He built his dream home gym at 50 years old! That’s right! US Marine, Jesus Fragoso, wanted a dream home gym so he built it in a building attached to his house!
Wondering Why He Built His Dream Home Gym at 50 Years Old?
Jesús Fragoso has been competing in powerlifting since the Nineties, with trips to compete at IPF Junior Worlds in Finland among his accomplishments. But he stopped competing and in 2019, after hip resurfacing surgery on both hips, he decided to reclaim his passion for being strong despite being in his late forties and a Type 1 diabetic. Living in the small town of Sandpoint, ID meant that his options for a powerlifting friendly gym were limited, so “Frog” decided to train at home. He began accumulating equipment and so was prepared when the COVID-19 lockdown hit in 2020 and limited access to workout facilities.
Today His Home Gym is Complete!
Frog finally finished building his dream home gym this year, with products mostly from Rogue Fitness due to the lower cost of shipping to where he lives in Idaho but with some other pieces thrown in as they made sense.
Check Out The Video Tour
Frog’s List of Home Gym Essentials
Frog decided that he didn’t want to have to break down and set up equipment, preferring to have dedicated stations, so he purchased both an EliteFTS competition combo rack and a Rogue Fitness competition combo rack to set up side by side, a Rogue Monster power rack for max attempts, a Rogue Reverse Hyper and Belt Squat all complete with a full set of calibrated plates at every station. He’s also got a dedicated dumbbell area with a Rogue FID utility bench, a 45 degree back raise, Freemotion Dual Cable Crossover and a full set of REP Fitness dumbbells from 5-100lbs. His list of barbells includes:
- Eleiko Power Bar
- Texas Power Bar
- Texas Squat Bar
- Kabuki Squat Bar
- Kabuki Deadlift Bar
- Kabuki Duffalo Bar
- EliteFTS SS Yoke Bar
- Kabuki Transformer Bar
- Rogue Rackable Curl Bar
- EliteFTS American Cambered Bar
- Tsunami Bar
Frog’s Preferred Conditioning Equipment
Although Frog doesn’t really need to do cardio to maintain his weight class limit of 181lbs, he included a Freemotion Incline Trainer treadmill, a NordicTrack SkiErg and a Rogue Fitness Assault Bike in his dream home gym for his sons and his girlfriend to use. Frog says that he most often uses the cardio equipment in his home gym in a circuit or just the Freemotion Incline Trainer to help him warm up on cold days.
Recovery Tools
At 50 years old, Frog needs to train smart and let his body recover and his two favorite tools for after a competition or a hard training session are his Clearlight Two Person Sauna and his Cold Plunge cold tub. With those tools along with smart programming, Frog is able to maintain his rigorous training routine that allows him to deadlift nearly 600lbs in competition.
Helpful Resources
Want to see this tour and others like it? Check out the Best Gym In Town playlist on YouTube! Get ideas for setting up your home gym by checking out our Reviews. And don’t forget to support us by shopping our official apparel, subscribe to our YouTube Channel, and follow us on Instagram.