The scene
A 400 sq ft attached garage in a Montreal suburb. Concrete floor. Single insulated wall. One outlet. A workbench at the back, two bikes hanging from the rafters, and the smell of motor oil from a decade of casual maintenance.
Marc, a 41-year-old father of two who hadn't been to a gym since before his kids were born, was standing in this garage on a January morning in 2021. His knee was sore from playing hockey with his oldest. His back was stiff from desk work. He had gained 18 lb in 18 months.
He had two choices. Sign up for the strip-mall gym across town, drive 25 minutes round-trip, fight for equipment at peak hours. Or build the gym he'd been talking about for a decade.
He chose the garage.
Year 1: the foundation ($3,200)
The list Marc bought in January 2021:
- IRONSIDE Power Rack with Cable System — $2,471
- 45 lb Cerakote Olympic Bar — $149
- Bumper plates set (260 lb starter from the Phoenix Cerakote pack, swapped the pink bar for the standard one) — ~$500
- Multifunctional Bench with Storage — $917
Why this list: the rack covered every press, every squat, every row. The cable system handled lat pulldowns, face pulls, tricep work. The bench did flat, incline, and seated overhead. Marc had a complete strength gym in 25 sq ft of floor space.
What it cost him in time: 3 sessions a week, 45 minutes each, completed before his kids were awake. No commute. No waiting for equipment. Most importantly: no excuses.
Year 2: the cardio addition ($1,800)
By year 2, Marc had lost 15 lb of fat, added meaningful muscle, and was bored of running outside in Quebec winters. The cardio purchase:
- IRONSIDE IPS Recumbent Spin Bike — $1,789
Recumbent over standard spin because his knees had finally calmed down and he wasn't about to ruin them. The recumbent let him do 30-minute morning rides while reading on a tablet. Daily Zone-2 work, year-round.
Year 3: the accessory expansion ($800)
By year 3, his training had matured. The buys:
- Safety Squat Bar — $224 (his shoulder had started talking back during regular squats)
- Foam Roller — $25 (purchased after his first hip flexor twinge)
- Power Bands set — $80 (for warm-ups and travel training)
- 9 kg Wall Ball — $72 (his oldest had gotten into CrossFit and they trained together on weekends)
- Fractional Plates pair — $70
- Plate Storage Rack — $479 (because his garage looked like a bomb went off)
Year 4: the recovery zone ($890)
- Ice Bath Recovery Tub — $866 (cold winters meant cold-plunge in the garage was “free” half the year)
- Additional 10mm Yoga Mat — $16 (his wife had started joining for evening mobility sessions)
Year 5: the kids' equipment ($300)
By year 5, both kids — now 12 and 14 — were training in the garage with him several times a week.
- 3-in-1 Plyo Box — $193 (for the kids' jump training)
- Booty Bands 3-pack — $27
- Additional bumper plates — $80
The five-year total: $6,990 CAD
For about the cost of two and a half years of a strip-mall gym membership for one person, Marc built a gym that trains himself, his wife and his two kids — with zero commute, no peak-hour waits, and equipment that will still be running in another fifteen years.
What he didn't buy (and why)
- Treadmill — he runs outside in good weather, recumbent indoors in bad.
- Smith machine — the power rack with safeties handled solo lifting.
- Dumbbell rack — he bought 3 pairs (light, medium, heavy) and didn't need a full rack.
- Stereo system — his phone and a Bluetooth speaker do the job.
What he wishes he'd bought sooner
- The cable system on the rack. The rack-mounted pulleys saved him $2,000 he'd otherwise have spent on a separate cable machine.
- The bench with built-in storage. The dumbbells under the bench saved 4 sq ft of floor space.
- The fractional plates. For $70 they tripled the number of meaningful upper-body progress weeks per year.
- The foam roller. If he'd had one from day one, the hip flexor issue would never have happened.
The lessons of five years
- Buy the core first. Rack + bar + plates + bench. Get those right and you have 90 % of your gym.
- Add machines as the body asks for them. Specialty bars when joints complain. Recovery tools when training stays heavy.
- Storage is not optional. The cheapest motivation killer is a cluttered gym.
- Quality lasts. Marc's rack and bar from year 1 still look new. The cheap mat he tried in year 1 ended up in the trash by year 2.
- Build a gym you actually want to walk into. Lighting, music, a clean floor. The aesthetic matters more than you'd think.
If you're starting today
If Marc were starting again in 2026, he'd order this list on day one:
- Power Rack with Cable System — $2,471
- Phoenix Cerakote Bar + 260 lb Plate Pack — $864
- Multifunctional Bench with Storage — $917
- Foam Roller — $25
- Fractional Plates — $70
Total day-one investment: $4,347. The complete strength gym, ready to train in. Everything else is upgrades.
Browse the full IRONSIDE catalog and start your own five-year build.