you like free weights, and given your list, it seems you do, I will always recommend a power rack for safety and versatility.
It's difficult to recommend anything specific, however, because we don't know what's available to you.

Are you in Shanghai or somewhere in Italy? I apologize if I should be able to tell that, but municipality Italy is throwing me.

[BenMcLeodNZ]

Pretty much got it OP. Get a few dumbbell rods so you can do drop sets/ set up for the next exercise. Don't think you really need a dip station, better putting the money and space into a used power rack. A preacher bench is useful too, not just for biceps but to hold barbell a bit above ground to save picking it up off the ground all the time etc.

[BenMcLeodNZ]

Power rack, 300 pound olympic weight set, decent barbell, and decent bench that can incline/decline/flat for benching. Bonus points for olympic dumbbell handles and microloading plates.

Nice post except Olympic dumbbells suck.

[pondman]

It’s not going to be good until you’ve got a rack to safely do back squats by yourself. It wasn’t until I got a half rack that I was able to add a lot to shoulder presses.

[Rottweiler59]

I think it also,depends what sort of training you like to do and goal. For example if you want to keep the gym absolute minimal with hardly any space used And don’t have a specific goal just to stay in shape etc I’d look at maybe just iron master dumbbells 120lb set and a dip and chin frame with suspension trainer. You can still do squat and deadlift variations with the bells and it would take no space.

[SugarFree1]

You can get started with dumbbells and a good bench. Add to it after if you have too with a barbell set and rack. Your rack should include the ability to do pull ups and possibly dips

[ampire]

You can build a decent upper body at home without much equipment. A 2x100lb generic adjustable spinlock dumbbell set from Amazon such as the unipack kit $200, a decent hardware store pipe pullup bar $30, a flat utility bench (or better yet a used commercial incline adjustable bench) $50-200, exercise bands $15. Whole setup takes up very little space. Get a rubber stall mat for flooring.

Building substantial lower body muscle mass is a bit of a problem without atleast having a barbell and squat stands at a minimum, never-mind a power rack.

Still, you could do dumbbell deadlifts, dumbbell goblet squats, dumbbell split squats, dumbbell romanian and straight leg deadlifts, dumbbell walking lunges, plyometric box jumps, and cardio such as running. Also you can do overall conditioning exercises such as dumbbell snatches, dumbbell suitcase deadlifts, dumbbell renegade rows, and dumbbell farmers walks.

[resle]

Thanks everyone for the advice, really appreciated.

@Rottweiler59
my goal would be to keep my workout regime, and move it to home. I have naturally started to stray away from machines anwyay, with the exception of lat machine, cable machine, and ab crunch machine. I'd actually try and get at least one of those..

[SugarFree1]

I have a functional trainer cable machine at home and get a lot of use out of it for many different types of exercises. Excellent addition to a home gym down the line. I wouldnt worry about the lat and ab crunch machines. You can perform similar alternative exercises on the cable machine

[SugarFree1]

Also just to add; look for a nice bench to start. I have one that you can put attachments on for leg extensions, calf raises, preacher curls etc. Excellent space saver for a home gym

https://www.bodysolid.com/home/gfid7..._decline_bench

[JustTheDad]

You can build a decent upper body at home without much equipment. A 2x100lb generic adjustable spinlock dumbbell set from Amazon such as the unipack kit $200, a decent hardware store pipe pullup bar $30, a flat utility bench (or better yet a used commercial incline adjustable bench) $50-200, exercise bands $15. Whole setup takes up very little space. Get a rubber stall mat for flooring.

Building substantial lower body muscle mass is a bit of a problem without atleast having a barbell and squat stands at a minimum, never-mind a power rack.

Still, you could do dumbbell deadlifts, dumbbell goblet squats, dumbbell split squats, dumbbell romanian and straight leg deadlifts, dumbbell walking lunges, plyometric box jumps, and cardio such as running. Also you can do overall conditioning exercises such as dumbbell snatches, dumbbell suitcase deadlifts, dumbbell renegade rows, and dumbbell farmers walks.

Your comments bring up an interesting point. Based on the OP's picture, he's already got the Bruce Lee physique down, and we don't know his goals. Bulk, sports performance, something else.
Even so, as a safety conscious old fart of a physician, I always recommend a power rack and a barbell as the most important first piece of a free weight based home gym. That said, for some people, a jump rope could be the best piece of equipment available. Need more info ...

[resle]

Your comments bring up an interesting point. Based on the OP's picture, he's already got the Bruce Lee physique down, and we don't know his goals. Bulk, sports performance, something else.

I wish! That's me at my lowest body fat percentage. Now I look the same but with no definition whatsoever, hence ... I just look skinny.

I don't have proper goals anymore. I wish I could bulk up a bit as a payoff for how hard I train, but I guess it's just not in my genes. Other than that, I just want to upkeep what I achieved.

Shedding body fat will come by itself as soon as I lower my social activity and the alcohol intake that comes with it.

[JustTheDad]

I wish! That's me at my lowest body fat percentage. Now I look the same but with no definition whatsoever, hence ... I just look skinny.

I don't have proper goals anymore. I wish I could bulk up a bit as a payoff for how hard I train, but I guess it's just not in my genes. Other than that, I just want to upkeep what I achieved.

Shedding body fat will come by itself as soon as I lower my social activity and the alcohol intake that comes with it.

Bulking is tricky for some of us, but if it's what you want, there's lots of good information on how to make gains even if you don't have the genetics of a body builder.

[Cleveland33]

I wish! That's me at my lowest body fat percentage. Now I look the same but with no definition whatsoever, hence ... I just look skinny.

I don't have proper goals anymore. I wish I could bulk up a bit as a payoff for how hard I train, but I guess it's just not in my genes. Other than that, I just want to upkeep what I achieved.

Shedding body fat will come by itself as soon as I lower my social activity and the alcohol intake that comes with it.

are you a) training to bulk? and b) eating to bulk?

[ampire]

I wish! That's me at my lowest body fat percentage. Now I look the same but with no definition whatsoever, hence ... I just look skinny.

I don't have proper goals anymore. I wish I could bulk up a bit as a payoff for how hard I train, but I guess it's just not in my genes. Other than that, I just want to upkeep what I achieved.

Shedding body fat will come by itself as soon as I lower my social activity and the alcohol intake that comes with it.

Just focus on what makes you happy. I don't find bulking makes me happy so I generally just eat an amount that allows me to make steady strength gains and still stay lean. I make strength gains slower than if I was on a very high calorie diet but it is nice to have a 31 inch waist year round. It helps that I have muscle memory from when I was much stronger and into powerlifting back in my early 20s. Personally I am not a bodybuilder I am lifting to mitigate some serious health problems.

[resle]

are you a) training to bulk? and b) eating to bulk?

Training to bulk? Yes.
Eating to bulk? I tried and all I got was body fat.

I am so scrupolous about it (honestly I should say OCD), that I am sure I "did it right" from all points of view - but it just didn't work as expected.

[ampire]

Training to bulk? Yes.
Eating to bulk? I tried and all I got was body fat.

I am so scrupolous about it (honestly I should say OCD), that I am sure I "did it right" from all points of view - but it just didn't work as expected.

Just keep adding more weight to all your lifts each week or on stubborn lifts, each month. Its a long term process.

[resle]

Just keep adding more weight to all your lifts each week or on stubborn lifts, each month. Its a long term process.

I do - as I was telling on some other thread already a few months ago, my lifts keep growing slowly and steadily. My size does not.