Building your gym is one of the best choices if you want to cut the expenses of a gym membership. However, creating a gym might seem costly, as gym equipment costs a lot. The cost of building a home gym is the number one barrier for which people do not create home gyms.
What if I say there is a budget-friendly approach to building a gym that will not drill holes in your wallet? Sounds interesting?
Keep reading the article, as I will share how you can cost-effectively build your home gym. Do not make the make the mistake of thinking that cost efficiency will decrease the quality of your training.
Let’s discuss how you can make your home gym in a budget-friendly manner.
Contents
Start by purchasing the basic equipment
When people think of building their home gym, their attention gets diverted from the essential equipment, as they believe they need to buy different machines to make their home gym. Machines are expensive; you do not need them at your home gym initially. With some low-cost essential equipment, you can efficiently and optimally perform almost all exercises.
Think of it like decorating a newly bought house. You gradually purchase different things for your house, but first, you buy the necessary things. Follow the same principle while building your home gym. There are only five pieces of equipment that you initially need to buy for your home gym. They are:
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are a must-have for a home gym. With the help of dumbbells, you can efficiently train almost every body part. Dumbbells are not very expensive also.
You can buy 2 or 3 pairs of dumbbells of different weights for a home gym. You need to purchase dumbbells of various weights because some body parts require a bit heavier weight to get trained optimally, and some body parts you can train with a lighter weight. For example, the biceps are small muscles that do not require heavyweights to be trained optimally. In contrast, back muscles usually require a heavier load to train optimally.
You can also go for adjustable dumbbells, which will serve the purpose. If you invest in adjustable dumbbells, then there will be almost no recurring cost on the dumbbell’s end, as you do not need to buy new pairs when your strength increases.
Weight Lifting Bar and Plates
A weightlifting bar will compensate for the shortcomings of dumbbells. Compound exercises in which you can lift relatively heavier weights can easily and efficiently be performed using a plate-loaded weightlifting bar rather than a dumbbell.
For example, if you perform squats, it will be hard to do so using dumbbells. Also, you cannot progressively overload those exercises using dumbbells. That is why you should go for a weightlifting bar or Olympic bar and buy some weight plates with it.
Adjustable Bench
An adjustable bench is another excellent piece of equipment you should include in your home gym arsenal. An adjustable bench enables you to perform various exercises using dumbbells or barbells.
They do not cost that much. In some adjustable benches, you will find leg attachments from which you can perform leg exercises like leg extension or leg curl.
An adjustable bench enables you to train muscles from different angles. Some exercises, such as incline chest press, shoulder press, and spider curl, require an incline angle. Buying an adjustable bench will expand the number of exercises you can efficiently perform at your home gym.
Pull-Up Bar
You can find different adjustable doorway pull-up bars on the internet. They are comparatively very cheap and detachable.
Having the pull-up bar will optimize your back exercises. By locking resistance bands on the pull-up bar, you can do pull-ups, chin-ups, and a variety of other exercises to get vertical resistance.
Resistance Bands
Resistance bands are pretty cost-efficient, but they enable you to perform a variety of movements.
They also allow you to make an exercise easier or harder. You can easily stretch with them and do variety of exercises that you cannot perform with dumbbells or barbells. For example, you can efficiently do lat pulldown at home using a resistance band by locking them upward.
Resistance bands will be very useful for your home gym, so you must have them. There are usually two types of resistance bands:
- Tube Bands
- Loop Style Bands
You should buy a bundle that includes both with some attachments to uplift your workouts.
How can you cut costs while buying equipment for your home gym?
- As you and most likely your family will use the home gym, you do not need to buy everything that is brand new. One of the best ways to cut costs is to get secondhand equipment. Buying secondhand is a no-brainer, especially when you are buying dumbbells or barbells. Usually, old dumbbells, barbells, or weight plates just get a bit rusty, but their effectiveness remains the same. However, you should check thoroughly before buying them to see if there are any significant defects. If not, buy them, as it will save you a lot of money.
- Check the marketplaces, like Facebook Marketplace, where people post this kind of sales message. You can also buy them on sales like Black Friday or take advantage of bundle offers that will cut your home gym costs.
- If you keep your eyes on the sales pages, you might find gyms replacing their old dumbbells or machines with newer ones. If they are usable, you can get a good deal very cheaply.
Having a home gym is a dream come true for fitness enthusiasts, but many fail to build one because of budgeting issues. If you want to buy one, take small steps and build your dream home gym over time. The comfort and convenience of working at a home gym are unmatched, so if you want to build one, then you should take the pieces of advice provided in the article into consideration.