Men's Fitness Online

Why pay exorbitant ongoing fees to a Globo gym? Build your own home gym and never pay for a membership again.

Are you one of the growing WFH (Work From Home) crowd? Is being self-sufficient your thing? Are you paying too much for your gym membership and struggling to get time on the equipment you want when you’re there? One great solution is to create your own gym at home. Though it may be a big investment initially, the amount of money you’ll save on memberships, trainers, and fuel getting there and back will pay off over time. Plus you’ll save time getting there and getting home. If you’re trained for longer than a year, you’ll know that the home gym is the way to go to get gains, fast.

What do you need for a basic home gym?

When it comes to having your own gym, you can customise it as much as you like. When you’re paying for a gym membership, you’re also paying for everything you don’t use – if you’ve never even touched the ab cruncher, you’re still paying for it! If you are looking for overall fitness, a multi-machine that includes isolating upper and lower body workouts is a good start – though you may prefer free weights for compound movements. This may take the form of a Smith machine or rack. It all depends on whether you’re trying to maintain fitness or train for competition – or somewhere in between. For a full checklist, refer here.

Buying new or second hand

Buying new equipment can be expensive – multi-function stations new can start at $1,000 and rise up from there to five figures if you are looking for pro-spec equipment. New machines also have technology that can help you maximise your workouts. Buying new has high residual value and comes with warranties, especially on machines – but buying second-hand can save you a lot of money upfront. If your second-hand equipment hasn’t been maintained properly, you may have to fork out for repairs or replacements quicker than you bargained for.

How much space is enough?

If you have a spare room or can use an unused portion of the garage to facilitate benches, mirrors, weights, machines, and other equipment, you can often use that to set up a modest but functional home gym. But if you want to add pro-spec racks and other bulky items, you may have to factor in a home extension, which can add tens of thousands to your costs.

How much will a home gym all cost?

Once you have a list of all the equipment you’ve got, you may be balking at the figure that comes up. Don’t worry though – it will pay for itself once you use it consistently after a few months. But the best way to finance a home gym is to compare rates on personal loans. Personal loans may take a bit of time to organise but will allow you to budget for your gym now and pay it off over time.

It could be the case that a monthly repayment ends up costing less than your total monthly gym membership (and associated costs such as fuel etc.) Personal loans are also much cheaper than paying for it using credit cards – as rolling interest charges can balloon out If you’re not too careful.

Planning workouts

Though a home gym is cheaper in the long run, it can be hard to stay motivated. Online strength classes can help you keep accountable and make your workouts less routine.