I get many requests for “in home personal training“. I often turn down these clients because I won’t lie, training at home usually does not get the same results as training in a fully equipped gym like we have at the Genesis Performance Center. The reason for this – if you are on any decent program, you will be way stronger and fitter than you imagined, and your own bodyweight, or the small weights that people often have at home, will not allow you to progress further.

Yes body-weight exercises, and even things like TRX or bands will get some results. However they are more suitable for times like holidays in the outback where you may not have access to any equipment at all.

I have seen some poor choices that people have made in setting up their home gyms. So I have decided to help with the things that will really help you get results.

If you are serious about results, here is what you should have in your home gym depending on your space and budget.

Priority #1

Adjustable Dumbbells and plates preferably the ones I use, as seen above. They have rotating handles (better for wrist and elbow health), as well as a thick grip which leads to better progress than regular small grip weights.

They also fit olympic size plates which can be used in your future purchase of a good olympic size barbell.

Dumbbells are the most versatile piece of equipment there is. So if you had to choose only 1 item, dumbbells would be it. Better than kettlebells, better than barbells, and certainly better than any gadget you can find on sell-a-vision

Cost $300 including shipping, Space anywhere, buy where? http://www.newyorkbarbells.com that is where I got mine, but if there are Asian suppliers or local ones that would be a good option as well to save shipping.

As for plates, their cost varies alot, from cheaper metal ones, to rubberized ones which can cost alot more. Make sure to get small ones (they go as small as 0.125kg) so you can adjust your loads precisely for continuous progress.

Priority #2

An adjustable bench, this allows you to add to your possible exercise list. It should be able to go from flat to about 80 degrees (the really good ones go from decline -15 to 80 deg)

Cost Depends on the brand you buy, I have some flat to incline benches for sale at $157, the top brand benches can cost up to $1500 and will last forever and go from -15 to 80 degrees.

Space Required about, 1.5m x 1.5m

Flooring, use the mats for children play areas. They can be found in toy stores for about $25 for 4 pieces each 60cm x 60cm.

Priority #3

Power rack and barbell. These will allow you to get on with some heavier lifting. The important thing about choosing a power rack is its hole spacing. Ideally, every 5 cm or so. Some poorly designed ones have hole spacings every 10cm or more apart. This is not good because we all vary in height, arm length etc and we need stuff “in-between” to comfortably rack and unrack the bar. I have some good power racks for sale along with a decent bar. Make sure it has a chin-up bar option as well.

Price: Racks can cost from $500 to $4000 depending on the quality. Bars can cost $100+ to $1500 For home gyms, if you are an average male who wants to squat up to 140kg or so eventually (yeah thats average to us) even a cheaper bar will do. The more expensive items will last longer but their value is in their calibration, steel quality and warranty. I choose them for out heavy duty commercial gym use, but for home use, choose what fits your budget.

At this point you may need a bit more plates to match your strength:)

Space Required: About 3m x 2m

Priority #4

Other stuff – Kettlebells, TRX, grip training tools, etc

There we have it, for less than the price of a big screen TV, you can have something much more valuable, that lasts a long time, and will never go out of date. The basics of becoming fit, lean and strong have not changed for hundreds of years and are not going to in the future.

This leaves one more problem – what to do with all this stuff? Train! How? Get some coaching – That is what my online fitness training programs are for. If you only have a swiss ball at home PLEASE don’t sign up, it will waste your time and mine, at least have a pair of adjustable dumbbells and possibly a bench. Then we can start talking about how to get into the best shape of your life while training at home.