How to Build a Home Gym Under $1000
To tell the truth, everyone wants a home gym for their own. It doesn't need to take up much space or to be a luxury. A home gym is a place where you can build your body and rest your mind after a day of hard work. Everyone deserves to have such a place for their own.
However, some believe only the rich can have a personal gym. That is totally untrue. What if I say you can build a home gym for under $1000? Don't be surprised, it is plausible.
Lucky for you, you no longer need to do all the research and counting because this article will do these things for you. We'll help you build a budget home gym for less than $1,000.
Here presents three important tips you need to keep on mind. Let's dive in.
Know What You Want
Like I've mentioned in our last blog Should You Buy Budget Home Gym Equipment, you need to know your training goals before shopping for all kinds of fitness equipment. It helps to build a tailor-made home gym for you.
Stick to The Basics
All kinds of fitness equipment, along with various gadgets are vying for your hard-earned money. To build a home gym on the cheap, the key is to stick to the basics.
While shopping for home gym equipment, it's only too natural that you want more than you can afford. How about a kettlebell? This Plyo Box looks so nice... Well, there are hundreds of pieces of equipment you can add to your home gym, but if you still want to build a respectable home gym for under $1000, you need to wait until the essentials are met.
Home Gym Essentials on a Budget
- Get a Power Cage $424.99
- Get an Olympic Bar $130.00
- Get a Pair of Bumper Plates $200
- Get an Adjustable Weight Bench $109.00
- Get a Jump rope $19.99
1. Get a Power Cage
For a home gym on a budget, a power cage is probably the most important piece of strength training equipment you can have. It is so versatile that it can be used for CrossFit, Power Lifting, Olympic Lifting, or just building muscles and burning fat. Whether you're a beginner or a professional powerlifter, a power cage is perfect for accomplishing your fitness goals and always plays a central role in your home gym.
Some may choose a squat rack rather than a power cage due to budget, space, and assembly concerns. We'll address them one by one. The cost and footprint difference can be surprisingly small between a power cage and a squat rack. To cite RitFit as an example, the RitFit squat stand has a footprint of 51'' x 39.6'' and sells for over $409.99 while the RitFit Power Cage has a footprint of 84.6" x 43.7" and sells for $424.99.
You can see here the power cage costs just a bit more and the footprint difference is negligible, but it is more stable when anchored and has more accessory options, which makes it a better choice than a squat rack. As for assembly concerns, building a squat rack is just the same as building a power cage.
Overall, the power cage is more flexible, stable and safer compared to a squat rack. When the price difference is considerably small, a power cage shall be the first thing you want to add to your shopping cart.
This RitFit Power Cage also comes with all sorts of accessories, an excellent choice for your home gym.
2. Get an Olympic Bar
The Olympic Barbell is also a crucial part for your strength training routine. It is designed to meet the IWF's (International Weightlifting Federation) competition criteria. It has more aggressive knurling since both the clean & jerk and snatches require an athlete to have a strong grip.
The center knurling is often smooth, so there's not a hard catch on the neck during the clean & jerk, front squat, and clean variations. The rotation is another reason why some prefer an Olympic bar. Since the sleeves rotate, the amount of torque produced by the plates reduces, resulting in a more stable grip and less stress on your wrists and elbows. This is especially important when performing fast movements like the clean & jerks, snatches, and so on, where the barbell must rotate quickly. It's also useful for exercises like squats and deadlifts where your grip needs to rotate slightly.
For men, the standard barbell weighs in at 44 pounds while for women, it only weighs 33 pounds. The Olympic bar is designed for weightlifting purposes. If you're a weightlifting enthusiast or train a heavy weightlifting style, an Olympic bar is the thing you want!
3.Get a Pair of Bumper Plates
Now you already get the Power Cage and a bar, the next thing you should consider is the barbell plates.
To know the differences between rubber-coated plates, cast iron plates, and bumper plates, you can read another blog of us: Best Home Gym Weight Plates Buying Guide in 2022 .
Normally, if you lift light, you can go for the rubber-coated plates. They're good for beginners to train their upper body. But you may still need the cushion pads to reduce the sound and vibration of plates. If you lift heavy and want to save the trouble buying the cushion pads, we highly recommend the recommend bumper plates for you.
Bumper plates are standard in Olympic weightlifting. These plates come with a large rubber coating that makes them bouncy and also protects your floor when you drop a loaded barbell. Bumper plates are particularly beneficial for Olympic lifting, where dropping the bar to the floor is standard. The fixed diameter allows the barbell to be at the correct height for deadlifts, regardless of the load.
All right, after adding a pair of bumper plates to your shopping cart, you only have about $300 left. Don't worry, the following essentials will make your $300 worth it.
4. Get an Adjustable Weight Bench
An adjustable weight bench is a wonderful addition to your home gym. Compared with a flat bench, a weight bench is more flexible since it allows you to customize your workout to your body's needs. It will support your back while you're working out, so that your joints can move freely with greater control in a large range of exercises. This means you'll be able to target different muscle groups for a full body workout.
A high-quality workout bench supports exercises that boost muscle size, strength, and endurance. It can help you get a better strength training routine at home. If you're serious about size and strength, you will be amazed that you can do a full-body workout with a bench at home.
Bumper plates are standard in Olympic weightlifting. These plates come with a large rubber coating that makes them bouncy and also protects your floor when you drop a loaded barbell. Bumper plates are particularly beneficial for Olympic lifting, where dropping the bar to the floor is standard. The fixed diameter allows the barbell to be at the correct height for deadlifts, regardless of the load.
All right, after adding a pair of bumper plates to your shopping cart, you only have about $300 left. Don't worry, the following essentials will make your $300 worth it.
5. Get a Jump rope
A jump rope is a highly cost-effective addition to your home gym. It costs little but can do a lot. You only need a small space to gain the most cardio burn you can get through jumping the rope.
5. Don't Overlook the Cross-Selling!
It is not strange for us to see two or more additional products are presented when we are on the product page, usually sold at a discount. For example, when you're shopping for an adjustable bench on the RitFit website, you see the below picture.
It means, you can save 10% on the power cage you want when you add it into cart with the bench. Yay! It can benefit people who want to buy many equipment at a time. Sellers use cross-selling to boost sales, but if you happen to need the additional product, make good use of the discount,
Tip: mixed bundles have varied discount. You need to do some counting to get yourself the best deal.
A gym package makes things easier. To save you some trouble, you can also consider the gym packages offered by many fitness brands.
This RitFit Under 1K Budget Gym Package Home Gym System cost only $980.00, but includes
- RitFit Power Cage with Lat Pull-down Attachment
- Adjustable Bench AWB-800
- 7FT Single Knurl Men's Bar
- A Pair of Collars-Random Color
Final Words
A penny saved is a penny earned. As long as you know what you want, stick to the basics, and pay attention to the discount brought by cross-selling, you can make your home gym fantasy come into real life.
Whoopee!! Your home gym is here. You make good plans and succeed in bulding a home gym under $1000. You're about to step into a healthy life through exercising every day in your comfy home gym.