Official Home Gym Building Thread

toxic · 11 Feb 2013 at 16:33

Nicee!! I put an old Teac amp and speakers (i didnt use them much in the house) in mine. Pump it up LOUD..and workout hard. Its awsome!
You never get that freedom in a big public gym

LiE · 11 Feb 2013 at 16:35

I'm looking forward to some loud music and shouting when training

cawill · 11 Feb 2013 at 19:50

toxic said:
these J hooks...can u buy them?

I'm not sure if they will fit your rack but here is one place you can get them:

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/strength-shop-j-hooks-pair.html

Greenja · 14 Feb 2013 at 10:18

Setup looks awesome Lie, can't wait till I can do something like that. Gonna be a loooong time though! haha.

phoenix575 · 15 Feb 2013 at 20:48

Got myself the c475 power rack with the lat attachment. I thought about getting the powertec but the c475 looked a lot better value. The rack is still rated to 800 lbs which is more than sufficient. And the lat pulley is rated to 400 lbs, whereas the powertec is only 300 lbs. The pulley is extremely smooth and handles the weight nicely.
I'm currently using an old york bench I have which is only rated to 200kg. I weigh 97kg and my bench is 60kg so once I get to 190kg combined I'll get an ironmaster.
First I want to get this leg extension http://www.ukfitnesssupplies.co.uk/productdetail.asp?ProductCatalogue=BSGCEC340.
It's probably the only excercise I miss from the gym

Psymonkee · 15 Feb 2013 at 22:04

cawill said:
I'm not sure if they will fit your rack but here is one place you can get them:

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/strength-shop-j-hooks-pair.html

ooo tempting. That and a 2nd bar

cawill · 15 Feb 2013 at 23:11

phoenix575 said:
The pulley is extremely smooth and handles the weight nicely.

That's good to hear as I've heard the pulleys can be hit or miss. Have you got any photos of your setup?

uv · 16 Feb 2013 at 13:43

just bought this lot for £695:

Cannot wait

100kg should last me a while - I've been using a 30kg barbell set from Argos so far!

phoenix575 · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:21

cawill said:
That's good to hear as I've heard the pulleys can be hit or miss. Have you got any photos of your setup?

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phoenix575 · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:39

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phoenix575 · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:40

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phoenix575 · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:44

The weight tree is just behind the rack on the left. Bought a cheap body power one for £35 which was a mistake. Going to get a body solid one that can hold up to 1,000 lbs instead.

I hardly use the dumbbells, but it's nice to have the option. I mainly do squats, bench presses, deadlifts, seated rows and pulldowns.

I want to add the body solid leg extension machine. I was tempted to get it now but I think I'll until I squat 500 lbs before I get it. It'll be a while since I currently squat 95kg

TriedandTested · 17 Feb 2013 at 21:56

Is there any issues setting up a rack and weights on a first floor flat, with wooden flooring (thin stuff), or will mats do the trick in terms of protection from scratches and/or crushing the flooring.

I'm looking at a bench, rack and weights.

cawill · 17 Feb 2013 at 23:06

TriedandTested said:
Is there any issues setting up a rack and weights on a first floor flat, with wooden flooring (thin stuff), or will mats do the trick in terms of protection from scratches and/or crushing the flooring.

I'm looking at a bench, rack and weights.

I personally wouldn't try it. You could look to rent a garage nearby?

cawill · 17 Feb 2013 at 23:12

phoenix575 said:
I want to add the body solid leg extension machine. I was tempted to get it now but I think I'll until I squat 500 lbs before I get it. It'll be a while since I currently squat 95kg

Setup looks great. With all the various forms of squats and deadlifts you can do, will the leg extension be worth it?

Krono5 · 17 Feb 2013 at 23:36

I've had to set up my rack on the first floor as that's the only place there's space so I guess we'll see if it holds up. the rack/bench would be distributed over enough joists that it should be able to handle the weight easily and I can't see it damaging the floor with proper matting down. The only issue I see would be deadlifting where it's not distributed over a number of floorboards but I have seen someone who put down a plywood platform here that seems to work for weight distribution.

Moving things complicates matters and it all depends upon the joist strength but a good rule of thumb is to set it up against the joists so the load is spread across as many as possible and as close to a wall as you can. That and try not to drop too much weight.

phoenix575 · 18 Feb 2013 at 08:55

cawill said:
Setup looks great. With all the various forms of squats and deadlifts you can do, will the leg extension be worth it?

Thank you, it took about a day to clear out the living room so I'd have space for working out

I found that the best way for me to increase the size of my thighs is by supersetting leg extensions with squats or leg presses. I got my thighs up from 19" to 26" that way. My upper body was lagging so this past year I've focused more on that and done only squats for leg development. This added about an inch and a quarter to my thighs, still pretty good, but I know I could get more with leg extensions.
So I'm thinking I might cycle in some leg extensions every other leg workout.

Kimi · 18 Feb 2013 at 11:35

That pulley system looks good, im interesting in picking one of them up, do you just add weight plates to either side?

phoenix575 · 18 Feb 2013 at 13:45

Kimi said:
That pulley system looks good, im interesting in picking one of them up, do you just add weight plates to either side?

Yes, it came with olympic adapters but I already had some sturdier york ones that I used instead

Kimi · 18 Feb 2013 at 13:50

Ah cool so you can use standard weights on it if you dont have Olympic plates