Thursday, March 18, 2021

Home Gym Walk Through

Welcome to my home gym.  I started out with very simple intentions of having a supplemental training facility which ballooned into the $5K+ tour we will go through.

In the garage, I have a foundation of stall mats and a Rep Fitness 2x3 folding rack.  The pull up bar is high enough for me to kip on and the spotter arms add a level of safety when benching.  I also have a Rogue P-4 pull-up system which is solid, but I feel shaky kipping on it.  I like keeping the rings here for dips and ring rows.  I used to hang them from the ceiling.  The Concept2 rower is my one piece of cardio equipment.

Over here we have the barbells.  I started with the Rogue beater bar and added the Rep Fitness Technique bar when I was working on Olympic lifting.  The accompanying technique plates are stashed in the basement.  I still use it from time to time in WODs when I am targeting a 45# loaded weight.  Finally, the most recent acquisition is a Rogue Bella bar which I purchased for Olympic lifting and accessory movements like overhead squats.  The beater bar has a 31 mm shaft diameter and I feel a lot more confident with the 25 mm shaft of the Bella bar.  Tucked over here is a 15# Onnit steel mace that I use mostly for shoulder warm-up.

Moving on to plates, I have (2) pair of 45# Rep color bumpers, (1) pair of 25# Rep comp bumpers, all that was in stock, (1) pair of Hi-Temp 15# crumb bumpers, (1) pair of Rogue branded 10# crumb bumpers, and a set of Eleiko pound change plates.  I also have a set of Rogue branded OSO collars.

Moving on to Crossfit goodies, I have a set of plyo boxes (12", 12" and 8") locally made in Colorado.  Next are kettlebells, a CAP 15#, Rep 35# and Simpsons Competition 44#.  I keep a set of Rep 27.5# dumbbells in the garage for WODs, the odd size was a warehouse clearance item at Rep.  I have a Simpson's 14# wall ball that I can toss at a 9' target in the garage or 10' ledge on the side of the house.  Next is the Brute Force sand bag currently loaded to 50#.  Sometimes I do loaded walks and sometimes I do more interesting stuff.  I also have a foam mat to give some cushion to reverse lunges and sit-ups.  The highlight for me is still the Rogue Home Timer.

The last odds and ends are an axel bar (only used for axel bar deadlifts), PVC pipe, rope for legless climbs that I hang from the ceiling when programmed, chalk bowl, round counter that my kids made and some tape.  The chalk bowl is sitting on a bucket of my wife's dumbbells.

For decorations, I have the white board, PR board and a couple of banners.  I painted these walls in 100mph red to give the space some pop.

Before moving inside, come around the side of my house and you will note the 250# tire and 70# and 90# atlas stones.

Stepping into the family room, I have a set of parallettes that I use nearly exclusively for L-sits.  That hunk of steel is a half 50# york dumbbell or blob that I grabbed for grip training.

In our entry room, I have a gymnastics mat, a couple of abmats and a 6# med ball.  This is where I work on handstand push-ups.

Finally, the basement gym is set up primarily for powerlifting with a Raptor Yoke cut down to 84" so it fits down here.  I have a Cybex flat bench.  The plates are a set of Rogue branded 45# and 25# crumb bumpers and Rep rubber change plates.  Over hear is my EliteFTS squat box and a Titan Silencer pad (my daughters must have grabbed its buddy).  I have got the 20# Dynamax med ball down here and a York EZ curl bar.  Tucked over here are some Rep 50# dumbbells and an adjustable dumbbell.  All of this is on two stall mats.  I almost forgot the weight vest with plates to build a 14# or 20# vest (I have yet to use this Facebook marketplace find).  The basement is also home to my stationary bike for Zone 2 training.  On the stairway, I have some assorted bands.  And of course the Rep Colorado flag.

My gym bag holds the rest of my goodies, including Jump-N-Rope jump ropes (beaded and hybrid) and misc support gear (belts, sleeves, etc.)

I would love to have a modular storage system to get a little more organized and consolidate my equipment in the garage.

I am also still in the market for a slam ball and have thought about getting battle rope, Crossover Symmetry system and a Westside Scout Hyper.  If I had more space I would also consider getting an Assault Air Bike as they are a great warm up and are often programmed by Comptrain.

At one point, I had a Power Lift GHD, but I sold it due to lack of use and the large footprint.  It was a beast.  Although often programmed by Crossfit main site, I would not purchase a GHD again, unless I had a dedicated 500 square foot space.

The supplemental training started with garage sale and Craigslist finds in 2015.  Then in 2016, I set out to build a full on Crossfit set-up as my corporate gym access did not lend itself to functional fitness performed at high intensity.  My next interest was Strongman and I grabbed the Atlas stones in 2019.  Finally with Covid shutting down gyms in 2020, I strategically picked up pieces to complement the programming I have been getting from Crossfit main site, Crossfit Golden and Comptrain (via Vintage Crossfit).  

My biggest motivator for setting up the basement was the freezing temperatures in the garage.  I was clinging to the delusion that I would start parking my car in there again, but that never happened.  I still feel like a yoke is much more versatile than a power rack.  At my max efforts, the yoke is more than capable.

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