Official Home Gym Building Thread

Hi all,

Quick question on rubber matting. We're converting the room that adjoins our living room into a gym so the rubber smell I've been reading about would be a problem. Does anyone have experience of either:

http://www.endurancemats.com/produc...durance-easysweep-embossed-18mm-stable-mat-2/

or

http://www.polymax.co.uk/rubber-matting-and-flooring/rubber-mat-tiles/force-rubber-sport-gym-mat

- or alternatively have any suppliers that they recommend? We're happy to pay to get good quality. Cheers!
 


Bought a new rowing machine for my home gym, also waiting on another three of the fitness superstore mats, a spinning bike and a punch/kick bag. About time I added some cardio gear !
 
Psycho Sonny said:
There's guys at my gym on steroids.

What's your point?
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Lolwut?

Comparing AAS use to squatting outside of a cage or catchers isn't really the same.

Tbh nothing wrong squatting outside of a rack provided you know how to, and have sufficient space, to bail.

_Andyh_ said:
Concept 2
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Nice :)

Had one in my spare room until a decent gym opened locally. Great bit of kit and will hold it's value too unlike most other CV equipment.
 
Hi,

I'm wanting to loose weight/gain fitness however I am in terrible shape!

I have a plan... since I work a lot, up to 14 hours a day at times, I do not really have the time to go to the gym and fit in other activities.

So.. I have been thinking for some time now that it would be a good idea to invest in a training bike, something light with set programs for hill training etc.

I watch a lot of TV every week from football to stuff like Game of Thrones/24/Walking dead and I am thinking that instead of sitting on my ass eating whilst watching perhaps it might be a better idea to use the time watching these programs to also do some exercise.

Does anyone have any recommendations for some training bikes, nothing majorly expensive although I am open to ideas.

The reason for asking for it to be light is so I can pull it from our spare room into the living room (on the same floor) to do the exercise.

I am also thinking of buying a Bas Rutten 02 trainer, but will do this after a while as I don't want to kill myself lol

Be kind.. I am aware there are gyms out there but I want to train when I can :)
 
Chandler_90 said:
Hi,

I'm wanting to loose weight/gain fitness however I am in terrible shape!

I have a plan... since I work a lot, up to 14 hours a day at times, I do not really have the time to go to the gym and fit in other activities.

So.. I have been thinking for some time now that it would be a good idea to invest in a training bike, something light with set programs for hill training etc.

I watch a lot of TV every week from football to stuff like Game of Thrones/24/Walking dead and I am thinking that instead of sitting on my ass eating whilst watching perhaps it might be a better idea to use the time watching these programs to also do some exercise.

Does anyone have any recommendations for some training bikes, nothing majorly expensive although I am open to ideas.

The reason for asking for it to be light is so I can pull it from our spare room into the living room (on the same floor) to do the exercise.

I am also thinking of buying a Bas Rutten 02 trainer, but will do this after a while as I don't want to kill myself lol

Be kind.. I am aware there are gyms out there but I want to train when I can :)
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forget the O2 trainer, i've never seen a professional athlete use one.

cheap bikes look here

http://www.restylefitness.co.uk/find/Exercise-Bikes/

but the more you pay the better they are and their stock changes all the time depending on what they get in.

bikes are expensive for the decent ones your talking £600-£1500 for a decent one. usually the way to differentiate is that decent ones use magnets whereas the cheaper ones use a belt, etc.

one that uses magnets should last forever.

personally i think a spin bike is the best type of bike for cardio, rowing is also really good cardio as is running but a decent rower/treadmill will be £1K+ RRP.
 
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I'd appreciate some advice on which of these to get. It will be going in a bedroom so I have limited space. Therefore I'm I'm looking for a bench which will give the following. I am only just starting out and don't expect to be going mad with weight or extra equipment.

* Removable leg extension and preacher curl attachement.
* Decline to allow use for sit-ups.
* Separate spotter catchers (not integrated) so that the bench itself can be re-used in the future if I expand into the garage.

I've been looking at these:

OPTION 1: Weider 490:
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/weider-pro-490-dc-bench.php

OPTION 2: Bodymax CF330 with separate CF415 dip/squat station:http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf415-squat-and-dip-rack-with-spotter-catchers.php
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf330-premium-weight-bench.php

OPTION 3: Bodymax CF510 with separate CF415 dip/squat station:http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk...-decline-bench-with-leg-curl-and-preacher.php
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf330-premium-weight-bench.php


I'm leaning towards Option 2, the CF330 with the separate CF415 dip/squat station but any opinions are valued. Thank you.
 
Hades said:
OPTION 2: Bodymax CF330 with separate CF415 dip/squat station:http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf415-squat-and-dip-rack-with-spotter-catchers.php
Click to expand...

I have one of those and a flat bench in my front room. Got it last year ~ november. It's a sturdy bit of kit and does what I need it to. Easy to put together, not so easy to manhandle in it's flat-pack box though, getting it into the car was fun hehe.
However it gives me a bit of insurance for doing a 5x5 type routine. Until I got this last year I'd never done heavy squats etc, just dumbell/bodyweight stuff.

There were some comments on amazon regarding having enough room to bench press inside the spotters, but that depends on your grip width. Not an issue for me, I'm 5'10" and am using a 6' bar and there's plenty of room for close and wide grips.

Biggest issue was not the equipment, but my leg and hip flexibility :o
For what it is, I think it will be sufficient for my use for quite some time yet. It's not a proper power rack like some of what's suggested in this thread, but it's decent enough for the money imo.
 
I have this bench:
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodycraft-f602-deluxe-f-i-d-utility-bench.php

Had it/used it since Nov '13 for bench and to sit on for OHP and it's still in great condition.
You can add the leg bits if you want (at extra cost obv).

If you plan on upgrading in the future I'd spend that little bit more on a bench now. Some of the cheaper ones might feel a bit unsafe/uncomfortable when benching heavier weights.
 
body solid IMO make the best benches. they are pricey though but they have all the features/add on's you want.

i have one with incline, decline, preacher curly, leg extension then the normal one which just holds your legs in position. think it cost about £400-500 for everything though (bench plus all the attachments).

but it's built to last forever, it's very wide though at the bottom so it can be a pain for benching so i got a custom made bench second hand for benching made by gymratz for like £100.
 
_Andyh_ said:
New additions to the gym, spin bike, rower, punchbag and three new (dusty looking) mats.
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Looking at a rower as well, can you outline your thought process on going Concept 2? I'm thinking of one too - buy once, buy properly init and they seem to hold their value

And may grab a punch bag off the bay just for laughs
 
Once again thanks for the feedback. After some consideration and research I decided to heed the advice in this thread that buying cheaply was a false economy long term. Good equipment can be kept for life or sold for reasonable money but cheap equipment sells for pennies and will certainly be sold for one reason or another. So rather than buy everything I wanted I decided it was better to spend the money on quality rather than quantity; I've temporarily sacrificed a bench with leg extensions and preacher curl for a better bench and olympic weights (the bench can take the attachments when I can afford them in the future so I still have the option).

I've ordered the following:


Bodycraft F602 bench. This has the option of a leg extension and preacher curl attachment for the future but I got the bare bench for now. I considered the Body Solid GFID31 but I am fairly small and this appeared to be a tall bench. I also considered the Bodymax CF430 but I wasn't clear whether there were further attachments available. So the F602 seemed to fit my needs. It also seems a good enough bench to use in a power rack one day if I ever decide to get one.

Bodymax CF415 squat rack with spotters and dip station. I would have loved a power rack and in the future I may be able to upgrade to one. But currently the garage has two cars and I'm renovating the house so my gym equipment will move rooms fairly frequently. The CF415 seemed a good portable compromise.

Bodymax 100kg olympic weights and 7ft bar. I really wasn't sure what size bar to go for (e.g. 6ft, 7ft, etc) but this seemed a good long term buy.

Pull up bar. Yes it's just one that fits over a door frame but it was cheapish on the rainforest and will do the job for now.



Some more advice appreciated...

I really can't decide on whether to get standard or olympic dumbells. I almost went for the Olympic bars but it was out of stock at the place I bought most of the other stuff so I thought I'd ask advice before getting it.

So I think I've got most of the basics covered; a reasonable bench for bar work, dumbell work, decline for abs, potential for attachments in the future, a portable rack for squats and dips, and a bar for pull ups. If I've made any school boy errors above then please shout. Thank you :)
 
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