Ronnie Coleman Home Gym (Inside Bodybuilders Legend Setup) (2024)

Last updated: December 29, 2023

Bodybuilding legend Ronnie Coleman is one of the standout athletes of the 21st century, and when you consider that his early success came when he was a police officer, it's an even more inspiring story.

But for a famous bodybuilder, there are a lot of distractions at a commercial gym, and Coleman decided that he needed a secret weapon to stay competitive.

And that weapon was his home gym.

So, our team spent a day going through social media posts and interviews to see what the former bodybuilder had set up at home.

• Coleman's gym features an extensive range of equipment, including a wide selection of dumbbells, weight training machines, and advanced gym gear.
• His intense training regime lasted many hours each day, and having a gym at home gave him peace from the public as well as being able to always play his own music.
• A study by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) indicates that the average investment in home gym equipment can range from $1000 to $2000, which is significantly less than Coleman invested.
• From my own journey in setting up a home gym, I found it's a significant investment in both money and space.

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Coleman's home gym looks more like a huge commercial gym than anything you would find in even elite athletes' homes.

He has said in a few interviews that the house was about $75,000 cheaper than his gym.

Imagine spending that much on your own gym.

His dumbbells start with light weights at 5 pounds and go all the way up to 200 pounds.

Having trained with a similar variety, I know the importance of this range for targeting different muscle groups and progressing in strength.

Looking at videos, there must be over 50 dumbbells for him to choose from.

And he has as many weight training machines as you'd find in any typical gym.

The eight-time Mr. Olympia winner also likes that he can choose his own music for motivation.

Coleman has said that he spent over $200K on his gym equipment.

To put that in perspective, his house was about $125,000, and the gym cost him $200,000.

He has said that he based his design on the Metroflex gym he trained in before he became famous.

And that decision was a big factor in him becoming an eight-time Mr. Olympia and one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time [1].

"This is my sanctuary for when I was winning all my Olympias when I couldn't go to Metroflex because people would bother me so much."

- Ronnie Coleman

You don't win eight Mr. Olympia titles by having just some dumbbells for your bench press workouts and a simple squat rack.

What Coleman did was look for the most versatile equipment. According to a study in the National Library of Medicine, this approach gives him the ability to add as much variety to his training plans as possible for optimum muscle growth [2].

While his favorite piece of equipment is a full-size power rack, he also has a table crossover and multiple leg-press and leg-curl machines.

There are multiple flat and adjustable benches and such a variety of cable machines that I wonder how a single bodybuilder could need them all.

Oh, and he has a big sound system to play his favorite tunes to motivate him during training.

My clients say they can relate to Coleman's need for music during training. The ability to blast their own playlist adds that extra boost of motivation.

Take a look at our guide to best home gym equipment to help you get set up in a much more professional-looking way.

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