According to some, every man should have his own ‘man cave’, with a home cinema, game console, poker table, pool table and bar. We believe that every man should have his own training room at home. To withdraw when he feels like it and practice the most masculine of all occupations: lifting heavy things.

GYM VS. WORKOUT AT HOME

Training at home gives you enormous flexibility compared to training in a gym. Of course, a gym has many advantages. At a budget chain you can train for just over a tenner a month and you get very long opening hours and a huge range of cardio and strength equipment in return. The social aspect is also an advantage of training in the gym.

However, there are also plenty of disadvantages to a gym, such as the aforementioned opening hours, however wide. On weekends, most gyms don’t open until 9 am instead of 7 am and if you want to squeeze a really early workout into your day, it’s just too late. Due to the low rates charged by budget fitness centers, you are certainly not a member of a select club. Budget fitness centers have huge peaks in their traffic and at certain times it really is an ants’ nest and therefore practically impossible to train properly, especially when you have a training program carved in stone like us. Finally, if you don’t live within walking distance of your gym, distance and travel time are also a factor.

You can train at home whenever you want. You do not pay a subscription fee and only have to invest once in the purchase of your equipment. Depending on your needs and budget, you can gradually expand your home gym. Distance and travel time play no role. And training alone has almost only practical benefits. No waiting times, no one asking how many sets you still have to do, no one bothering you with tips or criticism of your performance and technique…

However, there are a number of conditions attached to setting up a home gym. First, of course, you must have the space, in the form of a basement, garage or spare bedroom. You don’t need a lot of space; we train in a storage space of 3×3 meters, and if you don’t suffer from claustrophobia, that’s enough. Second, you need to have a budget for purchasing your strength equipment. The same applies here: cheap is expensive. Investing in quality equipment pays off in the long run.

Finally, training in a gym and training at home do not have to bite each other. For example, you can complete most of your workouts in your gym and if you don’t have the time or the desire to go to the gym, your home gym offers a great alternative. Or vice versa: you train at home and for some variation you go to the gym once a week, for example, to do the exercises that are impossible at home.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Good. So you have decided to set up a home gym. But what do you (really) need? What should you pay attention to when purchasing? We will guide you through the jungle that is the (online) range of strength equipment.

BARBELL BAR

What you need first is an (Olympic) barbell with a diameter of 50 mm (not 30 mm). Please note that a standard Olympic barbell is 220 cm long; if your training room is only 2.5 m wide, you only have 15 cm left and right to load the weight plates.

If space is a limiting factor, you can opt for a shorter bar of 180 cm. Please note, with 15 kg, this bar weighs 5 kg less than a conventional barbell. Also note that the grip width of a shorter bar is narrower, which can be a limiting factor in various exercises. Also a limiting factor is the load capacity; you can load a standard bar up to 315 kg, the shorter version up to ‘only’ 250 kg. But let’s face it, most of us squat or deadlift are nowhere near those weights.

Make sure that you buy a bar of which the ‘sleeves’ are bearings and that the bar itself is provided with fine knurling (knurling) for a good grip. This is especially important for exercises such as cleans and snatches. Finally, if you decide to buy a used bar, check that the bar is straight by rolling it on the floor and check that the sleeves still turn smoothly.

Target price barbell: € 100

DUMBBELLS

In addition to a large barbell, it is best to also buy two small ones, so that you can put together dumbbells with the help of weight plates (see next point). You can then use it for (lighter) dumbbell work.

An alternative are power blocks, those adjustable dumbbells, where you can effortlessly change weight. However, power blocks are expensive. You easily pay three to four hundred euros for such a set and then you often only have weight up to about 22 kilos per dumbbell. Although you can buy additional weight later, via add-ons.

Fixed dumbbells lack flexibility. After all, what good is one set of dumbbells of 40 kg the piece? In our opinion, it is therefore best to choose a set of small dumbbells.

WEIGHT PLATES

Weight plates are available in all kinds of materials and designs. You have weight plates made of cast iron, cast iron with a rubber coating, solid rubber weight plates et cetera. Prices vary enormously, from one euro per kilogram for a cast iron version to three to four euros per kilogram for the bumper plates and color-coded Olympic discs, which are mainly used by weightlifters and in official weightlifting and powerlifting competitions.

Conventional cast iron weight plates, with or without a rubber coating, are sufficient for most home trainers. The rubber coating provides noise reduction and protects the cast iron and the floor against wear, but of course also wears out over time. We recommend that you buy round weight plates and not dodecagonal ones. Especially when deadlifting, you prefer a round than an angular disk.

It is best to invest in a barbell set, ie a barbell plus weight plates. Most sets have a total weight of 140 kg: 20 kg for the bar and an additional 120 kg for weight plates, usually in the form of 2×20 kg, 2×15 kg, 2×10 kg, 4×5 kg, 2× 2.5kg and 4×1.5kg. This does mean that you have attached a lot of weight plates to the bar for the heavier exercises. Eight on each side, while with 20 kg weight plates, three plates per side will suffice to get to 140 kg.

Personally, we prefer to use as few discs as possible because of the balance. And let’s be honest: 140 kg is not enough for a serious strength athlete for his squats and deadlifts. If this also applies to you, it might be best to immediately expand your set with a set of weight plates of 20 or 25 kg, or as we have done, with a set of 40 kg. Make sure you buy discs with a 51 mm bore for your 50 mm barbell!

With only a barbell and some weight plates you can already do many exercises, such as deadlifts, slams, shoulder presses, bent-over dumbbell rows, et cetera.

Target price weight plates: € 300-350 for a set of 140 kg (incl. barbell) + € 80 for an additional 2×20 kg

SQUAT OR PRESS RACK OR POWER CAGE

For many exercises, a squat or press rack or a power cage is indispensable. If your budget allows it, it is best to purchase a power cage, but with a height-adjustable squat or press rack you can also do just fine.

A height-adjustable squat or press rack allows you to squat, shoulder press and, in combination with a training bench, also (inclined) bench press – what more could you want? Okay smartass: you can also do shoulder presses or squats without a rack, as long as you can push and push enough weight. But we estimate that you are not able to get 140 kg down your neck from the ground.

Preferably buy a squat rack with height-adjustable spotters, so that you can safely train alone. Pay attention to the load capacity of the rack you buy, because it is often lower than the load capacity of your barbell! Choose quality here too. A slightly more expensive rack is much more stable and solid than a cheaper variant, which makes training a lot nicer and safer.

Recommended price: € 150-200 for a squat or press rack, € 300-500 for a power cage

ADJUSTABLE TRAINING BENCH

A squat or press rack or power cage in combination with an (adjustable) training bench enables you to bench press (oblique) and to do your shoulder exercises while sitting. A good training bench should be stable and the backrest should be adjustable in at least three positions, at an angle of about 30, 45 and 90 (upright) degrees. It is ideal if you can also set the backrest downwards, for decline bench presses. Note that you can also adjust the seat for a stable sitting position and that the sofa is equipped with wheels so that you can move it easily, although that is of course not an absolute must.

It is difficult to estimate the quality of a bench by eye; it is best to visit the physical showroom of the webshop and try out the bench and the other items that you intend to purchase, in addition to viewing. You can also check the upholstery for thickness and quality, because what you do not want is that the foam filling will be visible through the torn upholstery in no time. Or you have to love that ‘hardcore’ taped look.

Target price adjustable training bench: € 100-175

TO EXPAND

With a barbell and sufficient weight plates, a squat/press rack or power cage and an adjustable training bench, you have laid an excellent foundation for a home gym and many hours of training work and fun. A (probably incomplete) overview of the exercises you can do:

• back squat and front squat
• deadlift, Romanian deadlift and other deadlift variations
• overhead/shoulder press
• push press
• bent-over rows
• bench press
• incline bench press
• biceps curls
• triceps extensions

Many will feel limited in the number of exercises they can do, but this limitation was, for us at least, a blessing. In fact, we have only really become strong at home by returning to the basics and by only doing heavy, compound basic exercises and reducing the amount of help and isolation exercises to zero. No more leg presses, extensions or curls, just squats and front squats. The result? Some respectable quadriceps. And with only deadlifts and bent-over rows, we’ve created a back that’s both wide and thick. And who said you couldn’t grow a gorilla chest with just bench presses and incline bench presses? No, the alleged ‘lack’ of possibilities was a real blessing for us and taught us which exercises really matter.

Now you can expand your home gym over time if you want. We make some suggestions below.

FLOOR MATS

“Something” from carpeting is actually necessary if you want to protect both your floor and your weight plates from damage and wear. We recommend rubber floor tiles or mats with a thickness of at least 10 mm. You can of course also fill the entire space around your rack or cage with tiles, but a set of four tiles is sufficient to protect discs and floor against, for example, (heavy) deadlifts. Only if you do Olympic lifts and regularly drop weights on the floor is it necessary to fill a larger surface.

Target price floor mats: € 25-50/4 pieces

PULL UP/CHIN UP BAR

Actually, a pull-up/chin-up bar is part of your basic equipment, but because you can also train your back and biceps with only a barbell and plates, we have placed it here with the extensions. As the name suggests, a pull/chin-up bar allows you to do pull-ups and chin-ups. Buy a bar where you can also use a neutral grip.

We recommend a so-called monkey bar, with a double bar and cross bars in between for handling all kinds of different grips, wide or narrow, straight and oblique, and even asymmetrical.

Target price pull/chin-up bar: €50–150

CORE PLATE + V-GRIP

With a core plate and your barbell you can do Russian twists and various exercises for your shoulders. In combination with a V-handle (double handle) or special single or double handle you can also safely perform T-bar rows – one of our favorite back exercises. A core plate makes your barbell a lot more versatile and is a very valuable extension.

Target price core plate: € 100-150 (V-handle € 15, single handle € 25, double handle € 50)

KETTLEBELL

The kettlebell is also called the world’s smallest home gym. You can do many ballistic/dynamic exercises with it and a kettlebell of 20 or 24 kg already presents a challenge for many seasoned strength athletes. You pay a little more than two euros per kilogram of kettlebell, which makes the kettlebell relatively cheap compared to the dumbbell before. With one kettlebell you can already do countless exercises and with a set even more.

A kettlebell is durable and will last practically a lifetime and if you are ready for a heavier version, you can usually sell your old kettlebell for more than half the new price and buy a heavier one. There is a vibrant and growing community around kettlebell training in the Netherlands, so it shouldn’t take much effort to wear out your old kettlebell.

FINALLY

We draw the line here, partly because this brings us to the end of the content of our home gym and from here we can no longer speak from our own experience. You can keep expanding your home gym almost endlessly. For example, we have a set of power bands, a hexbar (shrugbar) and a multigrip/Swiss bar on our wish list.

Having and expanding a home gym is a humbling and rewarding experience. If you’re used to the relative luxuries of a gym, your simple home gym will humble you and leave you as happy as a kid with gala evening with each expansion.

And if you’re wondering: how am I doing my cardio now? Well, just by going for a run or walk in the fresh air instead of jogging 10 km on the treadmill without literally a meter ahead. It’s just an idea.