I am moving soon and am going to have a 13'x17.75' room for a small gym. Before you even suggest it, I don't want bowflex or any **** like that. I am thinking of having a squat rack, a few benches/L-seats with barbells and dumbells. I am worried about having enough back exercises to do, though. I can't do any pull ups right now and I don't think it's valuable to get a lat pulldown machine. If it is not too much after I get my dumbells and barbells squared away, I might get a universal pulley system.

I am figuring that hex dumbells are the best bet. I am looking to get some brand recommendations on what is a good at a reasonable price. I cannot give a number for a set budget, but not an astronomical amount. Any help/ideas are appreciated.

More info can be found on me in my intro thread here.

Power rack, adjustable bench, bar, plates, and db's are all you really need. I don't know about brands, they are all pretty much the same, unless your flooring is different. You can usually do pullups off a power rack.

I'd recommend a Powertec cage with plate loaded lat/row cable system. This will take care of dip and pull-up station as well.
A Body-solid GFID-71.
Powerblocks or std DB bars with 4x2.5, 2x5 and the rest as 10lbplates.
A hyperextension or glute-ham raise station.
Two 1/2" layers of mats.
A 65cm swissball.

Damn dude, those Powertec push 400 don't they? What is a swissball?


Thanks for your ideas guys.

Like a big inflated rubber ball.. Great for stability exercises.

$699 (free shipping) w/ lat/row station from bodybuilding.com

Building a home gym is not a cheap thing. If you want to do it right, you want to spend the money. I'd say my home gym cost $1700 and that's not including a lat/row station.

I know it's not going to be cheap.


What about kettlebells? I've been reading about them and how good they are for home gyms, anyone used them/have an opinion?

Here's a discussion from JP's on kettlebells:

Kettlebells - JP Fitness Forums

In short, kettlebells aren't the magic exercise tool they are hyped to be.