Equipping a Home CrossFit Gym

Setting up your home gym for CrossFit training requires a minimal amount of equipment to get started. Since most CrossFit movements can be scaled down to bodyweight exercises, you can begin with a small budget and still be able to complete a full WOD -- workout of the day. As your interest and budget increases, you can upgrade your home gym arsenal to best suit your goals and allow you to handle the more exotic WODs.

  1. Flooring

    • Since many Crossfit exercises are ballistic in nature, you will need to have cushioned flooring that can stand up to the abuses of iron plates being repeatedly dropped on it. While you can purchase fitness mats, they are typically expensive and shipping costs put them out of the reaches of most budgets. A less expensive, and just as durable, matting is the kind used in horse stalls. Plan on using one horse stall mat for each 24 square feet of gym space. The mats can be cut to fit by using a box knife and steel straight edge.

    The Basics

    • The minimum equipment you should include in your home Crossfit gym includes a pull-up bar, jump rope and Olympic barbell with rotating collars. For safety, and to further protect the flooring underneath your mats, choose rubber composition plates over the standard iron or steel ones. Plates range in weight from 10 to 60 kg, so start with a minimum of two 10-kg, 15-kg and 20-kg plates. Pull-up bars can range from pre-made bars to steel plumbing pipe that you assemble yourself and mount to your ceiling or wall.

    Bench and Rack

    • The next level of equipment to add is a squat rack and a bench. The squat rack can be as simple as adjustable squat stands that function similar to car jack stands, or you might choose a welded steel squat cage. Both can be used for racking the barbell when exercising and as a safety rack when squatting or benching. The bench should be adjustable so you can raise and lower the top and bottom ends. This allows you to use the bench in flat, incline and decline positions.

    Extras

    • Decide which extras to purchase once you have spent time in your gym and built an equipment wish list that enables you to expand your exercise repertoire. Typical items would include kettlebells, gymnastic rings, parallettes, a rowing machine, climbing holds and climbing training boards.