My Gym Setup and Routine

I enjoy going to the gym, but... pandemic.

So I set up a home gym set up in my garage. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out given it's not a tonne of space.

I've got a used spin bike, a mini trampoline, dumbells, a couple of kettlebells, a TRX, some bands, a mat, and my own bodyweight.

I've been doing a lot of HIIT training in group sessions over Zoom with a personal trainer I know since about mid-October. The sessions have been awesome and I've definitely noticed a difference in terms of core strength and overall strength.

The sessions are at 7am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I get up about 5:50am, have a light snack, typically a protein bar, a small black coffee, and a pint of water.

We always start with a solid warmup. This is especially key for me as I'm in a garage. Even with the heat cranked up in there, it's still not super hot. Aside from a good warm up, I make sure I'm dressed well to stay warm. I wear a long sleeve dry fit, shorts, cold weather leggings and a nice thick hoodie.

The warmup consists of a lot of core work and then movements to get the joints warmed up as well.

The actual workouts vary depending on the day, but it's a mixture of body weight and free weights typically. On some days, we'll use a TRX, and more recently, we've started incorporating kettlebells.

By the time the session is over, the tank is emptied. Post workout, I usually have a protein shake and some fruit. If you're looking for a great fruit post workout, melons are the way to go. You can eat a tonne of it. It has so much water and is low in calories. I've been enjoying Brazilian melons, canteloupe, and honey dew melons lately. Canteloupes are expensive sometimes, but Brazilian melons, at least in Montreal, have been super cheap the past few months.

If you're curious what products I'm currently using are, here's the list. They're nothing fancy.

• SimplyProtein bar
• Pure Protein Powder and I'm switching back soon to Vega products. I was vegetarian for a few years and was taking their products fairly consistently. This is a new one I'm going to try, Vega Protein & Greens Vanilla
• For protein shakes, I mix them with either soy milk or oat milk. I'm not married to a particular brand, but I typically pick up Silk products. I don't really drink milk anymore, so on occasion I will use milk instead, but only because I'm out of soy or oat milk.

In terms of gear, here's the list:

• Under Armour Men's HeatGear leggings
• Under Armour long sleeve dry fit
• Adidas soccer shorts
• Russell Athletic Mens Men's Dri Power Hooded Pullover Sweatshirt
• Synergee Core Sliders
• XTreme Resistance Loop Bands
• ZELUS 23 Inch Half Exercise Ball
• 3 sets of spin lock dumbbells (Cap Barbell Dumbbell Weights Set, 40-lb, Sunny Chrome Dumbbell Bar)
• Freeweights purchases from Walmart, Canadian tire, and Amazon. I had to time things to get good prices because of the pandemic.
• 2 x 35lb CAP kettlebells
• The mini trampoline was being given away, so I picked that up for free.
• The spin bike came off of the online classifieds for 100$ CAD.
• TRX PRO 4
• Foam roller (can't remember where I purchased that)
• Flooring is BalanceFrom Puzzle Exercise Mat with EVA Foam Interlocking Tiles

What's your current routine and/or setup?