Official Home Gym Building Thread

I reckon you could add catchers out front like a half rack quite easily. May need to brace along the floor in front so don't rip it off wall
 
They finally have the Bulldog Series spotter arms in stock :D - they aren't really designed for the 'portable' squat rack, but they'll be low down and I place 25kg weight plates on each corner of the base anyway. I also haven't needed a spotter arm in 2-3 years, but nice to have.

https://www.bulldoggear.eu/collections/rack-accessories/products/bulldog-series-spotter-arms

I think eventually I'll get a galvanised version of this that can live outside:

https://www.bulldoggear.eu/collections/squat-racks/products/bssr2-bulldog-series-squat-rack
 
Last edited:
See now I have questions about spotter bars. For squats I get it - you can dump the weight safely. I'm starting to struggle on bench press though but putting spotter bars in means I can't get full ROM? Seems counter productive but then again I do train alone - what's the best course of action?
 
I set my spotter so that if I exhale everything, It hits the spotter.
If I've got a big chest of air, braced, I touch my chest with no hitting of the spotter.

Maybe you can set the spotter down one and have a spacer of some kind to give you that saftey?
 
Psymonkee said:
See now I have questions about spotter bars. For squats I get it - you can dump the weight safely. I'm starting to struggle on bench press though but putting spotter bars in means I can't get full ROM? Seems counter productive but then again I do train alone - what's the best course of action?
Click to expand...

Its tricky to do in the racks in my gym because the increments are quite large. If you are puffing up and moving your chest up then you can have the bar just below that point, so that worst case scenario when you relax and exhale the bar can rest on the bar, but you can still shuffle out from it.

GiraffePencils said:
I set my spotter so that if I exhale everything, It hits the spotter.
If I've got a big chest of air, braced, I touch my chest with no hitting of the spotter
Click to expand...

Yup, basically this.

With experience I've learnt to trust a spotter arm more than a person spotting.

Edit: The spotter arms were sold out a few hours later.
 
Last edited:
Ah! Of course there's a thread for this, was just about to make one of my own

Like many others the wife and I have decided to tidy up the garage and convert the back 2/3rds of it into a home gym. Early days in the planning yet and I already know what I want equipment-wise (when it someday comes back in stock; kind of thinking I might aim for Black Friday sales at this rate! Or if there's an influx of people selling the stuff they bought when lockdown started once gyms open I may look around)...

Anyway what I am wondering about and maybe people will have experience with is this; the first thing I want to do is get the space setup a bit, and try and take the edge off of the temperature swings in there - intending to:
  • Insulate the door of the garage, probably just use adhesive foam to glue some celotex panels onto it
  • Get some horse stall mats / gym mats and fit them down on the floor
  • Get some acrylic mirror panels for some of the walls
  • Possibly buy a small portable heater and a chrome fan
What I'm wondering about though is that the garage door has some vents in it - how important is it that I leave those uncovered? By and large the garage isn't particularly drafty - it's only ~5 years old, pitched roof in good condition, not excessive gaps around the edges or bottom of the door. So I'm a bit worried that if I take away the ventilation in the door I might turn it into a condensation hotbox? Particularly as there's also a tumble-dryer in there. Can anyone comment if my concern is unfounded? I could cut the Celotex in a way that doesn't block up the vents if so (and follow up question - if I do that will it defeat the point of trying to insulate the door altogether?

Any other tips or advice? Equipment-wise if anyone cares I already know I'm intending to go with a cage, bench, lat/cable machine and a spin bike for cardio. Won't need anything more than that... Cheers in advance!
 
uncle_rufus said:
Ah! Of course there's a thread for this, was just about to make one of my own

Like many others the wife and I have decided to tidy up the garage and convert the back 2/3rds of it into a home gym. Early days in the planning yet and I already know what I want equipment-wise (when it someday comes back in stock; kind of thinking I might aim for Black Friday sales at this rate! Or if there's an influx of people selling the stuff they bought when lockdown started once gyms open I may look around)...

Anyway what I am wondering about and maybe people will have experience with is this; the first thing I want to do is get the space setup a bit, and try and take the edge off of the temperature swings in there - intending to:
  • Insulate the door of the garage, probably just use adhesive foam to glue some celotex panels onto it
  • Get some horse stall mats / gym mats and fit them down on the floor
  • Get some acrylic mirror panels for some of the walls
  • Possibly buy a small portable heater and a chrome fan
What I'm wondering about though is that the garage door has some vents in it - how important is it that I leave those uncovered? By and large the garage isn't particularly drafty - it's only ~5 years old, pitched roof in good condition, not excessive gaps around the edges or bottom of the door. So I'm a bit worried that if I take away the ventilation in the door I might turn it into a condensation hotbox? Particularly as there's also a tumble-dryer in there. Can anyone comment if my concern is unfounded? I could cut the Celotex in a way that doesn't block up the vents if so (and follow up question - if I do that will it defeat the point of trying to insulate the door altogether?

Any other tips or advice? Equipment-wise if anyone cares I already know I'm intending to go with a cage, bench, lat/cable machine and a spin bike for cardio. Won't need anything more than that... Cheers in advance!
Click to expand...

How big is the garage ? If you are planning to only use 2/3rds, you might have to squeeze things in and would suggest maybe getting a 6ft Oly bar that still fits a rack - I have that and a 7ft, and the longer bar is just a bit tight in there.

A few things I did -

Added some battens and then a few sheets of plyboard over the metal garage door (the one you would drive through) - didn't insulate it any more than that but it stops any drafts
Added a draft excluder brush to the bottom of the (wooden) garage door (the one to walk into the garage) to stop any drafts
Added gym mats from Ark and cut to size where needed (I painted the floor first to stop dust ups)
Have an oil filled radiator on a timer switch for the winter and a little fan from Amazon for summer. I need a better heater for this winter, having trained out there all last winter.

Not had any problems with condensation as yet - up until around April, had a tumble drier in there and just kept the door open a bit - now thats gone and its 100% gym space !

Speaking of which, my (first lot) of dumbbells arrived this week - happy days !

OHWqFHW.jpg
 
GS70 said:
How big is the garage ? If you are planning to only use 2/3rds, you might have to squeeze things in and would suggest maybe getting a 6ft Oly bar that still fits a rack - I have that and a 7ft, and the longer bar is just a bit tight in there.

A few things I did -

Added some battens and then a few sheets of plyboard over the metal garage door (the one you would drive through) - didn't insulate it any more than that but it stops any drafts
Added a draft excluder brush to the bottom of the (wooden) garage door (the one to walk into the garage) to stop any drafts
Added gym mats from Ark and cut to size where needed (I painted the floor first to stop dust ups)
Have an oil filled radiator on a timer switch for the winter and a little fan from Amazon for summer. I need a better heater for this winter, having trained out there all last winter.

Not had any problems with condensation as yet - up until around April, had a tumble drier in there and just kept the door open a bit - now thats gone and its 100% gym space !
Click to expand...

I think it's pretty much a standard single sized garage (16 by 8 ft or thereabouts)... I had that thought about the bar when measuring up and was considering going for a 6ft bar (where the extra ft is taken from the collars only)... although I was also planning to put the power rack facing one of the side walls; so the bar won't be oriented across the width of the garage (where it won't have much clearance for racking weights, even with the 6ft bar)...

My thought was to basically have a rack and a narrow lat/cable station on one side and leave the other side open save for a spin bike and perhaps some weight storage along the wall - leaving me an area where I can do freestanding stuff and/or slide the bench out into for doing stuff that doesn't require the rack. I've seen you can get some cages with a lat/cable type thing built into them but it looks a bit cramped to me - it either makes the rack much deeper (which is bad when working with such a small space) or it seems (and I've read people saying) that it can get in the way of the bench for doing presses

When you say battens + plyboard that sounds like you mean you actually built over it? Can you still open the door? I was thinking if I just stuck some celotex or other insulation boards to it being careful not to obstruct the mechanism it would still be able to open up - the 1/3rd of the area not taken up by gym stuff will still have the tumble dryer, some tools and things and our bikes stood in it which I need to be able to get in and out as normal, so I don't want to block it off so much

Thanks for the advice though - it sounds like maybe sealing off ventilation may be okay - trying to Google it and all I could find were threads from places like Pistonheads where they're saying don't seal up vents because if you park your car in there after you've been out in the rain it won't dry and your precious expensive custom break discs will rust... I guess since I'm not really going to be putting wet stuff in there (tumble dryer and gym based perspiration aside) it's probably okay?
 
Bulldog safety bars arrived. They are perfect. On the lowest setting they actually help keep my form tight - unless my chest is fully up then I hit them, so it’s a good cue. Also means I can push with confidence.
 
Can anyone recommend somewhere to buy olympic weights & 7 foot barbell? Seems like powerhouse / fitness superstore may not have anything back in stock until july/august! Although I'll assume if that's the case then there's no chance of getting them anywhere in the UK til around the same dates.
 
Teeper said:
Can anyone recommend somewhere to buy olympic weights & 7 foot barbell? Seems like powerhouse / fitness superstore may not have anything back in stock until july/august! Although I'll assume if that's the case then there's no chance of getting them anywhere in the UK til around the same dates.
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem to be much restocking going on.
 
From Bulldog Gear:

A very LIMITED amount of Barbells & Bumpers will become available to order this coming FRIDAY 19TH JUNE.

Don't want to miss out? Make sure you sign up to be notified at the exact moment they become available to order, via the product pages.


Please Note: Subject to stock, these products may or may not be available to purchase separately. They may be solely designated to Bar & Bumper Packages.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom