Whether you live in a shoebox apartment or have a spare
office in your house, you might not realize that you actually do have the floor space for a serviceable gym. Stankowski’s rule of thumb: “As long as you can lie on the ground and do a snow angel, you’ll have enough room to push, pull, twist, bend, and squat to challenge your body in different planes without running into stuff or breaking things.” Make sure you can stand on our toes and reach your arms straight up without chopping
your fingers into a ceiling fan. That’ll give you enough vertical space to do jumping or overhead-type exercises.
Before outfitting your home gym, you’ll need a white board, calendar, or training log to
monitor your progress. “Guys who train at home make the mistake of training instinctively, doing what ‘feels’ right,” Stankowski says. “But when you train randomly, you get random results.” Map out your program beforehand and pin it up so that your goals stare you in the face.
Another good (and inexpensive) investment is a countdown timer — like the GymBoss — to keep track of
rest intervals. The foundation of any home gym starts with adjustable dumbbells. “They’re safe, cost-effective, and space-effective,” Stankowski says. With a good pair of DBs, you can perform a wide range of exercises, from single-leg squats and military presses to lateral raises and bentover rows.
