Create Your Home Gym Masterpiece

A Decade of Data To Help You Create Your Own Home Gym Masterpiece

We get a lot of questions from clients & followers about equipment recommendations (and love it so keep them coming!),

The other day a client was asking me for pull up bar recommendations, and I came across this photo of our old gym setup, so I thought I’d do a comparison between our 2015 gym and our gym today and talk about what we still use, what we don’t, and what equipment has stood the test of time!

Ok, here we go:

1) Hex Dumbbells & Kettlebells - Still have them, still use them, GREAT investment that lasts.

Our dumbbells aren’t a particular brand. We got them when dumbbells were pretty cheap a decade ago, but you can find hex dumbbells pretty easily all around today. Here are the Amazon Basics version.

We have a mixture of off-brand and Rogue kettlebells. I prefer ROGUE KETTLEBELLS because they do a good job with the handle width, handle smoothness, & their powder coating lasts!

2) Bumper Plates - YEP! Amazing investment.

Ours are all ROGUE BUMPER PLATES made by Hi-Temp, but they are actually “seconds”.

They have visible blemishes, so they were sold at a discount (I don’t know if this is still a thing), but we got these at a great discount because of it, and they are still rocking 10+ years later.

3) Gym Mats (horse stall mats) - CHECK!

We picked these up at our local TRACTOR SUPPLY CO. In-fact we just moved these into our gym last week out of storage. They may not be as shiny today as they were 10 years ago, but they work just the same.

Fun fact: These weigh 100 lbs a piece! I remember getting about 40+ of these heavy weights delivered to my gym when I first opened it. Some amazing friends came to help drag them around 💕(see photo below!)

4) Adjustable bench - Nope.

We let this one go and exchanged it for the ROGUE FLAT UTILITY BENCH about 5 years ago. The adjustable benches are useful, but they are heavy and awkward to move around, and now when we want to do anything elevated, we just prop our flat bench up on one side and there you go!

5) Pull Up Bars - Yep.

This is the ROGUE P-4 PULL-UP SYSTEM. We still have them, but actually didn’t install them in this particular gym just because we have a squat rack with a pull up bar now.

If we had more space I would prefer to hang these again because I find them more useful for kipping pull ups than pull up bars attached to squat racks.

6) Squat Rack - I sold this particular one and replaced it with one of the more substantial racks I had at Triat CrossFit (with pull up bar included).

The one we use today is the ROGUE MONSTER LITE SQUAT STAND. When shopping for a squat rack, think about who is going to use it, what you’ll use it for, and how much weight will be thrown onto it to determine the squat stand thickness you need. Overall, squat racks are a great investment you’ll likely just buy once.

7) Barbells - YES!

These babies are still around and doing great. My favorite barbell is a Rogue BELLA BAR - DAVIDSDOTTIR EDITION that I got as a gift one Christmas back probably 7 years ago. We’ve mainly stored our barbells in garage gym environments, and they have still stood the test of time.

8) Gymnastic Rings - YEP!

I purchased these ROGUE GYMNASTIC WOOD RINGS at least 10 years ago, and the straps are still strong, the wood is still in good shape, and they are still in use today.

9) Crossover Symmetry Bands - We still have the system, but we’ve replaced all the bands.

The CROSSOVER SYMMETRY SHOULDER SYSTEM is a great investment for developing shoulder strength, mobility, and rehab. The bands did stretch over time & have all been replaced, but that’s expected after a decade.

10) Fun signs 🤣 - Yep.

After unpacking during this last move, I am very aware of how sentimental I am and what type of weird stuff I keep. These t-shirt frames are hanging in our new gym today. I didn’t hang (but did keep) the old Reebok CrossFit sign because that branding doesn’t exist anymore so, yea, I can’t throw it out.

There you go! I hope that list was helpful if you are thinking about building out or adding to your garage gym. We are very PRO garage gym because it takes away the barrier of getting to the gym and makes getting your workout in that much easier.