Building a home gym is one thing, building a high-performance personal heaven is something else entirely.
We live in a time where fitness is almost always evolving. More new, more effective, and more efficient equipment is on the market than ever before. Taking your home gym to the next level is an admirable goal, and we have a few pieces of equipment in mind that will push your gym into Elite status.
The Classics
The classics of fitness haven’t changed in terms of how the exercises are done. What’s changed, and what’s important for a home gym, is how effective the equipment can be. The classics are of course the bench press, the squat, the deadlift, the overhead press, the curl, etc. The equipment for these exercises could fill its own gym, but for a home gym, there are some compact solutions.
Hit the Bar
Before you do anything you are going to need the most basic piece of workout equipment in the world. A bar and some weight. A cheap Olympic bar has a tendency to rust, for the collars to rotate and strip and for the bar to bend. Your bar is going to see lots and lots of use, so it’s good to invest in quality. Rogue reportedly makes a very good bar. I’ve had a lot of luck with the Vulcan Standard. It’s been my bar of choice and resides in my outside gym without issue.
The Weight
Plates can one of two ways. Your average cheap steel plates will run fine in most training situations. The problem with steel plates in a home gym is dropping them. They will dent, or just plain break floors. Bumper plates by companies like Vulcan and Rogue are a little softer and tend to bounce when dropped. These are much better suited if you are dedicated to Crossfit or Olympic lifting. Bumper plates tend to be easier on the bars, the floor, and your equipment when dropped.
Lightweight!
One of the best pieces of gear for a high-performance home gym is the Rogue Monster Lite Squat stand. It can be the core of your home gym.
Standing 92 inches tall the Rogue Squat stand comes equipped with a nice fat pull up bar, and the arms can be mounted low enough to turn it into a bench press. You can use any average bench, but the Rogue adjustable can be packaged with the Monster Lite to save a little money. The adjustable arms allow you to take full advantage of the Rogue adjustable bench. The AB 2 adjustable bench is pretty durable and versatile it’s own right. It’s also compact and easy to move out of the way when necessary.
The real selling point isn’t just you getting a well made squat rack that can be used for bench press, power cleans, pull-ups, and everything in between. No, the real selling point is the extra gear Rogue produces to make the Monster Lite even more versatile.
The Monster Lite Matador adds a set of dip bars to the Monster Lite and can connect to either of the standing bars. It can be attached and removed in just a few seconds and is relatively small so it’s easy to store. Rogue also produces the Landmines. The Landmines attach to the bottom of the Monster Lite and act as sleeves for an Olympic bar. They allow single hand shoulder presses, core rotational exercises, offers a wide range of movement for strength exercises.
With the Rogue Monster Lite setup and the accessories, you are pretty much covering the classic workouts.
Cardio
No workout is complete until your lungs scream for mercy. Cardio can be an entire workout, a warm-up, or a cool down. A little bit of cardio equipment can go a long way towards getting you to your fitness goals. Running is always great cardio and it can be done almost anywhere. However it is high impact, and there are a few options for low impact cardio. A few machines can change the way the way you get your heart racing and lungs aching.
Going for a Row
A rowing machine, like the Concept 2 model E, is a very capable cardio machine. Designed to be compact and easily stored a rowing machine is an excellent cardio workout. It’s not just a cardio workout, but an arms and shoulder workout, it hits the legs and even the abs when using proper form. Rowing machines have had a large spike in popularity because they are low impact cardio. You aren’t putting a ton of weight on your knees and ankles like running would. The Model E is equipped with an LCD monitor that gauges your workout performance and with a USB flash drive you can save your workout to track your progress. The entire system can be compacted to fit in your average closet.
The Bike
Stationary bikes have long been behemoths in the cardio realm. The Assault Airbike is a high tech, and incredibly durable tool for your high efficient home gym. The Assault Airbike can be customized for user’s height and comfort. The system is equipped with an LCD screen that tracks and monitors progression. This is another option for those who need a low impact cardio regiment. The Assault Airbike ups the resistance as you pedal harder and faster. The workout will never be easy or simple.
Kettlebells
Kettlebells are an excellent way to get the blood pumping. It’s odd that such old workout tools are on the same lists as all these ultra modern pieces of workout equipment. Kettlebells mix cardio and strength training with a full range of dynamic movement. Kettlebells are hard to mess up, but my favorite are the Onnit Kettlebells. The Onnit Legend Kettlebells are carved into the shapes of monsters, comic book characters, and even apes. Do these kettlebells do anything a regular bell can’t? No, but they look cool.
The Finisher
If you ever feel your workouts are getting just a little too easy and you need to spice things up, consider a weight vest. Not just any weight vest, but the Uncommon Breed Uncommon Weight Vest. Modeled after a military style plate carrier the Uncommon Weight Vest can carry up to four 10 pound steel plates. With 40 pounds of weight, even a moderate workout smokes tough guys and gals. This weight vest is designed for dynamic workouts and doesn’t bounce or jump during hardcore cardio workouts.
Building
Building a High-performance gym is the first step in becoming a high-performance person. It’s all about building, building your gym, building your body, and building your mental strength and confidence. Building a gym is akin to building a personal kingdom, you should rule over all you see. The only thing you need to stress is efficiency, size, and the effectiveness of your equipment. The gear listed above is easily stored, and highly effective.
