GYM: Nick's garage gym equipment

I asked Nick to send some photos of his growing garage set up. As you can see, there isn't much there...or is there actually a whole lot?

The heavy bag on the left is a seabag filled with 83# of wood pellets (I call most every heavy bag a "sandbag" whether it contains sand or not, and abbreviate it "SB"). The ruck on the right holds another SB, this one 40# for hikes, stairs, hills, and step-ups. The tire is for flips and jumps. The sledgehammer is for striking the tire (awesome core plyometric). And of course no functional home gym is complete without a kettlebell and a pair of hex dumbbells. Not pictured is the pullup bar contraption mounted to the ceiling.

So his gym consists of:

• truck tire
• sledgehammer
• pair of dumbbells
• 35# kettlebell
• 83# SB
• 40# SB, and pack
• pullup bar

Nick's actually got enough equipment to stress each of the seven primary movement patterns and more. Anyone who participates in a functional fitness program will look at the above photo and tell themselves, "Man, that's a pretty sweet setup. It's got everything I need." Anyone who attends the local health club argues, "What about an elliptical trainer, a leg press sled, or a curl bar? This dude must be crazy." How different the mindsets are....

There is group of our SWAT guys who have been doing a lot of SB training lately (Nick included). They are still learning a lot of new movements with their 40# and 80# SBs. They're big into SB get-ups, Zercher Squats, and clean-and-presses. I'm on their informal email list, so I get updated on their workouts and performances. As I get more photos and testimony from them, I will post.

Thanks Nick for sharing your gym with us.