Official Home Gym Building Thread

Thanks for the reply. However their is absolutely no chance I will have a spare £1k anytime soon lol. I have just completed college so I'm unemployed for the time being!

I don't want anything special at all, just something to put in the garage. I'm doing dumbbell exercises at the moment and I just want to step it up a little bit.

How about something like this for starters?
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3358326/Trail/searchtext>WEIGHT+BENCH.htm
 
Tom_D, I bought a power rack, decent bench, oly bar, 100kg of weights and matting all new for £400 so it can be done a lot cheaper.

This gear will last me until I'm say benching and squatting in excess of 200kg which is going to be at least a few years. By which point it will be at least a few more years before I can rep those weights so I don't see myself out growing this setup... ever.

The only other expenses since buying it is the addition of 100kg of weights, what was probably around £200, a lifting belt and straps probably under £30 for both.

Bench

Bar and Weights

Power Rack

£450 for those 3. Matting shouldn't cost more than £30 to cover the initial small area you'll be using, so long as you remain in the rack for most exercises.

I got the same setup for £375 (plus some ****** matts, which I added to with probably ones) as those 3 items are in one of their strength packages which had 25% off at the time, but unfortunately it doesn't anymore.
 
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Mansize_tissue said:
Tom_D, I bought a power rack, decent bench, oly bar, 100kg of weights and matting all new for £400 so it can be done a lot cheaper.

This gear will last me until I'm say benching and squatting in excess of 200kg which is going to be at least a few years. By which point it will be at least a few more years before I can rep those weights so I don't see myself out growing this setup... ever.

The only other expenses since buying it is the addition of 100kg of weights, what was probably around £200, a lifting belt and straps probably under £30 for both.

Bench

Bar and Weights

Power Rack

£450 for those 3. Matting shouldn't cost more than £30 to cover the initial small area you'll be using, so long as you remain in the rack for most exercises.

I got the same setup for £375 (plus some ****** matts, which I added to with probably ones) as those 3 items are in one of their strength packages which had 25% off at the time, but unfortunately it doesn't anymore.
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This is what you need. Buy cheap buy twice. Anything less than this you will throw out within a month if you are training as much as 5% correctly.
 
2 x 6' by 4' foot mats just about cover my rack area and they are 17 mm and roughly £60+ each excluding shipping.

he is going to need 3 mats minimum of the 6 foot by 3 foot ones from strength shop, which is £66 excluding shipping altogether. in future these would need to be doubled up when he can afford to. basically like i say the absolute minimum for a rack area is easily going to cost £90 for a single layer, then another £90 in the future to double it up.

so the figure of £30 for matting is way off. even when im using just my bench on its own with no rack i need a minimum of 2 mats.
 
I manage just fine with a single mat. I cut it up and have 2 strips doubled up (2x 17mm so 34mm thick) either side of my rack, no need for any in the middle as no weights touch that area. Cost under £30 if I recall correctly from Walker Rubber, 6' * 4'.
 
Mansize_tissue said:
I manage just fine with a single mat. I cut it up and have 2 strips doubled up (2x 17mm so 34mm thick) either side of my rack, no need for any in the middle as no weights touch that area. Cost under £30 if I recall correctly from Walker Rubber, 6' * 4'.
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your gym is inside your home isn't it? not in the garage?

in a garage it is not the same finish as a home, it's not smooth, completely level, etc, that's why garages are cheap to build compared to an extension to a home as the finish is nowhere near the same level.

my garage is nowhere near flat, so i need mats everywhere to smooth out the bumps as best i can. for inside a home, your idea would work fine, unless you have wooden floors, i wouldn't want to scratch the floors with the constant moving of the bench, weights, etc.

also your lucky you have a local rubber supplier, as postage is expensive due to the weight involved. im betting his prices are also cheap too, compared with online sellers. in scotland i couldnt find anywhere local to me.
 
Managed to grab a bargain today!

A York bench 501, 5 ft barbell, 4 ft barbell, ez curl barbell, tricep bar, 2 dumbbells, 10 x 10kg plates, 4 x 5kg plates, 4 x 2.5kg plates, 2 x 1.25kg plates all for only £90!

Couldn't believe my luck haha. Now I've got a very decent set of weights, I already had the 48kg cast iron barbell set so this extra addition of weight plates and another bench (which I'll probably give to a friend) will keep me going for absolutely ages!

I've spent almost £300 on weights and various other things, never thought I would have spent so much but it's a good investment. I just need to get some mats now, how many gym mats will I need do you reckon? I saw someone link a few from Ebay but I've got no idea how many I'll buy, I'm guessing around 2 if I'm using a normal bench and doing squats/deads etc?
 
Rossuk89 said:
Managed to grab a bargain today!

A York bench 501, 5 ft barbell, 4 ft barbell, ez curl barbell, tricep bar, 2 dumbbells, 10 x 10kg plates, 4 x 5kg plates, 4 x 2.5kg plates, 2 x 1.25kg plates all for only £90!

Couldn't believe my luck haha. Now I've got a very decent set of weights, I already had the 48kg cast iron barbell set so this extra addition of weight plates and another bench (which I'll probably give to a friend) will keep me going for absolutely ages!

I've spent almost £300 on weights and various other things, never thought I would have spent so much but it's a good investment. I just need to get some mats now, how many gym mats will I need do you reckon? I saw someone link a few from Ebay but I've got no idea how many I'll buy, I'm guessing around 2 if I'm using a normal bench and doing squats/deads etc?
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tbh that isn't cheap, that is the going rate for second hand non olympic stuff, it doesnt hold any of it's value.

i managed to get olympic plates for less than £1 per kg second hand, so standard stuff i would rate at 25-50p per kg second hand.
 
My 1st post on the site...
Im currently building a gym in a shed and id personally say the best way to get what you want in there is to be patient and dont be scared to go 2nd hand. Ive managed to get some real bargains and im sure i'll get more, havent bought a thing new so far.
Only thing im considering buying new is the Bodymax CF480 Multi Press Rack. I'll try and get some progress pics up soon...
 
Hey all quick q on what I should add to my home gym. Training for mass/aesthetics.

Currently got a squat rack(with pullup bar), bench (flat/incline), wide lat cable pull downs, cable pullups and some dumbells.

Have a seperate preacher curl bench on the way and think of something to work the abs or back.

So either a decent decline sit up bench OR a hyper-extension bench to work the lower back? Not sure which one to go for, not really got space for both!

Or any other ideas? Cheers
 
I'd get neither personally. Standard deadlifts and all the variations are more than enough to work your lower back. Abdominals are best worked as an anti-rotation muscle, look into pavlof presses. Also puking cats can be done with no equipment and are good for the transverse abdominal area if I recall correctly.
 
nellyville said:
My 1st post on the site...
Im currently building a gym in a shed and id personally say the best way to get what you want in there is to be patient and dont be scared to go 2nd hand. Ive managed to get some real bargains and im sure i'll get more, havent bought a thing new so far.
Only thing im considering buying new is the Bodymax CF480 Multi Press Rack. I'll try and get some progress pics up soon...
Click to expand...

the problem with being patient is, sometimes you need to think about the time it takes to source decent equipment.

in scotland hardly anyone has decent equipment never mind selling it second hand.

i managed to get lucky on dumbells mainly and source them second hand but i just bit the bullet and got my starter stuff all brand new.

rack, bench, olympic bar and weights all brand new.

fixed dumbells all second hand.
 
digisatman said:
Hey all quick q on what I should add to my home gym. Training for mass/aesthetics.

Currently got a squat rack(with pullup bar), bench (flat/incline), wide lat cable pull downs, cable pullups and some dumbells.

Have a seperate preacher curl bench on the way and think of something to work the abs or back.

So either a decent decline sit up bench OR a hyper-extension bench to work the lower back? Not sure which one to go for, not really got space for both!

Or any other ideas? Cheers
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doing sit ups with a plate on your chest or behind your head will be the same as decline sit ups, so not worth it imo.

a ghr provides something a lot different and worth looking into, i think powertec do a very good one which can be used for a few things.
 
Stuff does come up, ive been looking for about 6 months and got about £3-4k's worth of kit for under a grand! But each to their own and I dare say if I could afford brand new gear id jump at the chance!
 
nellyville said:
Stuff does come up, ive been looking for about 6 months and got about £3-4k's worth of kit for under a grand! But each to their own and I dare say if I could afford brand new gear id jump at the chance!
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there is nothing wrong with second hand, ive even told people how to re-furbish second hand stuff in this thread.

it's just that in scotland, there is hardly any decent stuff that comes up for sale second hand. it took me years to get my dumbells.

some people just cannot wait that long. but if you live in an area like london, i imagine decent equipment pops up for cheap every day.
 
nellyville said:
Stuff does come up, ive been looking for about 6 months and got about £3-4k's worth of kit for under a grand! But each to their own and I dare say if I could afford brand new gear id jump at the chance!
Click to expand...
I bought from new and wasted thousands on commercial equipment and rubber matting. In hindsight I wish I went second hand, some great stuff on Ebay to be had!
 
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