A friend of mine asked me a little while back about which gym he should join. He lives amidst an uncontrollable suburban sprawl, and though there are a ton of gyms in the metro area, they all seem somehow compromised. He narrowed his choices to two options, but one is relatively expensive and the other only has one power rack (but it does have three smith machines ). I told him to move, find a home near a gym of a harder core (my recent cross-country move was heavily weighted by the search for a well-equipped powerlifter-friendly gym), but instead he joined the expensive health club.

If you don’t want to be stuck in a place that threatens to kick you out for doing anything resembling getting really strong and muscular, then it might be time to consider equipping the garage or basement with your home gym. In this multipart series starting today, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the dos and don’ts of buying home gym equipment.

When starting from scratch, the first choice for strength training is an easy one: barbells. Barbells allow incremental loading, so you can lift as a beginner and steadily increase the resistance as you move toward mastering the iron sport. A good beginner set should have the following:

One (1) Olympic barbell, 20kg/44lbs (some are 45lbs, and these are fine. In fact, there are some that weigh more than the standard ~45lbs, but we’ll discuss those in the future)

Two (2) spring clips. You need these to keep the plates balanced on the bar (*though home training can present situations where it’s CRITICAL that you DON’T use the clips whilst bench pressing. More on this in next week’s installment). In the absence of weight clips, or if yours break, you can use any kind of clamps that will fit securely on the 2” diameter collars. Just make sure that whatever clips you use, they’re symmetrical.

Four to forty (4-40) 45lb plates. You probably won’t need to load your bar with upwards of 1000 lbs. (and when you do, you’ll probably be using 100lb plates), but you should start with at least four. Four 45s gives you 225lbs including the barbell, which is the bare minimum smaller trainers will need for their novice training programs. Most people should probably get six or eight to start with (always buy weight plates in pairs of identical brand plates), but four can be a good start, especially when you also get:

Two (2) 25lb plates. Most gyms have 35s, but you don’t really need those when you get:

Four (4) 10lb plates. Getting four 10s will save you money by alleviating the need for 35s, plus it allows you to add 20lbs on each side, rather than 25 (10 extra pounds can be a big difference once you start working your way up the strength ladder).

Two (2) 5lb plates. Same as the 10s, but sometimes they’re too heavy.

Two (2) 2.5lb plates. Again, very useful for gradual increases.

Fractional plates. Now, you can buy these, and companies like Iron Woody make very high quality plates in weights as low as a quarter pound. What I did when I trained on the Starting Strength template is buy six (6) 2” internal diameter washers. I read this somewhere online and took my kitchen scale to the local Fastenal. As it turns out, the washers weigh around 10oz each. This is perfect, since adding one on each side allows you to add 1.25lbs. When you’re reaching the limit of your newbie gains on lifts like the overhead press, the ability to add weights as small as 1.25lbs helps you to continue making linear progress. In short: buying fractional plates makes you bigger and stronger, faster. The six washers plus tax only cost me about $12. They might look at you strange at the store, but since you’re confident, it won’t matter. It’s important to weigh them there before you buy, because they can be off by several grams. It’s critical to load barbells symmetrically, so make sure all of them weigh the same amount. I had to go through an entire bin (about 50 washers) to find the 6 that all weighed out identically, but knowing that I was helping to build a balanced, powerful physique made it well worth the effort.

Next week, we’ll discuss the other necessary tools for basic barbell training, plus tips on how to make the most of what you’ve got.