Small Home Gym Equipment Essentials

Let’s face it; the vast majority of us don’t live in spacious homes. The idea of a home gym can appear out of reach. It seems every inch in our homes is up for grabs.

The good news is that with small home gym equipment you can create clever solutions for limited spaces. Small home gym equipment usually comprises low footprint machines or racks, along with items that fold and pack away neatly so that for those times you’re not training, the room can be freed up for other purposes.

In almost all cases, there is no excuse not to set up your own home gym. It’s more a question of what equipment you’ll invest in. In theory, if you have a kettlebell, door frame pull-up bar and a yoga mat, you’ve got a home gym.

With that being said, if you’re reading this article, I’m guessing you want more than that, though. I’m the same. For me, home gym training should also involve a barbell, bench and rack at the minimum and if you can upgrade to some kind of cable machine then you’re talking dream-level small home gym equipment.

We’ll discuss the two most common scenarios when it comes to our customers: lifters with a medium-to-large room and lifters who are making the most out of small spaces. Both fall under the small home gym equipment umbrella.

Small Home Gym – Large Space

So let’s assume your room is about 200 square feet. What kind of small home gym equipment are you going to need so that you can make the most of your space?

First things first; let’s keep a couple of principles in mind. One, we want to minimize dead space. In other words, you want to avoid buying small home gym equipment that takes up space but is not used often enough to justify its place in your home gym. I’m talking something like a treadmill. It’s big, has a large footprint and doesn’t have much in the way of alternate uses. Plus, many of us can run outside most of the year.

Speaking of which, consider how a single piece of small home gym equipment could be used in a variety of ways. For example, an adjustable bench. You can use this single item for a wide range of exercises. Not only that, but it also has a small footprint, and it can be neatly packed away when not in use.

Based on my experience, you should look at an all-in-one system which combines multiple areas of functionality along with a small footprint. Something like the M1 2.0 Smith Machine.

This power rack/Smith Machine combination piece provides an enormous array of exercise possibilities in one single piece of equipment. Assuming you have the ceiling clearance (a minimum ceiling height of 85.3 inches), this piece of small home gym equipment takes up floor space equal to approximately 23 sq ft – under 12% of our example home gym space.

A rack like this is perfect for exercises like the high and low crossover, chest press, mid row, lat pushdown, and overhead triceps extension. Although triceps tendon injuries are rare (Sollender, Rayan, Barden, 1998) I find it really helps to improve my upper arm aesthetic by training my triceps with cable exercises.

Of course, you can get a lot more functionality out of your rack if you have a barbell (specifically one that is not attached to the Smith Machine) and weight plates. Adding these to your home gym setup will exponentially increase the number of exercise options you have available to you.

Finally, with 200 square feet of space, you may have the option of adding more niche, specialty items to your home gym. Hip thrust machines have become incredibly popular pieces of gym equipment in recent years and can help you train your glutes at home like no other machine or exercise is capable of.

Small Home Gym – Small Space

So we’ve got the large room scenario covered. But what if you find yourself trying to make a space in the 100 square-foot range work out?

We already mentioned the importance of selecting multiple-use small home gym equipment items which also minimize the floorspace required. Obviously, for a 100 sq ft room we have to be especially careful in the items we select.

Again – fear not – we have you covered. The PSR05 Smith Machine requires a ceiling height of 82 inches and its footprint clocks in at just under 14 square feet. You can make this the cornerstone of your small home gym using only 14% of your floor space based on our 100 square foot room example.

Because the PSR05 has a lot of room for weight plate storage, it helps you to save a few additional ever-so-valuable feet of space, as well. Also, its multi-functional nature allows you to perform a variety of lat pulldown exercises. Compound exercises are the most efficient exercises for small home gym lifting.

Even if you have a small area for lifting and only a single power rack or Smith Machine to lift with, investing in a set of inexpensive accessory items can greatly expand your exercise options. Attachment bundles comprised of rope attachments, straight bar attachments, double D, and V handles leave no excuse for you not to get a complete workout in your small home gym.

Lots of Space or Little Space…No Excuses!

No matter the space constraints of your home you can train effectively with the right small home gym equipment. Whether you’re dealing with a space of up to 200 square feet, or a small room of only around 100 square feet, we’ve shown you what you can accomplish with footprints of 12% to 14% of floor space, respectively.

And we’re not talking yoga mats and kettlebells (which certainly aren’t bad additions to your home gym!). We mean heavy duty steel, cable systems, Smith Machines, landmine attachments, pull-up bars, adjustable benches…you name it!

Your home gym goals are attainable and achievable and I hope we’ve inspired you to think big, even when you’re working with a small space!

Reference:

Sollender J., Rayan G., Barden G., (1998). Triceps tendon rupture in weight lifters. Journal of

Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 7 (2): 151-153.