How Travis, Resourcely.io Founder, Built His $12,500 Home Gym
- Build your own home gym like startup founder Travis McPeak – stay fit and healthy with the flexibility of working out at home
- Startup founder and parent conquers chaos with morning fitness routine, unlocking superpowers of health and energy to propel towards success!
Meet Travis McPeak, a computer security engineer who’s now a startup founder living in sunny San Jose, California. Before founding Resourcely.io, an Enterprise Cyber Security startup, Travis worked for companies such as Databricks or Netflix.
Travis is a family man with a loving wife and two energetic young boys. Staying fit and healthy has been a huge enabler for him to be effective as a business leader, husband, and father.
Being a startup founder and parent at the same time is extremely difficult. He relies on his fitness time every morning to clear his head and keep focused. He’s in this for the long haul, and health and energy are superpowers. He wants to do everything he can to preserve them.
His only regret is that he didn’t start lifting weights sooner.
Fitness Journey
Travis discovered his love for lifting weights back in 2019 when he joined an in-person program called HIIT School.
He quickly realized how much it helped with his ADHD and how amazing he felt after each workout. However, when COVID-19 struck in 2020, Travis, like many of us, found himself in a pickle. He needed to get his workouts in but with gyms closed, what could he do?
Easy, build a home gym.
Building the Home Gym
Thankfully, Travis had recently moved into a new house with a double garage.
He started off with just the essentials – cheap puzzle mats, a barbell set with sand-filled plates, a squat stand, an adjustable dumbbell set, and a flimsy bench.
Despite the limitations, Travis continued with his HIIT school program online and found that working out was one of the only things keeping him happy and sane during the pandemic.
As time passed, Travis realized that he was never going back to in-person workouts.
He loved the flexibility of having his own gym. He upgraded his gym over time and now has a home gym that he absolutely loves, complete with everything he needs to get in a killer workout.
He now uses the “Future” app, which provides him with six days of killer workouts and personal programming that work perfectly with his setup.
Challenges and Advice
Of course, building a home gym wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
One of the main challenges Travis encountered was building it during COVID. He had to take what he could get, which meant paying more for most equipment than he should have.
He also wasn’t sure if his home gym was going to be temporary or permanent, so he bought cheaper equipment in some cases than he would have liked.
Mastering Craiglist
Travis is a master of Craiglist.
Although it requires patience, the site occasionally offers amazing deals that are worth the wait. Despite the occasional frustration, there’s no better platform to discover quality brand bargains.
Recently, Travis stumbled upon a seller who was clearing out their gym equipment and managed to snag the REP AB5000 bench, the majority of the barbells, Rogue Plates, and the coveted Back Widow handle accessory.
In the end, Travis’s fitness journey has not only made him a more effective business leader, husband, and father, but it has also provided him with a sense of control and flexibility in his life. Who needs a crowded gym when you can work out at home, right?
Home Gym Photos
Home Gym Equipment
- Rack: Rogue Flat Foot Monster Lite 390F $950
- Barbells:
- Bench: REP AB-5000 Adjustable Bench $550
- Weight Plates: Rogue Olympic Plates ($397), Rogue Bumpers and CAP plates
- Dumbbells:
- PowerBlock Elite EXP (5-90 lbs with Stage 2 and 3 expansions) $700
- Bayou Fitness Adjustable Dumbbells $120
- Hex Rubber Dumbbells (2×65, 2×35, 2×20, 2×15) $500
- Dumbbell Rack Stand $125
- Kettlebells: Various brands (1×104, 1×80, 2×53, 2×44, 2×35, 1×26) $950
- Cardio:
- Concept 2 Ski-erg $950
- Airbike Offbrand $400
- Titan Pulley Tower v3 $260
- Back Widow (12 in 1 handle attachment) $300
- TRX Suspension Trainer $140
- Resistance bands $70
- JFIT Plyometric Boxes $180
- Flooring: Rubber flooring mats $800
Total Home Gym Cost = $12,500
Travis has a few pieces of equipment that he particularly enjoys using during his workouts. He finds the PowerBlocks to be incredibly versatile and considers them a top choice if he had to pick just one piece of equipment.
The Rep AB-5000 bench is another favorite of Travis’s, as he appreciates the sturdy foundation it provides for benchwork, which can make a significant difference in the effectiveness of the exercise.
When it comes to value, Travis thinks that the Titan Pulley Tower is a great option.
Finally, the Ski Erg is an intense full-body conditioning machine that Travis considers to be a challenging and rewarding addition to his routine.
Travis’s Dream Home Gym Setup
Travis is constantly thinking about how he can improve his home gym setup. After much consideration, he has come up with his dream list of equipment that he would get if he were to start today. If you’re planning to build your home gym, take notes!
- Rack: REP PR-4000 with Ares attachment (~$5000) – He loves his Rogue 390, but REP has done much more innovation with their attachments. The Ares seems much better than the Slinger.
- Barbell: Rogue Ohio Power Bar ($350) Keeping this
- Weight Plates: Rogue HG 2.0 bumpers 500lb set ($1065)
- Bench: REP benches $500
- Cardio:
- Dumbbells: Powerblock Prox EXP (with 90 lbs attachments) ($950)
- Kettlebells ($500)
- Nice trap bar, probably REP ($400)
- Flooring ($800) – Likes the current setup
- Misc ($500) – bands, boxes, storage, some fixed dumbbells, etc
Total: $11,900 everything is top-end with no need to replace anything, probably ever.
❓Questions? Need Help?
Got any questions for us or the home gym owner? Need a hand or some sick advice on setting up your home gym?
Hit us up at hi@gymnirvana.com , we’re all about home gym ideas!
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