How to build a home gym. Not everybody who wants to train for strength can fit a gym membership

into their lifestyle. Scheduling problems, the cost, travel problems from home or work, the absence

of an adequately equipped facility in the market, or simply the dislike of a commercial gym environment

motivates many people to invest in a home gym.

A serviceable home gym for barbell training need not be a gigantic investment, and in fact it should be

very simple. A bar, some plates, a rack of some type to facilitate the squat and the pressing

exercises, a simple flat bench for the bench press, and a platform for deadlifts is all that is

absolutely required. For power cleans and snatches, a few bumper plates are quite useful, but not absolutely necessary.

The equipment is simple and need not be expensive. But here are a few tricks.

The bar. Friends, this is the wrong place to save money.

Of all the pieces in the gym, the quality of the bar is the most critical.

The plates just hang there.

The platform just lays there, but the bar is your connection to the force against which you will lift.

Gravity.

Saving money is a good idea.

Generic trugs are cheaper than the name brand products, and they are essentially the same product.

But this is not true of Olympic bar belts.

In most cases, you get exactly what you pay for.

Unless you get lucky, and these days a rapid expansion in the interest in barbell training,

such luck is hard to come by.

You get lucky and find a good cheap used bar.

You'll need to expect to pay around $300 for a good bar.

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