{"id":347598,"date":"2025-12-15T22:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347598\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T22:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:09:16","slug":"how-to-build-a-family-home-gym-that-everyone-can-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/347598\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build a Family Home Gym That Everyone Can Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

“DAD, HOW CAN I build muscle<\/a>?”<\/p>\n

For the past few years I\u2019ve been thinking about building a home gym<\/a>, and every time I came close, something stopped me. I didn\u2019t have the space. I didn\u2019t have the money. I was never really home\u2014and when I was, disappearing into another part of the house to grunt and sweat for an hour felt \u2026 selfish. There\u2019s a long tradition of dads creating a private iron paradise where they can throw heavy shit around and listen to music from high school, but something about that didn\u2019t sit right with me.<\/p>\n

Then, last summer, my 12-year-old daughter\u2014a strong, determined string bean of a kid\u2014asked me the question above. And suddenly, the whole “home gym” idea flipped. Maybe what I needed wasn\u2019t a home gym but a family gym. A place where everyone (my wife, my three kids, me) could work out\u2014together or apart\u2014and find some joy and satisfaction in the hard work of building muscle.<\/p>\n

And so, this fall, with help from Men\u2019s Health fitness director Eb Samuel, I built that space.<\/p>\n

It needed to start with strength training<\/a>. (I am not a big indoor cardio guy; if I want to run or bike, I go outside.) But because we didn\u2019t have the space to recreate an entire commercial gym, I needed equipment versatile enough to support the 20-25 push-and-pull moves that make up my weekly training. I\u2019ve always been suspicious of companies that promise one machine that replaces literally every piece of equipment known to mankind. (My working theory: If a product claims to do 28 things, it does none of them especially well.) But Eb introduced me to the Ares 2.0 from REP Fitness<\/a>. Somehow, this Colorado-based company figured out how to combine a free-weight rack (for squats<\/a> and bench presses<\/a>), a pull-up bar<\/a>, and a dual-cable system into a package that can easily fit almost anywhere.<\/p>\n

\"rich<\/p>\n

Justin Steele<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where the Ares surprised me: it\u2019s not a \u201cmachine,\u201d exactly. It\u2019s more like someone took the logic and layout of Life Time\u2019s strength floor and folded it down into something that actually fits in a room. The cable arms move with a smooth, controlled resistance that makes it easy for my kids to learn face pulls and rows without the herky-jerky momentum you get from cheaper home cable stacks. The safeties on the rack are intuitive; I don\u2019t have to hover when my 15-year-old son tries a light squat. And nothing rattles. There\u2019s no clank, no wobble, no \u201cThis is the rep when the entire structure collapses on us, goodbye family.\u201d It\u2019s solid. Purposeful. It does fewer things than the \u201c28-in-1\u201d infomercial towers, but it does what it does well. Add in REP\u2019s dumbbells<\/a> (adjustable and traditional) and kettlebells, and our tried-and-true TRX system<\/a>, and we were basically set\u2014for the adults.<\/p>\n

But kids need something different: variety, guidance, novelty, and a level of feedback that doesn\u2019t come naturally when you\u2019re still figuring out your limbs. Which is why the Tonal 2.0<\/a> became the centerpiece of the \u201cteach them how to move\u201d part of the gym. The new version has increased max resistance (250 pounds, up from the previous generation\u2019s 200), plus a Smart View camera that lets you monitor your form. I\u2019ve been honing my squat mechanics with a program that has forced me to confront the hard truth that, despite being a grown man, I sometimes move like a baby giraffe. Meanwhile, the kids are learning the basics of pressing and pulling\u2014slowly, safely, and under adult supervision\u2014from Tonal\u2019s enormous library of training videos. There\u2019s even a Pilates program I\u2019ve started doing on days when I want to get away from heavier lifts. <\/p>\n

\"rich<\/p>\n

Justin Steele. Wallpaper: Ali -Water by Andy Warhol \u00d7 Flavor Paper.\u00a0\u00a9 2025 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. \/ Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

Between the REP setup and the Tonal, the functional part of the gym was covered. I just needed to figure out the right vibe.<\/p>\n

Enter: Flavor Paper<\/a>. I am not a \u201cfavorite wallpaper company\u201d kind of guy, but I\u2019ve loved Flavor\u2019s witty, maximalist patterns for years. And when I saw their \u201cAli-Water\u201d print\u2014based on Andy Warhol\u2019s portrait of Muhammad Ali, one of my personal heroes\u2014I knew it would be the room\u2019s visual anchor. The pattern alternates with cobalt-blue walls. Walking into my home gym now feels like stepping into energy. Like stepping into purpose.<\/p>\n

Now, on Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons, some combination of all of us will stream a family playlist through our Sonos speakers, grab the med balls, fire up the Tonal, and start moving. Sometimes we work together. Sometimes we do our own thing. But we\u2019re there, in the same room, having fun. <\/p>\n

This, I tell my kids, is how you build muscle.<\/p>\n

Family Gym Essentials \"Ares<\/a>\"Black<\/a>Rep Fitness Black Bumper Plates (LB)\"Nighthawk<\/a>Rep Fitness Nighthawk Adjustable Bench\"2\"<\/a>\"P\u00e9pin<\/a>Rep Fitness P\u00e9pin Fast Series Adjustable Dumbbells\"x<\/a>Flavor Paper x Andy Warhol Ali Water Wallpaper<\/p>\n

Ali -Water by Andy Warhol \u00d7 Flavor Paper. \u00a9 2025 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. \/ Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

\"Modular<\/a>Rep Fitness Modular Storage System 2.0\"Era<\/a>Exclusive Men’s Health Digital Issues\"Chevron\"ChevronMore of the Best Home Gym Equipment<\/p>\n

The 2026 Men’s Health Fitness Awards<\/a> | Best Home Gym Equipment<\/a> | Best Treadmills<\/a> | Best Rowing Machines<\/a> | Best Exercise Bikes<\/a> | Best Adjustable Dumbbells<\/a> | Best Massage Guns<\/a> | Best Weight Benches<\/a> | Best Foam Rollers<\/a> | Best Pull Up Bars<\/a> | Best Resistance Bands<\/a> | Best Air Bikes<\/a> | Best Medicine Balls<\/a> | Best Medicine Balls<\/a> | Best Adjustable Kettlebells<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Richard Dorment is the editor-in-chief of Men\u2019s Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“DAD, HOW CAN I build muscle?” For the past few years I\u2019ve been thinking about building a home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,8924,407,84],"class_list":{"0":"post-347598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-carousel","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}