Recommended Training Equipment
As I mentioned on the Affiliates Disclaimer page, Practical Kung Fu participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs.
As a result, if you click on any of the links below, I may receive a commission if you purchase any items as a result.
If your desire is to work out at home, you will need certain pieces of equipment.
Most of the items discussed below are what I have, or similar to, the equipment I have in my own garage gym. I have also listed a few items that I would also love to have, but currently lack the space to include them.
All of these items will be beneficial to your kung fu, combatives and fitness training.
Everlast Heavy Bag
The heavy bag is one of the most important pieces of equipment you can have for martial arts and combatives training.
I personally have an 80 pound bag, but this 70 pound bag is adequate. If you don’t have a place to hang it, you’ll also want to get a frame similar to the one in the image to the right.
Click on either the bag image or frame image to check them out on Amazon.
Olympic Barbell Set
The most important piece of equipment you will need is a barbell and weight plates.
The standard set comes with a 45 pound barbell and 255 pounds of weight plates. That is a good place to start.
I own the Fitness Gear set seen in the image to the right, and like the set due to the handles on the bigger plates that making picking them up and carrying them a bit easier.
You can learn more about that set on Amazon by clicking on the image. It may also be worth comparing them to other sets available.
Marcy Home Gym Cage
This Marcy Home Gym Cage is what I have in my garage gym. It is suitable for small spaces and low ceiling clearances (about 7 feet).
It comes with a lat pulldown and seated row attachment, parallel dip bars, multi-grip pull up bar and safety pins.
You can perform a wide variety of exercises with this piece of equipment, including squats, bench press, overhead press, dead lift, pull ups, multi-grip lat pull downs, etc.
It is a durable, but fairly light weight piece of equipment, so if you are a larger person, and you have more space, you will want to go with a larger unit.
You can learn more about the Marcy Home Gym Cage by clicking on the image to the right.
Ritfit Power Cage
If you have the space in terms of square footage and height, this RitFit Power Cage has many of the features I look for in a home gym system.
You can check it out on Amazon by clicking on the image to the right.
Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells
Since I am low on space in my garage gym, I don’t have room for a complete set of dumbbells up to at least 50 pounds.
The Bowflex Selectech Adjustable dumbbells have been part of my home gym for about ten years now, and they have held up great!
These dumbbells are adjustable from 5 to 52.5 pounds in 2.5 pound increments up to 25 pounds, and then increments of 5 pounds from 25 to 50, and then ending at 52.5 pounds.
I highly recommend. You can check them out on Amazon by clicking on the image to the right.
Body Solid Olympic Weight Bench
This Body Solid Olympic Weight Bench is the closest design to the weight bench I had years ago that I can no longer find.
There are many weight benches to choose from. If you have the space, I recommend one like this model where you can do the bench press outside of the power rack. This allows for easier super setting when I am going back and forth between exercises.
Be sure that you get an Olympic plate adapter for the leg attachment, otherwise you will need to buy standard weight plates as well.
Cap Barbell Utility Weight Bench
Whether you have a small or large space for your home gym, and have an Olympic weight bench as described above, it is still useful to have an adjustable weight bench like this Cap Barbell piece.
I use a bench like this predominantly for my dumbbell exercises, but I used to only have a bench like this for use in my power rack.
You can check it out on Amazon by clicking on the link to the right.
Schwinn Recumbent Bike
The last major piece in my garage gym is this Schwinn Recumbent Bike.
This bike offers Bluetooth connectivity if you want to use an app for your training. It comes with a backlit display, 29 different programs and 25 resistance levels.
This piece of equipment meets our basic conditioning needs. Schwinn also sells an upright bike with the same basic features.
You can check out the Schwinn Recumbent Bike on Amazon by clicking on the link to the right.
Century BOB Training Dummy
The Bob is another piece of training equipment that you will see in virtually every martial arts school. The Bob gives you a better feel for hitting an actual opponent as you practice your strikes and kicks.
Learn more about this piece of equipment on Amazon by clicking on the image.
Wooden Dummy
If you are a kung fu enthusiast and a fan of Wing Chun kung fu in particular, you may want to get a wooden dummy to add to your training arsenal.
Most of the benefit you will get from this device is proper alignment on your blocks and strikes.
If you are new to wooden dummy training, the Flex HQ dummy to the right is a good place to start. Most of the really well built wooden dummies will cost upwards of $1,500, but this is one is about a third of the cost.
Check it out on Amazon by clicking on the image.
