The Busy Guy's 2-Tool Home Gym

FTF #117

December 13, 2024

Hey there - it’s Don.

Happy Friday!

Today’s issue talks about the two pieces of home gym equipment that allows you to do more with less (plus the brands I recommend).

If you are new to the newsletter, my name is Don and I run Layman’s Fitness, which is a business that helps Christian guys build strength and lose weight all at home.

Let’s jump into this week’s Fit Tip Friday!

🔎 In This Fit Tip Friday

Inside you’ll find:

  • The busy guy’s 2-tool home gym

  • The most common artificial dyes in foods

  • Feel His pleasure: Exercise, Endorphins, and Enjoying God, the super sinister kettlebell program, and more

First time reading? Sign-up here.

Tip: The Busy Guy’s 2-Tool Home Gym

Click here to read this on the Layman’s Fitness website

I started my own home gym 10+ years ago, and tried all kinds of things:

  • A full set of Hex rubber dumbbells that I’ve since sold (10lb to 50lb pairs)

  • A spin bike that’s now collecting dust

  • A boxing bag I bought and sold… twice!

I also grew up with a home gym that had a Smith machine with a squat/bench rack, pulley/cable machine, treadmill, stationary bike, EZ curl bar, one of those tiny trampoline things, exercise bands, medicine balls, and more.

Knowing what I know now, I think you can get the most out of your time and investment by focusing on just two exercise tools.

  1. Kettlebells

This is the ultra-versatile piece of home gym equipment. It works every muscle group, it’s scalable and portable, it builds strength and endurance, and a few of them can fit under your bed.

  • If you’re a guy who is brand new to exercise, I recommend one 26lb/12kg kettlebell

  • If you’re a guy who is not new to exercise but new to kettlebells, I recommend one 35lb/16kg kettlebell

I recommend powder-coat cast iron kettlebells. Here are my favorite brands (product/affiliate links)

  1. A Pull-Up Bar

The pull-up bar helps you develop the large muscles on your bad, your grip, arm strength, and your core. And it perfectly complements the kettlebell.

But even if you can’t do a pull-up (yet), there are so many ways to make the movement easier for you, like putting a chair under your feet, just hanging from the pull-up bar, etc…

Here are the brands I recommend (product/affiliate links):

P.S. I’m about to invest in a Power Tower, which adds dip/core variety in addition to a pull-up bar.

I’ve done some research, and here are the two brands I’m looking at. No product/affiliate links, since I’ve never used a Power Tower at home:

🔎 Finds/Resources This Week

Here are some of my favorite finds/resources this week.

Top find

The most common artificial dyes in foods (more)

This is a good list of the main artificial food dyes and what foods they are in.

Food dyes are back in the public eye, as the FDA is currently reviewing a petition to ban Red Dye 3 (which is a by-product of petroleum by the way…)

What will be interesting to watch is whether or not other dyes are next (i.e. Red Dye 40 and Yellow 5 are also petroleum by-products)

Don

Other finds

  • Feel His pleasure: exercise, endorphins, and enjoying God (more)

  • Introducing the super sinister kettlebell program (more)

  • The petition to the FDA to ban artificial food dye Red 3 (more)

  • 8 of the healthiest berries you can eat (more)

  • This one exercise will make the next 30 years of your life better (more)

👍 Thanks for reading!

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can work together:

I’ll see you next week.

Be strong,

Don

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