15+ DIY home gym equipment ideas

We get it. Going to the gym is not for everyone. Gyms can get overcrowded, expensive, inconvenient, embarrassing and whatnot. If you are looking to work out at home but don’t have the necessary equipment to do that, then read on: we’ve got more than 15 homemade gym equipment ideas that you can use both indoors and outdoors, in your home or garage gym.

Making your own gym equipment doesn’t have to be difficult. Our project ideas will show you how tube and fittings can be used to construct various workout setups to help you achieve your fitness goal, whereas this is through strength training, cross-fit, ballet or yoga. Read on:

Table of Contents

• Pull up and dip stations Suitable for crossfit, body building, general fitness
• Balance and coordination workout systems Perfect for yoga, ballet, pilates, gymnastics
• Strength and agility equipment Used for parkour, ninja warrior courses

Pull up and dip stations

If you are looking to build body mass and strength, then pull up bars and fitness towers are your best bet. Here are a few ideas for homemade strength equipment:

Workout tower

No need for more than one system when you can use a workout tower for multiple body weight exercises. Our Simple Fit Workout Tower is designed with multi-functionality in mind and is suitable for countless variations such as: pull-ups/chin-ups, dips, knee raises, abdominal exercises, push-ups and sit-ups.

It can be assembled in an hour or less to help you start your fitness workout as soon as possible and can be enjoyed in your garden or home.

DIY dip stand

A dip stand (or dip bars) will help you improve your upper body strength.

Build a full frame out of tube and fittings or follow our customer Erik’s example and combine galvanised tube with a wooden frame. The parallel steel bars rest in a circular grove cut out from the horizontal wood supports.

To keep the pipe bars from moving, a collar fitting is used on the inside of the wood boards. This fitting slides over the pipe bars and locks in place to keep the pipe bars from sliding.

At the top of the dip station, there are three horizontal bars. These add additional support to the structure but can also be used to do pull-ups. These pipe bars are connected using flanges.

Parallettes

Parallettes are lower versions of dip stations and are usually used for gravity training (calisthenics).

Using two long pieces of tube and 4 tube stubs, as well as flanges and 90 degree°, you can simply create your own seriously heavy duty parallel bars at home.

Freestanding pull-up frame

This pull-up frame was built by Charles Rankin in order to train for the world record for the number of chin-ups completed in 24 hours. But you don't need to a world record trainee to build one just like it.

The pull-up station is completely free standing and has practically no give when completing pull-ups or chin-ups. One of the biggest advantages to building a pull-up bar stand like this one is that you can build it to whatever height you like. Also, unlike most gym equipment, it can easily disassembled and reassembled, and is completely weather proof, which means that you will be able to enjoy your workout in your home or your garden.

DIY pull up tower

Richard was looking for a modular workout equipment to fit on his balcony when he decided to design and build this pull-up tower. Multi-functional and easy to use, the unit serves as a full body workout unit, allowing for a series of pull-ups and dips to help you train your upper body thoroughly.

Wall mounted pull up bar with rings

This pull up bar with rings, used by CrossFit Vulcan, features different heights and has the ability to support multiple people.

Another Simplified Building customer, Brian, used a similar pull up bar structure to run small fitness classes and help physio therapy clients with their rehabilitation.

Outdoor workout station with high bars

This square workout station consists of 4 horizontal bars which can be adjusted to different heights to suit many different types of exercises. The bars can be loosened with just the turn of an Allen key, which makes for a quick and seamless transition.

Use it with rings, ropes or TRX equipment for a thorough, effective workout.

Punch bag frame

This cool project shows you how to build a wall-mounted punch bag out of Kee Klamp fittings and tube:

Balance and coordination workout systems

Take your ballet, yoga or pilates workout to a next level using equipment that is easy to DIY at home using just tube and Kee Klamp or Kee Lite fittings. You can easily modify these systems by adding and removing sections, or even reconfiguring the entire structure should you need to.

Here are some of our inspirational projects:

DIY lightweight ballet barre

This freestanding ballet barre was built by one of our customers for his 3 daughters who really wanted to take ballet classes at home. He used lightweight aluminium fittings and tube to construct the barre and included a mid rail so that the unit can be used by both adults and children at the same time.

The structure is perfect for barre classes, stretching or any other low impact workouts and is suitable for home or studio use.

This lightweight ballet barre is now available to purchase as a kit on our website.

DIY gymnastics bar

We've had multiple customers build gymnastics bars using Kee Klamp. This particular one was built by Brian as a Christmas present for his daughter.

A big advantage of using Kee Klamp fittings to build this type of structure is that the bar height is easily adjustable. By adjusting the set screw on each side of the gymnastics bar, the height can be increased or decreased to suit all heights.

Here is another example: Greg built an outdoor gymnastics frame for his daughter out of aluminium tube and clamps. This is a high bar for his 20 kg daughter to do gymnastics-like play on. The uprights are 1.5m tall, and the aluminium does flex gently when she swings on it. When the bar is in use, Greg uses a bouldering “crash pad” (mat) under the bar.

Greg says: “The height of the bar adjusts quickly for balance beam, ballet barre, penny drops, and swinging. It can be used as (or reconfigured to be) a play tent support, soccer goal, mini slackline (winching strap) frame, or Festivus pole. The legs are four three-foot pieces, the uprights are five feet, and the horizontals are four feet. Right now it doesn't need bracing but that can be added when she gets heavier and swings on it more.”

Yoga trapeze frame

Caroline contacted our team in Ireland looking for a yoga trapeze frame that would help her do a full body workout, incorporating numerous yoga exercises and stretches for arms, legs, shoulders and backs. Caroline also used the workout frame for body weight exercises (improving core strength) and inversions (hanging upside down for further core strength and deeper stretching).

The tube clamps provided a tough, durable joint, while the industrial strength tube would be perfect in providing a strong frame which wouldn’t bend or collapse. And of course, the flexibility of the fittings meant the frame could be created a number of different ways if necessary.

Strength and agility equipment

Over the years, we noticed that customers use our tube and fittings system to build bespoke structures for cross fit, parkour or ninja obstacles. Because of its heavy duty nature and the fact that no welding is required on site, the Kee Klamp system has been successfully used to kit indoor gyms or outdoor obstacle courses, culminating with the construction of the equipment needed for Tag Chase, a new sport that has taken off in the US.

Indoor monkey bars

Monkey bars can be used to build strength in your upper body and core and can help improve coordination.

These monkey bars were built by Steve and they allow him and his daughter to train all year round in their home fitness studio. Use flanges to mount the structure to the ceiling (but please make sure that your ceiling is strong enough to hold all the weight).

DIY crossfit gym for your garden

This crossfit garden gym was built by one of our customers who wanted to enjoy a full body training at home. The fittings and tube are weather resistant, which means that you can leave the equipment outside without worrying that it will rust or mould.

Custom play and climb frame

Niall was looking to build a play space for his children, but he also wanted to make sure that the structure can be used by adults too for their fitness training. Besides workout stations (such as a pull-up bar and parallel bar for dips) the plan was to also include a slide, swing and trapeze, making sure that everyone in the family is entertained.

The result was this awesome custom built frame that the entire family gets to enjoy for years to come.

Custom built parkour frames

Parkour has become more and more popular in the past years, with more people taking an interest in it. We had several customers order tube and fittings to construct their own obstacles, whereas this is for use at home or in a larger setting, such as a gym or outside.

Here are a few examples of parkour equipment built by our customers:

Other climbing frames and obstacle courses

Climbing frames and obstacle courses are popular among our customers. Easy to design and build, these are very hard wearing and can be modified in no time, with the addition of a few fittings and tube.

See a few examples of structured built for climbing or obstacle courses: