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How do you make a garage gym?

2/24/2019

The Garage Gym... Where do I start?

The space in the garage is the most limiting factor when making your gym. Naturally then one should try to maximize the utility of the space that you have. This means being efficient with the layout and storage systems. This also means stay way from giant, heavy, bulky, non-versatile machines that you can't move! That means you Bowflex.. In this post I'm just going to focus on the BASICS of what gear you might want to get first, and I'll address it by category.

What are the basics of a sound strength and conditioning program?

Calisthenics:
What gear can you use for Calisthenics? The most helpful gear for Calisthenics are Olympic Rings and a STURDY PULL UP BAR, not the cheap door hanging plastic crap. You can make very serious strength gains with just these 2 tools.

Calisthenics:
- Olympic Rings
- Sturdy Pull Up Bar

Weightlifting:
What gear can you use for Weightlifting? There are a lot of options here, Kettlebells, Dumbbells, Barbells, and Sandbags are my favorites. For many I would suggest investing in a decent barbell and bumper plates, but you can't go wrong with any of the aforementioned gear. QUALITY of the KB is important. QUALITY of barbell and bumpers are important as well. Same with the sandbags, can you imagine a leaky one?? If you want to get in to the back squat, front squat, overhead squat, or jerk or overhead pressing variations, you might want to invest in some squat stands or a squat rack.

What else might you want for weightlifting?
In order to be able to protect your floor against dropped weights and metal objects, you'd want to consider some type of flooring, such as horse stall matts from Tractor Supply on the cheap end, to some interlocking rubber matting at the home improvement store, to some high end flooring from PLAE that will be the most awesome flooring you've ever seen.

Weightlifting:
- Barbell and Bumpers
- Kettlebells
- Dumbbells
- SandBags
- Flooring

Core:
All you really need for this is are sliders, either the plastic furniture slider variety or the hardcore Havyk gear variety :) Cook Bands, and an AbMat.

Core:
- Sliders
- Cook Bands
- AbMats

Conditioning:
What can I use for conditioning at home?
Bar none the best conditioning gear for a home gym is an AirDyne or a Rowing Machine. Specifically, an AirDyne from Assault Fitness, Rogue Fitness, Schwinn, or Concept 2. The rowing machine MUST be from Concept 2 don't waste your $ on anything less. Jump Ropes work for this purpose. Treadmill? Running outside is always an option, and treadmills are quite expensive and have a lot of moving parts that can break, so in general I'd say this is one of the last things you would need to acquire.

My first suggestion would be to get a Woodway or an AirRunner from Assault Fitness, which are non-motorized, curved deck treadmills that encourage proper running technique, have no top speed limit, and don't depend on a motor. They last forever and still have a console that measures everything you do. These are by far the best treadmills, and are the best for high performance runners and athletes.

My second suggestion then is to be wary of the cheap home models, they are total junk, so don't be tempted. Instead, go with higher end motorized home treadmill. There is nothing worse in a garage gym than having some giant broken treadmill taking up space collecting dust.

Conditioning:
- AirDyne
- Rowing Machine
- Treadmill (Like AirRunner)

3 Comments

The YOLO Excuse

2/11/2019

1 Comment

"You Only Live Once"

One of the #1 "reasons" given to abandon strength and give in to weakness.... I've been hearing this one ALL THE TIME lately, particularly from folks around my age.

*When deciding, after that monster dinner out, whether or not to order that giant dessert... "YOLO" and they order it.
*When evaluating whether to go on a run and get fitter or binge Netflix... "YOLO" and they Netflix and chill.
*When deciding whether to pursue a goal or to give up and fall back on a more secure, easier path... "YOLO" why make life hard?
*When deciding whether or not to buy those cookies or some veggies... "YOLO" and they buy the damn cookies.

The theme here is to use YOLO as an excuse to engage in behaviors that result in "short term" gratification at the expense of "long term" gratification.

*If you follow this line of logic too far, this is a path that guarantees failure. One will never reach long term goals because that attitude results in the welcome acceptance of procrastination and excuses in order to have some fleeting and meaningless short term benefit. You could have all the potential in the world and accomplish next to nothing in life with this mindset.

Let me offer a different take on this YOLO...

If you only live once, shouldn't you try as hard as you can to accomplish your goals and dreams?

- I'm going to work as hard as I god damn can to accomplish what I want in life because I only have one chance. I'm not going to squander it sleeping in every day, being addicted to social media, eating donuts, and slacking off. I'll be damned if I just waste it all. I want to operate at high-capacity in all things that I do. I'm not willing to accept mediocrity.

If you only have one life, and one body from which to physically live life, don't you want to take care of it?

- I'm going to be physically trained and fit. For my entire life. Because being physically capable provides FREEDOM. You can do all the activities. You have higher chance of success in any physical endeavor, accident, or dangerous situation. It keeps you healthy and mentally sharp. It gives you a competitive advantage over others. It sets a good example for the kids. In every way it is better, in any given situation, to be physically capable than it is to be physically incapable. Everyone has the power to improve their physical capacity. Building physical strength and endurance also builds strength of the mind and will. Do you really want to operate at 5 - 10% of your physical capacity for your entire life and never know what you could have done and accomplished? If you aren't physically capable, you lose the ability to make decisions. You lose freedom.

If you have only one life, don't you want to live with good health for the duration?

- I'm going to work hard at being healthy for my entire life. I don't want to live 4 decades of my life suffering from preventable metabolic disease or other preventable body dysfunction. I want to live as much of my life as possible with good health. Why spend all your health acquiring wealth only to spend all your wealth trying to buy back your health? I don't want to lose the freedom that physical capacity and good health provide. I want to spend as little time as possible battling preventable health problems.. I'll take preventing them in the first place.

If you only live once, do you really want to waste it on self indulgence?

- When you're old and you look back on your life, will you be proud you never took risks to go after your goals? Will you be proud that you just ate a bunch of donuts and got diabetes and got 1st in the Fortnight video game tournament? Will you be proud of chasing short term rewards instead of long term rewards? Does physical inactivity and binge eating and compulsive unhealthy behavior really make you feel good about yourself? Or is it when you do productive things that make you better, that you feel the most happy with yourself? In life, you feel more satisfied and you are more successful when you choose long term gratification behaviors over short term gratification behaviors.

"Am I going to hit snooze and sleep in or get the hell out of bed?"
Get the hell out of bed, because YOLO
"Am I going to workout today?"
Yes, because YOLO
"Am I going to eat junk or eat healthy today?"
Healthy, because YOLO
"Am I going to spend all day doing nothing, or am I going to hustle and get after it?" Hustle, because YOLO

1 Comment

How do you make a garage gym?

The Garage Gym... Where do I start?

Calisthenics:
- Olympic Rings
- Sturdy Pull Up Bar

Weightlifting:
- Barbell and Bumpers
- Kettlebells
- Dumbbells
- SandBags
- Flooring

Core:
- Sliders
- Cook Bands
- AbMats

Conditioning:
- AirDyne
- Rowing Machine
- Treadmill (Like AirRunner)

The YOLO Excuse

"You Only Live Once"

One of the #1 "reasons" given to abandon strength and give in to weakness.... I've been hearing this one ALL THE TIME lately, particularly from folks around my age.

The theme here is to use YOLO as an excuse to engage in behaviors that result in "short term" gratification at the expense of "long term" gratification.

Let me offer a different take on this YOLO...

Author

Archives

Categories

How do you make a garage gym?

The Garage Gym... Where do I start?

Calisthenics:- Olympic Rings​- Sturdy Pull Up Bar

Weightlifting:- Barbell and Bumpers- Kettlebells- Dumbbells​- SandBags- Flooring

Core:- Sliders- Cook Bands​- AbMats

Conditioning:- AirDyne- Rowing Machine- Treadmill (Like AirRunner) ​

The YOLO Excuse

"You Only Live Once"

​One of the #1 "reasons" given to abandon strength and give in to weakness.... I've been hearing this one ALL THE TIME lately, particularly from folks around my age.

The theme here is to use YOLO as an excuse to engage in behaviors that result in "short term" gratification at the expense of "long term" gratification.

Let me offer a different take on this YOLO...

Author

Archives

Categories

Calisthenics:
- Olympic Rings
- Sturdy Pull Up Bar

Weightlifting:
- Barbell and Bumpers
- Kettlebells
- Dumbbells
- SandBags
- Flooring

Core:
- Sliders
- Cook Bands
- AbMats

Conditioning:
- AirDyne
- Rowing Machine
- Treadmill (Like AirRunner)

One of the #1 "reasons" given to abandon strength and give in to weakness.... I've been hearing this one ALL THE TIME lately, particularly from folks around my age.