Official Home Gym Building Thread

Many thanks.

The top rack is actually Body-X (Chinese made), I just like the look of it because of the micro adjustment of the safeties this is rated to 400kg and is £6 dearer than the Powertec.

I placed a bid on a 2nd hand Powertec at the weekend but didn't win although I have contacted the seller incase the winning bidder drops out, heres hoping ;)

Think I will probably go for another Body-Solid GFID31 bench as the 71 is just a bit too big for my small room.

Anyone used the Powertec Workbench Utility Bench?

take a look at this place if you want to see what the best equipment money can buy is http://www.gymequipment.uk.com/
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. I will save that for when I win big on the lottery :cool:
 
Euro_Hunter said:
Many thanks.

The top rack is actually Body-X (Chinese made), I just like the look of it because of the micro adjustment of the safeties this is rated to 400kg and is £6 dearer than the Powertec.

I placed a bid on a 2nd hand Powertec at the weekend but didn't win although I have contacted the seller incase the winning bidder drops out, heres hoping ;)

Think I will probably go for another Body-Solid GFID31 bench as the 71 is just a bit too big for my small room.

Anyone used the Powertec Workbench Utility Bench?



Thanks for that link. I will save that for when I win big on the lottery :cool:
Click to expand...

second hand imo is the best way to go if you can find decent equipment which has been well looked after or can be easily re-furbed. you end up saving yourself literally thousands.

i've not used the powertec bench but i went for the body solid bench i have because it was a lot better built (fully commercial and rated to over 1,000 lbs) and you could buy lot's of decent attachments for it, preacher curl, leg, curl, etc.

my gym ratz bench is actually a spare i picked up second hand for really cheap, for if someone else wanted to work out whilst i was working out, then they can without interrupting me.

i have recently joined a gym (£40 per month) even though i have over £3K of equipment at home, due to me now focusing on cardio for the next year or so.

i hope in the future to be able to buy a commercial treadmill, rower, bike and elliptical at some point, but until then i will need to fork out for a gym membership on top of all the equipment i have.
 
I've currently got the following equipment, and am very tempted to upgrade to something a little safer and sturdier, and somewhere I can squat, so I think I'm looking for a power rack, new bench, and possibly some Olympic weights :-

Weights bench with lat pulldown, butterfly, and preacher curl attachments, 200kg or so of free weights, a pull up bar attached to the wall which doubles up as a punch bag hanger, and various other bits and bobs.

Found a couple of packages, just wondering if anyone knows of any better deals or alternatives :-

£580 - Deluxe Strength Package at Powerhouse Fitness

£750 - Premium Strength Package at Powerhouse Fitness

Part of my thinking behind this is that my local gyms cost £30 to £35 a month, and I don't always have time to go, so £40 to £50 a month on 12 months interest free for a gym on my doorstep should be a good investment, and after 12 months, it's free! :p
 
broona said:
I've currently got the following equipment, and am very tempted to upgrade to something a little safer and sturdier, and somewhere I can squat, so I think I'm looking for a power rack, new bench, and possibly some Olympic weights :-

Weights bench with lat pulldown, butterfly, and preacher curl attachments, 200kg or so of free weights, a pull up bar attached to the wall which doubles up as a punch bag hanger, and various other bits and bobs.

Found a couple of packages, just wondering if anyone knows of any better deals or alternatives :-

£580 - Deluxe Strength Package at Powerhouse Fitness

£750 - Premium Strength Package at Powerhouse Fitness

Part of my thinking behind this is that my local gyms cost £30 to £35 a month, and I don't always have time to go, so £40 to £50 a month on 12 months interest free for a gym on my doorstep should be a good investment, and after 12 months, it's free! :p
Click to expand...

home gyms are always more expensive, you need to account for matting which is also rather expensive, etc.

then you have no cardio equipment, no access to swimming pools, sauna, steam room, etc.

my gym also run free classes, etc in which they push you to the max.

i have both a home gym and recently got a gym membership for cardio only, in the future i hope to buy cardio equipment, but in the end my home gym will end up costing me more.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
home gyms are always more expensive, you need to account for matting which is also rather expensive, etc.

then you have no cardio equipment, no access to swimming pools, sauna, steam room, etc.

my gym also run free classes, etc in which they push you to the max.

i have both a home gym and recently got a gym membership for cardio only, in the future i hope to buy cardio equipment, but in the end my home gym will end up costing me more.
Click to expand...

My cardio equipment consists of a full suspension mountain bike, hard tail mountain bike, and a shiny new road bike next week, so I've no need for anything else, and I'm a terrible swimmer, lol! :D
 
broona said:
My cardio equipment consists of a full suspension mountain bike, hard tail mountain bike, and a shiny new road bike next week, so I've no need for anything else, and I'm a terrible swimmer, lol! :D
Click to expand...

that's great if you love biking, other people prefer to mix up their cardio, it's all about tailoring your need's and wants.

i've always wanted a concept 2 rower but tbh since ive had my gym membership, all i have used is the treadmills mainly. i find rowing to be boring. i found the bikes to be useless too, compared to a treadmill for fitness. that's why i will want a treadmill in my home gym and a rower as backup to switch things up.

suit the gym to your needs, but home gyms are expensive, don't look at them as a way of saving money in the long run, that can sometimes be an associated benefit but rarely is the case.

gym membership - £40 a month access to literally thousands of equipment
home gym - £1-3K access to very little equipment

yeah your saving money but your getting nothing in terms of the associated benefits of being at a proper gym. both have their advantages and disadvantages.

that is the reality of it all, if all you need is basic equipment then great, go for it, but don't do it if all you want it for is to save money long term. in a few years time you could get bored of doing the same thing all the time (the reason why a lot of home gyms don't get much use).

this is a serious step, make sure you are sure before taking the plunge.

on the other hand you don't need to deal with the plebs at public gyms taking their time, dossing about, misusing equipment, etc.

that is why i love my home gym, today for instance at the gym their were 3 guys who i knew instantly from when i saw them they aren't going to get anywhere.

doing curls in a pulley machine, wearing flashy gear, chatting away, on their phones, etc basically what they managed to achieve in the 30 minutes they were at the gym a normal person could have done in 5 minutes.
 
Rang Powerhouse Fitness for some advice, and she sounded so nice, I ended up ordering the set from the second link I posted and a set of dip bars to go with it for delivery on Thursday morning, minus 10% too, oops, lol! :D
 
broona said:
Rang Powerhouse Fitness for some advice, and she sounded so nice, I ended up ordering the set from the second link I posted and a set of dip bars to go with it for delivery on Thursday morning, minus 10% too, oops, lol! :D
Click to expand...

do you have matting sorted already? as that would be the first thing i would put down before i started building it when it arrives
 
I've been looking into finally getting a bench.

I shortend the list to:

Body-Solid GFID71 Bench (which is current available for £280 then £80 each for two addons).

or

the Ironmaster Super bench (which needs 3 extension for like a like setup making it £484 total)

I am leanng towards the Bodysolid as its recommended in the first posts, but I don't know how long the deal will be on, so really wanted to know how the Ironmaster measures up.
 
PhilGQ said:
I've been looking into finally getting a bench.

I shortend the list to:

Body-Solid GFID71 Bench (which is current available for £280 then £80 each for two addons).

or

the Ironmaster Super bench (which needs 3 extension for like a like setup making it £484 total)

I am leanng towards the Bodysolid as its recommended in the first posts, but I don't know how long the deal will be on, so really wanted to know how the Ironmaster measures up.
Click to expand...

Body solid bench all the way, ironmaster make the best adjustable dumbells in the world, everything else they sell is overpriced in the UK, in America where stuff is a lot cheaper, i would need to know the prices first because a lot of people buy ironmaster over there so im assuming because its cheaper than competitors.


broona said:
I've got a few lengths of 5 to 10mm rubber belting down now, would that be ok?
Click to expand...


5mm is okay for light weights but not big weights, i wouldn't want to risk it.

10mm should be okay for everything though.

it also depends on the quality of the rubber, if its compressed chips or solid mats. compressed chips are obviously weaker mats.
 
PhilGQ said:
Cheers, will probably go for it next month. Hopefully I can still get it at that price by pay day.
Click to expand...

i actually have that bench and the add-on's, take a look at my pics in the thread, my cousin also has the same bench too.

make sure you upload some photo's of it all.

that reminds me, next time im at my cousins i'll see if i can take some photos of his setup, you guys are going to be so jealous, it's a BEAST of a setup.
 
Well I took a trip to Bodypower Sports in Northampton yesterday, awesome place & very helpful/friendly staff.

Bought myself a Powertec Leverage Squat/calf machine & 125kg of olympic weights to get me started, this is really great and takes the pressure of my knees which I have problems with.

Did legs today and did:
Squats 2x10 -40kg, 2x10 -50kg. 1x10 -60kg
calf raises 3x10 - 40kg

Will no doubt have severe doms tomorrow as have only been squatting with 30kg till now :D

Powertec-Squat-Image.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm very interested in getting the very popular Bodymax CF475 power rack (with lat attachment) but think I'll wait for some sort of discount as I don't fancy paying £412 :eek: and I think its little brother looks a little flimsy in comparison not too mention the dip attachment won't fit.

Was about to rejoin David Lloyds at £62 a month but I think I'll try working out at home for a stint to see if I like it.
 
kanine said:
After a LOT of research reading this thread, and others, I have recently put together a home gym - at a rather bargainous depreciation proof price. Unfortunately it can't really be done now (unless you are an amazing haggler!) but this is the deal I got - from the very very kind sales people at Powerhouse Fitness, Leeds branch. The way I got it so cheap is because quidco do 10% from powerhouse, and there was a 10% sale off body craft / body max products in January, making 18% off. After 'combining' a few packages I got the following…

Bodycraft F430 Rack with lat pull down (LPD normally £239.99 on its own, £639.99 together)
Bodycraft F602 Bench (£279.99 on it's own, but Rack, LPD and Bench £799.99 bundle)
Dip attachments £29.99
145kg Radial Rubber Olympic Weights w/ 7' olympic barbell £245.65
4 x 5kg Olympic Cast weights £29.99
2 x 1.25kg Cast Weights £4.99
Olympic Dumbbells £47.98
2 x Spring Collars £9.58
Double Tricep Rope £13.63
36" Lat Pull Down £21.55


RRP - separate total: 1323.55
Grand total (if bought from website outside of promotion + QC) - £1203.36
Total if you had used the discount code and quidco (18% off) - £986.76

PRICE I PAID after phoning the store!! £808 ;)

(I had to phone the store and explain about the web offer and see what they could do to beat it. I originally asked for the Bodypower CF475 package but upgraded it to the Bodymax F430 package for £150 more. I think the staff were more confused by my sums and actually asked me to give me the figures I had worked out after totalling a sum several hundred pounds higher! They also sent the pull down bar and spring clips for 'free' as they weren't meant to send them but made a mistake!)

Quite a gigantic saving - 32% off the website only price (which is pretty reasonable anyway!) and 14% after the already massive 18% quidco / promotion discount. So for £808 not bad at all in total considering the rack,bench and lat pull down is £799 on their website!

I'd be quite interesting in BennyC's ironmasters actually - how would I go about PMing/enquiring? Cheers!
Click to expand...

Which store did you call ?.
 
Euro_Hunter said:
Well I took a trip to Bodypower Sports in Northampton yesterday, awesome place & very helpful/friendly staff.

Bought myself a Powertec Leverage Squat/calf machine & 125kg of olympic weights to get me started, this is really great and takes the pressure of my knees which I have problems with.

Did legs today and did:
Squats 2x10 -40kg, 2x10 -50kg. 1x10 -60kg
calf raises 3x10 - 40kg

Will no doubt have severe doms tomorrow as have only been squatting with 30kg till now :D
Click to expand...

I can't help but think your knees hurting during a squat is down to form. The machine you bought will keep you strict and allow you to sit back more, meaning your knees won't be going over your toes. I would have personally corrected my squat form than got a power rack, so much better than squatting on that.
 
broona said:
Rang Powerhouse Fitness for some advice, and she sounded so nice, I ended up ordering the set from the second link I posted and a set of dip bars to go with it for delivery on Thursday morning, minus 10% too, oops, lol! :D
Click to expand...

Bought myself one of those packages too! As well as some rubber matting from the strength shop. I'll be putting it all together over the weekend. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom