Introduction
There have been 5 other “summary blog posts” for the 2023 surveys. They are below.
- Who Answers these Questions?
- Home Gym Purchasing Decisions
- Power and Squat Rack Data from 2023
- 2023 Bench Data
- 2023 Barbell Data
This is the last one, where I’ll just cover some of the most interesting “other” survey results.
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And here we go.
Space & “Current Prices” are home gym owners’ top issues when building out their home gym.
- With 24% voting “large issue” and 38% voting medium issue. The price of obtaining more equipment was labeled as the #1 issue for home gym owners. The lack of space was close behind and well ahead of “temperature control” for the #2 spot.
In a separate poll, where we put the two top issues head to head, 69% said that Space is a bigger issue than cost when it comes to adding to their home gym.
“If you could only have one cardio machine for your home gym, what are you getting.”
The rower did eke out a victory with 22% of the total votes.
That was just ahead of the Stair Climber (21%) and Air Bike (19%).
The treadmill was a distant fourth, BikeErg/Upright Bike in fifth, SkiErg in 6th, and the sled chosen last.
Most answering these survey questions enjoy many benefits of working from home.
We conducted a survey consisting of 11 “yes or no” questions to compare the experience of working out at home gyms versus public gyms.
All results are below, but here are the ones that really stood out to me.
- Nearly 90% of people prefer working out in their home gym than at a public gym, indicating a preference for home workouts that goes beyond practical reasons.
- 77% workout more often 57% workout harder (and longer), and only 24% are less motivated when working out in their home gym. Overall, the data indicates that home gyms can be a positive and effective environment for training, as they promote increased frequency with easier access, and the intensity doesn’t seem to suffer much.
- Nearly 3 out of 5 have better equipment at their home gym vs. the public gym they went to. This also says a lot about who answers these questions, but many public gyms have worn-out equipment that is not specific to what many want.
Below are all the results.
| Question | % Yes |
| Do you prefer workouts at home gym vs. public gym? | 87.26% |
| Do you workout more often since you own a home gym? | 77.35% |
| Do you wear more comfortable clothes when working out at home gym vs. public gym? | 74.35% |
| Do you have everything at home go complete workouts? | 74.30% |
| Do you make more noises at home gym vs. working out in public gym? | 66.19% |
| Do you workout “smarter” in your home gym with no pressure to push heavy weight? | 59.56% |
| Do you have better equipment at home gym than public gym you’d go to? | 59.36% |
| Do you workout harder in your home gym vs. if you worked out in a public gym? | 57.56% |
| Do you workout longer in your home gym vs. if you went ot a public gym? | 57.03% |
| If you were in a public gym, do you shy away from doing specific exercises that you can do at home? | 42.29% |
| Are you less motivated at home gym vs. public gym? | 24.63% |
The top reasons people train are for Physical & Mental Health. To look good and “for competitions” are quite a ways behind.
66% have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a home gym influencer & 35% have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a friend or family member.
- Compared to 2021, “home gym influencer” votes are up 22%, while friends/family votes are down 16%.
Only 39% have a single person utilizing the home gym. That number is on the rise though.
- As you can see in the chart below, the number of people utilizing the home gym alone has been rising since 2021.
Most answering these survey questions have spent over $5,000 on building out their home gym.
- This is an important number to keep in mind when understanding who is answering these survey questions.
& only 38% say they save money by owning a home gym – down considerably from three years ago.
What do Home Gym Owners Own?
For the fourth time within the Sunday Surveys, we asked, “What do you own in your home gym?”
Twenty-nine products are on this list & below is a list from top to bottom, with a barbell on the top & leg press machine on the bottom.
Please remember that most people answering this question have built out pretty full gyms, with only 13% saying they spent under $2,500 in 2024 (view additional analysis of numbers below).
| Rank | Item | % Own |
| 1 | Barbell | 97.59% |
| 2 | Dumbbells | 94.71% |
| 3 | Squat Rack/Power Rack | 93.81% |
| 4 | Resistance Bands | 93.67% |
| 5 | Adjustable Bench | 83.61% |
| 6 | Horse Stall Mat | 76.72% |
| 7 | Bumper Plates | 75.83% |
| 8 | Iron Plates | 74.41% |
| 9 | Jump Rope | 74.39% |
| 10 | Specialty Barbell | 72.93% |
| 11 | Kettlebell | 66.53% |
| 12 | Landmine | 64.69% |
| 13 | Flat Bench | 63.82% |
| 14 | Adjustable Dumbbells | 56.26% |
| 15 | Plyo Box | 50.87% |
| 16 | Medball | 44.07% |
| 17 | Slam Ball | 43.97% |
| 18 | Gymnastic Rings | 40.52% |
| 19 | Stationary Bike | 38.64% |
| 20 | Steel Storage Rack | 37.66% |
| 21 | Air Bike | 37.54% |
| 22 | AbMat | 37.36% |
| 23 | Treadmill | 37.04% |
| 24 | Rower | 35.16% |
| 25 | Functional Trainer | 25.00% |
| 26 | Belt Squat | 19.67% |
| 27 | GHD | 18.71% |
| 28 | Reverse Hyper | 17.41% |
| 29 | Leg Press Machine | 10.56% |
The six largest risers since 2021 include:
- Specialty Barbells (+38%)
- Landmine (+30)
- Horse Stall Mats (+21%)
- Adjustable Bench (+18%)
- Squat Rack/Power Rack (+17%)
- Adjustable Dumbbells (+16%)
While most aren’t saving much money, nearly 49% claim to save more than 45 minutes per day by owning a home gym.
- If you multiply 45 minutes x 5 days a week, you get over 8 days saved a year!
Rogue barely beat out REP as the “most popular equipment supplier for home gym strength in 5 years.”
REP beat out Rogue, Titan & Bells of Steel when asking, “with cost in mind, who are you most likely to fill an entire home gym with?” 45% of total votes went to REP with Rogue receiving 36%.
When comparing Rogue, REP, Titan, and Amazon, Rogue had the highest amount of “high trust” votes with 76% voting that way. Rep received about 58% “high trust” votes, which was 4.2x more than Titan.
Interest in tech entering the home gym space continues to go down.
- In the most recent poll, only 10.6% said they were a “big fan” of tech entering the space.
The chart below saying what people think will end up being “fads” is fascinating. You can take a look below, but the carnivore diet, body tempering, and flywheel training are at the top of the list right now (view additional analysis).
