After many, many, many years of saving we finally turned our home gym dream into a reality! We still have some things to finish up before it’s officially done, but for the most part, it’s complete!
I thought I would share with you some information on where we got everything and give you guys all the details of the Novotny Home Gym 🙂
Before I get into this, please realize that we have been saving for this for a LONG time, and I mean long. We put off vacations, eating out, etc. to enable us to do this. We probably could have found some of the same equipment on Facebook Marketplace, Craig’s List, etc., but we wanted to buy the highest quality products possible and we wanted them to last. If having a home gym is one of your dreams, I would recommend figuring out exactly what it is you want in your gym, and then deciding whether to buy new or used.
Now let’s get into it! NOTHING in this gym was gifted to us, sponsored, or anything, we paid for it fully. A majority of the equipment is from Rogue Fitness which is a very well known exercise equipment manufacturer, and in my opinion – produces the highest quality products. I reached out to a Rogue sales associate and told him what we were thinking of getting. He prepared a quote for me and we tweaked things from there.
There were some things that we took out or added just based on cost. For example, we had dumbbells going up to 100 pounds, but after seeing how much they were, we decided to go up to just 65 pounds. Maybe someday we will get the rest of them, but for now this is good enough for us!
Here is a list of everything we ordered from Rogue. If you were to go ahead and purchase equipment, I would recommend reaching out to them since they’re the experts!
- Rogue Echo Slam Ball – 15lbs
- Medball 10 Lb Black
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35LB Rogue Kettlebell, only got one because I already had a 25lb one!
- Rogue Utility Bench 2.0 (w/ Rubber Feet)
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Adjustable Bench 2.0, pretty pricey for a bench but when you see how amazing the quality is, you’ll know why it’s priced the way it is.
- Tricep Push Down Attachment
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Rogue 5 – 50lbs Dumbbell Set, and then in these same style weights, we added 55, 60, and 65lb dumbbells.
- Rogue Monster Slinger, WE LOVE THIS. It is so nice because it’s just an added cable attachment that goes onto the power rack so you’re able to do lat pulldowns, tricep push downs, cable rear delt pulls, and so much more! One thing to be aware of though, we thought this could be placed anywhere on the weight stack but it has to go on the back (which makes sense for when you’re squatting). So we weren’t able to push our rack against the wall like we had planned but it actually still ended up turning out fine! But just make sure you measure! This also sticks up higher on top of the squat rack so make sure you have enough head room.
- Rogue Universal Storage System 2.0, this is actually extremely huge and we weren’t expecting it to be this big, but we LOVEEEE it! Just make sure you have the space for it.
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Rogue RML-690CN 3.0 Power Rack (MG Satin Black), this is obviously very huge and one of their biggest ones but we wanted the room to do pull ups, pull the bar on the outside, and add in the Monster Slinger Weight stack. This is also VERY heavy and VERY big, so make sure you measure prior to ordering it!
- 1.2 Ohio Bar (Midnight Black Shaft / Chrome Sleeve) x 2, we did this so we could use one bar for deadlifts and one bar for squatting, rows, etc. Or, if Tommy and I are squatting/deadlifting at the same time, we can each set our own weights on our own bars.
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Rogue OSO MAG Collars – Gun Metal x 2, I actually would NOT recommend these because they’re SUPER tight and hard to shut; Tommy and I both have smashed our fingers plenty of times. If they have other bar collars, I would go with those over these.
- Plates:
That sums up everything we got from Rogue! After we were happy with the quote from them, I called their order team to order. I placed the order on February 25th., and the shipment arrived at UPS in Milwaukee on March 6th, which I thought was pretty quick for being 3,500 pounds of equipment! UPS called me to set up a delivery time and then they came to our house with a HUGE semi, so make sure you are prepared for that. The UPS guy and I had to use a wheel lift to push all five pallets of equipment up our driveway and into our garage. This was was pretty difficult… so if you’re a lady reading this, I would recommend having a man there to help you haha!
As far as setting everything up, it went rather smoothly and the directions were very easy to read. We did have help from Jarrett Bond (one of our good friends at 1st Phorm) Jarrett has done this before so he knew what he was doing, which really helped. I would recommend having at least two (preferably three or four) REALLY strong guys around if you get the same squat rack as we did, because it’s HEAVY.
Then as far as other pieces go in our gym…
For the flooring, we got horse stall mats from Blain’s Farm & Fleet. We measured out the space and figured out how many we needed. As you can see in this picture, we still have more to extend but we are saving up a bit more money before finishing it.
I would monitor the site for sales because we were able to buy them at 20% off! Another key thing, when you pick them up.. bring a truck and wear gloves because they’re kept outside and they are dirty! These are also EXTREMELY HEAVY.
We also had mirrors put on our walls to make it feel like a real gym. I contacted a local glass company, they came out and measured, and we ended up getting four 4’x6′ mirrors. If you want to add mirrors to your gym, just contact a glass company near you, as most will be happy to do this!
And last but not least, we installed some LED lights to brighten everything up. I’m not sure I would recommend doing this unless you have someone who is experienced in electrical work. Jarrett installed them for us and has experience doing it so it was pretty easy for him. LED lights really do brighten up a gym area!
That’s all for our home gym! We are hoping to add shiplap or some type of accent wall behind the dumbbell rack as well as extend the flooring and maybe someday get a cable tower. Now I know I will get questions on pricing, so I want to put it out there. If you order from Rogue, and get a power rack, dumbbells, etc., taking into consideration shipping and tax.. a good budget would be somewhere between $4,000-$10,000, depending on what you get. Also, Rogue’s headquarters are in Ohio, so the shipping from Ohio to Wisconsin wasn’t that bad. The further you live from Ohio, the cost will obviously go up.
I hope this helps to answer any questions about creating our home gym and maybe will inspire you all to create yours too! 🙂 My email is always open if you have any questions!
Until next time.
Peace & Love,
