Garage Gym of the Week: Patty Correales-Fishback

What’s your name? Patty Correales-Fishback 

How old are you? 31

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

Tell us a little bit about yourself: I’m a mom of 3 kids (10, 6 & 1), a military spouse, and recent law school grad.  Over the past decade that I’ve spent raising kids and going to school my health has taken a bit of a back seat, so after completing my Juris Doctorate this year I began  making a lot more time for working out in an effort to embark upon my career feeling both mentally and physically healthier.

How would you describe your training style (CrossFit, Olympic Weightlifting, etc.)? I would say it’s mostly CrossFit with a fair amount of weightlifting thrown in.

How would you describe your fitness/strength level, currently? I played a lot of sports growing up and I’ve always loved weightlifting so I still have some of that athleticism left but with plenty of room for improvements.  Right now I’m incredibly motivated and working on building up my strength, so I’m excited to see where I’m going from here.

What are your fitness/strength goals? Currently my goal is just to stay active every single day.

Describe your garage gym. Our garage is equipped with a squat rack, a bench, a concept2 rower, an assault air bike, a plyo box, a few barbells with bumper plates, a set of kettlebells, medicine balls and slam balls, some dumbbells, jump ropes, and (randomly) an endo board.

Who works out in your garage gym? Our entire family.

Why did you build a garage gym? We decided to invest in a garage gym because we knew it would improve our quality of life and be fun for our whole family. Being a dedicated member of 3rd Special Forces Group, my husband works out every single day, sometimes twice a day, so less time spent inside/driving to a commercial or on-post gym is more time spent with our family. As for me, I knew that having equipment in our own house would give me the flexibility needed to balance my workouts with my career and family even when my husband is away.

What’s your favorite piece of equipment in your garage? Probably the air bike. It’s a great full-body exercise that can be incorporated into any workout no matter the skill level.

What piece of equipment was a waste? Nothing has been a waste, I only wish we had gotten it all sooner.

What’s the next piece of equipment you’re going to get? We have a whole wishlist but next will probably be a hex bar and some more bumper plates.

Any dream piece of equipment? Not really, just maybe a bigger space in the future to accommodate more equipment!

How did you build your garage gym? (All at once, craigslist over a few years, etc.) Mostly all at once although we did have a few things before our big purchase. We looked around at a few places and were sold on Fringesport’s pricing, fast (and free!) shipping and customer service. Lauren was great setting us up with exactly what we wanted.

Do you have any tips for anyone else looking to build a garage gym? If you’re serious about setting up your garage gym then shop around for quality equipment that is going to be worth the investment. Making this kind of a commitment can be pricey, but your return on that investment is priceless.