This is something we just went through so we wanted to share for those of you building out home gyms so you can #liftheavyshit at home!
Once you have gotten some progress out of our basic home-gym setup (see this post – LINK for our basic home gym setup to get started with strength) you want to might be tempted to add a barbell and some weight plates and either a power rack or rack-stands to your home.
List of Olympic Weight Plates to get for a Home Gym
To build out a home gym for weightlifting (squatting and deadlifting and pressing) you want a set of plates that will let you gradually add load to each workout or week. A good set will let you go in 2.5 pound increments starting with the 45 pound Olympic bar.
- Olympic Bar – 45 pounds and 7ft is where most people start
- A squat rack or power rack depending on space and the exercises you want to do. A full rack provides options for pullups, deadlifts and adds an element of spotting / safety if you are training alone by setting a minimum height the bar can lower to.
- 1 pair of each of 45 lb
- 1 Pair of 25 lb
- 1 Pair of 10 lb
- 1 pairs of 5 pound plates
- 1 pairs of 2.5 pound plates
- A fractional weight set that allows you to make 1.25 (a 1 and a .25 is common). Will Likely includes some .5 and .75 plates. These are sometimes called ‘change plates’ as well and allow for ‘linear’ or gradual progression.
Extras/Other Notes
- Material – If you plan to drop the weights or do Olympic lifts (e.g. Clean / Snatch) get rubber or polyurethane. Stay away from metal if you can. Cost can mean starting with some metal plates and that is ok!
- It is generally thought that avoiding the 35 and 15s is best but some people like them and sometimes they are cheap!
- Practice bars – some people may like to get a 25lb practice bar to get a lower starting weight but those people may be better using dumbbells at first.
- We got a second set of 2.5 and 5lb and 10lb to help make warmups easier without taking plates off (for small people!)
Why 2.5 lbs Increments?
We choose 2.5 pound increments because many programs encourage ‘linear gains’ or ‘progressive overload’ and for many athletes over 40+ or who are endurance athletes the 5lb jumps seen in some programs are too much, especially for upper body but also just in general.
Adding some bands, a couple of dumbbells (or adjustable dumbbell) and a TRX-styled suspension trainer would fill out your home gym nicely. You can find those details and may have those from building our your starter gym (as in this post)
Need Help – Book a Consultation
Book a Kinesiology consultation where we can talk through equiptment or use video to go over your space or your exercise form!
