Winner of the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, Dan Bailey splits his time between CrossFit Legacy and his own garage gym. Get a peek into Bailey’s personal gym at his family’s home in Uniontown, Ohio.
One of the bald patches on Bailey’s lawn is where he has trained long hours with a heavy kettlebell. Bailey admits the kettlebell was a weakness coming out of regionals last year, so he bought the 70-lb. bell and told himself, “Now that’s all you get to use.”
Bailey’s backyard training ground also includes a wooden pull-up bar complete with exposed nails to test “the accuracy component of CrossFit.” Using what he has on hand, Bailey’s outdoor “plyo boxes” are stacked landscaping beams.
Inside the garage, Bailey shows off his equipment, including a Rogue yoke. But it’s his homemade gear that shows how important functionality is to the former sprinter. He constructed a plyo box with his father, hung a plumber’s pipe for pull-ups and rings, and bound together wooden planks lined with scavenged tire rubber to protect the concrete floor during Olympic Lifting. He also created his own bumpers using spare tires filled with sand, and he filled a basketball with sand for his wall-ball.
8min 57sec
Additional reading: Smart Shopping for Your Home Gym by Matthew Hall, published Sept. 9, 2009.
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14 Comments on “Garage Gym With Dan Bailey”
1
wrote …
Make's you realize that you dont need much to crossfit, way the go Dan....
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2
wrote …
Welp, there goes my "not having the proper equipment" excuse.
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3
wrote …
beast. where there's a will, there's a way, right?
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4
wrote …
That's great! I love seeing that the elite guys do some of the same things I have had to do... no excuses, right?
One trick I use on my medballs is after you fill the basketball as much as you want to with sand, stuff as many plastic shopping bags as you can into the hole before taping it up. This does two things. It helps the ball keep it's shape AND acts as a barrier between the sand and the tape. My brother opted NOT to do this on the first ones we made and the dust that came out eventually stuck to the inside of the tape until the tape lifted off of the ball all together. I fixed it for him and he still uses it and hasn't had to re-tape it since I don't think. Also, go for Gorilla Tape as it really is tougher than duct tape.
I love the tire platform and bumper plates, I might have to make some of those :)
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5
wrote …
Nice, another dark horse with infinite work capacity that trains in absurd conditions.
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6
wrote …
I cannot wait to watch Dan throw down tomorrow at the Regionals. I love the garage gym set up.
Best of luck, Dan!
Pat
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7
wrote …
I really like the spare tire bumpers, I know I'll be going by a junk yard this weekend!
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8
wrote …
That's awesome! It makes me feel a little better about my garage gym, and gave me a couple ideas for some "new" equipment!
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9
Antonio Sunzeri wrote …
Dan crushed it today at regionals! Way to go brother, and bring it home in LA.
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10
wrote …
That was definitely the coolest of the garage gym series yet.
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11
Tammi Byxbee wrote …
Great video- I am slowly outfitting my garage gym with anything I can find too. Dan, you inspire me!
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12
wrote …
Next time you see a Semi-truck broken down on the highway it wasn't engine trouble. It was Dan Bailey who needed more rubber for lifting platforms!
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13
wrote …
Was that Bill H. from Rogue holding his weight box door open in the video?
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14
Frank DiMeo wrote …
Truly exemplifies the spirit of CrossFit, getting the job done with whatever you have available!
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