5 Pieces of Fitness Equipment I Regret Buying for my Garage Gym

I’m an impulsive shopper when it comes to fitness equipment, maybe you are too. Much of the fitness equipment industry relies on impulsive nature of buyers out there. 

Over the years, in the pursuit of abs to which many a chubby teenager can relate, I’ve bought many things I am ashamed of in retrospect. Things from infomercials like an ab rocker, ab rocket (which is just a chair!), one of those electronic ab exerciser thingies that basically shock your abs, a six seconds abs machine, and whatever this is…

But we’ve all been young once, now that the internet and reviews exist, surely in the last 5 years there have been no stupid fitness purchases for the garage gym, right? Wrong. Below I list the 5 pieces of fitness equipment I most regret purchasing over the last 4 years since building my garage gym. 

1. Two Cheap Adjustable Benches

I have bought not one, but two adjustable benches that I regret. I should have just bought a nice one from the start, and now I’ll end up eventually buying a third and final bench that actually works well. A quality bench runs around $500 at Rep Fitness or as much as $935mm (before shipping) at Rogue.  But instead, I bought a more basic model from Rep Fitness in 2015 for $300 off of Amazon. It was a pretty good bench, but one of the two pads would frequently be loose, and the bench was a bit narrow for my back (which is by no means wide).  

So, I went looking for a heftier bench and decided to try Titan Fitness’s adjustable bench for like $125.  When I bought the Titan bench this year, I didn’t go back and review what I had paid for the Rep bench, I guess my recollection was that it was much less than $300.  I bought the Titan bench and threw out the Rep bench.  

The Titan one was wide and had a thick cushion, but was less sturdy and wobbly with little ability to adjust it to make it stop wobbling.  This is not the ideal base for getting that leg drive and pushing heavy weight. So, I’ll probably end up buying another one, after I punish myself for a few more years.

2. Foam Flooring Squares

The package makes it look like this flooring is thick and useful, when it is neither. The floor squares move around, they come apart if you try to do much on them, they are basically useless. Obviously it’s much better to get horse stall mats from the Tractor Supply Company or some local gym supply store. They are really heavy, but worth the effort to put them in place.

3. Rolling Thingy

As noted in my recent YouTube video, I’m not a fan of foam rolling, stretching or rolling in general. But a few years back I thought differently and bought this thing, which I didn’t use once, but somehow still have. I guess I’m supposed to use it to make my sore muscles feel better sooner if they’re sore? Who has time for that? It’s like what Jesse Venture said in the film Predator: I ain’t got time to bleed…

4. Traditional Straps (I Prefer these Hooks)

When you deadlift a couple times a week and do barbell rows and pull-ups, your hands can take a beating. It’s critical to have a way to give your hands a break when doing accessory or volume work for the deadlift. Straps are the old school thing people use. I found it hard to get used to straps and prefer these other hook things I bought that are just easier to set up and use for someone who never really figured out traditional straps.  Obviously this purchase is much less of a regret at less than $20 than a bench that costs several hundred, but nonetheless it’s a regret. 

5. Barbell Regrets

Similar to how I did almost no research on adjustable benches back in 2015, when it came to barbells, I bought 3 barbells that I regret.  I own 3 all-purpose power bar style bars with no center knurl. The first one I bought was like $100 bought from a gym supply warehouse in some remote PA town I found that I found on Craigslist.  It had a large hex bolt rather than a cap on the end of the bar, which basically means its a trash barbell. Later I bought a better bar that’s like a knock off Texas Deadlift style bar with a wider sleeve.  Eventually, I bought a bar from Rogue that was definitely much nicer and seemed a bit different with a narrow sleeve and a better knurling.  

The mistake I made was not planning the barbell purchases to match what I wanted them for.  Ideally, I would have 3 high quality barbells at this point, including one with a center knurl to use for squatting, one deadlift bar that wasn’t so stiff, and then one traditional power bar.  I screwed that up, and will have to buy more barbells over time to rectify the situation. It is nice to have a “beater” bar for rack pulls and for use in the landmine attachment..

Bonus: Simply Fit Board Thingy

In a moment of weakness while watching Shark Tank, I bought this hard piece of plastic that has been sitting in the garage gym for a few years not being used.  The concept is that you twist around for a while and its a workout. I guess I bought it as something fun for the kids to use too, I don’t know…anyway, enjoy this video of me shaking my can on this board thing.