Intro
During the last Sunday Survey, it was asked: “What’s your biggest home gym regret.” Over 400 people took the time to fill this information out 🙏! There were a ton of common trends. The two most popular answers were:
- Not starting sooner
- Not buying quality equipment in the first place
There were also plenty of references about not having enough space. For example, they bought a house without thinking about how important a space for a gym was. This is not mentioned much below, but it was shocking to hear how many people felt this way.
Nevertheless, here is a sample of the key themes found. Every bullet point is an exact quote. Keep in mind that the amount of characters used to respond is very limited.
Not buying quality equipment, to begin with
- Not buying a decent barbell sooner
- Trying to save money buying cheap equipment and having to spend more later on
- Not spending more on quality equipment at the start. Replacing equipment ends up costing more
- Not following the rule of “buy nice or buy twice.”
- Buying cheap things too fast instead of waiting for the equipment I want
- Cheaping on first bench
- Buying cheap items and having to replace them later
- Buying a titan rack instead of REP
- Buying cheap bumper weights
- Bought a Stamina X Rower.. thankful for it, but should’ve saved longer and bought a C2
- I cheaped out on a lat pull down that is both too short and flimsy to really use
- I would have bought a better bar earlier
Large pieces of equipment that don’t get much use
- GHD
- Jerk blocks & peg board
- Vertical Leg Press
- Eliptical
- Belt squat
- Nothing major, just some purchases that I ended up selling on marketplace
- Two: buying an airbike and a GHD
- Isolation machines
Not choosing the right squat rack
- Buying too big of a rack
- Getting a power rack that was larger than I needed. Absolutely love it though!
- Full power rack. Halfers are just as good
- My rack… wish I would have explored more options so that I had ideal storage
- Getting an entry level cage. Pr1000 vs. Pr5000
- Not starting with a power rack, but we all start somewhere and I’ll get it someday
- Buying a two post rack instead of a four post
- Not buying the half rack instead of the stand from rouge off the bat…and overpaying for the cab
- Sq rack; went w/ discounted rack from a big name; not many affordable attachments
- Not buying a foldable rack
Not planning for the long term
- Not thinking bigger picture first
- Putting my platform too close to the wall and bolting everything down already
- Not building a house with a 3 car garage
- Hyperextension. It’s packed up now due to space
- Buying items not needed
Didn’t do the research
- Not knowing enough about different brand options
- Not waiting/doing more research
- Plate tree without wheels
- Not doing my research properly before buying my first item
Bought the wrong items for current space or training goals
- Not accounting for celing height
- Not measure the equipment that I ended up with
- Buying battle ropes too long for my gym, should have gotten shorter ones.
- Buying an assault bike rather than a normal bike
- No Air Bike yet
Bad Timing/Missed Deals
- Not buying more Troy plates when I had the option at 50 cents a pound
- Waiting on a better deal could’ve gotten a full blown cage vs. squat rack
- Every missed used air bike deal
- Buying a deadlift bar before other specialty bars
- Not buying more plates when I had extra income
- Not waiting for a black friday sale
Flooring
- Not buying stall mats from the beginning
- Not laying down matting before starting home gym
- Get good flooring
- Buy cheap mats
- Wasting money on flooring from website instead of going to tractor supply
- Buying “gym mats” before I found out about stall mats
- flooring (foam tiles)
- Should have done the floors first
- Bought expensive flooring. Cut them to size. Moved house and have to start fresh $$$$
Didn’t make room
- Not cleaning out all the crap I had in my garage first
- Not clearing the garage out first
- Garage set up prior to starting and limited options for changing/space
- Not dedicating enough room initially. Had to rearrange layout twice
- Not organizing my flooring/space to best define what was the “gym” part of my garage
Other…
- Not checking how level the garage floor was when I bought my house LOL
- Wish I had bought pound pads earlier. I cracked the floor doing heavy C&J’s
- Not having programming from the start
- Not getting a heater
- Waiting so long to insulate garage
- Equipment addiction
- Wish I would have made the whole house a gym and lived in the garage
Thank you to all that participated. Current and future home gym owners will benefit greatly from your advice!
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