Bottom Line Up Front: I have gone to a gym to workout most of my life but moved to a garage gym full time in 2013. This is how I built my garage gym and its current status.
The State of the Gym as of February 2025
I realized the building the garage gym article was static as of the date of publication in 2014 and didn’t reflect the current status of my garage gym. So I decided to use this intro space to give a State of the Gym and then will leave the original archived article from in place for posterity and to see the evolution.
Most of the things from the original article as still in the gym more than ten years later. For notable new items, I did get a new Rogue SML-2 squat stand. I initially got squat stands because I wanted to be able to collapse it and still park my car in the garage yet still be able to squat and overhead press heavy barbells. This Rogue stand is what I had for many years. Then I started using bands and needed more stability, so these just wouldn’t do. Gave them to a co-worker for their garage gym and got myself an SML-2 90″ Monster Light, which has the same footprint except the two stands are attached and also it has the Monster Light steel uprights, which are thicker and stronger. Rogue basically has three levels of steel – S-series, Monster Light, and Monster, which escalate in terms of thickness and strength. A lot of people would do fine with S-series, but I opted for Monster Light. Monster series is far more than I would ever need, something for the heaviest of lifters. It looks pretty cool though. Note that all Rogue accessories for the racks and stands are based on which steel you have, so make sure you order the right ones.
Notice the SML-2 has a pull-up bar attached to it. When I got it, I had one mounted on the ceiling still and then had this one on my squat stand in my last house, but when I moved, I didn’t put the stand-alone pull-up bar up opting for the one on the SML-2 only. It is 100% stable. Obviously space efficient too.
I added these J-Cups to hold the barbell and also the Squat Stand Base Storage. This not only has a place to store my plates, but it stabilizes the squat stand so it is like it’s bolted down. Zero swaying on pull-ups at all. You could get stack plates on the ground like I used to do and forego this entirely too. I attached a Single Bar Holder to keep my barbell off the ground and out of the way. Huge space saver. I have the Leg Roller and a Landmine too, which I rotate in periodically. You can see just how many cool accessories there are for the Monster Light series here.
I have a whole ton of bands that I use almost every session. This is a good set from Rubberbanditz. In order to use them with the squat stand, I got these pegs from Rogue and the Heavy Hangers from AbMat to hold them on the barbell. Absolute game changer for band work!
Picked up a Rogue TB-2 trap bar for ACFT prep (also it’s a good piece of gear). My original Rogue Operator barbell 1.0 is going strong so I haven’t needed to add any more bars.
I got some new kettlebells over the years, mostly from Rogue. Currently have 18lbs, 26lbs, 2 x 35lbs, 2 x 53lbs, 70lbs, 88lbs, and 106lbs.
Bought some new GoRuck sand gear such as a set of 40lb, 60lb, and 80lb GoRuck sandbags and a 53lb sand kettlebell (which they don’t offer any more). Also picked up a Rogue 100lb strongman sandbag. Very very versatile pieces of gear indeed.
I upgraded my weight vest to this 40lb one from Box. I love being able to add and remove plates to get what I want in the 20-40lb range based on activity.
Got a minimalist basic treadmill that was less than $500 but has endured some real use since 2021. I mostly walk on it at an incline as it’s not really good enough for me to run hard on.
To augment the basic minimalist treadmill, in February 2025 I got a Rogue Echo Bike 3.0. I resisted getting a cycle for the garage for a long time as not worth it for the space trade-off, but I finally decided the risk-reward was in my favor. I do not regret it for a second, especially as I put myself into the pain cave on it routinely. Absolutely without question the best cardio torture device. I can get my heart rate very high very quickly, much more so than with a rower or treadmill.
Added a Rogue slide sled to my E-sled.
Other miscellaneous small items:
- Squat wedge blocks for heel elevated squat work
- Ab wheel
- Set of 25lb dumbbells
- Dead wedge (holds barbell off the ground to add/remove plates when deadlifting)
- Fat Gripz (makes barbells and bands grip much thicker for added stimulation)
For non-training items, I bought this Rogue multi-use hanger for the wall to hold things. Got a Black Friday sale special 32″ television and sound bar for a pretty good audio/visual experience for movies, shows, and music.
To warm the garage up when it’s really cold (deep winter time only here), I got a propane heater top that just sits on a tank of propane you get at the gas station. Absolute game changer for cold weather. Warms the whole garage up in 5-10 minutes. It’s unreal and surprisingly inexpensive.
I have a red light panel that I hang on the squat stand when the weather is warmer. I use it in the house when it’s colder. But it’s garage-gym adjacent so I’ll include it.
Original Article from 2014 (unedited)
I had always managed to find a gym to use that some CrossFitter before me rigged up on a military installation (pull-up rig, bumper plates, boxes, GHD machine, med balls, etc.). I did, however, have occasion to have my own mecca closed for a holiday or a weekend. I decided to invest in some base-level home gym things so I could get a good workout in no matter what.
My initial investment was in kettlebells, rings, and a medicine ball. I felt like these would offer me the best bang for my buck being small enough to put in the garage and useful enough to keep me entertained. Rings are super easy to hang from pull-up bars too for some ring dips, ring rows, or ring push-ups. I got 3 KBs: 35lbs (1 pood), 53lbs (1.5 pood), and 70lbs (2 pood), one set of Rogue rings, and a 20lb medicine ball (Dynamax of course). I got them all from Rogue Fitness. I already had a jump rope as well. With this equipment, a piece of land, a track, and a pull-up rig that you can find on any military installation, I could never be unable to exercise.
Phase two was to buy some bumper plates and a barbell to have at home too. I got a Rogue Operator bar, two 45lb bumpers, and two 25lb bumpers. I ended up bringing the barbell to the gym with me since the bars they had were terribly old powerlifting bars (no whip, not meant for Olympic lifting).
At this point I had a good amount of things I owned to keep me busy.
To recap, these are the exact items I bought and I can vouch for their quality years later:
- Rogue Operator Bar 1.0 (the link is to the new 2.0 version which I want but cannot justify in terms of cost. Mine is still rock solid.)
- Rogue Rings (Ranger Green)
- Rogue Kettlebells
- Rogue Hi-Temp Bumper Plates (excellent price to durability ratio)
Then in 2013, I moved to a new duty station where my daughter’s school was 100 feet away from my office. I didn’t have mandatory morning physical training either, so I could actually go to work at 0830. They also happened to have a stacked CrossFit affiliate on the installation for me to use for free, so it was a no-brainer for me to get up early and workout before work. My wife floated the idea of me taking my daughter to school every day (bus wasn’t an option) which would save her a trip to and from every morning. Initially I thought it was a bad idea because I hate working out in the afternoon. But I thought about it more and the improvement on my wife’s day would be huge, so I decided to augment my initial investment in equipment with what I needed to be able to workout at home. Over the course of a few weeks, I ordered the following large pieces:
- More Hi-Temp Bumpers (400 lbs in total)
- Rogue S-4 Squat Stand
- Concept 2 Model D Rower in black
- Rogue Games Box (20″, 24″ and 30″ high based on how it sits)
- Rogue P-4 Pull-up System (installs quickly into the wall with lag bolts in a stud)
The deal with all of this was that it had to be collapsible into a corner of my garage so I could still park my car in there at night. I have a thing about cold cars in the morning. This was meant to be transportable too with my inevitable next PCS move. If I was in my “forever” home, I may have gotten a large rig and more fixed pieces. Here are some photos of the finished product.
As I said, the move was inevitable so I put all my gear into a van (along with some other essential things like my family, dog, and clothes) and moved again. This time I was able to set up the gym pretty quickly.
Turns out my new house has the best thing ever: A John Deere room! I use it as a permanent garage gym that is located in my basement. If you don’t know, it is a second garage that opens up into the backyard to put a lawn mower or yard tools. I just use it for my gym so I could put the permanent-ish (I can move it to change homes but not every day) floor down without an issue. I used the opportunity to put in some Horsestall Mats from Tractor Supply for gym flooring. Huge addition that I put off for a while because they are too static. These are about 1/5th the price of a true “gym” floor material. They are heavy as hell but they are awesome. My regular garage is just now a garage and doesn’t have to transform. It is a lot warmer than my last garage which was serious business in the winter in the midwest.
Additional smaller items I purchased over time before, during, and since setting up the gym:
- PVC Pipe
- 50lb Slam Ball
- Rogue SR-2 Ballistic Speed Rope (you have to be really good at jumping rope to use this)
- Rogue “E” Sled
- Rogue Parallettes
- Foam Roller: This one and this one and this one in large firm (Mobility!!!)
- SuperNova
- Brute Belt (for weighted dips and pull-ups)
- GoRuck Sandbag (60lb bag filled with 80lbs of sand. Excellent quality as with all their gear. Worth the money if you are into this sort of thing.)
I re-purposed some old tech to use as an entertainment center as well. I took an 25-inch computer monitor and hooked up a Chromecast to it. I stream music (usually Pandora) and watch YouTube videos, Netflix, podcasts, anything that uses Chromecast technology. I use a pair of Logitech desktop computer speakers for sound. I had them for at least 5 years, got a new set even though I didn’t need to (they work really well still!), and put the old set into the gym. Logitech peripherals are my go-to for anything computer-related. I have countless keyboards, mice, speakers, and web cams, all from Logitech. I also hooked up my old Playstation 3 to it as well. I use it to watch football on the weekends (NFL Sunday Ticket!) but not really for anything workout-related.
I use an old Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (first gen!) as a clock. Downloaded a great Android app called…wait for it…Stopwatch & Timer. The premium version is worth the few bucks for greatly added features useful for CrossFit style workouts (EMOMs, Tabata, different time intervals, etc.). The tablet is only used to control Pandora and run the clock.
Finally, I built a few things as well. I wanted some jerk blocks, but the cost was outrageous. I found some good plans online from Catalyst Athletics that we modified in the process of construction. Ended up costing me less than 300 bucks. I stained them later on for durability which is why they look different in some later photos.
I also built a bench to do flat presses with. My Rogue Squat Stands can drop the bar all the way down to be able to bench press from. I didn’t want to buy a bench as it is too expensive and I would use it too infrequently. So I built a small box that looks like a flat bench without the legs. Turns out it is just right to not hit your elbows on the ground. Cost less than $20 to build.
Finally, like any good CrossFit gym, I installed a large white board. They have giant squares of these at Lowe’s for less than $20. Cut to size if needed, throw in some screws, done.
All in all, I have no issues at all working out at home. It is unbelievably convenient and I have the discipline to keep it up. I hate working out in gyms now. I go sometimes to do rope climbs or GHD work that I can’t do in my place, but it isn’t the same. Nothing like creating your own space for something as important as this is to me. Turns out I am not the only one.
QUESTIONS: Do you have a home gym? Do you like the idea of a home gym? Do you have some minimalist equipment you own but still attend a gym for the majority of your workouts? Post thoughts to comments.