Official Home Gym Building Thread

I have been looking into body building for a bit now and have been sorting out my diet over the past couple of months. So i am finally looking at making a start, I am looking at to start following GordyR’s Beginners Guide to Bodybuilding to ease me into things.

What I would like to know is what equipment should I purchase as going to the gym 3 times a week is just not possible due to distance/opening times.

I want to keep things as cheap as possible as I'm on a tight budget.

I had thought to purchase this

What are your thoughts/recommendations?
 
wilber said:
I had thought to purchase this
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1) You'll outgrow that in a week.
2) That's not going to help you do squats.

I was in the same position. I was cleaning the barbell over my head for squats, and decided that it was dangerous, and I couldn't increase the weight safely. Therefore, I was only ever going to squat as much as I could OHP, and it was never going to be safe. So I looked for a bench with a squat stand, and eventually came to the conclusion that a squat stand is barely any safer than just cleaning the bar. I've now got a power rack, bench and weights arriving tomorrow :P

Seriously, if you want to do anything but bench press, a bench-press bench isn't going to be enough. And if you want to start body building, 30kg isn't going to be enough.

It's a harsh truth, but you need to spend a lot more than £50. My Rack, Lat pully, Bench and 100kg oly weights cost me £695 including delivery - not that much when you consider the cost and inconvenience of going to a gymn for two years.
 
I agree with uv.

Can you manage to train at a gym on a temporary basis? Even if it's just weekends and 1 day a week?

You will then get an idea for what equipment you feel you will need and whether it is worth your while investing for the longer term. I feel you would at least need a half rack, a bench and an oly bar/weights which will cost more than £50 unfortunately.
 
Done the same here, once i was at my max weight for cleaning over my head to do a squat i invested in a rack, best thing ever, even if you dont squat (you should start) but its nice to know that if you go to failure on a bench press say, your not going to kill yourself dropping the weight on your chest:D

That weights bench is alright to start tho but you will need more than 30kg of weights.
 
Finally took (bad) pics of my setup:

a43msn.jpg

Body solid gfid71 bench £100
powetec Workbench Power rack £230
140kg Marcy/York Plates + 7ft Barbell £180
Travel costs to pick it all up: £70
Total: £580

Was trying to get everything for £450 but had to go over budget. It was well worth it as it should last a lifetime and all I need now is matting and more weights when I'm less feeble :(
 
TriedandTested said:
Not really.

Just to clarify...the flat I'm in has solid concrete floors, the wood/laminate is just on top of that. Would it be impossible to protect the flooring with the mats?
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I recall someone on here had a setup in his loft but think the joists may have been reinforced.

Generally I don't think the floors will have been engineered to take 2-400KG spread over such a small area, I may be wrong. Take deads for example it's going to gain momentum (unless you master the perfect put down everytime) and hit with the force of heavier weight.

It could well be do-able but I'd want to make sure first with perhaps a structural engineer?
 
uv said:
1) You'll outgrow that in a week.
2) That's not going to help you do squats.

I was in the same position. I was cleaning the barbell over my head for squats, and decided that it was dangerous, and I couldn't increase the weight safely. Therefore, I was only ever going to squat as much as I could OHP, and it was never going to be safe. So I looked for a bench with a squat stand, and eventually came to the conclusion that a squat stand is barely any safer than just cleaning the bar. I've now got a power rack, bench and weights arriving tomorrow :P

Seriously, if you want to do anything but bench press, a bench-press bench isn't going to be enough. And if you want to start body building, 30kg isn't going to be enough.

It's a harsh truth, but you need to spend a lot more than £50. My Rack, Lat pully, Bench and 100kg oly weights cost me £695 including delivery - not that much when you consider the cost and inconvenience of going to a gymn for two years.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info folks, to be honest i knew i would not manage it on £50, I'll keep my eyes peeled for a second hand bench and Olympic bar and weights.

I'm tempted to look into building my own half rack, I have a friend who runs a steel fabricating business so will have a chat with him about the costs/feasibility of designing and making my own rack. I'm guessing the metal/man hours of making something like this will be similar to buying one new, but if you don't ask you don't get.
 
It's been OK actually. We have a small infrared heater which takes the edge off. Once I'm warmed up it's fine. Plates and bars being cold is the only real issue, but I've solved it a bit by putting the bar on the radiator in the house during the day before training.
 
Regarding being cold and using the bar I find a pair of gloves (these are finger less) for the warmup is fine - once the blood is pumping I don't feel it.

Always wear a loose hoody though :)
 
BennyC said:
I recall someone on here had a setup in his loft but think the joists may have been reinforced.

Generally I don't think the floors will have been engineered to take 2-400KG spread over such a small area, I may be wrong. Take deads for example it's going to gain momentum (unless you master the perfect put down everytime) and hit with the force of heavier weight.

It could well be do-able but I'd want to make sure first with perhaps a structural engineer?
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I asked the woman at the store and she said it would be fine. I've ordered my stuff now. Will make extra effort to protect the flooring with mats and whatever else may be helpful.

I won't be hitting those kinds of weights yet either. Just starting off.
 
TriedandTested said:
I asked the woman at the store and she said it would be fine. I've ordered my stuff now. Will make extra effort to protect the flooring with mats and whatever else may be helpful.

I won't be hitting those kinds of weights yet either. Just starting off.
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i take it the woman in the store is a part time architect?

a guy on this very forum dropped 40KG iirc from bench height and it went straight through his flooring, luckily i think it was the carpet that stopped it from going through the ceiling below. he dropped this by un-racking un-evenly basically he had 100kg set up for bench or whatever and he took 40 kg off from one side and the other side toppled over, so it was not dropped with much force.


if you are going to setup your equipment on any floor apart from ground, i would be looking at very thick matting 17mm thick minimum. i would also be asking an architect on their opinion also. they will know how much the joists/beams can withstand over a certain amount.


any dedicated lifter can hit big weights quickly. imo you should have just joined a gym. i personally would never risk a proper home gym on anything but the ground floor, unless i had say a loft conversion and i had told the architect i would be using it as a home gym and needed the floor to withstand 300kg being dropped on it from 6 feet no problem (just to be extra secure).
 
Psycho Sonny said:
i take it the woman in the store is a part time architect?

a guy on this very forum dropped 40KG iirc from bench height and it went straight through his flooring, luckily i think it was the carpet that stopped it from going through the ceiling below. he dropped this by un-racking un-evenly basically he had 100kg set up for bench or whatever and he took 40 kg off from one side and the other side toppled over, so it was not dropped with much force.


if you are going to setup your equipment on any floor apart from ground, i would be looking at very thick matting 17mm thick minimum. i would also be asking an architect on their opinion also. they will know how much the joists/beams can withstand over a certain amount.


any dedicated lifter can hit big weights quickly. imo you should have just joined a gym. i personally would never risk a proper home gym on anything but the ground floor, unless i had say a loft conversion and i had told the architect i would be using it as a home gym and needed the floor to withstand 300kg being dropped on it from 6 feet no problem (just to be extra secure).
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Cheers man. I will double check everything then. I can contact the builders and find out what's what. I did mention before, but the flooring is concrete (no floorboards)..just wood/laminate over that which is what I am trying to protect. I'll also look in to extra thick matting.

The gym is not for me currently.
 
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