Why pay thousands in gym subscriptions when you can do it all at home at a fraction of the cost? See how easy it is to create a home gym in any free space.

Work Out at Home

Going to the gym has its advantages, but nothing beats the comfort of working out in your own home.

Working out at home saves you time (you don’t need to travel to the gym), saves you money (you aren’t constantly paying to maintain a membership), and you never have to share your equipment with others.

You’ve always wanted a home gym…now you’ll learn how easy it is to build a home gym that rocks.

Some people might shy away from building their own fitness center because they think it will cost too much money. This is a misconception.

You can start building your home gym for as little as $100 or as much as $1000. As time progresses, you can gradually add more equipment until your home gym rivals that of any commercial operation.

Home Gym for $100

If you are new to strength training, you can start building your home gym with basic equipment like kettlebells, light dumbbells, resistance bands and a stability ball.

Kettlebells are a good choice when starting out because you can perform a variety of exercises with them. They can be used as an additional dumbbell, or they can be used alone. A kettlebell can be used to perform exercises for your biceps, triceps, and shoulders. You can also do squats with kettlebells. One kettlebell weighing 25 pounds costs only $30.

Stability balls can be used as a makeshift bench, to help you blast your abdominal muscles or used to do wall squats. You can balance yourself on the stability ball and perform presses, pullovers, and crunches.

When using it as a bench, it gives the added benefit of making you engage your core muscles more. A stability ball can be purchased for as little as $20.

Resistance bands are inexpensive and cost as little as $10, but they can be very effective. Medium and heavy resistance bands can be used to perform squats, rows, and presses.

Home Gym for $1000

If you have been working out for a while, and know that you need heavy equipment to accomplish your goals, then you can get a really impressive home gym for $1000 or less. You’ll need a rubber floor mat, bench, weight set, dumbbells, a power rack and maybe some cardio equipment.

Getting a rubber floor mat will prevent your workout equipment from scratching your floors and will help absorb the shock from dropped weights. A good mat will cost you around $50.

A good workout bench is a must-have if you’re going to build a home gym that rocks. You can find plain flat benches, benches that come with attachments to perform leg exercises and some that even come with squat racks and plate racks.

For $239 you can get a Gold’s Gym XRS20 weight bench that comes with a squat rack, plate racks, attachments to do preacher curls and leg extensions and leg curls.

This bench is also adjustable so you can do decline presses, flat bench presses and incline presses. The squat rack is sturdy and holds up to 300 pounds.

The Gold’s Gym weight bench is given as an example because it gives you so many options. With this bench, you don’t need to buy a power rack and you’ll be able to do exercise for legs and arms as well. If you prefer to get a power rack, then you can find a simple bench for $50.

If you really feel a power rack is something you want for your home gym, you can find them for as little as $300. Power racks provide you with a safety net when performing bench presses and squats, and you won’t need to worry about not having a spotter when you’re working out at home.

The next item you will need to purchase is weight sets. You can’t strength train without weights and, fortunately, you can find weight sets that are affordable. An Olympic weight set that includes an Olympic barbell, 265 pounds worth of weight and spring collars can be obtained for only $300.

For some, this may not be enough weight, but you can also search on places like Craigslist or search locally if you need to obtain more weight plates.

Adding lots of dumbbells to your home gym can potentially be very costly. One 50-pound dumbbell costs anywhere from $35 to $55 dollars. If you add in the cost of shipping it may not be worth the cost. However, you can consider adding a set of adjustable dumbbells to your home gym.

With adjustable dumbbells, you can change the weight according to the exercise that you’re doing. If you need 20, 30 or 50-pound weights you just add that amount to each handle, put on the spring collars and get to work. You can find adjustable dumbbell sets that will give you up to 50 pounds per dumbbell for $100.

Another option is to get dumbbell handles to match your weight set. If you have an Olympic weight set you can purchase dumbbell handles and collars for as little as $40. If you make your own dumbbells this way, you will save a lot of money because you are just adding the weight plates that you already have to the dumbbell handles.

Create Your Own Custom Gym

Adding cardio equipment to your home gym is really not a necessity. You can put on a pair of sneakers and walk or jog around your neighborhood and get a great cardio workout. However, if you prefer to do your cardio in the comfort your own home you have a few options.

You can purchase manual treadmills for around $100. These types of treadmills come with different incline levels to add intensity to your workout, but they are powered by you. They aren’t as advanced as the treadmills in your gym, but they will get the job done.

You can also buy workout DVD's and get your cardio in that way. There are lots of workout DVD's on the market and the workout times vary from 20 minutes to over an hour.

Building a home gym is easy to do and can end up saving you lots of money. Gym memberships can cost up to $100 per month and over time that money really adds up.

If you’re imaginative and just starting out, you can buy basic equipment and get great workouts for only $100. If you are really serious about working out, you can spend more, and for only $1000 you can build a home gym that truly rocks.