There’s nothing manlier that working out in your garage. In fact, many men have relinquished their useless globo gym’s memberships and used that money to buy equipment for their own personal garage gyms. This saves time, and instead of paying some jerk’s expensive car payment, you keep the equipment.
Get a good weight set, a bench, and hopefully a squat rack, and you’re halfway there. There are several other components to the home gym that make it even more functional and can help you take your fitness to the next level. Below are 8 pieces of equipment that will increase your manly strength and save you money in the long term.
Plyometric boxes
Nothing builds explosive strength like jumping on a plyo box. However, plyo boxes from most fitness distributors are extremely expensive. The good folks over at Crossfit (THE anti globo-gym entity) have published plans on how to make your own boxes. I’ve made two: one 18" high and one for my son at 14" high. You can add this as a finishing exercise into any circuit for a truly taxing lung and muscle burner.
Sandbags
CAP Barbell 40-pound A...
Buy New $44.99
(as of 12:05 UTC - Details)
Sandbags are an extremely versatile piece of equipment. You can do cleans, carries, snatches and strongman type loading with them. The best part is they cost next to nothing to make. All you need are an old duffel bag (preferably an army/navy rucksack), contractor’s bags, and some pea gravel. Double-bag the pea gravel in the contractor’s bags, and tape them up securely. Each smaller bag can be at the weight you think is prudent for loading.
I have one large Navy sea bag and I made 5 different 25 pound small sandbags that fit into the large Navy bag so I can alter the weight as I see fit.
Another great exercise is to take your sandbag and some additional 45 pound plates and load up your trusty wheelbarrow. Quickly walk 100", make a quick turn and head back to the starting point. Who needs shrugs when you got this exercise?
Lifting Platform
If you’re a fan of the Olympic lifts (and who isn’t) you need a lifting platform. This is a handyman’s project and a little too complex to detail here. I got my plans from Ironmind Enterprises. You can see them here.
Pulling sled/tires
Pulling a sled is one of the best exercises for increasing work capacity and general physical preparedness. This piece of equipment will make good use of your welding skills. It requires a length of 1.25 square steel tubing (approx. 13" long), an 18"x24" piece of steel, and a towing strap.
October 20, 2010
