How to Set Up Bodybuilding Home Gyms

If you want big gains in your training, specific bodybuilding home gyms are the answer. Since strength and size are best achieved with Free Weights and a Bench, you may find that the best results require only a simple gym set-up.

The Core of the Gym: Free Weights

The basic tools found in bodybuilding home gyms are a straight barbell, a set of iron plates, and an adjustable bench. By doing some smart shopping, you can buy this body building equipment for less than $1,000. If you buy online you will have to pay freight costs, but you will likely find it to be a better price, and you will have a far better selection, than if you go down to the local sporting goods store to shop.

Here’s a checklist of body building home gym equipment:

• Olympic Weight Bench
• 2 Olympic barbells (straight and an E-Z curl)
• Olympic Weight Plates – 300 lbs
• Fixed or adjustable set of dumbbells
• Power Rack with lat tower, low row
• Chin-up / Dip station
• Calf raise block or platform - 1" or 2" high

Home Gym Workouts: Tips for Your Training Regime

The Bench

The Flat-Incline-Decline (FID) bench will have to hold up both you and the weight you are pressing; i.e., if you weigh 250 and will be lifting 300 or more, a bench rated at a 500-lb max limit is not going be suitable for your needs. An Olympic Weight Bench should have a capacity of 600 lbs at a minimum, be wide enough to support your full back, and have a leg attachment.

Power Rack Training

If you want to grow muscles, you must squat. There’s no other way to achieve your goals but to do this king of all bodybuilding exercises. Bulking up requires specific, concentrated lifting, with maximum effort, not simply doing more lifting. Big gains are achieved by hitting failure in 30-minute sessions, 3-4 times a week, rather than wussy training for hours on end. That’s why equipment such as power racks, or even leverage machines, are crucial to designing proper bodybuilding home gyms.

Getting Started

Again, with just a bar, set of iron plates, a bench, and a rack, you’ll have all you need for lifting heavy: squats, deadlifts, snatches, clean & jerk, power cleans, floor and bench presses, military press, and so on. With a set of dumbbells, you can also do isolation work. Bodybuilding home gyms are more expensive than gyms used by casual lifters for the simple reasons that you need more weights and a solid bench, and those can be expensive. On the other hand, the cost (less than $1,000) is relative; quality home gym equipment lasts forever.

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