Investing in your physical fitness can often be quite expensive. Just like the stock market, you can choose to invest in fancy holdings, or you can stick to the basics- the things that are proven to work time and time again. Whether you like it or not, you should probably be investing in your physical fitness, right now.
Should I get a Home Gym?
Wondering if a home gym is worth the investment? Staying fit can cost a lot of money and time. Depending on where you live and how many amenities you’d like to have, a regular gym membership can run you anywhere between $30-150 a month. That’s just to use the facility. You also need a few outfits to wear to the gym, a pair of workout shoes, and possibly a gym bag to bring a water bottle and a few other things. Then, don't forget about the cost of eating an optimal post workout meal after each workout. If your gym is far from where you live, you may have to spend approximately 30 minutes commuting back and forth to the closest gym, as well as another 60 minutes working out. Physicians simply don’t have that kind of time to spend! And, when your “living like a resident” you just don't have that kind of money to spend. Physicians often feel that it's hard to make fitness work, but by utilizing the highest yield training programs, investing in a home gym you can make it happen.
Why Should I Invest in a Home Gym?
Dr's Brittany & Alex Robles
There are many benefits to owning a home gym:
1. You save money on gym membership costs.
2. You save time commuting to and from the gym.
3. You don’t have to worry about inconvenient gym hours or unexpected closings.
4. You don’t have to worry about crowded gyms and waiting for equipment.
5. It helps to instill the value of regular exercise to your family, as your kids often imitate what you do.
6. You Improve your physical fitness which has the potential to save you a ton of money in the future!
Do you need any more convincing?
Isn’t Gym Equipment Expensive?
Gym equipment has the potential to be extremely expensive, and there are so many different things you can purchase. Fortunately, there is no need to spend thousands of dollars on all the fancy stuff you see at commercial gyms. Funny enough, the most expensive gym items tend to be the least useful! This post will go over the items that you actually need so that you can spend your money and your time on other worthwhile investments.
How to Build Your Own Home Gym on a Budget
When setting up a home gym, it is important to get only the stuff that matters and not a random assortment of equipment with a lot of bells and whistles. We will focus on the essential equipment that is most likely to give you results in as short a workout as possible. This is one of those situations where the quantity of your training is nowhere near as important as the quality of your training.
The key functional exercises of a high-yield training program are the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press. These exercises are your biggest return on investment. Here is the equipment you'll need in order to do the “Big 4” as well as most other exercises that can be added to a strength training program:
1. A Power rack or Squat stand
2. A good quality Barbell
3. A stack of Weight Plates
Let’s go over each one individually.
The Power Rack: The Single Most Important Item in Any Gym
Just like a retirement account, this is the first thing you should invest in. A power rack is a large metal frame that allows you to support weights at varying heights for different exercises. They are extremely versatile and allow you to perform almost all major compound barbell exercises. There are many different kinds of power racks, all with varying levels of sophistication and attachments. If the power rack has a pull-up bar attached at the top, that’s icing on the cake. Another great addition to the power rack are pegs that allow you to store the weighted plates alongside it. The Rack should be able to support about 1000 lbs of weight and should have hooks that you can adjust to various heights. This kind of power rack can cost you anywhere from $500-$1500. If that is out of your budget, you could also get a Squat Stand. Squat Stands are a simplified version of a power rack without any of the fancy add-ons. They can still be adjusted to allow you to place your weights at any varying height to perform the major exercises. Squat Stands are about $200-$400.
An Olympic Barbell
Too many people make the mistake of thinking that a set of bow flex dumbbells are a good investment. While they look nice and high tech, dumbbells should not be the first piece of gym equipment you buy.
What you need is a Barbell.
Barbells provide several advantages over dumbbells:
1. They can easily be loaded to any desired weight.
2. You can lift more weight using a barbell than a dumbbell
3. They require A LOT less storage space than a full set of dumbbells
A good quality barbell can cost approximately $100-300. It should weigh 20kg/45lbs and it should be an Olympic barbell that can easily support 500+ lbs. of weight. If you are a beginner or a smaller individual, you can purchase a lighter Olympic Barbell of 35 lbs. Most of the exercises that you can perform with dumbbells can also be performed with a barbell.
Weights
The last things you need are weight plates. You should buy approximately 285 lbs. of weights in this fashion.
4 plates of 45 lbs.
2 plates of 25 lbs.
4 plates of 10 lbs.are
2 plates of 5 lbs.
2 plates of 2.5 lbs.
This can be the most expensive item in the home gym. Each plate will roughly cost $1.50 per pound. This will be plenty of weight to start off with and will allow you to get any combination of weights you may need. Of all the types of weights, metal plates are the cheapest option. They are extremely durable, but they may rust over time.
Where to Purchase Your Home Gym Equipment
Websites that sell good high-quality gym equipment include Rogue Fitness, Vulcan Strength, and Elite FTS. (I do not have any financial relationship with any of these companies). You could find some items on Amazon too, but just make sure that the reviews are great and hold up to the standards described above. The best way to purchase cheaply is to search Craig's List or your local classifieds to find high quality used equipment.
Total Costs of Your Home Gym Investment
Those are the big three. I will call this the bare minimum of gym equipment that you need to achieve great results. If you only owned these three things, (Just like the three major funds: total stock index, total bond index and total international stock index) you would be fine. All of these things can be purchased for under $1000. That may seem like a hefty upfront investment, but it's one that can pay dividends for a lifetime.
The gym should pay for itself after about one year of regular use, especially if someone else is using it too.
Extra Credit Items
If your budget still allows you to get more equipment, here are a few other high yield items in order of importance.
Adjustable Bench
A bench will allow you to perform many different exercises from varying angles. These include exercises while lying flat on an incline or completely sitting upright. It is also necessary to perform the ever-popular bench press exercise inside your power rack or squat stand. A good quality adjustable bench can be purchased for ~$300. If you would like a cheaper option, you could get a non-adjustable bench, without wheels to keep the savings going. A high-quality nonadjustable bench is about $150.
Flooring/Heavy Duty Mat
This item is most important for performing deadlifts or any other exercise where the barbell starts on the floor. This helps protect your floor and also your weights. You can also use the mats to perform floor related exercises such as planks, ab wheel rollout, and lunges. You can purchase rubber mats that can be pieced together, a full Oly, or Deadlift Platform. This item can cost anywhere from $100- $300.
Adjustable Dumbbells
Finally, adjustable dumbbells are worthwhile, but only after you have purchased the aforementioned items.
There is no need to purchase the fancy ones from the commercials, as dumbbells are just dumbbells. You can get adjustable dumbbells for a significantly cheaper price with the same utility.
You can get 200 lbs. worth of dumbbells for ~$200 (Which is more than you will need).
Dumbbells should only constitute a minority of your exercise program as you will get the biggest bang for your buck using compound Barbell and body weight exercises.
Dumbbells represent holdings that you would get in a taxable account, only after you’ve maxed out your 401k.
Final Words on Designing Your Budget Home Gym
It should go without saying that you should design your gym in a place where the floor can handle heavy weights, such as a basement or a garage.
If you only had the bare minimum that we described above, you will be able to perform >80% of all the exercises that you will ever need to do.
Focus on large compound exercises that look like real-world movements.
Start light and make small progressions using the smallest margin you can think of. Check out our series on training, starting with 3 Essential Principles of Successful Training to learn more.
Don’t major in the minors. Build yourself an effective home gym, an efficient training program, and improve your fitness!
What do you think? How have you stayed fit as a busy professional? Would you consider building yourself a home gym? Comment below!
You don’t need a home gym.
I work out in the building of the hospital or in the building of my private practice (both around 20 stories tall) by climbing stairs. If I have a free moment here and there I will do some stairs. At some point during the day I will devote an hour to climbing stairs.
It’s a good work out (both cardio/weight bearing and easy on the joints because it is low impact). You WILL get tired if you climb at a rate which challenges you. It all adds up. I’m up to 250 flights per day, about 1250 flights per week.
Totally FREE, totally convenient (no driving back and forth to the gym, no allocating gym time outside of work time since it’s one and done), no special equipment needed other than change of clothing. Really, it’s the best and completely underrated.
Did I mention it is FREE? =D
You make a great point. Stairs are indeed a great way to stay in shape, although it could get a little boring after a while
Boring is ok if it is sustainable. I get bored pretty quickly and stairs has been much better than running on a treadmill.
Good music/podcast helps.
Using the stairs of a tall hospital tower is a fantastic & free pathway to fitness. Twice a week I don 30 pounds of fluoroscopy lead and slowly walk 2 circuits of our 10 story surgical tower stairs (it is humbling). I see more physicians on the stairs than nurses & technical staff. For the home gym types buying treadmills, make sure you buy a treadmill with a very beefy motor. The colleague who runs our local physical therapy practice advised that if you weigh more than 65 kg then using a treadmill with a lightweight motor is injurious because as it bogs or slows with your stride & weight, your hip flexors & knees take a lot of punishment as they accommodate the subtle changes in resistance. I insisted on putting our treadmill in our family room where it sees daily use (besides, it was too heavy drag upstairs to my spouse’s intended home gym).. I lucked into a Concept 2 rower during the first dotcom crash from a bankrupt fompany’s corporate gym but caution rowing machine buyers to be very careful with their rowing technique to avoid back injury. Concept2 rowing machines last forever if you lubricate the chains monthly with a light silicon lubricant like TriFlow – never wD40. Thank you WCI for sharing this great post from your affiliate!
Not sure why you think it’s an affiliate. Just another blog, no relationship.
I’m gonna guess because it’s called “White Coat X” …
I was surprised at the author’s estimate of gym costs to be $30-$150/month. I paid $19.99/month for a membership at a large L.A. Fitness gym in Ohio and recently moved to WI where I pay $26/month for a membership at a large Princeton Club. I chose both because they were reasonably priced, less than a 5 minute drive from my house, and are open 24/7/365. In both OH and WI I could also join cheaper gyms for about $10/month (Planet Fitness) but they would be about a 7-10 minute drive. I walk or ride my bike outdoors for an hour or more at least 5 days a week. I go to the gym twice a week (it’s on my calendar) for strength training and stretching. I take stairs instead of elevators. I stretch and do stability exercises at home whenever I’m waiting (for water to boil, for the microwave to beep, while on hold on the phone, etc.). I have a space in my house and the money to afford a large at-home gym with whatever I want in it but I don’t want more “stuff.” I like working out with other people. I’m very disciplined about exercise so I don’t worry that I won’t hit the gym.
I also don’t spend a lot of money on clothes or post work-out food. I’ve worn the same gym shorts, tops, jackets, socks, and cycling kits for over 10 years and I didn’t pay a lot for them. I get new shoes every few years (mostly because I like new shoes, not because they’re too worn). I don’t eat special food that costs more.
We retired semi-early (51 yrs old) in May’17, and started working out again with our new found time. For many of the reasons stated above, we decided to build out an in-home gym last year. It was our absolutely BEST investment of 2017! I’m down 28lbs since retiring. My wife is now down 16 lbs.
We went a little further by adding a relatively inexpensive cable machine, free weights, incline bench, eliptical, and treadmill. I’m now running 2 miles three days a week, lifting three days per week, and averaging 12k steps per day. My wife has a similar routine, but prefers the eliptical to running. We would’ve never stuck with it, if we needed to drive 5 miles to a public gym. Again, definitely our best investment (and ROI) of the year!
We switched to the home gym 3 yrs ago. Prior had just been subsidizing other people’s memberships at the gym we were members at. More recently I gave up on having a car in our 1 car garage and added more equipment. We have squat stands (would love a rack but will wait for a bigger garage for that), barbell with weights, a bench, spin bike (thought about peleton but can’t justify that before loans are paid off) and added a low-end treadmill this year. With 2 young kids and a spouse who has to leave pretty early for work, the only uninterrupted time for me is 5-6am (and in the summer that’s about the only reasonable time to exercise), and spending 10-15 minutes driving to the gym was not doable. It’s been a huge boon to my energy levels. I try to sell others on the idea if the topic comes up.
Gosh, all of my initial posts are hated for sure, but I feel the White Coat Trainer adds absolutely nothing to the health and fitness landscape. They state they have put 10+ years into this field yet many things they recommend are common knowledge or borderline wrong at best. I’m awaiting plenty of negative comments to follow, but I combed the WCT website with over half of my partners the last two days (18 residency trained EM docs) who are extremely fit and they agreed though they refused to comment as they believe all these websites are [bad] and people who follow their advice “deserve what they’re getting.” I try to be more forgiving when MDs are involved, but…WCT, seriously you guys charge for this stuff?????
In my defense, i think Jim is an absolute honest gem and his website has been a tremendous boon to our field. However, as he has essentially covered most topics quite well over the years, well, things have gotten…umm…watered down and now we have things like WCT?
Well, we made 78 posts before a hate comment showed up.
His program/templates is $29.99. The blog is free. If it’s not worthwhile to you, don’t buy it. It’s like anything. I don’t expect most of my readers to buy the online course, but for the right person, it’s worth 10 times the price.
I’m sorry you feel that way.
What’s common knowledge to some, is not common knowledge to many.
Feel free to send me an email and we can discuss the recommendations that are borderline wrong.
I have been a reader of WCI for well over a year and I can’t thank you enough for sharing all of your insight and sparking some great debates. Most of the time I read your articles, I find myself nodding my head in agreement. In large, I find reading your blog reinforces things that I’m already doing and adding in a few new valuable details. This is the first post in which I stepped back and said wow… I’m doing the exact opposite, but it is the right move for me. There are a few things I pay for in which I’m cognizant that bargain basement is not always the best value. The main categories in which this is true is; preventative maintenance (for my home, car, and this case body), and advice. I’ve recently made an “investment” in a Peloton Bike… probably one of the fancy pieces of equipment you would argue to avoid. I would argue that for me, it was a great investment. Cheap? Not at all! But a great value for me. It is a quality product that incorporates invaluable advice and instruction. If I’m honest with myself, a power rack would probably be a source of injury (because I do not know how to use it properly) and ultimately a coat rack. Would love to hear your thoughts. I’ve also been documenting my experience with the bike:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQeHciObUW1r_wTfhc9rJQ/playlists?view_as=subscriber
Has anyone used the Rep Fitness bench which is linked in the above article? Looking for a sold bench for flat and incline presses but would prefer to not spend $550 for the Rogue product if I don’t need to. I definitely want something stable and of high quality however., as a shoddy bench can be a workout killer. Thanks
A functional trainer machine is a great , all – in -one full body workout. They are expensive, but do a lot.
I agree with the principle, but in a different direction I followed it. My first goal as a runner (for the past 30 + years) was to have a treadmill for inclement weather days, so we purchased one about 20 years ago with our first home and have had it ever since. As we were older, we realized we needed to diversify our aerobic exercise and added about 10 years ago a recumbent and elliptical trainer.