How to setup a tiny home gym - get fit at home - My tiny home gym - Fat to Fit

In this video I'll show you my home gym and tell you why I train at home and how you can get started as well.

What's up youtube -  Here's a quick tour of my tiny home gym. This is where I do my daily training, mostly strongman and powerlifting workouts.

There are many good reasons to train at home - it doesn't have to take up a lot of space, and most people can start with little to no equipment at all. I've spend a few years gathering the equipment I have, and I usually buy either second hand equipment or some of the cheaper equipment available.

I save a lot of time by training at home, I can train whenever I want, and I don't  spend any time commuting to a gym.
I know what equipment I have, and that it's always available. And since I'm the only one using it, I know how clean it is.
I enjoy training alone - sure once in while I would like a spotter for squatting. But usually when I do max effort lifts, I do it as boxed squats.
If you need a spotter or just one to train with, then invite your friend, partner or family member to train with you in your home gym - or make a home gym together so you can spend some more on equipment.
I've found it more motivating for myself to train at home.

Again, most people won't need a lot of equipment in the beginning.
You can get in a pretty good shape by doing bodyweight exercises such as push ups, sit-ups and pull-ups.
Pull-ups bars can be made or found really cheap and don't require much space. I used to do pull-ups on the steps on my stairs until I bought a fingerboard.

Start by buying some cheap used equipment - a pair of dumbells, a weight set and perhaps one or two kettlebells.
Of course it depends how you train and your current fitness level and goal.

The room where I train in is only 2.4m by 3.4m - just a little more than 8m2. Smaller than most garages that many people use.

My best recommendation on training in such a small place is to keep it well organized, and to only have the equipment that you know you'll be using.

I have an adjustable bench, but I only use it as a flat bench.

I found this EZ bar really cheap in a second hand store, I use it mostly for curls.

That's a 12 kilo medicine ball from strengthshop. I use it for wallballs when the wheather is warm enough for outdoor training. During winter I mostly use for russian twist.

My barbell is a 2028 black zinc coated bar from strengthshop, the price is just around 130€, a quite OK bar for that price.

I have a freestanding squat rack, it's quite unstable when there's a heavy barbell on it, and when I'm reracking the bar.
I'm quite sure that this squat rack is from "Gorilla sports", and was probably the cheapest available when I bought it - I highly recommend to spend some extra on a good squat rack, whether it be a powerack, half rack, foldable or whatever suits you.
I've been looking for a better rack for some time. But since my room is so small, there aren't that many good options. I'm also a bit restricted by height, most power racks is a bit taller than the room. So I'm currently designing a rack that I'll build by myself.

I try to store and organize most of my equipment here in the corner.

There's a strongman log that I use a lot, and a homemade fatbar that I made this summer. The fatbar can be converted into a chain yoke by putting a chain through it.
I used to use fatgripz, but know that I have a fatbar, I'm probably not gonna use them a lot, maybe for some fatgrip trapbar carrys.

My Trapbar is one of my favorite piece of equipment. I probably use for 90% of my deadlifts.

A few dumbells and some extra plates for both them and the EZ bar.

I used to do a lot of kettlebell training, I qualified for the nationals in the snatch event some years ago, but ended up injuring my wrist a month before the competition, so unfortunately I had to cancel my participation. Now I mostly use them for swings - I have 12kg, 18kg, 24kg, 32kg, and the monster it self - 64kg.
The jump from 32 to 64 is quite big, so I might get myself a 48 kilo kettlebell one day.

Weight plates are obviously needed for weight training.
I have a bunch of cast iron plates from strengthshop and some plastic coated. They are both the cheapest that I could find.
 I've decided not to buy bumper plates, since I don't do a whole lot of olympic weightlifting. Maybe I will get some in the future.

I bought two sets of plates with various sizes. My idea was that in case I would be using more than one kind of barbell for supersets or similar workouts, then I would always have plates enough for both bars - but it turned out that I rarely do that kind of workouts. So I would have been better of with some more 20 kilo plates - I'm more likely to out-lift those that I have.
So more plates will probably be in one of my next orders.


I recently invested in this plate rack - once again I went for the cheapest. My plates used to lie on the floor, but that took up way too much space.
The plate rack is from "Gorilla Sports" - on the cardboard box it says it's "Professional gym equipment for everyone" -  this rack is way too unstable and poorly made to be called professional.
The welds should have been better and more welds are needed. The bolt holes are to large, giving the bolt to much space to move around in.
Maybe I'll build one myself if I don't stumble upon a good used rack.


Up here I store my belt and all my resistance bands.

Here I have a beastmaker fingerboard that I use for pullups, it's really good for strengthening the fingers and forearms. This fingerboard takes up less space than must pull-up bars.


So that's my tiny home gym - but wait, there's more.
Perhaps you've seen me do some training outdoors in some of my videos.
During summer, I mostly train outdoors, and I have some extra equipment that I only use outside.
I have a wooden structure from where I can do rope climbs, that's also where I put my gymnastic rings. I also use the structure for wall balls.
I'll put a chain through my fatbar and use it as a chain yoke.
I also have a homemade plybox that I use for box jumps.
And I do farmer walks with my trapbar.

I picked up an old tractor tire and a sledgehammer a few weeks ago. With those I can do exercises such as tire flips and tire slams - even though it's dark and quite cold outside at this time of the year, I might do some outdoor training once in while.

So my recommendations are:
Store and organize your equipment
Buy equipment that matches your current fitness level
buy used gear if you are OK with that. On many second hand websites you can set up to be notified when specific articles is for sale. High end equipment such as olympic bars and plates from known brands usually get sold very fast.
If you buy used, make sure to check it out properly - is the barbell even, are there any cracks in the plates, is the rack sturdy and so on.
And if you are good with tools, then you can save a lot of money by making some custom equipment by yourself. There many DIY guides on the internet.