Building a Budget-Friendly Home Gym

Body Building / Powerlifting

If your goals are bodybuilding or powerlifting you will require mostly resistance based equipment.

Crossfit

Crossfit has exploded onto the fitness scene in the past decade. If you are training for crossfit your homegym will need a wide variety of equipment so you can perform the wide range of funtional movements.

Martial Arts

Martial arts are one of the worlds most popular sports and require specialist training equipment.

Cycling & Cardio

If you main goal is to improve cardiovascular fitness then your home gym will need to focus on cardio equipment.

Building a Budget-Friendly Home Gym

Everyone who’s ever worked out in a gym around strangers has wished they had their own home gym. Whether it’s clueless gym patrons trying to correct your technique when you’re clearly busy lifting, or just a matter of the music that was playing – your home gym would be completely up to your own will. So, let’s figure out how you can go about building a home gym of your own and avoid having to hear strangers grunting ever again.

Pull-Up Bar

A pull-up bar is one of the most basic pieces of equipment you can have in your home gym. The internet is brimming with instructions on how to build a pull-up bar.

So, we’ll just offer up a bit of inspiration. There are several ways to go about making a single pull-up bar outside of a power rack. You can screw it to your door frame, hang it from your wall or ceiling, or have a standing pull-up bar.

We’d recommend the door frame one to those looking to save space. However, it doesn’t guarantee the best experience, as you’d have to watch your head when lifting. Hanging the pull-up bar on the wall or ceiling are more space-consuming options.

Those tend to look a bit jarring if they’re just casually hanging in the living room. However, we’re assuming that you can have a whole room just for gym equipment.

Finally, the most space-consuming option would be to have a free-standing pull-up bar. So, you’d be able to build it to be whatever height you need, and you could even make it so that you can take it apart and put it away.

The same DIY project you would use for a standing pull-up bar can also be used for a gymnastics bar, or even a ballet barre, with height adjustments.

Lifting Platform

Making a lifting platform could burn a few calories all by itself. If you go about it the right way, though, it can be a breeze.

Plenty of people have posted their DIY projects online, so you should be able to figure it out just fine. Basically, a lifting platform is needed to protect your floors from metal weights, if you end up getting some of those.

You’ll need a firm platform to stand on – a thick board will do. You’ll also want to lay down thick rubber to absorb the shock of dropping the weights on both of your sides. Just measure out the space you want to use for your lifts, and measure your lifting rod to see where to lay down your rubber. You can just glue it down to your thick plywood platform and be done with it, really.

If your weights are close to the platform, as they should be, you should have them on racks. If you’re going to build those, too, you’re due for another trip to the hardware store.

Whether you plan to hang them on a wall or on a standing rack, this DIY shouldn’t be all that expensive, as long as you already have the tools for it. Just make sure that the weights are secure, wherever you put them.

Free weights

If you’re not into lifting weights with a bar, or you simply don’t have space for a lifting station, you can always lift free weights. You can easily make those by pouring cement mix into a bottle.

If you want something closer to the real thing, you can find a pair of buckets that you can use as molds. Pour cement mixture in one of them, and place a pipe of your desired width in the center.

Wait for it to dry, then pour cement mix in the other bucket, and put the pipe in that. A day or two later, you can remove the buckets, and you’ll have a basic cement dumbbell. You could even coat the cement bits in rubber or wrap them up in foam and duct tape if you’re worried about damaging floors.

Smaller hand weights are even easier to make! Find a few water bottles that fit well in your hand, or maybe a pipe that you can seal on both ends. Fill them up with sand, dirt, or even pebbles, and you can have a great workout right then and there.

Sandbag

For those who are looking to improve their lifting, but aren’t quite up to the level of lifting weights, a sandbag could be just the thing.

You can do plenty of exercises by simply filling up any duffel bag or rucksack. The bag should be easy to find, but you might have to get thrifty about weighing it down.

You could just get sand, and make sure that it’s secured in a bag before placing it in your duffel bag. Or you can even get an absurd amount of rice. Then, just put it in bags (or keep it in the ones it came in), and add some more reinforcement, if you don’t want the rice to spill in your rucksack.

This kind of solution will get you hours of carries and lifts, and you can even get creative with the kind of exercises you do.


Kettlebells

Did you know that you can have your own DIY kettlebells for under $10?

We sure didn’t, but we’re glad to have been informed. You’ll need rubber balls of your preferred size and a pipe to act as a handle.

First, bend the pipe the way you’ll want it to be when lifting. You’ll then want to cut a straight line across the ball, with wider openings on the sides where your handle can go through.

Finally, you can lift the handle and pour cement mixture inside of the ball without completely filling it. Press the ball down a bit to create a flatter bottom, and before the cement completely dries, return your handle inside and pour some more cement over it.

Get air bubbles out by gently tapping the ball to the ground. After about 24 hours, your kettlebell will be good to go. You can even paint it however you’d like if you’re feeling whimsical.

Parallettes

A parallette is the perfect exercise tool for people who are working out in a smaller space. Fortunately, you don’t have to get fancy in order to make it yourself.

You could make the stands out of wood and connect them with a pipe. Alternately, you could buy some PVC pipes and elbows at the hardware store. You’ll just want to quickly prime and cement the pieces of PVC together.

Your parallette will be operational in 2 hours, tops. You’ll be able to do L-sits, lateral jumps, dips, and even push-ups with this amazingly versatile tool. And, after you finish your workout, you can tuck your parallettes away.

If you only want to do some dips, and you’re not into having to be as close to the floor as you would be when using parallettes, you can also use PVC pipes and elbows to make a standing dip station.

Plyo Box

A plyo box will give you an amazing full-body workout. And really, can you imagine an easier project than building a box? Get your hands on some sturdy boards and get to it. Don’t skimp on the nails, screws, and glue. You’ll be jumping on this thing pretty hard. So, you’d better be very sure that it can hold your weight.

Get to it!

We’re hoping that these projects will be enough to get you started on making your home gym. But, there are so many other projects you can do to spruce up your workouts! If you’re thrifty and know where to get it, you could do a whole host of exercises with an old tractor tire. You would need to have a lot of space to do it, though. But, let's be real, you’ll feel like a god if you manage to lift one of those. And, there are even some DIY projects for more advanced builders. You could make an incline bench or rowing machine, as well as other more demanding DIYs, from scratch.

So, what are you waiting for? The home gym of your dreams could be just a few hardware store trips away from reality!

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