UK Home Gym Equipment: Practical Tips From A Starting Strength Coach
Before we get stuck into the list of equipment I recommend, let’s start with weighing up reasons why a home gym setup works so well versus a gym membership.
Then in the equipment list I’ll detail items that can conveniently be sourced to the UK, but really this first part of the article applies to wherever you live in the world.
Home Gym Vs Gym Membership
In the past I’ve been a big fan of having a gym membership and over the years I have had several myself ranging from the cheapest most rustic through to access of multi-million pound facilities boasting all the mod cons.
BUT nowadays in my books the reasons to have a home gym outweigh the reasons to have a gym membership, unless you have the good fortune to live near a Starting Strength gym.
So, in this article and video I’ll walk you through my reasons for suggesting you put in a home gym, plus outline the basic equipment you need to get started.
here’s why you should invest in a home gym
I really believe in the 21st century that your time and money should be put to best possible use; when it comes to verifiable progress a home gym paired with excellent coaching is the best way I've found to do this.
I personally use this approach for my own training, YES I too have a coach and a home gym.
As I think back on it, I used my home gym paired with the guidance of good coaching to take my deadlift all the way from 80kg to 180kg/400lbs+
It was then that I realised we don’t need a million dollar building and the fancy “pairs with your smart watch tech”, we need a few basic things that really do not take up much room and the right person to show the way in our training. The more you know, the less you need.
If you truly want to change your body and stay healthy long-term then I believe you should invest in equipment at home (that will start saving you money in the short term) and then your ongoing investment should be into competent coaching to get you to your goals.
The Two BIG savings ~ Money & Time
TIME SAVINGS are by far the most valuable these days. There’s no two ways about it, I have still never encountered any client who is not busy. Everyone needs time efficient training and losing the gym commute and messing about once at the gym is a hell of a good start to time saving.
Many people’s gym visits go like this:
i) Travel to gym: 10-30 mins, find a parking space add on: 5 mins (sometimes additional cost).
ii) Get into the gym and change into gym wear, find a locker (+10 mins).
iii) Finally get onto the gym floor and now the rack or space you need is busy! Start waiting to begin your workout.. Begin workout 45-60 mins, get distracted by anyone chatting with you add on: 10-15 mins.
In your home gym get ready to open the door, put on your favourite music and train right away.
Starting and finishing your workouts sooner, with no waiting time for equipment is a good fit for most people who have limited time to train, which is everyone I have ever met.
MONEY. It’s highly likely that after as little as 12-18 months your home gym will have paid for itself. After that there are no more gym fees, for life. Isn’t that amazing?
Because in strength training we don’t need very much equipment I can confidently say you will save money in the long run.
Much of the cost of equipment equates to around twelve to eighteen months of most gym memberships, and you’ll be cash flow positive even sooner if you’ve been paying for a family membership at the gym, so that’s a win all round, more time back to you and more money saved.
“Uninterrupted training, measured in years is the way to do long term health and build your dream physique. ”
Closures & Consistency
Uninterrupted training, measured in years is the way to do long term health and build your dream physique.
One of the adjunct but still major factors that has led me to advise in favour of home gyms is that they cannot be forced closed by government (lockdown) policies and that following restrictive policies there is no risk to them struggling to ‘bounce back’.
This is a serious matter to me as I personally know people and had clients whose health and wellbeing deteriorated as a result of forced gym closures during lockdowns.
Because exercise contributes such a large outcome to health my stance is in support of you having sovereignty over your health and wellbeing, and that means re-imagining your home as not only a place of rest and family but also one of health and exercise.
Since lockdown concluded in the UK some facilities have been so badly financially damaged that they have either not re-opened, or have managed re-launch only to close in more recent months. Your workouts and your physical health are too important to coaches like me to risk stalling out and suffering for reasons beyond your control.
Exceptions
There are of course exceptions to putting in a home gym. Here’s when you might consider gym membership:
i) You live near a Starting Strength gym;
ii) Your abode cannot accommodate home gym equipment;
iii) You are very new to strength training and want to spend an initial phase of time trying it out to become familiar with it;
iv) You need some kind of specialist supervision that can only occur at a gym facility;
v) Motivationally, you will only train when in the company of others, such as class based training.
The Beginner’s UK Home Gym Check list
There’s something beautifully simple in being able to tell you in just one paragraph the list of equipment that can transform your physical life, it goes like this: rack, bar, plates and bench.
I’m going to unpack more info below, plus suggest some accessories that maybe worth an extra few pounds. This part of the article is primarily designed to help those in the UK fit out their home gym so I’ve kept most of these items to UK providers or EU stocks that I can help you take your home gym from concept to ready to train in as fast as possible.
home gym squat Racks
Space Saving squat Racks
I use a very simple BodyMax CF415 for my home gym. It is a moveable rack that folds up nicely and tucks away into the corner of my living room. My whole set up only takes around 5 minutes to from packed away to fully set.
Mirafit do a comparable rack to mine, and when buying a rack of these types you want to check the total load it can accommodate and it’s dimensions (***to make sure you can fit inside of it when bench pressing).
I prefer not to use squat stands because when you go to rack the bar they can move/destabilise too much and there’s a possibility of them tipping over and they do not offer safety arms.
Wall mounted racks
Wall mounted racks open and close like a door hinges open. This is a fantastic space saver if you are multi-purposing your space for a other fitness requirements, or you are in your garage and need to move your car in after training.
The wall mounted rack I currently like is Rogue’s RML-3W because of the West side spacing it comes with and that you can add safety arms.
Power Racks
Power racks are a fine option and stand the test of time, they cost the most, but they are the kind of standard you will see in professional gyms and they are extremely versatile. If you have the space and you have the budget go for the power rack.
Your great great grandchildren will one day inherit your power rack, and what a legacy that will be as they tell stories of you getting your squat and presses up to some serious numbers as they do theirs.
The two power racks I’d personally use are UK supplied Mirafit M4 or from Rogue EU the Rogue RML (Monster lite) racks.
If you are seeking out other brands then…
The important thing on any home gym rack is safety - **make sure it has safety arms** this is essential for bench pressing safety and squatting heavily.
Home Gym Barbells
It is worth committing more money to a good bar as it is the interface between you and the weights, and as you’ll see below you can save money on plates.
All bars we use have 2” sleeves. These will fit with the plates. Be aware when viewing bars that some out there are 1” barbells, these are of no use for you as you’ll be getting Olympic spec plates with 2” holes and that fit won’t match.
There are 2 considerations initially. Should you order a 20kg 7ft bar or a lighter and shorter 15kg 6ft barbell (also may have a slimmer diameter on the grip/shaft). Generally speaking the standard is the 20kg barbell.
A 15kg bar is useful if you struggle to lift the 20kg bar over head, and it’s smaller diameter is helpful for those with smaller hands or could not lift as well as if you have a space consideration and need a shorter barbell to fit in your home gym.
My home gym barbell is a Rogue B & R 2.0 and I recommend this bar. It is available at Rogue EU. They also have a 15kg version.
When you purchase a barbell aim to find one that has a centre knurling which helps the bar grip onto your shirt during squats.
Rogue also has a Ohio Power Bar, I have never used this bar but it has good specifications.
Other makers of UK bars include Mirafit and Strength Shop. I have not tried those barbells out personally but they seem to have a variety of start points to suit budgets.
Second Hand Bars
You can check eBay or Gumtree for second hand bars at a bargain price. Texas Power Bars (by Buddy Capps) do come up in second hand listings.
When you go to inspect the barbell ensure it is not bent. Place it on the rack and roll the bar whilst looking at ends to see if they rise and fall indicating a bent barbell.
weight Plates
Here are some standard plate pairs you will need – ensure they are 2” diameter for the hole / sleeve of the olympic bar, there are some 1” spaced plates out there that will not fit.
1.25kg x 2
2.5kg x 2
5kg x 2
10kg x 2
15kg x 2
20kg x 2 or more pairs.
As you get stronger you’ll be adding more 20kg plates. The smaller plates simply enable you to make jumps in strength up until you can add another set of 20s to the bar. I like having a set of 15s in my home gym, although if you had to cut corners you could avoid purchasing a pair of these and just combine the 5s and 10s.
The plates I have in my home gym are all cast iron tri-grip plates that I mostly purchased second hand many years ago. They are the least expensive plates I have found and as very little can go wrong with them it’s safer to buy this equipment second hand.
One thing to note* you will require a set of bumper plates to get the bar to the correct height for deadlifting.
When we deadlift we have to get the bar to the correct height. 20cm/8.5 inches off the ground.
Bumper Plates
An ideal scenario to do this is to use 2 x sturdy 10kg bumper plates loaded onto the bar first. Note that they need to be 10kgs or heavier. There are 5kg bumper plates but they are so thin they begin to deform as you add weight to the bar.
If you have a greater budget for plates then you can go all in with plates at full size, and at the very top end are calibrated plates where the weight of the plate is very precise. For basic training and beginning strength training calibrated plates are not needed, usually you would find them in use at competitions and dedicated gyms.
For second hand plates you can consider Facebook marketplace, Gumtree, ebay etc.
For new plates at reasonable price ranges take a look at Fitness Superstore or Mirafit.
For top end calibrated plates look for Rogue or Eleiko. Again, I have never had occasion to use competition grade plates for general strength training.
Benches
In my home gym I use a Strength Shop flat bench for most of my training. I do also have a bench that inclines that I use for accessory work, but the vast majority is on the flat bench.
When buying a bench you want to check for it’s load rating; there are some very flimsy benches out there that will not support much load and I would avoid these.
Bear in mind the total load will be your barbell and plates combined with your bodyweight. With this in mind it’s very quick to find nearly 100kg+ of weight bearing down on your bench. Therefore make sure the load rating confidently exceeds this
In Summary
I have absolutely no regrets about putting in my home. I’ve had the most consistent training of my life because of it. In the last 12 months I even did a test for myself by taking out a 1 month pass to my local gym; a multimillion pound facility with swimming pool and sauna and much more. The result was I got less done in that gym and it took me more time to complete my workouts.
It was a good test for me, but ultimately I went back to my home gym and haven’t looked back since.
If time is tight and you were to ask me just for just one supplier in the UK that I would use for fitting out a home gym, then my choice would be Mirafit.
Good luck in your training and with making health a part of your home.
some other Useful Accessories
Plate Tree
Keep your home gym neatly organised with plates easy to find. It’s best to use a plate tree with 1 inch pegs as plates go on and come off easily.
Collars
I prefer the plastic quick lock collars. The sprung metal ones will sometimes jam and hold up changing plates on the bar.
Flooring
In my home gym I have kept the flooring for the room and deadlift using basic foam mats under the plates as needed, this is because my living room doubles as my home gym. However, in an ideal scenario if you are permanently having one room as a gym then it’s worth fitting floor tiles that suppress noise and are designed to receive impact.