Garage Gym of the Week: Ian Grant

What’s your name? Ian Grant

How old are you? 44

Do you have an IG handle or website you’d like linked? @its_the_dagg

Tell us about yourself. I am a father of three. A husband of 22 years to my high school sweetheart. I work in the construction management field as a field superintendent.

How would you describe your training style? We typically do crossfit style WODs but also follow an Oly lifting program. We have WODS written for us daily.

How would you describe you fitness level? I am in the best shape of my life. I'm driven every day to be in our garage doing something whether it's working on my goats or participating in the WOD.

What are your fitness goals? My goal is to lead by example for my kids and our crew. To be the absolute best that I can be. We are given one life to live and I am convinced that following a healthy lifestyle is the way to live it.

Describe your garage gym. We call our garage gym the "DAGG" which stands for dirty ass garage gym. It started as a dirty garage full of garage stuff. Slowly it has been transformed into and awesome box for our family and crew to thrash. We've got 1000lbs of bumpers, 5 bars, kettlebells, jerk blocks, a tire, pull-up bars, squat racks, dumbells, ropes...it's really turned into a gym. We've got plywood wall with awesome bright lighting. Floor is covered with 3/4" rubber mats. We recently acquired a 4'x8' wipe off board for our PRs and WODs.

Who works out at your gym? There are 14 awesome hard chargers working out in our garage. Free.

Why did you build your garage gym? My wife, daughter, and I all worked out at a crossfit affiliate for a couple of years until it was sold. We had our tight group break up after the sale which really was depressing. We tried to stay with new owners and new patrons but it wasn't the same. Not in a bad way, just not the same. We tried other crossfit boxes but we couldn't find that old group we were looking for. We decided that we were going to buy some very basic stuff and workout at home....boring. It was terrible. We decided we needed to open it up and try again with a group. We had a few friends that never did the crossfit thing for one reason or another so we offered to them to come over and try the WODs with us. Almost immediately we had a crew that was hooked. We started our private Facebook page so we could communicate with our crew, post WODs, keep it all organized. We slowly bought equipment and our crew donated stuff and now we have a pretty full gym. We just had our 1 year anniversary in September. Still rocking it with a solid 14 people 5-6 days a week.

What is your favorite piece of equipment? Truthfully it's our bars and bumpers.

What piece of equipment is a waste? Nothing. We use everything.

What is the next piece of equipment you are going to get? I'm eyeballing an assault bike. It's amazing what those things can do to a person ;)

Any dream piece of equipment? A couple of rowers. Absolutely love the work you can get out of these.

How did you build your garage gym? First we needed a place for garage stuff so I built a storage area under our deck and started cleaning and equipping our garage. Plywood walls went up. A few mats went down. I think we all bought jump ropes and did a lot of body weight stuff to just get started. Over the next few months we bought a bar and bumpers. A rack went in next. More mats, more bars, more bumpers, kettlebells....it just keeps going. We have a great crew.

Do you have any tips for people wanting to build a gym? Start slow. Find what you really need.   Once you make the decision to build your own, do it! I personally will never look back. The flexibility you create by bringing fitness to your garage is huge. It's open 24/7 for you.  In our case we opened up for people to get themselves committed to a healthy lifestyle. It's free, it's close, it's fun.