Let’s say you could get a membership to a perfectly serviceable gym (such as the YMCA) for 40 dollars a month. Two years of dues add up to 960 dollars. I’ll show you a strategy for taking that money and creating a home gym for Strongman training.
Every gym needs a bar. Most home gym owners choose to get an an Olympic weightlifting barbell. But those can cost hundreds of dollars, and since we’re focusing on Strongman rather than weightlifting and powerlifting we can skip this potentially pricey piece of equipment. Instead we stock our home gym with a Strongman axle.
First purchase: axle
An axle makes regular appearances in Strongman competitions and it’s one of the easiest and least expensive to obtain. It’s also one of the most versatile pieces of equipment. It can be used in place of a barbell for common movements like squats, deadlifts, bench, rows, cleans, and overhead pressing. The bigger diameter usually means that your grip will give out before other muscles during pulling movements. This means that your grip will get stronger faster than if you were to only train with a barbell. When you’re not focused on working your grip, incorporating lifting straps and chalk will help you pull much heavier weight without fear of your hands giving out.
Get an actual axle bar or create your own from galvanized pipe. Considering the price difference I found is only seven dollars, it seems well worth it to purchase an actual axle bar.
| Galvanized Pipe 1.5 inch | $40 | Menards Link | Cut to 7 feet long. Use duct tape and athletic tape to create sleeves for the weights and to mark the center of the bar to help indicate where an even grip goes. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titan Fitness 84″ Axle Barbell | $47 | Titan Fitness Link | Get a Strongman axle bar with no cutting or taping or fuss for seven dollars more. |
| Apollon’s Axle | $250 | Ironmind Link | This axle is the crème de la crème of axle bars. It’s nice, but far too pricey to recommend for this gym. |
One of the biggest differences between an axle bar and a regular barbell (other than the diameter) is that the sleeves where weight plates are loaded don’t spin on an axle. This adds a bit of nuance and feel to an axle that is different than a barbell, and it’s one of the biggest reasons to train with it instead.
Second purchase: weights
Weight plates can be one of the easiest places to dump money. They can be oddly expensive. If you’re able to find 45 lb plates on craigslist or some other second hand source, jump at the chance. Generally speaking, they will cost a little more than a dollar a pound when new, so if you can find any deals less than that you’d be in good shape. For this article I’ll assume that you’re purchasing weights new, but be aware that it is possible to find better deals.
When looking for plates, don’t get Standard weights. Standard weights have only a one inch hole in the center and not much of the equipment we’re interested in stocking our gym with will be compatible. What we want in our Strongman gym are Olympic style plates that have a 2 inch center hole.
Inside the Olympic plate category of weights, there are many types. Iron, bumper, calibrated, and more. The least expensive option will usually be iron plates. However, if you plan on dropping loaded bars from overhead (and believe me; in Strongman this will happen) then it would be good to have some bumper plates that can absorb the impact.
So my recommendation for weights are: four 45 lb bumpers, two 25 lb bumpers, two 10 lb iron, four 5 lb iron, and two 2.5 lb iron.
| Source | Plate Count | Size | Type | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titan 45 Bumper Plates | 4 | 45 | Bumper | $272 |
| Titan 25 Bumper Plates | 2 | 25 | Bumper | $72 |
| Cap 10 Iron Plates | 2 | 10 | Iron | $33 (with Prime) |
| Cap 5 Iron Plates | 4 | 5 | Iron | $50 (with Prime) |
| Cap 2.5 Iron Plates | 2 | 2.5 | Iron | $12 (with Prime) |
That adds up to $439 just for plates. However, these are good deals and Titan Fitness has free shipping.
Budget Check
We’re up to $486 for our Economical Strongman gym. That leaves us with $474 left.
Third purchase: hex bar
A hex bar is a golden piece of equipment. Sometimes it’s called a trap bar. It is incredibly versatile and an excellent tool for sport specific training, like training for Strongman! This bar will allow you to train heavy deadlifts, the squat motion, and moving carries, without needing an Olympic bar, power rack, or farmer’s carry handles. Also, since the bar lets you stand directly in line with the weight (instead of just behind it if you were to use a straight bar) your lower back is kept in a safer position. This is an all around great piece of equipment.
| Cap Mega Hex Bar | $128 (with Amazon Prime) |
A Strongman athlete has a variety of deadlift motions they could encounter in a competition. Car deadlift, standard “powerlifting” deadlift, axle deadlift, 18 inch deadlift, frame deadlift, and farmer deadlift. The hex bar will build power that translates to all these movements.
Budget Check
We’re up to $614 for our Economical Strongman gym. That leaves us with $346 left.
Fourth purchase: yoke
This is the where the differences between other gyms and our Strongman gym really come into focus. And, unfortunately, we will bust the budget a little on this, but it’s the final non-free piece of this gym. And it’s versatility makes it worth it. I could also justify this purchase by pointing out that gyms with a proper Strongman yoke would likely cost more than $40 a month and be more time consuming since you’d need to travel to them. And since time is money, that adds cost to the gym membership on top of the monthly dues. But honestly, it’s for you to decide whether this endeavor is worth it.
A yoke adds a lot of versatility to our Strongman home gym. We can now train yoke walk, yoke squat, yoke press, and 3 inch bar holds for grip. If we add a couple of J-Cups the yoke turns into a half rack and we can start training axle floor presses axle axle strict presses from the rack.
| Titan T3 Yoke | $368 |
| Titan T3 Sandwich J-Cups | $60 |
Budget Check
We’re up to $1,042 for our Economical Strongman gym. Which means that we used all 2 years of membership dues plus $82. So basically we took 26 months of dues and turned it into a Strongman home gym that you have a lifetime 24 – 7 – 365 membership to. That sounds worth it to me.
Fifth purchase find: a rock
This one is easy on the budget. It should be free. Find a rock that is heavy but you can still lift. Take it to your gym and use it for lifting to chest, pressing overhead (if you can,) and carrying for distance or time. Front carries are an essential strength for Strongman athletes.
What was skipped
I left out a lot of stuff that you will typically find on home gyms. It’s not because these things aren’t useful. Rather, it’s because these things are lower priority when watching your budget and when training for Strongman.
I left out a power rack. The reason is that once you have the yoke I listed, then you basically already have a power rack.
I left out a bench. The reason is that Strongman competitions rarely, if ever, have a bench press event. And, with the yoke as a rack, you can do floor presses with the axles which will hit your chest and triceps. In Strongman, bench press is an assistance exercise and it’s used to increase overhead pressing strength. If you insist on benching, then I recommend this flat bench from Rep Fitness which goes for $100.
I left out plate storage. Weight trees certainly help keep your home gym organized, but I’ve found that it’s perfectly fine to stack bumper plates vertically on top of each other, or to lean them against the wall.
I left out bands and chains. Little things like that can add up quick, and while I do think that bands are very useful in a home gym, they were cut because of the budget.
I left out an actual barbell. An actual olympic or powerlifting barbell is very useful. And honestly, a good one is a joy to use. This would be something I would add to this Strongman gym fairly soon. I wouldn’t get a cheap bar here. Plan to spend at least $150 or more for a quality piece of equipment that will last years.
I also left out sandbags. This is the may be the single most important tool that is a priority for Strongman that I left out, and it was purely because of budget. Look into Ironmind or Cerberus sandbags. When they’re heavy, they are great for lifting over a bar (another use for that yoke) or when they’re lighter, they are great for conditioning work by carrying them long distances.
I left out gym flooring such as plywood or rubber stall mats. You don’t really need it since you’re using bumper plates. But eventually if you get iron 45s you’ll want to add flooring to your gym.
I left out a category of equipment, basically “gym bag” equipment was left out of this list. You should have towels, gym shorts, t-shirts, lifting straps, chalk, belt (etc) regardless of whether you train in a home gym or a commercial gym.
What can you do with this home gym?
You can do plenty! Let’s break down the five “big” strength movements and see what stuff we can do. The five are: overhead press, squat, deadlift, bench, cleans/rows.
Overhead Press
Squat
- Yoke Squat
- Hex bar deadlift (I know it’s called “deadlift” but is works many of the same muscles as a squat does)
- Axle squat (maybe get some T3 safeties for your yoke before going to heavy with these.)
Deadlift
- Low handle hex bar deadlift
- High handle hex bar deadlift
- Axle deadlift
- Natural stone to chest or stone over bar (over the yoke’s cross bar)
Bench
- Axle floor press (remember, bench is assistance work in Strongman)
- Hex bar floor press
Cleans/Rows
- Axle Pendlay Rows (put the axle down between each repetition)
- Axle Rows (like Pendlay Row, but don’t put the axle down until the set is finished)
- Axle Continental Cleans
- Axle Power Cleans
And since we’re talking about Strongman, moving with weight is key. Here’re moving events that can be trained with this gym.
Moving events
- Hex bar carry heavy (Do for distance)
- Hex bar carry light(er) (Do for time)
- Yoke carry heavy (distance)
- Yoke carry light(er) (time)
- Natural stone front carry (for time and distance)
The hex bar carries will translate to both farmer carries and frame carries.
Moving forward
This is enough equipment to build a solid strength and conditioning base for Strongman. Moving forward you will probably get stronger than the weights you have, so you will eventually need to get more 45 pound plates. You can probably go cheaper at this point and get iron 45s. Still use the bumpers for overhead movements, but on things like deadlifts you can use the iron 45s. They save space on the bar and you can go heavy with them. At that point, you would want to get some flooring as well to protect your home gym’s floor. A sheet of 4×8 by 3/4″ inch thick plywood will do the trick, though it might be noisy. You can also use 3/4″ inch thick horse stall rubber mats.
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