How to design an All-around garden gym with rogue

This design has originally been published in the article "How to design a 3.6m x 4m gym with Rogue". Refer to this article if you want to see multiple options and how to use the Rogue Zeus engine most effectively and plan the space before putting gear into it.

The all rounder is my take on addressing multiple needs in a minimal space of 3.6m x 4m with the Rogue portfolio. The total cost for this built would come to roughly $30.000. This includes the built of the structure itself via garden gyms. The equipment itself is roughly $7200 if you already have a room of this size available. $22800 would be spent on building the room with gardenrooms.ie.

This gym has been designed with one or two people training at the same time. The main focus is strength. You have a concept 2 skierg for your cardio needs, a small area for conditioning needs and the RM6 Rogue rack forms the center piece. The Rhino belt squat will enable you to put more work in without wrecking your spine.The loadable dumbbell saves space instead of getting a big dumbbell unit where you have to store a whole rack of dumbbells. The lower right corner also leaves you with a little office if you wanted to run a YouTube channel or just have some retreat from family and friends to do your work in peace.

What else to consider from Rogue

Item list for the all around garden gym

This is the item list for this build. I have chosen the equipment that use for myself as I don't want you to be short changed.

The concept 2 Skierg was chosen to save some square footage while still giving you the possibility to do your cardio. Other options could be a concept 2rower, treadmill or Rogue echo bike. All of these take up more space and have therefore not been chosen for this particular design. If you have the space and you are mainly interested in powerlifting it will be of benefit to do your cardio as cycling. This trains your legs even more and is also the recommended option by Ed Coan, one of the strongest pound by pound lifters of all time.

The Rogue Two Tier storage was chosen to give you space to store your kettlebells and plates. As the place is already tight I would recommend to store the plates not on the rack but seperately, so that you have more freedom to move around the RM6 in the middle of the room. You can also first try to store the plates on the rack to free up even mores pace in the conditioning area and free up the doors a little more. You can also store your weights for the loadable dumbbell on there.

The rogue loadable dumbbell was chosen as i think it is a very space efficient solution for your dumbbell needs. A dumbbell rack is no go in such a small space. I find the other options for adjustable dumbbells on the market cumbersome to use. Rogue has come up with a great idea to safe space and still give you the original feel of a dumbbell with this design. The loadable comes in different lengths and options, so be careful on checkout that you choose the design and length that satisfies you the most.

Rogue Thor bar will be the main tool in this gym you will work with. It comes in two different variations on Rogue check out. I have chosen this bar as I think it is the best option you can get for powerlifting needs from Rogue. Other options would be the rogue Ohio power bar, West side bar or Deadlift bar, if your main interest is powerlifting. You can also go for a barbell that has no athlete special print on it. For me personally, I like that little bit of extra care and inspiration in my gym to push me even further. Read my article which rogue barbell to buy, if you want to dig deeper on bar options for your gym.

The Rogue safety bar is an option to protect your spine, do good mornings with less risk and attack your lower back for strength on the squat. It is a popular tool among strongman to build a big squat and core strength. Both barbells will ultimately hang off the right hand wall in the 5 slot gun rack. The area which is now occupied by them will be therefore free for you to exercise. The safety bar can be a later addition to your gym if you want to save money in the initial, but I highly recommend a dedicated day or two a week spent on the safety bar. Or run an entire cycle with it to mix things up and get stronger.

The Rhino Belt Squat drop in is only compatible with the Rogue Monster series. The belt squat is a great option for you to get more squat volume in without breaking your back. It is a popular option among athletes and powerlifting professionals to make your quads explode. As I am getting older i feel some wandering pains in my lower back and spine. Any tool to minimize the pain while maximizing output is therefore welcome. For me, the Rhino belt squat was an essential piece of what I would build. If you don't want this machine in your small gym this frees up cheaper options on the rack and space. Read my article on which Rogue rack to buy for under $1.000, if you want to downsize here.

The Rogue RM6 is the flagship rack of Rogue. You will get the best of the best with this beast. It is available in multiple colors and can be upgraded with Rogue Monster Accessories. The main reason this was chosen was to put the Rhino Belt squat into the back. You can swap the RM6 for a RM4 for this built if you don't want the Rhino and free up more space. Be aware that with the RM4 you can not store your plates on the rack as easily anymore and you will have to rely on the two tier storage to keep things organised. You can also keep the RM6 and remove the Rhino drop in so that two people can train at the same time on the rack. When you configure your RM6 you have many options. The bigger J Cups get generally good feedback. I didn't find a lot of feedback on the flipdown safeties compared to the safety pins. I personally would go for the flip down safeties as it leaves you with more training options than the pins. Don't bother with the name plate in the middle and go for a gusset. This gives you more options for future upgrades. For this built I also would be inclined to put a crown bar at the side rather than a pull up bar inside the rack. But these are just ideas for you. I would always recommend to go with the Monster series as this protects your investment. These are the most likely to retain their value and you will always participate in the latest new releases of the Rogue portfolio. For Lat pull downs you can add the slinger to this rack. If you want more options from the Monster series to do research read my articles on which strength equipment to buy from Rogue and which rack to buy from rogue for over $1000.

The rogue chalk stand comes on wheels and can be freely moved around your gym. This is the place to keep your collars, belt and chalk up for your heaviest lifts. This is an optional item as chalk is not 100% necessary to train your butt off, but why go short if you already bother with a great home gym.

The Rogue 5 slot gun rack will hold up to five barbells for your need. You might think that this is overkill, but there seems to be a tendency of people to start to collect different barbells, once they have their own gym. If you want to scale this back a little there is also a 3 slot option from Rogue. The two bars which are currently on the ground will slot in there to free up the space.

I personally think that any gym worth its salt has to have a timer and a white board to keep track of your progress. Both elements have been implemented in this built. If you think your mobile phone is enough to keep track, you can remove the timer itself. I recommend a Doc Artisan case for your mobile in case you wont't get a timer. This way you can attach your phone to your rack easily.

The Rogue Adjustable bench will give you all the options you need to do flat bench press and incline bench press movements. You can also use the bench in combination with the safety pins to do the torture twist. This is my personal favorite core exercise which I got out of Tim Ferris book the 4 Hour body.

Not in the picture but required for a functioning gym

Calibrated steel plates 159kg/459kg $885/$2060
Floor mats

The calibrated steel plates are the gold standard for your powerlifting needs. The main point about them is that they are very accurate in weight with little tolerance for veering off what is stated on the plate. They also look good and bear the Rogue logo. If you want to save money on plates there are plenty of other options like bumper plates and Olympic barbells which you can get from Rogue. Read my article on which plates to buy from Rogue to get more detail on other options for your plates.

This design definitely needs floor mats to function. Take care of padding to protect your floors in this one. To save space I have added no deadlift or weightlifting platform in this design. Be aware of this. Based on my research it is not needed when you do not do Olympic weightlifting, which will be hard to in this crammed space anyway.

Pros of the all around design

This design will give you a fully functioning garden gym in which you can set out to break world records in powerlifting. With the safety bar and Rhino belt squat you can protect yourself while still banging out a high amount of heavy reps to progress and grow. Your cardio needs are covered on minimal floor space and you have an area to do kettlebell swings or ball slams right beside the entry.This is also one of the most space efficient designs in the market to get a rack and belt machine fitted in. In addition you also have a desk to sit down at and record your training, look up the latest news on strength and conditioning or run your little fitness empire from.

Cons of the all around design

This gym is overkill. It is built for the needs of the 5% world class powerlifters in the world. The functionality of the rack and the Rhino belt squat is redundant and irrelevant if you don't want to squat very heavy. The Skierg is very close to the front of the rack which gives you one person less that can train in parallel. Otherwise you can easily get three athletes to train on a RM6 at the same time. There is also little to no space for any kind of jumps or sprint training. Your conditioning training will be stationery, so if you want to address spacial awareness in your home gym, this is not for you. The RM6 can also be downgraded if you are not mad about the Belt squat. Ultimately the cheapest gym you can get are the stones from the nearest quarry. I will never win that budget argument. You most bases covered with this one.