Cost of A Home Gym vs Commercial Gym – 2024
Last updated on April 5th, 2024 at 10:08 am
An often concern from people looking to venture into the garage gym territory, is the investment cost. Its hard to build a gym you want, and see that it costs SO MUCH. You are foregoing every machine, cardio equipment, racks of dumbbells, and more. When you could easily pay for a ~$50 a month membership and simply never worry about it. Plus, buying equipment means you need a place for it, and if you ever decide to move or simply stop lifting that sucks. So today lets compare the cost of a home gym vs the cost of a commercial gym membership.
For this blog post, I’m going to focus on the investment piece. How does the investment into a personal home gym compare to the investment in a commercial gym membership.
The True Cost of A Commercial Gym Membership
There are a few numbers that are easy to put together. Lets say our membership dues are $50 a month. When I was going to my local Gold’s Gym, we paid $30 a month, plus $100 or so twice a year for some upkeep fee. So lets just make it easy, $50 a month. That is $600 a year for dues.
Let’s say you go to the gym three days a week. Factoring in a few weeks out of the year for deloads and vacations, that is 3 x per week for 45 weeks per year, for a total of 135 workouts per year.
Commute & Expenses
Your commute to and from the gym is 10 minutes each way, so 20 minutes round trip. You spend roughly 10 minutes per workout either waiting for machines a bench or rack, getting caught in a chat with the local gossip, finding a parking spot, or simply trying to change out of your nice work clothes, fold them into your bag, and get ready to lift.
So we are now at 30 minutes per workout, that you are wasting due to a commercial gym. 90 minutes per week, for a total of 4050 minutes per year, or 67.5 hours. Now, we are going to set a value for your time wasted. Basically, you could be doing any other activity that is more worthwhile. Working, sleeping, eating, spending time with friends and family, staring into space, whatever.
So to clarify, I am saying that with a home gym, you wouldn’t be wasting this time and could instead be doing better things. Typically, we refer to this as opportunity cost. Because I don’t know what you make or what you value your time at, lets just use the current US Federal minimum wage of $7.25. So that is $490 per year.
I also add in wear and tear on my car/mileage costs as well. The reimbursement rate for most companies per mile is 65.5 cents per mile. The closest gym to me that I would consider joining is about 6 miles round trip from my house. We are looking at an extra $3.93 per workout, or $530 per year.
Total
So, after travel expenses, wasted time, and membership fees, we are sitting at $1620 per year in costs for going to a commercial gym. And remember, this is for ONE person. If you have two people, paying two dues, and traveling separately, you are doubling that cost. If your travel time is longer, if you have extra dues, you name it, your costs can clear a few thousand dollars a year easy.
The True Cost of A Home Gym
So lets look at a basic layout for a gym. A rack of some kind, a bench, a bar, some plates, plate storage, and some floor protection. This is more or less what I started with, so we can use a slightly modified V1 set-up for my gym to guide us.
I would typically recommend buying plates used at roughly $.50/lb, and if possible finding everything else used if you can, but for sake of argument, we are going brand new.
- Power Rack – Rogue R-3
- Bench – Rogue Flat Utility Bench
- Bar – Rogue Ohio Power Bar
- Plates – Rogue 500lb HG 2.0 Bumpers
- Plate Storage – Rogue Vertical Plate Tree 2.0
- Floor Protection – Three Tractor Supply 4×6 Horse Stall Mats
Rogue Subtotal (shipping and tax included): $3066
Tractor Supply Subtotal: $177 (local pick-up)
Out the door total, with no Black Friday deals or coupons, we are at $3243 shipped to my door and a quick run to my local Tractor Supply for the cost of a home gym. This is for brand new equipment that will allow you to do the Big 3 all while protecting your floor, your bar, your plates, and yourself.
Keep in mind, this is using Rogue! Go with Bells of Steel or Crandall Fitness and your bill will likely drop below three grand. If you went used equipment you could be looking at $2000 or less depending on your luck and timing.
Now, Rogue has a huge resale value, sometimes getting close to 90+%. So while your gym dues are simply gone, if you ever decide to upgrade or to change lifestyles or move, you still get some cash back.
Cost of A Home Gym – My Own Experience
I lift five days a week, and my wife lifts three. Two of her days are on the weekend, so we are using the gym 7 days a week. I also do two-a-days, something I’d never do with a commercial gym. My wife and I value our time WAY above that $7.25 an hour mark. And the local gym I’d go to, would cost us $109 a month for the two of us. So our cost to workout at a commercial gym would be well over $4,000 per year. Keep in mind we’d have to figure out day care services for my daughter at those times too.
I will be the first to admit, the original dollar amount isn’t where we stayed. I’ve spent a LOT more than that original $2000+ I spent on my V1 gym. But we’ve been in the garage for almost 10 years, and I damn sure haven’t spent $40,000!
The Final Verdict
Keep in mind, with the garage gym, you can lift whenever you want. Thanksgiving, Christmas, at midnight, before or after work, in your underwear, when you are sick, who cares. You can do two a days, you can include your kids in your workouts, and if there is ever a global pandemic that shakes the foundation of the planet, you are ready to go! My wife gets to have me as a coach, I get to fit my workouts in around household chores, running a business, and being a parent. I can control my own equipment choices, invite friends over, and compete in the Garage Gym Competition.
The downsides being that you are battling the weather, the marginal upkeep process, the constant tension to buy a new toy, and of course the plethora of equipment found at a commercial gym in terms of machines.
If the loss of machines isn’t a worry to you…
In one year alone we are spending $1620 on a commercial gym. Compared to $3243 for your own gym. You need to make it about 2 years to break even with the gym laid out above, and then its all a positive return on investment from there. Each year after you are pocketing a sizeable amount of cash. Quick note, when I originally wrote this article, the Rogue gym build out cost $2600. No pressure, but the sooner you can hop into the game, the better.
I think if you have the space, and the dedication to work from home, finding the initial investment capital (even if you start with a pilot process) can be an incredible step in the right direction for your pocket book.
Make sure to check out the next step in planning, is a home gym right for you?
Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
