John Cleary flew home from Iraq on vacation and emptied out his garage. Not a
very exciting vacation, if you ask me.
But, apparently that’s what men do after they read Jim’s How to Kick Ass
in a One Car Garage.
“Up until the point of finding this article, I was online in Iraq researching
and trying to find a hardcore warehouse-style gym in the greater Charleston area
that I could be a member of when I got home,” John said. “Then, I’d never have
to train at 24 Hour Fitness again.”
He never really considered working out at home because he couldn’t fit the
equipment in his house. However, after he had to wait 30 minutes just to use a
piece of equipment at a commercial gym – the idea was very appealing. In
addition, he’d have bumper plates, be able to drop weights and even have a
deadlift platform!
“I only had a little one car garage that was filled up with lawn equipment
and crap,” John said. “And then I read this article and it got me thinking about
how all I really needed was a power rack, an adjustable bench, a platform, bars,
plates and dumbbells. And that could all fit in a one car garage because Jim
Wendler said so!”
John built a shed in his backyard. He trudged back and forth between the
garage and shed, carrying his lawn equipment piece by piece until his garage was
a hollow void.
The void was then overflowing with EFS equipment.
- Collegiate Rack
- Collegiate Bench
- GHR
- Farmer’s Walk Handles
- Deadlift Platform
“The Collegiate Rack is by far my favorite,” John said. “Every piece of
equipment is absolutely worth it. I always tend to half-ass things and don't
think I need the best, and I always regret it and get what I want anyway. This
time I decided to go all out.”
Although it was a huge purchase, it was specifically budgeted during John’s
deployment and took him two and a half years. It is, however, an incredible
investment. John didn’t want to go back to a commercial gym, plus the amount of
money he’d spend on his own gym would only be half of what he’d spend THAT YEAR
at a gym. John doesn’t know this, but I did some research myself as to how much
it really costs to go to a commercial gym vs. owning a garage gym. Here’s how it
breaks down:
The joining fee for a commercial gym is usually $100. Then, the dues are $35
a month. So, already he was paying $520 a year. But, he also has a wife and
daughter. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll only use two people. So, we are up to
$1,040 – and I’m not even close to done.
Let’s say they both travel in the same car and go to the gym four times a
week. It takes them 25 miles in each direction and the cost is 12 cents a mile.
That’s $1248 in transportation costs if they carpool every time.
What are we up to now, $2288?
Oh, shit! They get to the gym and both realize they forgot their water
bottles! They buy two waters at $2 a piece and let’s say this happens once a
week. Then they need gloves because, as we know from your Facebook comments,
most gyms don’t allow chalk. Each pair is $20 each. We just added $248 to the
total.
Time. There’s a value to it, or else no one would have a job. How valuable is
your time? They are already spending four hours a week driving to and from the
gym. Not to mention the time it takes to get dressed, socialize as a good
commercial gym member and wait for Mr. Half-Squat to get out of the rack. And
hopefully they won’t have a whole workout wasted by getting kicked out by a lunk
alarm for grunting.
Lunk Alarm
Anyway, back to time. Average income is $13 an hour. I’m going to attach this
$13 to their drive time. That’s $2,704, then, we need to multiply it by two for
both people - $5,408. Out of the hour and a half most spend in the gym, I’m
going to assume about a half hour of that is spent bullshitting, changing,
waiting, etc. So, they both waste two hours a week. This wouldn’t be wasted if
they worked out in a garage gym. The BS time ends up costing $2,704.
Our total is now $10,648 in ONE year!
One Year Commercial Gym Cost
Back to the garage gym. First of all, there are no commuting fees, they can
use all the chalk they want, no one will interrupt their lifting sessions and
their equipment will last a lifetime! For $4,273 they can get all the
necessities. This includes a Texas Power Bar, Econo Prowler, EFS Econo Dip
Attachment, EFS Econo Full Power Rack, EFS Pro Band Pack, EFS Econo GHR, EFS
Econo Incline Bench and a 500 pound Olympic Weight Set.
Lifetime Garage Gym
If you took this out over five years, and figured out how much you’d pay per
day in the span of a year, a garage gym will cost you a Monster Energy drink a
day and the commercial gym membership would be a new IPF Metal Bench Shirt every
day.
If you aren’t good at The Price is Right, I’ll put it into a dollar amount
for you, $2.34, compared to $145 over one year. I know I’m comparing apples to
oranges and playing with numbers here. It’s hard to compare a lifetime
investment to a commercial gym. But what else would you like me to do, take it
out over the course of 10 years to make a garage gym look (even more) insanely
cheaper? I have a better idea. If you bought a home gym and put it on a credit
card with 19% interest and only paid the monthly minimum - guess what? Over the
course of five years – you’d still be paying less! You could also collect money
from your friends who workout in your gym to pay off your debt quicker.
Heck, with the almost 50 grand you’d be saving, you might as well go get a
business degree and run your own gym!
“It’s a one-time fee and I won’t need to replace it,” John said. “After
dreaming about this gym for two and a half years in Iraq, it's finally a
reality...and it all started with reading this article.”
Rachel is training for her first competition and lifelong dream of being
on The Bachelor. She believes she'll win because she enjoys long romantic walks
on the treadmill, Disney movies, expensive dinners at McDonald’s, stuffed
animals won for her out of claw machines and the smell of blue heat on sweaty
men.
Her talents include, but are DEFINITELY limited to dancing, running the monolift,
smiling, correcting Dave’s spelling, baking with Betty Crocker, writing and
avidly following her 5/3/1 religion.
Rachel trains at the Mecca of strength hoping to one day wear heels, lots of
pretty sparkles and Protan. She is known to her many adoring fans as “Bubbles.”
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
