I am reorganizing the garage and have about 7.5ft of wall space available for a small home gym setup. I need this to be compact and/or collapsible so I can still easily pull the vehicles in when I need to so I am trying to figure out the most beneficial setup. Should I just do a dumbbell and kettlebell rack? Collapsible squat rack? Tonal or equivalent?

I am in my earlier 40s so I am not trying to bulk up, just need a convenient setup for 2-3 strength workouts a week.

I was in the same situation as you. I will try and find a place to host a picture so I can post it here, but I purchased a Rogue folding rack and couldn't be happier. It allows me to move the Jeep into the garage when it's going to hail. I can collapse it down in under two minutes. It's a bit of an investment, but it saves on gym fees, takes away the excuse of not wanting to go to the gym, and there are no lines (although my kids are starting to work out now, so there may be a few lines in the future).

It'll be expensive, but I think the Speediance Gym Monster is pretty cool. I do mostly free weights, but I like having cables for certain things like rotator cuff and preventing/treating injuries. Speediance is doing a lot of advertising and it seems pretty cool. And easy to remove around. The different modes, like eccentric, or chain, or spotter mode, is also cool. I think it maxxes at 220 pounds, which is a little low for my squat and deadlift, but I think the eccentric mode may help with that.

But I also know someone who got a collapsible rack (maybe Rogue?) and it was pretty nice.

I did the PRX collapsible rack. No regrets.

If I were doing it over again I would seriously give Tonal a look. No idea what they cost but folks that have them seem to love them. The fact that the programming and tracking is built in is a huge plus.

I do love my Tonal, not sure how it would do in a humid garage though. It could be fine, but with all the electronics I'm not sure I'd put it there. The best thing if the small footprint on the wall that it has, but you still need a lot of space around it to do some of the moves. In a concrete garage you would for sure want to put mats down, there are a lot of movements that are on the ground or kneeling.

I have a basement so that's where mine is and it is super easy to get a workout in and the programs are pretty good. It is another subscription expense (for a year anyway) if that bugs you, and the unit is pricy. There are good used ones out there if you can verify it all works and won't get bricked by tonal if they haven't paid it off.

I have a Tonal and love it and use it all the time. Mine is in the air conditioned part of the house though. It doesn't take up almost any space when not using it and doesn't need much space to use it. I have mine in a small bedroom that I also use as my home office.

The garage is conditioned with a mini split so not too worried about the effects on the tonal. Didn't know the thing about ones on marketplace not being paid off and getting locked out. Will be sure to check on that if I go that route.

Those that have the folding racks, how much space is needed on the side for the plates? 7.5' is my absolute max width.

With only 7.5' of wall space, not sure if that is enough to accommodate a rack and standard barbell. Is power lifting and/or olympic lifts of interest?

This wall mounted cable system from GetRXd is something I would love for my garage gym.

https://www.getrxd.com/viper-cable-tower.html

7.5' is going to be a very tight squeeze for a barbell, I'm not sure of the logistics of being able to load the plates on there. Plus you'd have to consider horizontal vs vertical plate storage, whether it's wall mounted or mobile, etc.

I am all in on barbell lifts and think they're the best, but the best workout gear you can buy is gear you can/will actually use for your space.

With that in mind, maybe something like the PowerBlock dumbbells with the straight bar attachment could give you a good compromise with what you're looking for? Then an adjustable bench and some sandbags and you could probably get a pretty good routine going.

I put a home gym in a small room in my basement several years ago. I was also cramped for space.

I put in a rogue squat rack that was foldable against the wall. I then bought a rogue c-70s bar. It's shorter than a normal barbell but can still be racked. That gave me just enough room to do any sorts of movements. I bought a titan fitness wall mounted plate rack to put my bumper plates on. It took planning and organizing it all fits nicely and is very useful. I canceled my gym membership and haven't looked back. Great investment for me.

I assume that barbell has smaller loadable sleeves to make that work - in case you're interested, this website has some awesome plates that are very thin. You'd probably be able to load more weight than you'd ever need with the plates at this size. They also have super thin bumper plates.

Weight It Out l Thinnest Fitness Plates on the Market

Yep. Shorter sleeves. Thanks for the link.

Shorter sleeves could be a factor for some. I know it will fit 3 45 pound bumper plates with a little extra space. I think it will fit 4 or 5 iron plates.

10andBOUNCE said:

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With only 7.5' of wall space, not sure if that is enough to accommodate a rack and standard barbell. Is power lifting and/or olympic lifts of interest?

This wall mounted cable system from GetRXd is something I would love for my garage gym.

https://www.getrxd.com/viper-cable-tower.html

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That's cool. Saving for consideration.