Official Home Gym Building Thread

Guys I'm still looking for a Power Rack. What do you think of this one or this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ULTIMATE-...UK_Strength_Training&var=&hash=item23272de1f0. The first seems better to me as they actually state the maximum load on the safety bars.

Also the Brickhouse one is smaller and will fit better in my garage, here are the comparisons

Brickhouse Rack: Height 82
Width 57.5
Depth 46

GYMANO: Height 85.5
Width 63.5
Depth 55

I'd love to get the Bodymax CF475 Premium Strength Package but for £800 even on finance I can't afford it.
 
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Went to the carboot last sunday. Saw 2 25Kg oly plates lying on the grass.

Me:How much for them mate?
Him:Fiver ok?
GET IN!

Also bought 2 sheets of 17mm thick rubber stable matting. 6'x4' £60 collected locally. My cage is looking in a sorry state now. It's 10 years old now, so i'm going to treat it along with my bench with some red hammerite paint. Should look great when finished.
 
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elrasho said:
Guys I'm still looking for a Power Rack. What do you think of this one or this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ULTIMATE-...UK_Strength_Training&var=&hash=item23272de1f0. The first seems better to me as they actually state the maximum load on the safety bars.

Also the Brickhouse one is smaller and will fit better in my garage, here are the comparisons

Brickhouse Rack: Height 82
Width 57.5
Depth 46

GYMANO: Height 85.5
Width 63.5
Depth 55

I'd love to get the Bodymax CF475 Premium Strength Package but for £800 even on finance I can't afford it.
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Look at reviews if you can find them, they aren't from well known manufacturer's, so no idea how good they are.

Also would you be looking to add dip bar's or pull up bar in the future? As it has already been shown above they are expensive at £85+.

IMO it would be better to stick that £85+ in now and buy a better rack which comes with dip and pull up bars, like the powertec for example.

Otherwise in the long run your gonna end up spending the same money for an inferior product.

If money is an issue, then join a gym or do body-weight exercises or buy stuff second hand. I could have gotten a gymratz power rack for pennies a few years back second hand, had i already not bought a rack brand new. It was from a commercial gym which had closed down.

Lethagized said:
Went to the carboot last sunday. Saw 2 25Kg oly plates lying on the grass.

Me:How much for them mate?
Him:Fiver ok?
GET IN!

Also bought 2 sheets of 17mm thick rubber stable matting. 6'x4' £60 collected locally. My cage is looking in a sorry state now. It's 10 years old now, so i'm going to treat it along with my bench with some red hammerite paint. Should look great when finished.
Click to expand...

everyone should re-furb their gear once every 5 years imo, to keep it looking brand new, it should also last longer and can then be used by younger generations of the family, etc.

that's one of the main reason's i bought my equipment, so it can be passed on.

looks like you got some great deals there, i would look at rustoleum spray paint too, it's what i used last time, also i found you ideally need to wait a full day in between coats. i also found that an initial preparation day is a must, where you basically spray everything with WD-40 and go over it with a wire brush to remove any flaky paint, rust, etc. Otherwise your new paint will just chip off.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Look at reviews if you can find them, they aren't from well known manufacturer's, so no idea how good they are.

Also would you be looking to add dip bar's or pull up bar in the future? As it has already been shown above they are expensive at £85+.

IMO it would be better to stick that £85+ in now and buy a better rack which comes with dip and pull up bars, like the powertec for example.

Otherwise in the long run your gonna end up spending the same money for an inferior product.

If money is an issue, then join a gym or do body-weight exercises or buy stuff second hand. I could have gotten a gymratz power rack for pennies a few years back second hand, had i already not bought a rack brand new. It was from a commercial gym which had closed down.
Click to expand...

I was tempted to get the CF375 with lat pull down system for £375 (http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf375-power-rack-system-with-latlow-pulley.php) but it says the max capacity is only 185kg. Not that I can see my self benching 185kg or even squatting it, the problem is it makes me feel the rack won't be as safe if I was to drop say 80kg half way down a squat
 
GSVBagpuss said:
I'm clearly a n00b too - what's wrong with gloves?
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1) They look dumb.
2) They prevent your hands adapting properly to lifting.
3) They create an interface between the weight and the lifter, meaning half the grip friction, which means more dropped lifts.
4) they really do look dumb.
5) have you ever seen an Olympic weightlifter or power lifter wear them? No? That's because they look dumb.
 
I'll be honest and say only your second points seems relevant to me. Can you explain some more what you mean - apols for lazy question but googling hasn't thrown much up.
 
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Boring post coming up...

duvet77 said:
but what if i want my hands to remain nice and soft?! :p
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You'll turn into a strongman, like Morba. ;) :D

GSVBagpuss said:
I'll be honest and say only your second points seems relevant to me. Can you explain some more what you mean - apols for lazy question but googling hasn't thrown much up.
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The only two that are relevant are points two and three. Well done for noticing. :D ;)

If you're lifting, you are putting stress on your body. In fact, doing anything above lying in bed puts stress on your body, but hey.

The key to resistance training is adaptation to the stimulus: muscles get stronger (good), bones get more dense (also good), joint capsules produce more synovial fluid (better when wetter, amirite?). This also applies to your hands.

Hold an Olympic barbell in your hands without gloves: you can get a tight grip on it, right? Wrap a towel round it once: not quite so tight, is it? That is the second problem and relates to the friction between the bar and your hand. If you then introduce the glove to the equation, your hand won't just potentially slide again the thing being lifted, it will slide against the glove, and the glove can slide against the bar... So twice the potential to botch a lift.

Why does this matter? Because if you have a big deadlift half way up your leg and you're losing your grip on the bar, the first response in most people is to try and account for the change in weight distribution caused by this grip being lost (bar rolls way from you, or one side slides lower than the other)... This can, will and does cause injury at pretty much any weight, because the body is braced in a certain manner, and disrupting that whilst the load is still applied is a recipe for injury.

The firs too in't relates to the adaptation of your hands. The most obvious lifter adaptations here is the callus. Proper hand care when lifting invokes suitably girls filing down of calluses so they don't get too big, dry and liable to tear off with aggressive bar knurling or weights. The less obvious adaptation is of your hand muscles. Remember the tightness of the grip? If your hands are gripping something solid, they lock off and that's generally it. However, a nice squidgy glove in the mix means the hand will have to work harder for the same amount of friction (assuming the issue of grip outlined above remains constant, which is won't, amplifying the problem) because the squidgy glove is continually deforming against the load. So your hands will hurt. A lot. Meaning you won't be able to lift as much, meaning you won't develop as fast as without.

It's a bit like playing the guitar: most people bottle out after a few weeks because their fingers hurt from holding down the strings. Different means of adaptation are putting superglue on the ends of your fingers to minimise the deformation of the fingertip and underlying fat pad caused by holding down the trying. However, give it a month or two,and this ceases to be a problem.

TL;DR

Lifting without gloves is painful at the start, but your DOMS should be bad enough in those first few weeks that a little bit of soreness in your hands is the last thing you should be concerned with. ;)
 
elrasho said:
I was tempted to get the CF375 with lat pull down system for £375 (http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf375-power-rack-system-with-latlow-pulley.php) but it says the max capacity is only 185kg. Not that I can see my self benching 185kg or even squatting it, the problem is it makes me feel the rack won't be as safe if I was to drop say 80kg half way down a squat
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home gyms are expensive and i don't recommend trying to cut corner's because in the long run you end up spending more.

if money is an issue look at second hand gear, but for the decent stuff you usually need to keep checking daily for months.

i mean it rarely every comes up for sale, because people who buy decent stuff are the well researched ones and they usually hold onto it forever.

keep checking gumtree over the next 3 months and see what pops up, remember you can usually haggle like hell for stuff on gumtree.
 
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