Building a gym from scratch as a newbie is an impossible task.
You have to know what exercises you want to do, what equipment you need to do those exercises, and which products to buy to achieve your fitness goals. Jeez...
This guide however, will take your knowledge of fitness equipment from newbie to novice, to intermediate at least.
You'll know exactly what equipment to invest in, what to avoid, and where to start shopping—whether your goal is to get in shape at home or to build a commercial gym.
If you’re familiar with gym equipment or know exactly what need for your workout style, this content is NOT for you.
That said, this guide will walk you through every major fitness equipment category, training style, and facility type to help you make smart decisions when buying.
Lets start from the top...
Aimlessly moving around, in any particular direction, is not recommended. Your fitness goal will determine how you train, and what equipment you should prioritize.
Ask yourself:
Are you training for strength, muscle growth, or cardio?
Is your goal to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain weight while training?
Are you training as a hobby or sport, or for general health and wellbeing?
Being clear about your or your members' goals is the foundation for making good equipment choices.
Now, which training style, if any, do you think you follow?
Unsure? You can research all types of training styles and take time on this, or you can call it general health and wellbeing which will combine elements of each one in some sense.
Different niche style training requires different niche level equipment.
Here are some examples of training styles and an oversimplified list of the equipment they use:
Pro Tip: Your training style will dictate your equipment choices, but there is equipment that transfers over nearly all styles. Keep reading on for more detail.
Understanding your space and how it impacts equipment selection is essential.
There are two key aspects to consider: the size of your open area and whether your setup falls into a residential, light commercial, or full commercial category.
The dimensions of your space will define how much equipment you can fit while maintaining a functional and safe layout. Here’s a general breakdown:
Tip: You likely don’t need an exact square footage measurement, but i can help. Measuring dimensions and visualizing equipment placement will help ensure proper spacing and safety.
Related Article: Best Ways to Maximize Workout to Space Ratio
The type of equipment you need depends on HOW your space will be used and WHO will be using it.
Residential Equipment:
Light Commercial Equipment:
Full Commercial Equipment:
Pro Tip: If you’re outfitting a business or public space, full commercial equipment is a must to avoid maintenance headaches and liability risks. If you’re building a high-use home gym, commercial-grade might still be a smart investment.
Related Article: Home Vs Commercial Gym Equipment | EYNTK
You don’t need to buy everything at once. Start with the essentials and add equipment over time. This is a sneak peek to what we list in just a couple paragraphs.
Essentials: Power rack, adjustable bench, barbell weight plate set, dumbbells, and a cardio machine.
Nice to Have: Cable machine, multi-station gym, smith machine, other machines.
Specific: Plate loaded isolation machines, specialty bars and weights, and high-end cardio machines.
Related Article: How To Save BIG On Gym Equipment
Now that you’ve identified your goals, space, and budget, let’s break down all the equipment categories, and introduce you to some of the equipment available.
This is a somewhat exhaustive list, but get through it and we have more specific advice below to actually help you pick things you do or don't need.
Machines are large pieces of equipment with built-in resistance systems. They are designed to isolate specific muscle groups or offer multi-functional resistance training.
Cable Machines & Multi-Station Gyms: Highly versatile with dozens of exercise options. Combining some of the following into one space effective machine.
Lower Body Machines: Isolate, strengthen, and grow specific muscles in the lower body like the hamstrings, quads, calves, and glutes with machines like the leg press, hack squat, leg extension, leg curl.
Back & Lat Machines: Isolate, strengthen, and grow specific muscles in the back like the lats, rhomboids, eroctors, and traps, with machines like the Lat pulldown, seated row, T-bar row machine.
Chest Machines & Shoulder Presses: Isolate, strengthen, and grow specific muscles in the chest and shoulders with machines like the Chest press, shoulder press, pec deck fly machine.
Bicep & Tricep Machines: Isolate, strengthen, and grow specific muscles in the arms with machine like a preacher curl station, tricep pressdown, or combination machines.
Ab & Core Machines: Isolate, strengthen, and grow specific muscles in the core with machines like the Ab crunch, Roman chair, hyperextensions, and dual ab back machine.
Selectorized Equipment: Use a weight stack with pins for easy resistance adjustment.
Plate-Loaded Equipment: Use Olympic weight plates for resistance, often preferred by advanced lifters, or as a cheaper alternative to selectorized machines.
Pro Tip: These are in order of popularity :) If you're not sure where to look, start from the top and work your way down.
Free weights and racks are the backbone of any strength-focused gym.
This category includes power racks, barbells, and weight benches, along with the free weights needed for versatile exercises.
Racks: Power racks, half racks, squat stands, collegiate racks, and Smith machines.
Weight Benches: Adjustable benches, flat benches, utility benches, abs benches, 45-degree angled back & glute hyperextension benches.
Bench Press Racks: Flat bench presses, incline bench presses, decline bench presses, olympic shoulder press racks, competition racks.
Power Towers: Pullup bars, dip stations, assisted pullup & dip machines, vertical knee raise stations, and swedish wall bars.
Bars & Barbells: Olympic bars, fixed weight curl bars, EZ curl bars, trap bars, safety squat bars, swiss football bars, body bars, cambered bars, axle bars, tsunami bars, log bars, arc bars, and more.
Dumbbells & Kettlebells: Rubber dumbbells, hex dumbbells, urethane dumbbells, loadable dumbbells, fat bells, competition kettlebells, cast-iron kettlebells, and more.
Weight Plates: Cast iron olympic weight plates, bumper plates, urethane plates, competition plates, calibrated plates, fractional plates, and more.
Weighted Balls: Medicine balls, wall balls, slam balls, dead balls, and more.
Specialty Free Weights & Tools: Clubbells, macebells, sandbags, bulgarian bags, farmers walk handles, atlas stones, keg weights, weighted ropes, weighted chains, grip balls, pinch grip blocks, loading pins, Indian clubs, and more.
Strongman & Odd Object Training: Sledgehammers, stone trainer devices, yoke bars, strongman yokes, tire flips, and more.
Weighted Accessories & Attachments: Weight vests, ankle and wrist weights, landmine attachments, and more.
Pro Tip: This category contains some essential and highly versatile equipment. Racks and free weights are huge bang-for-your-buck products in terms of space AND money.
Cardio machines improve cardiovascular endurance and overall fitness. Do your cardio people...
This category includes motorized and non-motorized equipment for steady-state and high-intensity training.
Traditional Cardio Machines: Treadmills, ellipticals, upright bikes, rowing machines...
High-Intensity Cardio Machines: Air bikes, ski ergs, vertical climbers...
Functional Cardio: Sleds, tire flippers, agility ladders, plyo boxes, etc...
Pro Tip: Rowing machines and air bikes are versatile options for both cardio and strength-building, plus, come in at some of the cheapest price points compared to other cardio options.
Double Pro Tip: Walking around the block is free, so don't feel like you need to spend money to do simple cardio exercise for general health :)
Flooring and facility equipment ensure safety, durability, and organization. Depending who you are, this may be taken care of for you or by someone else at your complex.
Otherwise it may be your responsibility to handle.
There are some things in here you may have overlooked, but play a pretty important role in any gym space!
Flooring: Rubber floor mats, turf strips, platforms, bounce/drop pads, and more.
Mirrors and lighting: Wall mirrors, glassless mirrors, posing mirrors, ceiling lighting.
Storage Solutions: Dumbbell racks & kettlebell racks, weight plate trees, accessory storage, barbell storage, and even lockers for personal items.
Pro Tip: Start from the bottom up. Invest in good flooring early—it’s difficult to replace later.
Recovery and mobility tools help recovery, muscle building, prevent injury, improve flexibility, and are generally enjoyable and relaxing practices.
Examples:
Foam rollers & massage tools
Resistance bands & stability balls
Balance trainers & mobility stations
Pro Tip: We would recommend you buy primary exercise equipment before recovery and mobility equipment since you won't have anything to recover from initially.
Now you've got 100 different ideas about equipment types and categories, but lets distill it down to something tactical for you to get off the ground running.
In general, you should purchase equipment starting from the top of this short list, to the bottom.
You start with the essentials, you get into some widely used, but specific equipment, and then finally you add niche level expert training equipment.
Full Article: Gym Equipment Essentials In Every Gym Type
These are universal must-haves for any gym. You simply can't go wrong.
If you are building a home gym start with this.
If you are building a more publically used space, add one or more of each of these because it's what most people use!
Cardio machine (treadmill, elliptical, Stepper, rower, air bike, etc...)
Adjustable bench
Dumbbells & kettlebells
Barbell & plates
Power rack, squat rack, or smith machine
These pieces are found in most home and commercial gyms and cater to multiple training styles:
Multi Station jungle gym machines
Plate loaded isolation machines
An actual variety of cardio machines
A variety of other free weights, plates, dumbbells, kettlebells, specialty bars, and more
For more specific training styles, you might already know what you're looking for, but consider this:
CrossFit & Functional Fitness: Bumper plates, gymnastic rings, sleds, plyo boxes, kettlebells, wall balls, slam balls, sandbags, Bulgarian bags, landmine attachments, battle ropes, GHDs (Glute-Ham Developers), and medicine balls.
Powerlifting & Strongman: Safety squat bars, farmers carry handles, yokes, log bars, axle bars, cambered bars, deadlift platforms, atlas stones, circus dumbbells, weighted chains, calibrated plates, stone trainers, and sled drags.
Sports-Specific Training: Battle ropes, Vertimax trainers, agility hurdles, resistance bands, speed ladders, weighted vests, sleds, plyometric hurdles, reaction balls, and balance trainers.
Calisthenics & Gymnastics: Parallel bars, stall bars, handstand stations, pull-up bars, dip bars, gymnastic rings, Swedish wall bars, parallette bars, and bodyweight suspension trainers (TRX).
Martial Arts & Combat Training: Heavy bags, grappling dummies, punching bags, sand-filled kettlebells, weighted clubs, agility cones, and sledgehammers.
Pro Tip: Only invest in niche equipment if it serves a clear purpose for your audience, enhances training variety, or supports a specific fitness goal.
Pro Tip: Only invest in niche equipment if it serves a clear purpose for your audience.
Start with the essentials, then expand your equipment collection as your budget and space allow. Keep your fitness goals and facility type in mind, and don’t be afraid to reach out for expert advice.
Need help? Our team is here to guide you through the process. Contact us at info@selectfitnessusa.com or call 888-995-4450. We’d love to help you build your dream gym!
Matt Gemkow, the author of this content section at Select Fitness, boasts more than 15 years of fitness experience. He started out in sports and athletic training for many years and has since 2014 transitioned into heavy-weight training and bodybuilding. As a result, he has become one of the most experienced fitness equipment experts out there, and a valuable source of information.
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