I am not a fan of going to public gyms and prefer to work out at home. I really only occasionally use hotel gyms or my office building’s gym. Our house has a big-ish two car garage that was totally unfinished (raw studs) and full of junk. This fall I finally decided to do something about it… so the journey to build a garage gym started.
Clearing it out
One weekend, together with my 6 year old son, I set out to clean out the garage. We threw out a lot of junk and roughly organized the rest. See the picture above. The plan was to be able to park two cars and in the back of the (very deep) garage, have the backup power generator on the right and the gym area on the left.
What I hired out
I found a general contractor that I trusted based on previous work and while not cheap they did a great job at organizing electrical work (including hookup for EV charger and mini-split), spray foam insulation, drywall and flooring.
The surprise was the power. Between the sauna, the hot tub, the electric water heater, the EV charger and the mini-split, we are now at the ceiling of our 200 amp service. The electrician looked at the main panel and said, “you guys have a lot of stuff on here.”
They painted it too, and for the floor I went with the cliche garage finish with the sparkles in it. No regrets. The thing I did not expect to care about is the ceiling: flat LED light panels from Home Depot. They are the reason it reads as a room and not as a garage with a rack in it.
What I did myself
While this was all stressful and expensive, the only thing I did myself was install Ethernet, TV and gym equipment (aka. what a friend called “the fun parts”).
Being a tech geek, I hardwired the whole place for gigabit while I had the chance. The side benefit I did not plan on is that the WiFi and the cameras now cover the entire driveway, all the way down to the chicken coop.
Space is quite limited but I wanted to be able to have a (half-)rack, free-weights and cardio equipment to support my workout routine. I chose the Fringe Sports Dane 2.0 half rack which turned out great. I was intimidated when it just arrived in a 1000lbs crate, but assembling it was straightforward thanks to the amazing instruction video (the printed instructions were useless). My son and I completed it in a busy Saturday.
For cardio I chose a real bike on a Wahoo KICKR Core 2 (which was on sale) plus a super intense fan. This worked out great.
The plan held. We still fit two cars in there, and my wife recently got an EV, so the charger is getting used for real now.
I am very happy with the result and have been working out with renewed energy for a week in my very own gym!
Since then
Since then I added two PRIME machines, a leg extension and leg curl combo and a plate-loaded seated row. I love both. They are incredibly solidly built, which is the same reason they are incredibly heavy to move around, at 335 and 350 pounds. The unique feature is the torque arm, which lets you adjust the force curve so the resistance peaks at the beginning, the middle or the end of the movement. Admittedly a luxury purchase, but very cool to have in the garage.
I documented my current home gym setup.
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About Gunnar
Gunnar is 53. He lost about 170 pounds, trains in a garage gym, and writes DadStrengthDaily from personal experience, citing primary sources where he can. He also moderates r/ProactiveHealth. He is not a doctor, and nothing here is medical advice. Talk to your own doctor before acting on anything, especially GLP-1s, TRT, blood pressure, sleep apnea, and cancer screening.