Starting a CrossFit Affiliate can be costly and one of the most expensive parts is outfitting the equipment. This guide should help you determine the equipment you need along with the costs.
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So… You’ve decided to venture out on your own and start a CrossFit Affiliate.
You think you have what it takes and don’t mind living in a smelly gym, mopping floors, picking up equipment, and cleaning toilets.
Oh, you also get to teach people how to become healthier and live a better life.
One of the biggest obstacles you will face in the beginning is deciding what equipment to buy. Similar to those that are starting a garage gym, you have a million and one companies vying for your hard earned or hard qualified (face it, most people take out loans) dollars.
Well, let this be your guide.
I’m going to detail the top companies packages including details, specs, my opinions, and more.
But before I go through what companies have to offer, I’d like to go over some things you need to start.
Some gyms start with the bare minimum, while others come out with a bang. In my opinion it has a lot to do with your marketing strategy and long term view.
If you’re starting a gym and unsure whether you’ll make it, then you may not want to drop a lot of money.
But, if your feeling is that of a captain of a ship and you’ll ride that sucker through any storm till the walls fall on you, then you should start with equipment that is built to last.
That being said, you don’t have to start off with buying 5 Ski-Ergs and havingrecovery station with Normatec Boots and Marc-Pros. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Seinfeld reference ???? )
But there are some essentials. My suggestion is to make sure you have any piece of equipment that could possible come up in the CrossFit open. Those are:
Pull Up Rig
I don’t know where the term “Rig” came about, but I really like it. Essentially, you need a big structure made up of metal uprights where you can do pull-ups, muscle-ups, squats, everything. And one of the most important features when purchasing a Pull Up Rig is to make sure its expandable. You don’t want to get a few years down the road and realize you’ve maxed out the most essential piece of equipment of a CrossFit Gym and have to sell it on Craigslist.
I’ll go through the various companies offerings, but you mainly want something that is sturdy, spacious enough for many stations, and has the ability for people to do rope climbs and muscle-ups if your facility accommodates that height.
Barbell
CrossFit programming has a lot of barbell work. Whether its squatting or pressing your members are going to expect barbells. And this is an area I would suggest not skimping out on. You don’t have to have a bunch of Eleiko Barbells, although that would be nice. But I would highly suggest going with manufacturer that has a lifetime warranty and you think will be around long enough to honor any warranties.
I see affiliates start out and just go for a local company, and I’m all for local businesses but what happens if you have a bunch of sleeves slide off your crossfit barbell and the company went under the week prior? You’re S.O.L my friend.
I do think it’s important to get women’s bars as well. It is something I’ve seen women leave a gym because of, and you want women at your gym. They build the gym more than anyone, because they talk about CrossFit more than anyone. Also, men will come if women are there.
Bumper Plates
Once again, get bumpers that last. They don’t have to be super thin, or nice and colorful, but they should be able to take the beating they inevitably will. In my opinion, a crumb rubber bumper such as Rogue Hi-Temps are your best bet when it comes to starting an affiliate. They aren’t the prettiest, but my goodness can those things get beat up and keep on trucking.
Also, the 10 pounder’s will last a long time too. If you aren’t aware of why this is important than you probably shouldn’t open a gym yet.
Flooring
Although this isn’t equipment, this is going to be very important. Rubber mats are the name of the game at CrossFit facilities and can run you a pretty penny depending on how you buy them.
My suggestion is if you don’t care too much how they look, run down to your local Tractor Supply and pick up some Horse Stall Mats. They’re what I personally use in my garage, run about $40 a sheet and will last you the life of your gym.
Medicine Balls
Wall balls show up in the CrossFit Open every year and are versatile piece of Equipment. At one time, your only option was to go with Dynamax Medicine Balls but for that past year or two, nearly every equipment manufacturer has started making their own that are as good, if not better than Dynamax. Just make sure you have a few of the 14 and 20 pounders as those are mostly what show up, and also throw in some 10 and 30 pounders for the weak and strong.
Jump Ropes
Buy some cheap jump ropes for the new people and those that forgot their own. Eventually just about everyone in your gym will have their own rope, but it’s nice to have some cheap ones in the beginning for those that are just beginning foundations classes.
Rowers
Yes, I think you need Rowers. Do you need a lot of them? No. But in my opinion you should have at least two. They have been used in the past two years of the CrossFit Open and are one of the best conditioning tools in my opinion.
There’s definitely some off brand rowers out there, but I would stick to the tried and true Concept 2 Rower. They’re built to last, and are the rower used in the CrossFit Games and Open. I don’t even know if you’d be able to use an off brand rower in the CrossFit Open as they would probably calculate mileage differently.
Plyo-Boxes
Box Jumps are a staple in CrossFit training. I’m big into DIY Equipment, however, I would not suggest making too much DIY Equipment for a commercial facility.
For legal reasons, if a box broke and hurt someone, I would want to point the finger at a large corporation for the faulty box, not your amateur wood working skills.
Be safe, and protect yourself against lawsuits.
Gymnastic Rings
In the beginning, you won’t have a lot of members who can do muscle-ups, but it will give them a goal to shoot for. And any respectable gym will have some rings hanging from the ceiling.
Don’t purchase the welded metal rings.
I repeat, DO NOT PURCHASE METAL GYMNASTIC RINGS.
They’re cool in theory, but they really just suck in real life applications. Get a couple sets of wood rings and make sure people chalk up before they use them and they will last you a good while.
Gym Timer
3.2.1. Go!!!
This will haunt your members nightmares and they will love it. Get a nice timer with good features and you won’t ever have to buy another. The main timers are MDUSA’s and Rogue. I would go with Rogue simply because MDUSA’s customer service pails in comparison to Rogues. You can find it here: Rogue Echo Gym Timer.
Barbell Collars
I personally don’t like using barbell collars all that often, but If I were running a facility I would make it a requirement. This is once again for legal reasons. The Rogue HG Collars are nice, I have a pair. But, OSO has come out with a collar and it is the absolute bees knees.
Climbing Rope
Rope climbs are awful and are certainly something your gym members will want to overcome. Go to your local Army Supply and purchase this. You can purchase them fromRogue here, but I think you’re paying more than you should.
Chalk
Buy a big box of chalk. Your members are going to run through it and will expect it to always be within arms length. It’s more important than water to some people. Rogue has a box here for about the same price as anywhere else.
And those are the basics.
There are some other things you’ll want to get as you grow, and I’ll detail those below with the different companies, but overall the above is what you need to get started.
Now that you’ve seen the basics. Let’s check out what the various companies have to offer and how they stack up.
Expect to spend in the beginning any where from $20,000-$60,000+
Rogue Fitness
I’m going to start off with Rogue. Why? Because they’re the best. Bar none, Rogue Fitness is the best equipment and customer service in the industry.
But, that comes at a price.
Most of my personal Garage Gym is filled up with Rogue Equipment.
One of their biggest features is their lifetime warranty. You just can’t beat that. Especially when your user base will not care nearly as much as you do about the equipment.
I’m going to list their different features, but I would suggest giving them a call and explain what you’re looking for. They’ve outfitted thousands of gyms and would definitely be able to help you out.
Rogue 15 Alpha – 15 Person Affiliate Package
Package contents:
(2) LB ROGUE HG 2.0 Bumper set for a total of LBS of Bumpers – You choose the weights you want up to LBS
(15) Ohio Bar – Black Zinc Shaft, Bright Zinc Sleeves – 28.5MM Bar with Dual Knurl – Guaranteed for Life!
(5) ROGUE Bella Bar – 25.0MM Women’s Bar with Dual Knurl
(5) ROGUE 15LB Technique Bar – The Go to bar for technique training, same distance between collars as competition bars
(3) Rogue 9 Bar Holders
(1) 500LB Rogue Kettlebell Set – Choose your own variants up to 500LBS
(25) Sets of Rogue HG Collars
(15) Set of ROGUE Wood Rings
(15) Rogue Medicine Ball – Can choose the weight up to 20lbs
(10) Rogue D- Ball /Slam Ball- Can choose the weight up to 30lbs
(5) 25’x1.5″ Climbing Rope with Eyelet – No bracket required
(15) Games Multi Side Boxes with 20/24/30 Inch Sides
(8) S-1 Squat/Press Stands
(6) Rogue GH-1 Abram GHD
(10) Rogue Flat Utility Bench
(1) I-44 Infinity Rig – Now you can get pull-ups and squat racks with the same unit
(15) Rogue SR-3 Speed Rope
(15) Abmat
(10) Concept 2 Model D with PM5 Rower
(1) Rogue Echo Gym Timer
This is going to give you just about everything you need and then some. I think this is a good, quick option, but some of the stuff I don’t think is needed. So I would simply order my own.
For a beginning facility I would order from Rogue:
(1) I-24 Infinity Rig – Now you can get pull-ups and squat racks with the same unit
(2) LB ROGUE Hi-TempBumper set for a total of LBS of Bumpers – You choose the weights you want up to LBS
(15) Ohio Bar – Black Zinc Shaft, Bright Zinc Sleeves – 28.5MM Bar with Dual Knurl – Guaranteed for Life!
(5) ROGUE Bella Bar – 25.0MM Women’s Bar with Dual Knurl
(25) Sets of Rogue HG Collars
(5) Set of ROGUE Wood Rings
(15) Rogue Medicine Ball – Can choose the weight up to 20lbs
(1) Rogue Echo Gym Timer
(2-5) Concept 2 Model D with PM5 Rower
(15) Games Multi Side Boxes with 20/24/30 Inch Sides
(15) Rogue SR-3 Speed Rope
This is going to cost you right around $19,000 with shipping. For the amount of equipment you’re getting, in my opinion this is a pretty good deal considering the warranty and customer service Rogue has.
I’d say this is the bare minimum equipment you would need to start and you could build from here without much replacement.
Fringe Sport
I like Fringe Sport. I think they are the best price point manufacturer. Is there equipment as good as Rogue’s? No, and they don’t claim it to be. But they make good equipment at a good price, and for some, that’s the perfect combination.
Fringe Sport has a package that tailors smaller gyms but can be increased depending on your size. Once again for specific questions, just give them a call.
Fringe Sport’s Silver level package consists of the following:
BARS
15x Bomba Men’s Bar (28.5mm)
2x Bomba Women’s BarV2
5x OneFitWonder Training Bar(28mm)
BUMPER PLATES
15x 45lb OFW Bumpers(Pairs)
7x 35lb OFW Bumpers(Pairs)
15x 25lb OFW Bumpers(Pairs)
7x 15lb OFW Bumpers(Pairs)
15x 10lb OFW Bumpers(Pairs)
METAL PLATES
8x Troy Barbell Premium Plate Set(2.5/5lb Pairs)
COLLARS
22x Spring Clips(Pairs)
SQUAT STANDS
8x OFW Commercial Squat Rack
BENCHES
5x PowerMax Flat Utility Bench
KETTLEBELLS
2x 8kg OneFitWonder
2x 10kg OneFitWonder
2x 12kg OneFitWonder
4x 16kg OneFitWonder
2x 20kg OneFitWonder
4x 24kg OneFitWonder
2x 32kg OneFitWonder
RINGS
8x Wood Rings(Adjustable)
SLAM BALLS/MEDICINE BALLS
4x 10lb OFW Medicine Ball
5x 14lb OFW Medicine Ball
6x 20lb OFW Medicine Ball
PLYO BOXES
5x Bomba 3-Sided(20/24/30″)
3x Bomba 3-Sided(16/20/24″)
2x Bomba Traditional 12″
SPEED ROPES
15x Cable Speed Rope
TIMER
1x OFW Medium 6-digit Timer
ABMATS
15x Abmat
ROWERS
5x Concept 2 Model D w/PM3 Monitor
If you want to add a rig, you will have to do so here:
Fringe Bomba Rig
In my opinion, there’s a lot of stuff in this list that I don’t think you need. Compare it to my Rogue modified list to remove what you don’t need and add what you do need.
In my estimates it would be about $5,000 less than Rogue Fitness for a similar package.
Again Faster
Again Faster was at one time a big competitor to Rogue. Since then, they’ve fallen off a little but they still produce some good equipment.
For more information, please visit Zechen Fitness.
Again Faster does not have any pre-built packages.
They do make good equipment for affiliates and have a price point between Fringe Sport and Rogue Fitness.
Some top CrossFit Affiliates utilize Again Faster for their equipment so they must be good enough to survive the abuse of a lot of traffic. Once such gym is Reebok CrossFit One.
Their rigs especially intrigue me because of their pullup bars. They use a Zinc coating and you can see my review of their Home Pullup Bar that utilizes the same coating here.
Get Rx’d
I haven’t used a ton of Get Rx’d Equipment, but have used their barbells. They’re okay, not my personal favorite, but would work well in an affiliate setting. I may have just been spoiled by my Eleiko.
Their 15 at a time affiliate package consists of:
Stations:
– 44′ CrossRig SINGLE Bar (36 Pull-up Stations a& 10 Racks)
– (8) 1pc Squat Racks
– (10) Power Flat Benches
– (6) Linear Bearing GHDs
– (3) Olympic Bar Rack: 9 Bar Holder
Weightlifting
– # Premium Bumper Set:
(20) 10#, 25#, 45# and (8) 15# and 35#
– (15) Men’s + (5) Women’s WOD Bar 5.0 Hard Chrome
– (5) Training Bars
– 50 Spring Collars
– (5) 53#, (1) 44#, (4) 35#, (2) 26# Premium Kettlebells
Conditioning
– (6) 20#, (6) 14#, and (3) 10# Premium Wall Balls
– (2) 30#, (4) 25#, and (4) 15# Slam Balls
– (15) 3-n-1 20x24x30 Wood Plyo Box
– (15) Ez Speed Ropes
– (10) Xebex Fitness Rowers
– (5) EZ Gym Sleds – (5) Power Sleds
Gymnastics:
–(15) 1.25 Wood Rings
– (5) 23′ Manila Climbing Rope
– (15) Back Support Pads
– (1) No Limits Timer
This once again has a lot of things that I don’t think are needed. Compare it to my revised Rogue list to compare the price.
For a comparable list of equipment to Rogue, Get Rx’d will be about $5,000 less and hits a similar price point as Fringe Sport.
Most of their equipment is made in China and source back to the US, but that doesn’t mean bad equipment, just cheaply made.
You can find the Get Rx’d 15 Delta Package Here.
Maverick Athletic Company
Maverick Athletic Company is very similar to Get Rx’d. In fact, I would bet they use the same manufacturer for their equipment and just slap their logo on it.
Maverick’s Elite 15 Affiliate Package includes:
1 44’ Free Standing Rig with 10 Rack Stations
8 Maverick SR-1 Squat Rack
6 Maverick Glute Ham Developer
10 Powermax Flat Bench
6 Maverick Push Pull Wheelbarrow Sled
15 Powermax Oly Bar 28mm 20kg Chrome LIFETIME WARRANTY
5 Powermax Oly Bar 25mm 15kg Chrome LIFETIME WARRANTY
5 15lb Aluminum Training Bar
20 Muscle Clamps
12 Warrior 45lb Bumper Pair
5 Warrior 35lb Bumper Pair
12 Warrior 25lb Bumper Pair
5 Warrior 15lb Bumper Pair
12 Warrior 10lb Bumper Pair
5 5lb Steel Pair
5 2.5lb Steel Pair
8 Concept 2 Model D PM3 Black Rower
10 Abmat
4 Rage Medicine Ball 20lb
4 Rage Medicine Ball 14lb
2 Rage Medicine Ball 10lb
2 #2 Red 40lbs Resistance
2 #3 Purple 60lbs Resistance
2 #4 Green 95lbs Resistance
2 #5 Blue 120lbs Resistance
10 Ultra Speed Jump Rope Assorted Colors
10 Wood Gymnastics Ring w/strap
5 20’ 1.5 Dia Manila Climbing Rope
10 Maverick 3N1 Cube Plyo 20-24-30
5 Maverick 2N1 Cube Plyo 16-20
1 No Limits Timer
3 Cast Iron KB 15lb
3 Cast Iron KB 25lb
6 Cast Iron KB 35lb
6 Cast Iron KB 55lb
4 Cast Iron KB 70lb
5 1lb Boxes of Chalk
3 Vertical Bar Storage Holds 10 Bars
8 Rolling Plate Storage
There’s lots of filler items here, per usual. Their pricing is very similar to Get RX’d, surprise, surprise.
The package listed above can be found here.
Hammerhead Strength Equipment
Hammerhead is once again like Get Rx’d and Maverick in that I believe their equipment is on a similar level, and so is their pricing.
Their Gold Level Package that is designed for 10-13 athletes includes:
I have never used any of Hammerhead’s Equipment. But, if their price is better than Get Rx’d and Maverick, they’re certainly a good option.
The package listed above can be found here.
Rep Fitness
I think Rep Fitness has some good equipment. Specifically I’ve seen some good things said about their barbells.
Their 15 person Affiliate Package for CrossFit includes:
lbs of Rep Black Bumper Plates – choose the weights you want
(10) Rep Gladiator Bars – 20kg
(5) Rep Sabre Bars – 20kg
(2) Rep Sabre Bars – 15kg – 25mm women’s bar
(5) Rep 15 lb Technique Bar
(20) Sets of Spring Collars
(1) 224 kg Rep Kettlebell Set – choose your own sizes up to 224 kg
(15) Rep Wall Balls – choose the weight up to 20lbs
(8) Sets of Rep Wood Rings
(10) Rep 3-in-1 Plyo Boxes – 30″x24″x20″
(5) Rep Squat Stand
(5) Rep or Rage Flat Bench
(10) Rep Slingshot Jump Rope
(10) Rep Ab Support Mat
(8) Concept 2 Model D Rowing Machine
(1) Rep Timer – 6-digit programmable interval timer with 4″ LED numbers
This set is ~ $20,000 and has a lot of your essentials. Out of all the pre-built packages, this one seems the most thought out.
You can find the Rep Fitness 15 Person Affiliate Package for CrossFit here.
The companies listed above are really the ones I would focus on. There are certainly many others, but these are the top of the bunch.
Extra Equipment for a CrossFit Affiliate
Now I’ve listed the essentials, but I’d like to discuss some of the extra equipment that can give you a competitive advantage against other gyms in your area and really make you look like a premier facility.
You will eventually buck up and buy some GHD’s. They aren’t essential, but they sure are nice to have and there isn’t one much better than the Rogue Abram GHD 2.0.
This GHD is stout, and will last the life of your facility. Many members will after getting into CrossFit for a while and binge watching YouTube videos will wonder why their gym doesn’t have them.
At that point you will need to purchase them, but I don’t think you will from the beginning.
Many of the CrossFit Girls workouts utilize kettlebells. The price for them can add up quick, but I enjoy using them and I know many others do as well. Buy a few of the most used weights and add as you go.
I like theRogue Kettlebell because it’s a basic kettlebell that is priced well and has a great warranty.
Your members will eventually get very into weightlifting and you may want to set up a barbell club. I suggest making your own (check out my DIY Weightlifting Platform here) but if you’d like to buy one, Rogue has a pretty one here.
If you have a strength focused gym, or plan on doing dumbbell snatches a good set of dumbbells can be very attractive to potential clients.
I would first check craigslist to see what you can get used.
Otherwise, Rogue has a good option here, although a bit pricey.
These can be a very fun training tool. I made my own that you can see here, but I would suggest purchasing your own so they will last longer.
Rogue’s can be found here.
These are awesome conditioning pieces of equipment. If you have regional level competitors, I think you should invest in at least one of these to keep them around.
You can order them here.
Parallettes are great for L-sits and deficit hand stands. I don’t think you need a lot of them and you can always make your own out of PVC pipe. But, protect yourself and just buy them.
You can order Parallettes from Rogue here.
Nobody likes monkey butt. Buy some Ab mats for your members. They’re cheap and are great for sit ups or using as a knee rest.
You can find the Abmat Pro from Rogue here.
Have some masochists at your gym? Get them some sleds. These will take a beating and keep on going.
You can find the Rogue S-25 Fat Boy Sled here.
So there you have it. The complete guide to CrossFit Facility Outfitting. I will update this as new equipment comes out. But for the most part, the basics will stay the same. My advice is always, “if you’re going to buy something, buy it once.” Good luck growing your facility and feel free to comment with any questions or inquiries.
You’ve landed on the best guide on how to start putting together a Crossfit gym in your garage!
Crossfit is known for its focus on conditioning, but you’ll notice that the top Crossfit athletes have enough muscle that it’s obvious they have put in a lot of weight training. See EliteFTS’s article on why strength training is as important as conditioning.
Rogue has the most Crossfit packages, ranging from just a basic $600 barbell/bumper set to a $ setup including luxuries like a rower and hurdles.
The other suppliers of Crossfit equipment aren’t allowed to use the trademark Crossfit® to describe the products in a way that suggests they are official or endorsed packages by Crossfit HQ. In some cases they avoid using the word Crossfit anywhere on their website, on the conservative advice of their lawyers. The rest of these are meant for Crossfit workouts, but avoiding that trademarked word to avoid lawsuits.
The affiliate packages are meant for Crossfit affiliates, aka licensed Crossfit boxes, aka commercial Crossfit gyms. A little big for your needs. Ignore those.
For a better deal, Rep Fitness is considered high quality, right up there with Rogue, for a more competitive price on most items. You’ll get more out of their packages like this than the same spending with Rogue.
Now that you can see what’s included in many packages, you have a frame of reference for picking and choosing what’s best for you to start with, and saving some money.
I’m going over these in a rough order of priority. Get the first stuff listed first, and move on down the list as you can.
You can go out of order. For example, it’s fine to get a kettlebell before a pull up bar. Whatever you feel like, or whatever your space or budget can handle, is fine and will open the door to at least a few more workout possibilities.
The reality is most people doing Crossfit at home do not have everything. They’re missing a plyo box, or they haven’t found a used rower to pick up yet. Or they have little more than a bar with bumpers, medicine ball, and kettlebell. Some athletes will have virtually everything and will never have to improvise based on available equipment. Who cares! Do what you can.
The very first thing you’ll need is an olympic bar and weight plates.
With these, you can start doing so much. Snatches, cleans, power cleans, jerks, thrusters, deadlifts, overhead presses… That’s a lot of stuff. There’s a reason that barbell training is at the core of Crossfit. Plus, it’s used for plenty of accessory strength movements if you should feel the need.
The benchmark WODs you can do with this include:
Rogue’s bar and bumper package here will get you started.
A $200 bar will be sufficient for the foreseeable future for personal use.
If all you have at the moment is a cheap olympic bar, that will do for now. Whenever you can, spend about $300 to upgrade it to one that will be good for the foreseeable future.
The plates are ideally bumper plates, which are solid rubber and made to be dropped. A full set will include a pair of 45lb, 35lb, 25lb, 15lb and 10lb. Some sets do not include the 15lb,which is fine, and you can actually skip the 35lb because you can get to any weight totals with the others, and then just add more 45lb plates for heavier lifts as you need to.
Iron plates are ok too, if that’s all you have. Just be careful not to drop the bar with them. As you get more skilled with clean-and-jerks and snatches and you increase the weight to your limits, you will be forced to drop the weight from overhead or else struggle with lowering it to the ground. That’s what bumpers are made for.
Speaking of iron plates, you will want at least a few small ones, ie: “change plates”, 5lb and 2.5lb, for small increments.
Gymnastics rings are an easy next step, the biggest bang for your buck. They open the door to strict pull-ups, kipping pull-ups, dips, ring pushups, and muscle-ups.
The caveat is it’s best when you can mount them under a tall ceiling, or outside. With 8ft ceilings you’re not going to be doing much in the way of muscle-ups. You can do the rest, as well as ring pull-ups off your knees. But not kipping pull-ups.
Rings make a few more benchmark WODs possible. Note that the pullups are supposed to be done on a pull up bar, not rings, but you can make do with rings. It’s just harder.
What you want are 1.25″ diameter wooden rings. Plastic have the wrong texture and can be kind of flexey. The wood is perfect.
Rep Fitness has a fantastic deal for wooden rings. Nobody else seems to come close.
These are all steel cable ropes nowadays, sometimes coated, but hey, that coating slows it down and we can’t have that.
Anyway, a jump rope is inexpensive. It is involved in zero benchmark WODs. Sorry for that. Still, people like them for warming up in particular. When you’re good at it, you can jump rope for Tabata workouts.
A couple kettlebells are an excellent addition. They add these benchmark WODs to your workout:
When in doubt about the weight you need, start on the light side. Iron kettlebells are generally priced per pound, and some lighter ones are not going to set you back much. They’re valuable for learning movements like kettlebell snatches safely without banging up your forearms.
Kettlebells may be sold in either kilograms or pounds. Here’s some example starting weights for kettlebell swings and snatches.
I’d suggest getting two or three kettlebells. One 15lb kettlebell for learning form, and two more heavier ones according to the list above.
35 lbs isn’t much for a few reps, but after enough rounds of 30 reps it’s not trivial!
For any weight, what I recommend is a kettlebell with a 1.25″ handle. For reference, that’s a bit thicker than an olympic bar, and that’s what you want. Also, the good ones nowadays are all color-coded on the handles to make picking the right weight easy.
For kilogram kettlebells, see Rep Fitness’s high quality kettlebells.
For pound kettlebells, see the Rogue kettlebells, color coded with a seamless cast.
The type used for the “wall ball” exercise is a padded 14″ medicine ball. It’s easy and forgiving to catch, bounces just enough as it hits high on the wall, and doesn’t bounce much off the floor.
The target height you want is 9ft, 9.5ft, or 10ft high. So you need at least a 10ft ceiling.
These are unlike traditional rubber medicine balls that are covered with rubber and have a big bounce. That’s not gonna work. They’ll smash your face up if you catch it badly, and they will bounce so hard off the wall that it will get out of control.
See the Troy VTX medicine balls, covered with a tough synthetic leather, nicely centered weight, and firm padding.
Having a good pull up bar will make the WODs involving pullups easier than using rings. You’ll be on the same page as everyone else doing the WOD and can compare apples to apples.
Just like rings, you need some good ceiling height or be content with starting from your knees.
Kipping pull-ups, or butterfly pull-ups, which involve using momentum with your legs to do multiple reps, require a pull up bar that is stable enough, far away from the wall enough (if it’s a wall mounted model), and a smooth bar so you don’t rip up your hands.
It probably isn’t worth getting a dedicated pull up bar if your ceiling is 8ft. You can wait until you have a power rack to use the pull up bar mounted on it, as shown above. However, it might not be suitable for kipping pull ups if it’s not a heavy duty rack or over 8ft tall.
Ideally this is 15-20ft. I’ve seen some mounted very short. With that, you just have to go up and down a lot. Any higher than 20ft and it starts getting perhaps too dangerous.
You should have some kind of mat underneath to keep your bones in one piece if you should slip.
Traditionally we relied on a manila rope. That will give you the best grip. Various types of synthetic poly ropes don’t shed, but your hands will slip!
Fringe Sport sells a great climbing rope made out of sisal instead of manila. Sisal is another natural fiber, giving you a great grip.
Finally, the squat rack!
Generally, Crossfitters like a squat rack or “half rack”, rather than a power rack where the bar is enclosed on all sides. They do a variety of exercises in a workout, perhaps warming up with some strength exercises before the WOD, and moving the bar in and out of the rack quickly is handy. A half rack with safety bars, but open on the end so you can lift the bar on the front of your shoulders (as you’ll do frequently with cleans, front squats, and thrusters) and walk it out of the rack to the floor, and back to the rack.
A rack made more for the purposes of Crossfit is a squat rack with a pull up bar as above, that can be weighed down so it won’t tip from kipping pull ups.
Other than possibly giving you a pull up bar that you don’t have, a rack doesn’t do a whole lot for doing more benchmark WODs, but it does help you measure your Crossfit Total (1RPM back squat, 1RM deadlift and 1RM overhead press). Mainly a rack is invaluable for practicing not only front squats and back squats, but adding many strength exercises that you do off the rack, like bench presses, overhead presses, dips (with a dip attachment), rack pulls, and some other barbell exercises. You can only do so much off the floor. A rack gets you to use all the rest of your muscles.
Unless you can 100% safely drop a failed back squat, you don’t want to be doing them without a rack with safety spotter bars to catch a failed rep, or have human spotters on either side of the bar. Most half racks as above have spotter bars as an option.
Box jumps are not involved in a lot of the benchmark WODs but are actually a part of a lot of other WODs and are one of the staples of any Crossfit gym. Box jumping is a good conditioning exercise.
See the plyo boxes article here for advice on what height box to get and wood vs steel or foam boxes. Foam boxes are the best but most expensive.
The standard is a Concept2 Model D. The Model E is fine too.
There are some other rowers that are good that we’ve gone over before. The issue is if you’re going to be comparing your times, everyone else is using a Concept2. The equipment doesn’t matter with things like barbells. 135 lbs is 135. A different rower will make a big difference. The resistance is not the same between A C2 and a water rower, and even between a C2 and another air rower.
A bench is one of the first things you’d get for a home gym oriented around bodybuilding or powerlifting. The bench press is a core lift of those disciplines.
Crossfit focuses on more dynamic movements. The bench press doesn’t have an obvious place in it. Still, it’s a good strength exercise to add to the overhead press. It opens up other exercises as well, but those are mainly dumbbell exercises.
An adjustable bench works, if you’re ok with dealing with the pad gap and the possibility that it isn’t as rock solid feeling as a regular flat utility bench. Here’s a discussion of the pros and cons of each. Or see our guides of the best flat benches and best flat/incline/decline benches.
There’s lots more you could get, but that will get you going!
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