Introduction
Spring is here, and for most in the US, this (and fall) are the peak seasons for home gyms. No longer are you getting frostbite from the steel in your garage, and heatstroke is not usually a serious issue on your mind. For garage lifters, you may be excited to open the garage door but think about getting outside the four walls of your home gym. Training outdoors is great if you have kids, train with large groups, or want some Vitamin D.
For this budget gym, we went with items that get you moving outdoors. Nearly all training modalities can use the equipment chosen, whether you train CrossFit, bodybuilding, powerlifting/strongman, or train for functional strength. We sorted the purchases into these categories (even though most of these items can give you a good cardio burn):
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Heavy Training Implements
Moving with heavy stuff in your hands can be fun. The items we bought were:
- Farmer’s Carry Handles: The Farmer’s Carry is a simple workout that requires little to no learning curve. We went with this extremely cheap option to add your plates to get a grinder of a workout, taxing your forearms and cardio. We searched Amazon and found these handles for around $40 (currently $23) for this item.
- Heavy Sandbag: If you know, you know! Rogue featured this implement in one of their monthly challenges; The “Bearhug Challenge”. Participants were challenged to bearhug a sandbag (100lb women/200lb men) for time. Sandbags are brutal. Whether you are doing static holds, squats, or walks with them, you can get a great workout. For this option, we went with the Get Rx’d 200 lb sandbag. The cost for this item is $65, and it is easy to get your money’s worth.
- Heavy-ish Slam-Balls: Slam balls are often overlooked. They are great items to work explosive movements into your routines. You can do slams, tosses, over-shoulder, holds, and even squats with them. We went with a 60 lb option from Titan Fitness. The cost was $90, and like always, you get free shipping.
- Sled: Sleds probably come with the most options. You can go with something as expensive and as nice as the Torque Tank (highlighted below), or with something as simple as the Magic Carpet. We went with a simple plate-loaded pulling sled from Amazon. It comes with a strap and a harness and costs under $100.
Cardio
- Rope: A long rope can be a great versatile piece of equipment. It can be used on its own as a battle rope, or you can attach it to a small sled for a pulling workout. We went with a simple Amazon Basics rope that is just over 28’ long, and it costs $56.
- This 28’ rope is too short to wrap around the back of a post (as seen in the picture). Think about buying a simple battle rope anchor.
- Jump Rope: This may be the cheapest way to take your workouts outdoors. You can go with a regular rope, a weighted rope, or even a speed rope. We found this speed rope from Titan for $15. Its a piece of cardio equipment that anyone can use.
Bodyweight
- Pull-up Bar: Bodyweight movements and outdoors just seeming to go together. Arguably the best bodyweight movement is the pull-up, and having an outdoor set-up may be just what you need to get outside. You can go with multiple set-ups, from freestanding towers or even wall-mounted options for the side of your house/garage. We went with a DIY set-up using 4×4 posts and this bar option from Amazon. This bar (which comes with lag-bolts) costs $55. With current lumber prices and the cement needed, you’ll spend about $80, and that will get you a bar height up to 10’. DIY instructions can be found here.
Additional items you can add, sub for, or maybe already have:
- Rings: Any ring set-up with straps will work. This is something that can be easily moved from your home gym to an outdoor location, whether you hand them from an outdoor pull-up bar or even from a tree branch.
- Quick Hack: If you put your rings upon your tree branch, they may slide back and forth during use. A simple fix is to put a nail into the branch to stop your ring straps from sliding down the branch. Keep the nails in the branch so each time you put your straps back on the tree, they will be there.
Possible additions
- Kettlebells: Kettlebells are easy to carry outside, and are versatile tools that can be used in a variety of ways.
- Dumbbells: Just a single set of 50’s (or lighter) can give you a great routine.
- Pulley Systems: a simple pulley attachment that can be set up with a pull-up bar. This is an easy add to outdoor training.
- Strong Man Equipment: Any carrying implement (yokes, stones, Hussafell stones, ect.) is ideal for the outdoors.
- Any Cardio Equipment: Time spent on rowers and bikes can suck, but it’s proven (not really) that it can suck less if you drag that equipment outside. If they are in the garage, it shouldn’t be too difficult to move.
- Torque M1 Tank: This one is for the driveway. With variable resistance training, the harder you push, the harder it gets. The tank can be used in both directions, is silent, pretty easy to store, and doesn’t require any additional weight.
Conclusion
In the end, the goal of this article is to inspire you to take your workouts outside, even if you are limited on space and budget. We came up with a handful of budget options, but really the possibilities are endless.
Also, did you have your calculator out? For everything listed for this budget gym (not including the additional items), we spent less than $500. Would you go out and buy this exact list of items? Probably not, but this goes to show that there are a ton of affordable options to pick and choose from to take your training outdoors. In addition, it’s possible to combine with certain items you already own.
