Official Home Gym Building Thread

Ash2097 said:
Yeah one my friends has had 3 knee operations for a old football injury and every specialist he has seen has said to do squats.

Keeping on topic, I have around £200 - £250 to spend on a new bench in a month or so, needs to be able to do decline, incline as well as upright for shoulder press. I would prefer one that I can add a attachment and preacher attachment to in the future. I know the "you don't need a preacher pad to do curls" comment is coming but I prefer doing preachers then standing. Any suggestions?

Was looking at:

Body-Solid BSGFID31
Bodycraft F602 Deluxe
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body solid are the best imo, i have the body solid and have a gymratz and have tested others out too and bodysolid is built to last several lifetimes, has wheels (very useful, trust me my gymratz bench doesn't and it is annoying to move)

body solid all the way, powertec attachments also work on it too as well as the body solid ones.

AndrewNR said:
I'm after a set of weights to work the bi/tri (at home) and still go to the gym 3 times a week to do Stronglifts.

I was looking at getting some olympic bars and weights (with a look to get a rack some time in the future).
Are these the best for the money?
http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/olympic_bars/bodypower_olympic_dumbbell_handle_x1/3208_p.html x 2
http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/olympic_bars/bodypower_olympic_ez_curl_bar/3206_p.html x 1

At the moment I'm bi-cepping about 24kg x 10 reps x 3 sets per arm. So the weights I was thinking of were:
http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk...er_75kg_trigrip_olympic_disc_kit/15646_p.html

Are the 10kg weights too big? As in i'll hit my shoulder/chest/face on the rep?

What bars would suit the tri's? I normally use a press machine and the cables at the gym.
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stay away from olympic dumbells if you can

ironmasters or fixed dumbells are much much better.

or even kettlebells.

look around on gumtree, people sometimes sell fixed dumbells and kettlebells on there for cheap.
 
elrasho said:
Looking for a weight bench for my garage. Has to have decline bench press and squat stands

I like the look of this one: Golds Gym Deluxe Maxi

Budget is around £200
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gold's gym :o

please buy something from a decent manufacturer.

also look at the max weight - 20 stone

basically 125 kg or thereabouts, therefore if you weigh 90 kg, the max safe weight to bench would be 35kg.

for your budget nothing brand new is available apart from cheap crap like the one you posted.

buy from fitness superstore, powerhouse fitness, gymratz or strength shop, these sell high quality reputable gym stuff. the one you linked to looks like an argos job and imo is a waste of money.

take a look on those sites, you will quickly see your budget is not enough.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
body solid are the best imo, i have the body solid and have a gymratz and have tested others out too and bodysolid is built to last several lifetimes, has wheels (very useful, trust me my gymratz bench doesn't and it is annoying to move)

body solid all the way, powertec attachments also work on it too as well as the body solid ones.
Click to expand...

Thanks was favouring the Bodysolid already.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
i cannot see a rack included, unless i am missing something here, that is not what he is looking for.

he wants a bench and a squat rack for £200
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Get a set of squat stands from the same company. :)

They cost £64 or whatever.

Are they going to be as well made as a decent set from Taishan, WerkSan or whatever? No. Does that matter for 99% of lifters out there? No.
 
mrthingyx said:
Get a set of squat stands from the same company. :)

They cost £64 or whatever.

Are they going to be as well made as a decent set from Taishan, WerkSan or whatever? No. Does that matter for 99% of lifters out there? No.
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it does matter when safety is concerned, if i am going to have 50kg+ hanging above my neck then i want to be completely sure it aint going to fall over on top of me.

something with really good stability is what i would be looking for.

theres countless videos on youtube of people hurting themselves because they do not have the right setup / equipment / space, etc.

he could literally kill himself if such a weight was to topple over onto his neck.

therefore i wouldnt personally advise squat stands unless he is going to have a spotter with him for every workout, this is why a power rack is recommended as it acts as a spotter for you, should you fail a lift.
 
Nothing wrong with squat stands. We have some stands at work rated to 115kg and I use them regularly with 150kg+ and they are fine. The more weight on them the more stable they are.

Obviously a rack is safer and I have one at home. But I would never be scared of using stands.
 
Been doing some research and found this package: Bodymax CF475 Premium Strength Package

It's got everything I need and according to the measurements will just about fit in my garage. Here are some pics of my garage. The punchbag is hanging off the cross section of the beam using a chain. Im planning on taking this down and putting the Power Rack in the middle of the back wall with the front of it facing the entrance of the garage.






The Power Rack is going to go next to that old kitchen unit on the back wall, obviously the kitchen unit it going to be thrown away.



What do you guys think?
 
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Can confirm that the CF475 is a solid bit of kit even if I don't use it anything like as much as I should :)

I paid around the same sort of price and added 3 rubber mats from the strength shop. Definitely worth saving up/dumping it on a 0% deal!

My local gym has nothing but machines and cardio happy PT's - nearest with any real gear is a 30 or so minute drive so the investment to me was well worth it! :)
 
Oh if space is tight you may not be able to do Overhead Presses without some difficulty. With the way mine is setup I have to unrack and move a couple of steps left to avoid hitting a shelf!
 
Psymonkee said:
Oh if space is tight you may not be able to do Overhead Presses without some difficulty. With the way mine is setup I have to unrack and move a couple of steps left to avoid hitting a shelf!
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I have to carry the weight outside to OHP!

I've got the CF415 and it's awesome, incredible value too. I assume the Cf475 is even better but I'm happy with my CF415
 
Looks like you have ample space and that package you linked from powerhouse fitness is decent for the money. My friend has it and the quality is as good as my Powertec stuff.

I would also recommend making some kind of lifting platform unless you want to wreck the floor when deadlifting. Some horse stall rubber mats on plywood does the job nicely.
 
elrasho said:
So what do you guys think, will my setup plans work?
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matting will be needed, measure the garage out and buy RUBBER matting to lay over the floor.

you could just lay it out where the equipment is, which is what i originally did but now i am looking to completely cover the full garage, my garage is HUGE though for a single, i have 7 big mats in there and it's roughly only half floored.

you want at least 10mm thick where you will be deadlifting, i think mine is 15-17mm thick where i deadlift


Psymonkee said:
Oh if space is tight you may not be able to do Overhead Presses without some difficulty. With the way mine is setup I have to unrack and move a couple of steps left to avoid hitting a shelf!
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surely you can do an alternative exercise if space is an issue especially if the ceiling is too low?

such as seated military press?

sure it's not the "exact" same thing but when you have restrictions you can usually think of an alternative that does a similar job.

or you could use dumbells instead of a 7 foot oly bar if width is an issue or buy a 6 foot bar especially for certain exercises.

always good to weigh up alternatives so you can mix it up a little.
 
elrasho said:
I have a Marcy Power 10 rack at my parents but that cost £450. But the lat pull down wont fit in my garage as its so small.

Here are some more I've seen

1. http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/barbell_benches/weider_pro_490_dc_bench/14274_p.html

2. http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/marcy-mc880m-olympic-bench-with-squat-and-lat.php (read the Lat pull down is pointless on this one though)

3.
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Don't buy those benches. They're rubbish. Much better to buy a stand alone lat tower or attachment for a rack at the same price. They're probably the same size as one of those benches.
The strength pack you found looks like a really good option and well priced
 
I've been working out at home in my bedroom thats on the second floor of my house for the past year or so and the weights i'm using are increasing to the point where i'm getting increasingly scared i'm going to fall through the ceiling and then through the floor straight to china. Would this excercise mat be acceptable to protect the floorboards?

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-6-x-4-x-10mm-commercial-rubber-gym-mat.php

Has anyone used these mats or similar ones because i've heard they have a strong rubber smell. Does anyone know of a better alternative? I know some suggest horse stall mats but those have an even stronger smell apparently. Obviously the situation isnt ideal and i'm not going to be doing power cleans any time soon but i think if i'm carefull, buy a decent mat and lower the weight carefully it'll probably be ok. Any helps appreciated.
 
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