The first piece of specific home gym equipment you get is a barbell.
This can be in the form of a cheapo one that will eventually bend as part of a 300lb weight set, or it can be a standalone purchase.
If you start at the 300lb weight set, put in the work required to bend that bar before buying it’s sturdier replacement.
I lifted on a bent bar at home for quite some time. It made the school weight room nicer. It wasn’t until graduating I bought the good inexpensive bar.
Buying generic but sturdy is the way to go, whether it’s a stand alone purchase or to replace the bent/sure to bend cheapo bar from the weight set.
I don’t see a squat rack as being terribly high a priority.
Starting every lift from the floor will last you forever when you’re willing to milk the available movements.
With just a barbell high rep military presses, and high rep overhead squats to infinity.
Treat the clean and overhead like girevoy but with a barbell.
You can go full body and get strong with just high reps and that 45lb bar.
I’ve been pleased by how well reverse curls, military presses, and overhead squats – all for high reps, with just the bar has served me.
Never forget one arm snatches
and one arm barbell press variations.
I’d purchase a good weight kettlebell, something not light, not heavy, just right before purchasing a rack.
Swing gpp in my eyes takes priority to the possibility of partial front squats.
Matt pulls are more important than rack pulls if you care about the deadlift.
The kettlebell takes priority to the rack for a few reasons :
•Kettlebell wins the logistics, it can go everywhere, easy to pick up and use, the rack doesn’t travel, and may not fit in your living space, you may not even have an outdoors in which to put it.
•Kettlebell wins in cost, as the rack isn’t just purchasing the rack. It’s purchasing the rack, more plates, likely a heavy duty stiff bar (the Donnie Thompson 1000lb+ in comp bar) so you can really load up partial front squats, and shrugs – the two main reasons to use a rack.
The best way to press em, you can flip them too.
Notice I haven’t said “oh, oh, oh, go get a nice eleiko oly bar” with drool dripping out the sides of my mouth.
The first priority inexpensive but sturdy barbell covers EVERY barbell lift until you’re loading up partial front squats in a rack.
I do like axles though. That’s in my eyes near the top of equipment.
Because you can do this
and this
and this
For a home gym – no bumper plates – be a man, control thy eccentric. Cleans from the dead hang more rugged make than from the floor. Note : the dead hang is paused at the hang, not lowered and loaded.
This approach served me very well at the SoCal bodybuilding gym.
Tires are free, get an absurd one if you have the logistics. The weight must be meaningful, and remember specificity moves fast here, something that is heavier than a 1rm can become 30 flips by the end of summer.
Big stones can be lifted from the outdoors, otherwise a size ridiculous sandbag made using :
•a size ridiculous sea bag
•contractor clean up bags
•duct tape
•sand
Bodyweight is free. I’m sure there’s somewhere you can kick over against, somewhere you can hang from.
I could get an inexpensive lat pulldown before the rack too.
They’re pretty affordable, the plates from the 300lb weight set will do, and I like doing lat pulldowns.
I can feel the muscles work with them, pullups I mostly muscle through.
As far as dumbbells, maybe you get plate loaded ones, a few pairs of regular hex bells with big jumps between, and once you pass around 75s, maybe 100s, you switch to singles if at all, or go homemade kroc row style with pipe and 10lb standard plates.
Lots of strongman implements would be nice to have, but you’re already doing olys, overhead and one arm barbell carries will cover a lot, and as far as conditioning buy a jump rope.
Burpees, sprints, and rolls are free.
Ab wheels are $10. Get one. Just eat a few pounds of chicken instead of beef to get the funds.
A powerwheel, the kind you strap to your shoes would be nice, but isn’t necessary.
Improvised stuff can be great. I’ve gotten good forearm pumps goofing around with a wok, and you may already have a sledgehammer to lever.
One light band, elitefts or similar, opens up a lot of options.
An isometric device like on rosstraining covers a lot of ground.
Isometrics can make a lot of lifting unnecessary. They give freakish results.
Tanning? Holding a planet fitness membership is cheap. I’m serious. In the cold months I use the tanning that I otherwise don’t in warm months. This is very far from a requirement.
Any old bicycle shall do, no need to get fancy if all you’re doing with it is street riding.
Pushups and biking was my lockdown split nearly in entirety.
I muscled up during the lockdown.
There’s a lesson there :
Where they’re a will there’s a way.
Make it, whatever it is, work.
You’re always good to go with zero equipment. I am. It’s served me well. Any equipment access past zero is a fun gift, and not a guarantee. Use it when you can, and want to.
Be able to always train with only yourself.
Pushups every day, I’m nearing 4½ years since the last miss.
Persistence & Tenacity