Official Home Gym Building Thread

phoenix575 said:
Thank you, I'm getting a builder to come look at it tomorrow. I'll tell him it needs sturdier flooring
Click to expand...

mind you i have seen some people build foundations for their shed, obviously not to the same standard as proper house foundations, but they have made a little base with a surrounding edge higher than the base so the shed sit's inside it.

personally though i would prefer to have a home gym inside the home rather than a garage never mind a shed.

my shed is full of slugs, spiders, woodlouses, etc and cobwebs everywhere try and make it as watertight as possible, and treat the wood so it lasts, my shed is falling apart.
 
Home weightlifting platform... here we go!

The flooring is a concrete float constructed as part of the former garage.

The platform itself comprises a 'laminate' of the following:

BOTTOM: Wickes fibreboard flooring insulation (£25/pack of 20);
1st: 8x4' 11mm OSB2;
2nd: Wickes fibreboard insulation;
3: 8x4' 11mm OSB2.

3 OSB boards were used to create two layers, making a platform of 8x6'.

This will all be screwed'n'glued together this evening. The finishing touch will be a 'runway' down the middle on which the silliness will occur, and some rubber matting down each side to absorb the initial sharp impact from the bar drops. Not sure what I'm going to use for these bits, but we'll see.

Gave it some 40kg from overhead and the platform didn't budge (and I'd hope not with that weight! :D), so with some additional rubber and whatnot, it will be most awesome. :cool:

Space (it's wet because it's been PVA'd):

2iaapug.jpg



Sound insulation/shock absorption:

4ue6xf.jpg



Platform basics:

2uopb8y.jpg
 
I have a question regarding Power racks. Where I am supposed to have the catcher bars on the side for bench pressing?? I thought it was just above your chest height but on mine I'm having trouble between two heights. The first/lowest doesn't obstruct me but the bar only seems to protect my neck (I put the barbell on it and rolled to see what it was protecting). The second protects a lot more but I keep hitting it when I am benching even with raising my chest, is this just a case of technique or??

At the moment I am using the lower as the weight is pretty light but soon it will get heavy, what setting is correct??
 
If you bench press properly i.e with your chest up, you shouldn't hit the catchers on the higher one when touching your chest. If you fail you simply drop your chest flat giving just enough room for the bar to land on the catchers. This may not work for you but give it ago.
 
Thanks LiE, so the higher one sounds like it's the right one. I will work on getting used to it like this then. I wasn't hitting them every time but enough for it to be distracting and feel like my form was getting worse.
 
tbh some racks dont come with as many holes for the spotter bars as they should, i have seen some american racks which probably have 2-3 times as many holes as my powertec rack for example which gives an insane level of adjustment.

personally when i am in your situation i have it on the lower setting and when i fail a lift i let it land above my neck, i then need to turn my head and slide underneath the bar to get out.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
mind you i have seen some people build foundations for their shed, obviously not to the same standard as proper house foundations, but they have made a little base with a surrounding edge higher than the base so the shed sit's inside it.

personally though i would prefer to have a home gym inside the home rather than a garage never mind a shed.

my shed is full of slugs, spiders, woodlouses, etc and cobwebs everywhere try and make it as watertight as possible, and treat the wood so it lasts, my shed is falling apart.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's nicer training in the living room but I need the space now, so I gotta move the gym. The shed's in pretty good condition. I had lots of junk stored in which stayed completely dry but I'll have the builder check just to make sure and maybe get him to add insulation as well.
On the plus side, there's more space so I can add stuff beyond the basic power rack, bench and weights
 
Psycho Sonny said:
tbh some racks dont come with as many holes for the spotter bars as they should, i have seen some american racks which probably have 2-3 times as many holes as my powertec rack for example which gives an insane level of adjustment.

personally when i am in your situation i have it on the lower setting and when i fail a lift i let it land above my neck, i then need to turn my head and slide underneath the bar to get out.
Click to expand...

Had the same problem with the my c475 rack. One height was too high and was too low. I solved it by putting mats under the bench which got the height perfect.
 
Hnnnggg @ MrThingy's platform.

I've got my CF475 to shift, with PAz maybe still being interested. I took the garden table out the garage at last which has left me some considerably decent & practical space to use. The garage floor is already covered in horse mats. The plates at my gym make deadlifting a nightmare (not being round and of an odd size).

Considering some squat stands, as if need be they can be easily dis-assembled and stored and would also allow me to take them out on to the drive in nicer weather :cool:

I wouldn't really want to use them without spotters/catchers, not so much for my own safety (well a little), but more so for the integrity of my garage foundations. (New house/housebuilder) No idea of the floors integrity should weight ever fall or be dropped from height unintentionally.

Heavy duty metal trestle tables could be suitable to take the weight on any failed reps, which are a rare occurrence anyway and also have some other practical applications. There's a few different models with differing heights, all rated to 460KG.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/c5501-trestle

Opinions welcomed.
 
mrthingyx said:
Home weightlifting platform... here we go!

The flooring is a concrete float constructed as part of the former garage.

The platform itself comprises a 'laminate' of the following:

BOTTOM: Wickes fibreboard flooring insulation (£25/pack of 20);
1st: 8x4' 11mm OSB2;
2nd: Wickes fibreboard insulation;
3: 8x4' 11mm OSB2.

3 OSB boards were used to create two layers, making a platform of 8x6'.

This will all be screwed'n'glued together this evening. The finishing touch will be a 'runway' down the middle on which the silliness will occur, and some rubber matting down each side to absorb the initial sharp impact from the bar drops. Not sure what I'm going to use for these bits, but we'll see.

Gave it some 40kg from overhead and the platform didn't budge (and I'd hope not with that weight! :D), so with some additional rubber and whatnot, it will be most awesome. :cool:

Space (it's wet because it's been PVA'd):

2iaapug.jpg



Sound insulation/shock absorption:

4ue6xf.jpg



Platform basics:

2uopb8y.jpg
Click to expand...

space looks a bit tight in there

has that been purposely built for you to do this in or is it a brick shed that you have converted?

you dropping metal, rubber or bumper plates?
 
From looking at how people build lifting platforms, I think the 'easiest' way of doing it neatly would be to get 2 sheets of ply/OSB (18mm would be ideal) and then a big rubber mat on top for ultimate safety.

My platform is quite different to most on the internets because:

a) I can't lift very much;
b) it must be quiet;

Hence the 'laminate' construction.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
space looks a bit tight in there

has that been purposely built for you to do this in or is it a brick shed that you have converted?

you dropping metal, rubber or bumper plates?
Click to expand...

It's a bit tighter than I'd be ultimately happy with, but practically speaking it's fine... if the lift goes outside of the 'box' then I have a problem, anyway. :D

It's been built in a converted garage, and I use bumper plates on it.

A nice layer of rubber matting is going down on top of it this evening to further attenuate the shock/noise. :cool:
 
BennyC said:
Heavy duty metal trestle tables could be suitable to take the weight on any failed reps, which are a rare occurrence anyway and also have some other practical applications. There's a few different models with differing heights, all rated to 460KG.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/c5501-trestle

Opinions welcomed.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't want to risk using trestles TBH as they are designed to accept an evenly distributed, static load of up to 460KG and not a dynamic load.
It may be O.K if you don't push to failure, but then again things don't often go wrong when convenient.
Safer option is rarely cheaper unfortunately.
 
I know what you mean. I'll have a think, I don't plan on dumping weight with any real force on to them.

Might look in to getting something welded up instead.
 
The builder came round and said the floor could handle the weight. His logic was that I'm about 95kg and he's around 110kg so if the floor could take both of us jumping on it it would be fine with me lifting 100+kg. Not sure I'd feel entirely confident squatting that much there in case I fall through the floor. He said he could reinforce the area under where the rack would go
 
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phoenix575 said:
The builder came round and said the floor could handle the weight. His logic was that I'm about 95kg and he's around 110kg so if the floor could take both of us jumping on it it would be fine with me lifting 100+kg. Not sure I'd feel entirely confident squatting that much there in case I fall through the floor. He said he could reinforce the area under where the rack would go
Click to expand...

a person jumping up and down a few inches is a huge difference from someone dropping 100kg of metal from say 5 feet high.

im pretty sure if you jumped up and down on my back i would be fine, drop 100kg of metal on my back from 5 feet high and i would either be dead or paralysed.

sounds like you were talking to john wayne rather than someone properly qualified.
 
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