Full Year 2021 Sunday Survey Summary

by Garage Gym Experiment | Posted on

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(0:00) Intro

This is our 2021 yearly wrap-up of survey results. We’ve taken the most “relevant” pieces of data and summarized them into one blog post/podcast episode. All survey results can be found here.

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, or likely wherever you listen to podcasts.

Within this summary you’ll find:

Some additional info about the survey includes:

  • Most of the analysis below is based on data via the Instagram Story tool, where each question is live for 24 hours. There are also some limitations to this method. For example, only 4 multiple choice options are using this feature. However, it’s been an effective way to get lots of responses, and many enjoy doing the surveys in this fashion each week. 
  • These surveys are pretty casual but deliver many key insights into those building out their home gyms. Many companies are using this sort of data to develop products and strategies for this growing market.
  • Thousands answer each question with the most being over 11k.

(1:28) Who is Answering these Questions?

Those answering these questions are typically male, under the age of 45, and spread out throughout the USA. It’s important to note that this isn’t a “representation of the entire world.”

  • 82% are male.
  • 94% are under the age of 45. The largest age group was between 25 and 34 who make up nearly 49% of all respondents.

  • 82% are in the USA with Europe and Canada making up another 14%.

  • Within the USA, it’s very much spread out. About 48% would identify as being in the eastern part of the country though.

  • It snows more than 5 times a year for 47%. Not everyone is dealing with winter workouts in the garage.

  • The amount of blue collar workers vs. white collar workers were the exact same! Both had 5,683 votes. Stay at home parents make up 5% of total.

  • 45% are parents.

(4:46) More about those answering these questions

They are also active, like lifting weights, consider the home gym an important part of their life, and many are former athletes or consider themselves to be one.

  • 81% say that the home gym is their “primary” workout option and just 30% are currently going to another gym besides home gym right now.
  • 87% are building out their home gym one step at at time.
  • This is an active group with only 3.9% workout out less than 3 times a week. About 70% are workout out at least 4 times.

  • With the four options available to choose from (in the chart below), physical health was easily the number one reason someone trains with mental health being the second. These two responses made up about 75% of total responses for both question.

  • The home gym hobbyist is real. Over 83% enjoy planning the layout of their home gym and 74% consider building out their home gym an actual “hobby.”
  • About 38% believe they are a “snob” when it comes to equipment. This is a number that is on the rise.
  • About 2 in 3 are doing every single workout alone. Only 5% are working out with a partner at home a majority of the time.

  • 54% consider themselves an athlete.
  • 38% would not consider themselves a Powerlifter, Bodybuilder, CrossFitter, Oly Weightlifter, or Strongman.

CrossFit seems to be on the decline, while powerlifting is going up.

There were two “what interests you most” questions that varied slightly. In the first, it was a comparison between powerlifting, bodybuilding, CrossFit, and Strongman. Some notes:

  • Powerlifting is the winner here with about 35% of the votes with CrossFit coming in at number two, and Bodybuilding a distant amount ahead of Strongman for third.

  • Since September 2020, powerlifting has steadily rose while CrossFit has declined.

  • This “what interests you most” question was also asked again, but Weightlifting replaced Strongman and there were some shifts in voting. For example, some of the CrossFit votes definitely went to Weightlifting, while some of the Strongman votes most likely went to bodybuilding. It’s likely some of the Powerlifting votes shifted to Weightlifting as well. Overall, Powerlifting was still at the top spot, while CrossFit fell quite a bit. Weightlifting only made up about 11% of total votes.

  • About half have pets frequently in their home gym.

  • Many haven’t had a home gym for too long. Only 14% of respondents have had a home gym for more than five years. About 43% began one within the last year or two, probably due to COVID-19.

(13:32) Benefits of the Home Gym

  • A whopping 80.4% said the quality of their life would decrease if their home gym was taken away today.
  • Over half say that they do indeed save money by owning a home gym, contrary to many of the amazing gyms posted on Instagram. So, don’t let those fool you!

Time saved is the most important benefit of all for most with a home gym.

  • Saving time received nearly 6x more votes than the potential money that can be saved by owning your own gym.
  • Less than 10% believe that they are saving less than 15 minutes by owning their own setup and a massive 43% save more than 45 minutes.

(15:34) Issues that Home Gym Owners Face

Lack of space, the price of new equipment, and temperature control are usually seen as the largest issues for most home gym owners.

  • The two biggest issues for most home gym owners are easily the lack of space for a home gym and the price of obtaining more equipment. Temperature control and distractions during the home workouts would be the number 3 and 4 issues.
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  • Without question, this just depends on where you live, but about 65% say cold winters are tougher than the hot summers (35%).
  • In July, 37% said their workouts have suffered during the summer heat.
  • In a head to head matchup, about 64% believe it’s more difficult to get a good workout vs. finish strong for home workouts.

(19:53) What is Owned?

There were 30 items asked about and each one received an average of nearly 10,000 responses. Highlights include:

  • This survey was done 6 months prior and there was a shakeup. With 91.45%, the barbell is the #1 owned item.
  • Only 6 different items are owned by 70% or more (barbell, dumbbells, resistance bands, jump rope, squat/power rack, and bumper plates.
  • The large specialty items came in at the very bottom with the order of the bottom 6 not changing from the last survey done in March.
  • Less than 5% own bumper plates (71%) compared to iron plates (66%)
  • About 7/10 own kettlebells compared to 9/10 owning dumbbells.
  • Nearly 3x more own Horse Stall Mats compared to deadlift platforms.
  • 11% more own an adjustable bench vs. flat bench.
  • When it comes to “heavy cardio equipment,” it’s close, but the Air Bike is the winner over its competitors.

Another survey in August asked if you owned anything from 20 of the most popular companies.

  • An astounding 73% said they owned something from Rogue Fitness. With a total of 7,920 “yes” responses, they make up over 26% of all “yes responses. That’s domination.

  • The top 4 vote getters made up over 61% of total votes. That’s also domination.

  • Over half of respondents do no own any specialty barbells and about 24% own multiple.

  • Most do not have more than 1 piece of cardio equipment if any. The most popular response was simply 1, with nearly a quarter not owning any when asked the number of cardio pieces they own in their home gym.

  • What % of your home gym was bought used? Nearly 2 out of 3 have at least something bought used, but less than 30% say that more than a third is used. Therefore, most have something that was bought used, but most stuff in their home gym is actually new.

(28:24) Home Gym Space

As previously mentioned the amount of space is one of the biggest issues many home gym owners face. They likely are not using a dedicated room and since it’s likely in a garage or basement, other components aren’t necessarily ideal. This also means there isn’t much room for equipment that specializes in a single movement.

  • 86% say that it’s more difficult to find the space for that gym equipment than fill it. This is a question that has been asked several times during these surveys, and they have always produced a similar result.
  • Space is tight for many. Only about 36% are dealing with around 400 sq. ft. or more and 64% have less than 200 sq. feet.

  • Ceiling height is another struggle for many. Nearly half are dealing with heights around 7 and 8 feet, which means not all equipment options “are options.”

  • About 60% are working with one or two walls. Most do not have a dedicated room for their home gym.

  • 61% sacrifice storage for the rest of the house to have a home gym. Space is limited for most and it usually eats into some of the space you’d typically store other household items (maybe even your car). More struggle with actually finding space for gym equipment than actually filling it.
  • Only 32% of home gyms have a single person using it and the most popular answer was “two” with nearly 43% of the responses.

  • The garage is the most popular spot for most putting in a home gym. About 2 in 3 have a “garage gym” with 20% in the basment. 9% are in another room in the house and 7% have it elsewhere. In addition, while 65% have it in their garage, only 50% say it would be in their dream world.

  • In a head to head matchup, nearly 3 out of 4 voted for the garage. In this IG conversation though, more basement gym fans came in to argue their side of the argument.

  • How many larger specialty items like a GHD do you have space for? The responses for this question were spread out relatively evenly, but only 21% have room for at least three “larger specialty items,” meaning most have to be very particular when adding something like this for their home gym. 51% have room for 0 or 1.

(36:35) Barbell Data

Most answering these survey questions have at least one traditional Olympic barbell, which is ideally coated and includes a center knurl. Multi-purpose and power bars are easily the top choices.

  • 91.5% think that it is worth spending the extra 💰 for a barbell that will not rust.

  • Nearly 2x more prefer a bar to have a center knurl on it. Only a handful don’t know what they like better (as opposed to the bench width question above).

  • Nearly 3/4 say that a barbell & plates should be the first purchase when starting a home gym.

  • Only 7% claim not to own a barbell, while almost 60% own multiple.

  • Most that own barbells are storing them in some way. The largest vote-getter was “on the rack” (36%) with “on the wall” in second (27%). 19% use a barbell holder on the ground, and 18% do not store them at all. 53% say that they would prefer to store their barbells on the wall though in a follow up question.

(41:50) Rack Data

Power racks with 3×3 11-gauge steel and 1-inch or 5/8 inch hardware are ideal. The ability to add accessory options from other companies seems essential.

  • 1-inch is the clear winner with close to 3 out of 5 votes when asked about rack hardware preference. Examples include the Rogue Monster Racks, PR-5000, and Titan Series. 5/8 inch received about 38% of the votes and “other” only 4%. Therefore almost everyone is set on a rack with either 1-inch or 5/8 inch hardware.

  • An 11-gauge rack for most feels pretty essential. While 12% don’t quite know what this question is asking, only 20% believe that it is not important to have an 11 gauge steel rack. That means that at least 70% say it’s at least somewhat important that the rack is made of 11 gauge steel.

  • The power rack is the most popular for most home gym owners even with space and budget in mind. Over half voted for this option.

(44:40) Equipment Preferences

  • In a battle of “plate storage options,” the rack wins with 43% of total votes. A standalone storage unit came in second with 36%, and only 20% voted for on the wall.

  • The safety squat bar with just under 40% “high interest” votes led the way when looking at most popular “specialty bars.” The deadlift, hex, and curl bars were all between 34 and 35%.

  • Most answering these questions are in the USA, so it’s not suprising that the majority are lifting with pounds.

  • 87% believe that an adjustable bench covers their “home gym needs,” while only 39% say that about a flat bench does.

  • When it comes to a bench, over 70% believe an adjustable bench is the best way to start.

  • Only 18% said the ability to decline on a bench was of high interest.

(50:37) Cardio Equipment

  • 47% do at least 10 minutes of cardio every single workout.
  • The Rower (36%) narrowly beats out the Air Bike (33.4%) with a treadmill (17.3%) and stationary bike (13.3%) quite a bit behind when asked if you could only own one.

  • Concept 2 proves it’s dominance amongst this group with taking over 60% of the votes. When this question was asked, it was even noted to take into consideration the Rogue Echo Bike and Peloton.
  • A number of surveys showed that the Echo Bike and Concept 2 Rower were the two most popular items.

(54:34) Have You Heard of These Companies?

This is the 7th edition of the “Have You Heard of These Companies Survey.” Most of these companies have the ability to outfit your entire gym with a few others thrown in. As always, this survey was done via the Instagram Story feature in the Sunday Survey.

RankNameYesNo% Yes
1Rogue Fitness10,44027997.4%
2Titan Fitness9,94258794.4%
3Rep Fitness8,9481,35786.8%
4American Barbell8,1741,72682.6%
5AbMat6,9702,14676.5%
6PRX Performance7,0562,37674.8%
7Vulcan Strength7,0622,42374.5%
8Fray Fitness7,2762,66073.2%
9Kabuki Strength6,3862,47172.1%
10Sorinex6,6232,66371.3%
11Onnit5,9822,76068.4%
12Fringe Sport5,6032,73967.2%
13Get RXd5,6803,03465.2%
14Bells of Steel5,1713,31061.0%
15Kettlebell Kings4,8943,80856.2%
16Force USA4,5494,04053.0%
17Ghost Strong Equipment4,1194,64347.0%
18Again Faster Equipment3,9155,27642.6%
19The Strength Co.4,3615,93342.4%
20Body-Solid3,7435,10842.3%
21Raptor Fitness3,5045,48039.0%
22Bridge Built2,9766,52231.3%
23Tuff Stuff Fitness2,5447,54825.2%
24I Sell Fitness2,3847,30324.6%
25Crandall Fitness2,1756,85024.1%
26Crane Fitness Equipment2,2227,61222.6%
27X Training Equipment1,8387,27420.2%
28Gymway USA1,9958,24519.5%
29Batl Performance1,4118,53714.2%
30Vesta Fitness5767,7097.0%

March 2021 vs. August 2021 Analysis

Here are a few highlights that compare this past round to the most previous one performed in March of 2021.

  • Since March the top 4 did not change with Rogue, Titan, REP, and American Barbell staying in their spots. AbMat slid in to the top 5 after being ranked #9 in March. AbMat rose 3% while others fell.

A few notes about the numbers above:

  • It’s a tough (and probably unfair) comparison when you add a list with so many companies. There are established brands with a nationwide reach and happy to be a “regional” or “local” brand. Besides, some have equipment designed to help a certain type of training (i.e., powerlifting, CrossFit), so the reach may not be large. This is just something to keep in mind.
  • Just because someone has heard of a certain company does not mean that they will consider purchasing from them.
  • In an effort to keep the survey manageable and “fresh” certain companies are either added or removed

(59:30) Other Interesting Survey Results

  • Evenings are the most popular workout time. 43% are working out after 4 pm, 27% before 8 am, and 31% during the day. This aligns pretty well with a survey accomplished in April of 2019.

  • When asked about the importance of gym equipment made in your country, nearly 38% stated that it was not important at all while a total of around 43% voted it to be at least “important” with a small portion of that saying it’s essential. About 20% did not have any feelings on the subject.

  • A significant amount of people have sold or purchased gym equipment on the used marketplace. More have bought than sold though.

  • REP or Titan? In a head to head match, REP wins this one pretty easily over Titan with 75% of the votes. This head-to-head matchup was also featured in June where just under 69% went with the equipment supplier based out of Denver. Therefore, the gap did widen a bit.

  • A whopping 78% said this AB-3000 FID bench was the best option for most people when taking into consideration what people want to pay for a bench.

  • About 73% typically follow a workout program. 57% do not pay for this workout program. Nearly 14% have a 1:1 coach.

  • There is no question the technology in the home gym space is going to evolve. Only 13% voted “keep me away,” while nearly 40% say they are a “fan” or “big fan.” Nearly half said they were “neutral” though.

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