The Win On Purpose Podcast
The Win On Purpose Podcast focuses primarily on health and fitness tips and discussions, but we love to celebrate ALL THINGS in regard to being the best you can possibly be in business, relationships, and personal development. Win on purpose means just that, purposefully taking action to become your best self, and following your purpose to develop the passion needed to excel at anything in life!
The Win On Purpose Podcast
Commercial Gym vs. Home Gym Part 3- Building The Perfect Minimalist Home Gym
The minimalist home gym might be the fitness solution you've been searching for. In this concluding episode of the Commercial Gyms vs. Home Gyms series, Coach Adam Kelley cuts through the noise to reveal exactly what equipment delivers maximum results while taking minimal space and investment.
Ever felt overwhelmed by the prospect of building a home gym? You're not alone. Many fitness enthusiasts mistakenly believe they need massive space and a budget to create an effective workout environment. Coach Adam debunks this myth by introducing his "Core Four" essentials: an adjustable bench, adjustable dumbbells, an Olympic barbell with weight plates, and a half power rack with pull-up bar. This strategic combination covers all fundamental movement patterns while fitting comfortably in a garage corner or spare bedroom.
What makes this approach particularly valuable is its scalability. You don't need everything at once – start with just a bench and dumbbells, then add pieces as your budget allows and your strength increases. The beauty lies in the versatility; each piece serves multiple functions, eliminating the need for single-purpose machines that eat up space and gather dust. As Coach Adam shares from his personal experience building a home gym during the pandemic, consistency with the right foundation yields far better results than random gym-hopping or complicated equipment setups.
Looking to create your own minimalist gym space? Coach Adam offers personalized guidance through Transformed Health Initiative. Whether you need equipment recommendations tailored to your specific space constraints or custom workout programming designed for your home setup, connect through transformhealthcoach.com or @coachadamkelley on social media. Remember, you're not just buying equipment – you're building a space where you show up for yourself every day. What could be more valuable than that?
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Welcome back to the Win On Purpose podcast with Coach Adam Kelly, we are finishing up a three-part series called Commercial Gyms vs Home Gyms, where we're comparing the two to figure out which option is best for you and your needs.
Speaker 1:Alright, so episode one was the introduction episode, but also I gave you the three top pros and cons of building a commercial gym. Episode two was the same thing, but for a home gym. And now this episode we are talking about the top four pieces of equipment that I recommend to build a minimalist gym that doesn't take up a lot of space, that doesn't require a lot out of you and also is budget friendly. So if you're not wanting to waste a lot of money on equipment that you don't need and may not even use and you don't have a lot of space to fill, this episode is going to be great for you guys. We're going to detail on why I recommend these pieces, how you can get the most out of it and how it can help you progress for years and years to come. So you guys like share. I appreciate you guys for tuning in and as always we will catch you on the other side.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Win On Purpose podcast. From health and fitness, business, personal development, relationships and more, we promise you will find inspiration to help you win on purpose in all areas of your life journey. Now for your host, adam Kelley.
Speaker 1:What's going on everybody? Welcome back to the podcast. This is going to be a great episode, guys. We are finishing up a three-part series called commercial gyms versus home gym. So appreciate you guys for tuning back in. Uh, just real quick. Number one I always like to start with, if you don't mind, please sharing this, liking it, leaving comments, stars, five stars, preferably. All that good stuff, guys, really helps us out there. Uh, subscribe, you know, turn on there. Uh, subscribe, you know, turn on those notifications so you know when each episode's coming on. Because I promise you, guys, I'm getting ahead of schedule and we've got some really good series planned out coming up, so I'm looking at doing at least like eight to ten different series that are going to have anywhere from three to five different episodes within those series. So really giving you guys a ton of just, you know, high quality, practical information that you can implement into your routine or you can share with somebody else who is on their own health journey and help them there, guys. So, like I said, this is going to be a good one. Um, just real quick.
Speaker 1:Let's recap the part one and part two of the Commercial Gems vs Home Gym series. So part one we talked about the top three pros and cons of Commercial Gems. So you know the good things and the things that may make it less appealing to certain people. So you know, rather, if you like, the fact of having all the variety of equipment that you have in the. You know the child care, the tanning that a lot of them offer, the saunas, all that kind of stuff that can be really beneficial. Uh, or you know, on the flip side, the time that it takes to travel to the gym, having to wait on things. You know, equipment being down, all that kind of stuff. So we cover all that just to kind of laying out the groundworks of your decision, because this series was never meant and is not meant to tell you what you should do. It's telling you what you could do and what those options could look like and why there it's a good option or maybe not a good option for certain people.
Speaker 1:So that's what we covered in part one, and then part two, we covered the top three pros and cons of home gyms. So we went through the same thing. You know, talking about all the benefits as far as having your own environment where it's nice and secluded. Do what you want to do, make your own rules to being super convenient just being able to walk in the next room or walk out into your garage and work out, not having to worry about driving to the gym, not having to worry about the time it takes to get in. You know the time it takes while you're waiting on other people to finish their sets, to finish their exercises, so you can use that equipment or getting caught up talking with people, whatever it may be. And then also, you know the not as appealing sides of having a home gym, which is, you know, you actually have to force yourself to do it. You have to become your own motivation, because you're not in the high motivation environment like a gym with other people who are bettering themselves. You know it's easier to get distracted, it's easier to just skip a workout. So you know all the things that we want to consider with those two options. So hopefully, if you guys did check those out, that it gave you some clarity in the decision that you're going to make as far as joining a gym or building your own gym.
Speaker 1:So now that we have covered all that, we approach today's episode. So today's topic, we're going to get super practical. Here. Guys, we're actually going to give some useful information this time. So if you're considering building a home gym, that's what we're going to focus on with this one. If you're considering building a home gym that's actually effective actually is what you need, but it's the bare minimum. You really need to train for a long time and see serious results, then this episode is going to be helpful for you. So we're going to weed through some of the ideas that you have to have this complex system, that you have to have all this equipment to get started Definitely not true.
Speaker 1:It can be a lot less than you think that you'll need to be able to get all the gains that you could want out of a gym. It may take a little creativity, a little patience, a little bit more time, but it's totally doable, trust me, and we're going to cover that here. All right. So this first part, we're going to just set the record straight here, okay, so we're going to debunk the myth that you need a massive space or a huge budget to get results at home. That's a lot of the barrier to entry for people. They think that you know, oh well, my spare bedroom isn't enough space, or my garage, you know I don't have enough space. We've got all of our stuff that we store out there. And then you know maybe I want to pull my car into the garage and then the other side of that of budget, you know I don't have all the money to buy all that high quality equipment and stuff Like, how am I going to afford to do it? So we're going to cover that and demystify that idea.
Speaker 1:The next, we're going to talk about how many people overcomplicate and overspend early on. So how we can skip some of those mistakes not buy stuff that's unnecessary, because I've definitely done it A lot of people have. Not buy stuff that's unnecessary because I've definitely done it. A lot of people have it's stuff that just ends up sitting there because it sounds like a good idea, or you find it on sale but you're not actually going to utilize it. So we're going to cut straight through that. Save you some money there.
Speaker 1:And then you know talking about how the real goal is functionality and progressive overload, not fancy machines. So again, you can progress and get. You know, build the body that you want off of just body weight exercises, literally with no equipment. Now you know there are some limitations for people who may be, you know, very overweight, morbidly obese, to be able to do certain body weight exercises, or maybe you have joint issues, things like that. So obviously that's not for everybody, but again it goes to show that it doesn't take very much.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about the things that actually matter when it comes to progressing and getting better, and then we're going to highlight the benefits of minimalist training. So less clutter, more focus and more creative and efficient workouts. All right, so if you know, if you guys know me, if you've worked with me, if you've trained with me, if you talk with me, you know one of my favorite words is efficiency, especially when it comes to our health plan. So you know we want to be able to do the most, or sorry, do the least, and get the most out of it. So the least amount of time in the gym, the least amount of work, the least amount of energy and effort and thinking, and get the most out of it. So we're going to talk about that and so you know, just kind of setting the stage for this talk, you know you can train all movement patterns, build strength, lose fat and improve your health with just a few smart pieces of equipment, okay. So that is where we're at.
Speaker 1:So next up, we're going to talk about the core four. Okay, your long-term home gym investment. So basically, I'm going to break down four either items, pieces of equipment or general equipment. That I feel is the greatest starter pack for people who you know they're serious about lifting, you know they want to be able to progress for quite some time. But again, we're being budget friendly and space friendly. So, number one that I want to talk about these aren't any like certain order as far as importance or anything like that. So it's really up to you on what order that you want to get these in, if you even want to get them again. Nothing is necessary, necessary. But these are some things that I started with and I would definitely recommend you starting with.
Speaker 1:So number one is an adjustable bench. Okay, not just like a flat bench, but an adjustable bench, the ones that you can take the pin out or however it's it's set up, depending on the brand. You can lift it up to an incline bench, you can lower it to a decline or just lift it up to different levels of incline, down to flat bench. So that's what I'm talking about there and the reason why I suggest the adjustable bench versus just a regular flat bench, because adjustable benches may cost a little bit more money than just a flat straight bench, but the reason why is because they're extremely versatile. So, rather, if you're doing pressing rows, step ups, hip thrusts, split squats, etc. Etc. You have all this different variety. Then you have a different variety of angles so you can do incline presses. You can do so many different incline exercises, upright exercises, because most of the adjustable benches you can lift to where they're straight up and down, so you can do military press, seated military press so many different exercises that you can do with an adjustable bench.
Speaker 1:So the key features to look for when it comes to picking your bench, like I said, having that adjustable back that maybe goes from flat to incline at least, so that opens up dozens and dozens of different exercise variations that you can include. So you want a solid weight rating. This is one that some people may not consider if we're trying to be budget friendly. So you can obviously go to Walmart, get their cheap little bench and be off to the races, but you want to make sure you have one that's nice and sturdy and stable. So this is a place where I think it's better to invest a little bit more in to get a higher quality, heavier duty bench.
Speaker 1:Because one? You want it to be very stable because that's safer. Most likely you're training at home by yourself. You want things to be as safe and controlled as possible. So having that nice, stable bench is better. Plus, it's better for just exercise performance in general, having a more stable place to keep your body Um. And then also considering the fact that whatever it's rated for is the total weight that bench should be loaded down with. So you have to include your body weight on that. So if you're doing some heavy bench press or you plan on doing heavy bench press, you want to consider the fact that you it needs to be able to support your body weight plus the weight that you're adding on top of you with the, with the barbell and the weight. So you know, make sure it's a solid weight rating bench so it lasts you for a long time and you can do whatever you, whatever exercise you want with it.
Speaker 1:And then you know last part on that, the wheel get one that has wheels just for mobility. You know, especially if you're working out in a room or in your garage where you need to clear space, and then you pull out your equipment when it's time to train. Get one with wheels, guys, especially those heavy duty, more sturdier ones. They can be heavy and awkward, so if they have wheels, that can save you a lot of trouble. Seems like a small thing, but I promise you, if you get one that doesn't have wheels, you're going to wish that it had wheels on it. So this makes, you know, dumbbell and barbell work far more effective by having a bench, all right. And then again, like I said, you can do step ups, hip thrusts, you know bench squats, you can do all mountain climbers, you can do all different types of exercises utilizing that bench. So great piece of equipment.
Speaker 1:So the next thing I'm going to recommend and I'm going to recommend these specifically because there's another option you can go with that will end up costing you way more money and take up way more space. So number two that I recommend getting is adjustable dumbbells. Okay, so some of the you know the highlights of using adjustable dumbbells are their space saving and cost efficient over time or cost effective over time. So you know the space saving if you were to buy a whole rack of dumbbells, even if you know, like, budget wasn't an issue, it was just space. A whole rack of dumbbells takes up a lot of space. You're going to lose a whole wall. You're going to have to, you know, work around them, things like that, the adjustable dumbbells it's one little bitty rack, one little stand, two dumbbells.
Speaker 1:You, you know, depending on which brand they are, I actually bought for my home gym the Bowflex adjustables and mine go up to a hundred pounds, so literally go up in five pound increments from five pounds to a hundred pounds. So literally progression for for years and years and years and years to come. So, like I said, they don't take up very much space. So I have my home gym at well. So now I actually train at our private facility and I have some of our home gym equipment at home still for my kids to use and, like you know, a snowed in day or something, but a lot of the equipment I brought to our private facility, uh, so I do all my training here now for the most part, but when I had my home gym built out, it only took up probably a little bit less than half of our two-car garage and I had a very decent setup and one reason why I was able to do that excuse me was by having those adjustable dumbbells. So definitely space saving and cost effective over time.
Speaker 1:Because I don't know if you've ever looked at the price of a rack of dumbbells but even used. You're talking about dropping several thousand dollars, easy, okay, whereas adjustable dumbbells like the ones I got from Bowflex I think they're like $600. So it was a pretty decent chunk of investment. But again, like I said, I have dumbbells from five pounds up to a hundred pounds and that same rack. If I was to get individual dumbbells would it easily cost five or six thousand dollars. So you can see how much money was saved right there for still getting the exact same results as if I had all the individual dumbbells. So definitely helpful there. You know, one pair can replace a whole rack of fixed dumbbells, like I said, so definitely much more efficient.
Speaker 1:So you know good uses for dumbbells. In case you're not really familiar with, dumbbells are used for upper body. You've got things like bench press, shoulder press, dumbbell rows, bicep curls, tricep extensions, things like that lower body for exercises like lunges and goblet squats, and you know stiff legged deadlifts or romanian deadlifts rdls, depending on who's saying it. Um, you know numerous different exercises there. So, like I said, a few brands that you can consider that are really good. I already mentioned bowflex. I love them. It's great product. Uh, also power block those have been around for a very long time, high quality. And then also iron master is another good option as well.
Speaker 1:So just a little side tip you can use bands with dumbbells to increase resistance without upgrading equipment as well. So if you can only afford I think they make one that's also up to like 50 pounds or 52 pounds per dumbbell and you know you outgrow that you can add some bands Now, grow that, you can add some bands now. Personally, I'm not a big fan of using bands. So just, it gets very deep into the exercise. Science weeds on why. That's a whole nother conversation. So I usually don't recommend bands, but that is an option.
Speaker 1:If you just really can't afford more equipment and you just really outgrown the amount of weight that you have, you can utilize bands as well. All right. So that's number two. Number three Now you could honestly stop at number one and two and be set for a very, very long time. So let's just say that there there's four things that I recommend. But if you go with number one and number two and you know, make sure you get high quality options because you're only getting two pieces of equipment then you could be set for a long time. These other two they're great additions to have give you lots and lots of other variety and you know different ways that you can perform different exercises, but definitely not needed. So anyways. Number three is olympic and an olympic sorry, I'm like slurring my talk an Olympic barbell and weight plates, all right. So this is where that real strength and progression can happen.
Speaker 1:Okay, dumbbells are great, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to really stack up dumbbells compared to a good old-fashioned barbell. All right. So it's great for movements such as deadlifts and squats, overhead press, bench press, bent over rows, upright rows so many different options and exercises that you can perform Good mornings, walking, lunges it's endless, endless options. You know they're great for building raw strength and muscle, also really good joint stability as well. So just a little side tip you know, I suggest starting with at least 250 to 300 pounds of plates if possible, because, again, that's going to last you for probably forever for most people, or at least a really long time for people that are serious about building strength. So that's what I recommend. But there are smaller stacks. You have places like Academy Dick's. There's lots of other places that you can get Olympic style barbells and weight plates, I think even like Walmart may even carry some, so very accessible. So I suggest getting more weight and then working up to it.
Speaker 1:But also, this is one of those situations where you could go with the minimalist, go with the least amount that you can buy, you know, like the smallest set that you can buy, and then just adding over time, and that's what I did for quite a bit of time. So I would buy some, you know, I would train with it for a month or two, get lots of progression and then about then I'm starting to outgrow that weight. So now I've saved up some money and I go buy another weight plate or two well, two, because obviously you want things even so. I go buy another two weight plates and then I progress again through that, save up some money. So it's really easy to add weight over time because you don't really need to have a whole bunch of weight if you're not strong enough to utilize it all. So if you are someone who isn't super strong, then obviously you can start with much less and still get, you know, a really good return on your investment there. So and another side note you have things like fractional plates, which are like 2.5 pound plates, one pound plates, things like that that can allow for micro loading, for consistent progression. So you know, you can progress for a lot. Sometimes it can be harder to progress when you only have like five, 10, you know, uh, 25 pound, 35, 45 pound plates, because you know if you're doing something like a bench press, going up even 10 pounds is a huge jump if you're close to your max. So you know, when you get those 2.5 pound plates, one pound plates, now you can progress a lot faster or at least more frequently without increasing your risk of injury, because it's not much heavier than what your body's already accustomed to. So nice little side note there, all right. So that's three things that I recommend.
Speaker 1:Now this fourth one again, is totally optional. You can stick with one and two or stick with one, two and three. Now this option kind of goes with number three, because to do a lot of the exercises you need something to rack the bar on two. So that's why it kind of ties into this one and number four, I recommend a half power rack and, throwing a bonus, have a pull-up bar with it. A lot of them have pull-up bars at the top of it. That's what I have here at our gym. It's what I had in my home gym.
Speaker 1:So, half power rack, all right, you have the full power rack and half power rack and I'm not really going to explain the difference there. You can google it super fast as you're looking at what options you want to purchase. You'll see a half rack, you'll see a full rack, so you can get some more visual there rather than me trying to explain it. So some of the benefits of the half power rack. So it's a. It can be a central part of your setup so you can run everything off of it. You can do squats using it, bench press, things like shoulder press so many different options. You can rack it if you do like rack pulls, bent over rows so many different things. That gives you a place to rack your weight. They can be compact, yet they offer a full range of training options. So you can, like I said, dozens and dozens and dozens of exercise you can do, especially if it has a pull-up bar and especially especially if you put on any add-ons, which we're going to discuss here in a minute. You can order add-ons for your half power rack over time to be able to increase the variety and different exercises you can do so.
Speaker 1:Like I said, they're compact but yet offer a wide range of training options. All right, they have. Most of them have built in safety arms, so that's basically little arms that you put um under where you're benching or squatting, so it enables you to do heavy lifting without a spotter. So you know, if you, if you're benching, and all of a sudden you give out your reach failure and you can't rack it, you can just set it down. Uh, same thing with squats you can. What's called dumping, the way where you basically let it slide off your back lands on the safety bars rather than breaking your concrete, breaking a foot, tearing up whatever it hits or putting you in a compromised position if you don't have a spotter. So definitely try to find one that has the safety arms. Even if you don't use, just the fact that you have them if you need them can be very beneficial. So, obviously, with the pull-up bar option, this opens up the door for calisthenics and upper body strength, so that's where you can get a lot of the calisthenic work with pull-ups, different types of pull-ups, leg raises, knee raises, so many different exercises you can do utilizing the pull-up bar.
Speaker 1:And so also to think about is you can purchase add-ons to attach to your half rack, right? So there's things like dip attachments to do, like you know, tricep chest dips. You have landmine rows that you can attach on plate storage, different things like that, a lot of them actually. And the cool thing is, since home gyms have become more popular, you have a lot of companies, these smaller companies, that are putting out products that cost less. So you have a lot of them now where you have half power racks that have cables attachments to them. You have Smith machine half racks, which mine that's pretty much what I have at my home gym. It's like a Smith machine. It's got cable stacks, multiple different places top, bottom sides, the adjustable cables where they go up and down, so really like that's was the best thing I've ever bought and could have ever bought for a home gym.
Speaker 1:But, like I said, even if you just get the basic half rack, you can add on these other add-ons and this just again opens up the door for so much more progression and variety of exercises. So some of them have cable stacks where you can use those weight plates that you've already purchased and they you just slide them on, then you can do pull downs, you can do bicep, cable curls, tricep, extensions so many different cable exercises without taking up any more space because it's literally built to attach onto your machine. So one thing I recommend doing if you see yourself being someone that's going to want those add-ons, to make sure while you're shopping that you purchase one that has those add-ons available for that specific brand and machine, that you can add them on later, because some of them they don't have that capacity and you're going to have to buy a new piece of equipment. So definitely have that capacity and you're just you're gonna have to buy a new piece of equipment. So definitely keep that in mind.
Speaker 1:And one pro tip get one with a foot flat foot design or bolted down options for stability. So typically your half racks are pretty light, they're pretty movable, so it's best practice to get one that actually bolts down to the ground or you know that is doesn't do like a lot of rocking. So be smart with your selection. Again, don't try to go so cheap though you get something that breaks or bends, or you know you go to rack the barbell after doing bench press and you almost knock the whole thing over just racking. You know definitely things to keep in mind there. You want one that's at least fairly sturdy, all right. So that covers the four pieces of equipment that I recommend getting.
Speaker 1:Like I said, number one and two are probably much more important and beneficial than the other two, which those are the adjustable bench that goes from incline to flat or incline to flat to decline, and then the adjustable dumbbells to save time and money. Like I said, you can just start there and have everything you need to progress for a long time. But if you really want to get fancy without breaking the bank and spending too much money, then add on the olympic barbell with the weight plates. Like I said, a lot of places have a set. That saves you money rather than buying them individually. You buy the barbell and it comes with so many weight plates with it. That's a great option. And then, lastly, the half power rack with the pull-up bar attachment preferably. And there you go, guys. You have a super solid, fully you know equipped home gym that's on the minimalist side. So you're saving money and saving space, but literally you can build the best body of your dreams and keep it for the rest of your life using that equipment. Okay, all right.
Speaker 1:So now we've covered those four items, we're going to switch gears here a little bit and talk about why this setup works, all right. So these four items, they cover all the foundational movement patterns. So we always want to make sure that we're. If you're building out a program for yourself, if you're a coach, if you're a personal trainer building out a program for yourself, if you're a coach, if you're a personal trainer building out a program for somebody, or you're self-training, self-coaching, or you're writing your own exercise plans or regiments, whatever, then you want to include one of each of these type of exercises at least a couple times per week. So that's the squat, that's a hinge. So that's going to be like your deadlifts, your stiff legged deadlifts, your good mornings, anything where you're hip, hinging dead, just standard deadlifts a push, a pull, a lunge and a carry okay, so care, and just carrying weight. So if you add in those six different types of movements, then you're literally covering everything that you need to have a very strong, vibrant, mobile body to last you for years, guys, and with this equipment setup you can progress for years to come, all the way from a beginner up to advanced. So even if you've been doing this for a long time and now you want to go the minimalist route, or maybe you move away where you don't have gyms close by or your hometown gym closed and you're already at an advanced level you've been lifting for years consistently you can still use this same setup and get tons of gains for a long time. So you know.
Speaker 1:Another really important part of this why this works is the compact footprint. All right, so it's great for garages, basements, spare room setups. Doesn't take a lot of space. You can use the corner of your bedroom if you want. You know lots of different ways. I've seen people get super creative with this building onto their porch, put a little canopy over if the weather is permitting year-round, but definitely lots of ways that you can do it. So you know one thing I really want to emphasize is the scalability here.
Speaker 1:All right, so meaning like starting light, adding on plates or resistance over time, adding on those add-ons to you know, your half power rack, eventually upgrading to the heavier adjustable dumbbells. You know different types of barbells, because they make different sizes, shapes, all different things like that. You've got safety squat bars. You've got so many different options. You've got machines, which we didn't actually cover. So definitely lots of things that you can add on overtime, but you can start light. That way you're not breaking the bank, okay, and you're never limited. So, unlike some resistant you know, resistant band only or body weight setups, with this you have so many variety. You can literally do dozens and dozens and dozens of different exercises for a very long time and, you know, keep progressing. So this setup makes training at home sustainable, not just a phase.
Speaker 1:Okay, because, again, the accessibility you know the variety, the different things that you can do definitely, definitely a great way to go If you are going to hold yourself accountable to actually utilize the equipment. Because that's number one, again, sustainability. If you can't sustain it, doesn't matter how good it is. So final thoughts and encouragement for you guys All right, so you don't need it all at once. All right, let's make that very, very clear.
Speaker 1:You don't have to start with a big bang. All right, start with what you can and just build as you go, all right. So, like I said, even if you just start with, even if you just start with the bench. You know, just start there, like you can do a lot of body weight exercises utilizing a bench and progress for quite some time until you save up money to then get those dumbbells. Now you have hundreds of exercises open to you because now you have dumbbells so you can progress as you save money to then get those dumbbells. Now you have hundreds of exercises open to you because now you have dumbbells so you can progress as you save money. And then add the barbell. Now you have a whole bunch more variety that you can add in. And then by the time that you've built out everything you want, it's years down the line and you're living in your best body, just doing your thing already, and you didn't break the bank because you did it over time.
Speaker 1:So you know, consistency plus the right foundation equals better results than random gym hopping or overcomplicated routines All right. So we know, at the end of the day, consistency is king, no matter what you're doing, and having the right foundation, if you start right, you have a better chance of ending right, all right. And you know, one thing I really want to emphasize here is keeping that long-term mindset, because that's what matters at the end of the day, you're not just buying equipment. You're building a space where you show up for yourself every day. Okay, so don't just think of it as I'm dumping money on this equipment. Think of it as you're making an investment into your longevity, into your health and the health of your family, who can also utilize this equipment with you. All right, so definitely keep that long term mindset intact as you are building your home gym.
Speaker 1:So you know, just kind of share with you guys a little bit on that, the process that I went through of building my own home gym. So, basically, when COVID happened, this was right before I got hurt. So I got hurt in May, may 23rd, 2020. And pretty much life shut down from there for several years. But before that, you know, covid started here in Oklahoma around January, february, I think it was like March, I think it was spring break or right before spring break when we went into the lockdown and everything was shut down for several weeks. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long, but nobody knew what to expect and one of the big things is the gyms closed and they were closed longer than anything else other than like massage therapy clinics and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So a lot of us were trying to get very creative with ways that we can stay active and still, you know, try to build muscle or at least maintain the muscle we had until we could get back in the gym. So what I started doing was I immediately started looking for gym equipment, because I already had a little bit at home that I'd accumulated for you, you know, a few years before that, just like a bench, you know, a benching station, so the bench with the little racks that you, you know, rack the barbell onto some barbell plates, and I had a few lighter dumbbells and like a punching bag. I think I'm pretty sure that's what I had to begin with. So when COVID started happening, I started seeing, you know, gyms and other places being shut down before ours were. I was like, okay, I see what's coming here. So I started just stacking up equipment.
Speaker 1:Well, I was working at a gym where I was on the road all the time, and so it's, like you know, down in southeast oklahoma, which, if you're from here, you know, is just a lot of small country towns, good old people, but small, little bitty country towns, usually if they have a grocery store, it's like a small hometown one, or maybe you'll have a Walmart at some of the bigger small towns. So basically what I did was when I was running the route, you know, because we would be out of town during the week staying at hotels and stuff. So in between, you know, like my lunch break or after my shift or before my shift, I would hit up some of these walmarts and stuff and try to find any equipment that I can find. And it was so hard to do because so many places were selling out, because everybody had the same mentality of, oh, I need to snatch up with gym equipment I can, because this could mat, I mean, this could be the new life for us. We didn't know what to think. So so it was hard. But I hit probably like 15, 20 different Walmarts no joke and just bought everything that I could, without duplicating stuff. So you know, I started getting a fairly good, you know stack of equipment there and so then I ended up getting hurt, can't utilize it, so it's just sitting.
Speaker 1:And then, once I started, once I I had two, two spine surgeries. So after my last one I knew it was my last one I definitely didn't want to go through it again. It was as good as it was going to get blah, blah, blah. So it was like, okay, I don't want to go to the gym, I don't want to drive all the way to the gym and work out, because it's embarrassing, because for a long time I was on like a 10 pound lifting restriction and even when I was let off my restrictions I still couldn't like bench more than like 15 pound dumbbells without being in pain. Couldn't do hardly anything upper body with much weight at all. So it was embarrassing, you know, a little hit to the pride. And so I was like I don't really, and plus just the waste of time driving to the gym to barely do anything. So I was like, hey, let me just um.
Speaker 1:At the time I actually added in a uh belt squat machine. So if you don't know what that is, look it up. It's great. If you can't do spine loading exercise like a barbell on your back, um, this saves your spine, saves your lower back, puts it all on your legs. So these were just coming out.
Speaker 1:I saw a brand online, talked my wife into allowing me to buy it because I knew I probably would never be able to back squat again with a barbell. So I got that and then from there it was like, hey, okay, this is really cool. So actually right before I got that, I forgot about this. That's where the cable station Smith machine power rack comes in. So I end up buying that because it's a functional trainer, it has a Smith machine. Smith machines are a lot safer to use if you don't have a spotter and I could use no weight with it, still get a really good workout. Plus, I have the cable stacks and all the attachments so I can do a lot of different exercises with really light weight. And so that's what I did use that for like a year.
Speaker 1:All that equipment, like I said, I accrued the the belt squat machine within that time was utilizing those, getting really good result or starting to build some muscle back. That's what I mean by really good results, because I still couldn't do very much Starting to build muscle back, build endurance back, and so then you know, the following year or two I just started. Whenever I could save up money for it we had a little extra money, I would buy another little piece of equipment, buy this, buy that. So over like about a two, three year period, I built a decent home gym, like I said so over like about a two, three year period. I built a decent home gym.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I took about half a garage. I had, you know, the adjustable dumbbells with some other dumbbells. I had, you know, two or three benches. I had a half power rack, the smith machine power rack with all the cables, a seated roll machine. What else did I get? I also got a leg extension leg leg curl machine Like you can switch it to where it's either one to save space. A little big treadmill, I think that's about it. I had a few different types of barbells and then different attachments for the cable stations, which opened up a bunch of stuff.
Speaker 1:So I had a really solid home gym and loved it, and the only reason I don't work out there now is because I work out at work in our private facility so that's a little story of how I built my gym up and that's what I recommend everybody to do, especially if you don't have a lot of money to spend on it, buy a little bit out of a time, rack it up over time, all right. So, yeah, that's what I have for you guys on this episode. So we are wrapping up officially this three-part series commercial gyms versus home gyms. Hopefully this information helps you make up your mind and kind of give you ideas as far as which one's going to be a better option for you. And then also today's episode where we broke down which items that I recommend getting to have a minimalist gym but be able to add years and years of progress and better years of health to your life, all right. So I really hope that you found this episode helpful.
Speaker 1:If you guys want guidance setting up your gym or need a program that matches your space and goals, I can totally help you there. So just reach out or check the link in the show notes, which is our website, transformhealthcoachcom. You can message me also on social media, coach Adam Kelly, on all platforms. Reach out that way Our THI Transform Health Initiative pages. We have a community Facebook group where I share, you know, my training tips. I share my training videos and my own lifting, which is pretty boring, but you know I show, I share updates, things like that. Lots of you know content pieces to help you guys. So definitely there I said reach out. You can email me, adam at transform health coach dot com and you know, if you have specific questions according to your budget and your space, what equipment's available to you, feel free to reach out. I'll help you out. If you want to help designing a program specifically for using your home gym and getting the most out of the least, our coaching service would be perfect for you. We have completely remote online coaching. If you're not in the area, we have one-time program set up where it's literally customized and built out with you for you that you run and do on your own, so you're not just buying a random online program. You that you run and do on your own, so you're not just buying a random online program. You are building a program with an expert coach who is an expert in transformations and just building the best with the least amount, and we can help you out there, guys. So you can also book a free consultation at our website. Get that set up and let's get chatting about how we can help you guys.
Speaker 1:So this is, this is. It's been a really good series. Really enjoyed this one. Uh, really feel like it's going to be helpful to a lot of people, save you a lot of headaches and money, like it would have for me if I didn't know this information, so definitely utilize it. Uh, we're going to be starting a new series on the next episode, so stay tuned for that, for episode 32. It's going to be really good. So in the meantime, in between time, guys, whatever you do with this information, make sure you do something good for yourself, something good for your health, something good for those you care about and, whatever you do, make sure you win on purpose. Talk at you next time.