Official Home Gym Building Thread

[Ayahuasca]

I had to wait 3 weeks for my weights.

Looks like that could be the case, rack and pulldown system came but no weights.

 

[Penn0r]

I went through 41 pages of this thread..backwards, because I was interested in seeing Psycho Sonny's refurbish/paint guide for his equipment. Found it eventually on page TWO . But I think some of the images have now gone?

I have the chance to buy these dumbbells, from 32.5kg to 50kg moving up in 2.5 increments, with rack included. I've got the price down to £600 but because I am not familiar with home/gym equipment, I do not know if it is a good deal.

** Any image wider than 1280 pixels should be linked or placed in spoiler tags **

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What do you guys think?

 

[opethdisciple]

I went through 41 pages of this thread..backwards, because I was interested in seeing Psycho Sonny's refurbish/paint guide for his equipment. Found it eventually on page TWO . But I think some of the images have now gone?

I have the chance to buy these dumbbells, from 32.5kg to 50kg moving up in 2.5 increments, with rack included. I've got the price down to £600 but because I am not familiar with home/gym equipment, I do not know if it is a good deal.



What do you guys think?

I think thats sexy. But only becuase I love dumbells. No idea on price.

 

[jumpy]

Amazing bit of kit - can't recommend it highly enough. Great value too

Bodymax CF415 squat rack with spotters and dip station

Just a quick note for anyone who owns this bit of kit: the adjuster pins are threaded. But they are also spring loaded, so you don't have to unscrew them all the way.
I've had this for almost a year and only just noticed this

 

[GSVBagpuss]

Took me a year too

 

[Ayahuasca]

All the weights arrived today, took a while to put it all up, they've gave me 1 too many 15kg plates and 1 too few 20kg plates though so will have to get that sorted.

 

[Ayahuasca]

I must say powerhouse fitness really aren't that great. Both deliveries I've had from them now have had items missing.

 

[nitram100]

That bench looks very flimsy. I took a decision to spend a little more on a good bench and I don't regret it. A good bench will last years and will sell if you give it up but a cheap bench will need replacing if you get serious and isn't worth much for resale.

Agreed, don't skimp on the bench. I bought a Bodymax bench from powerhoue about 6 years ago and it has taken so much abuse, only got one small tear in the material. It was £200.

 

[albundy15]

I'm looking to add a leg press/ hack squat machine. I like squats but I injured my lower back (two herniated discs) so can't squat at the moment.

I went to commercial gym for a leg workout but after a couple years of training at home I don't want to go back to a gym.

I was thinking of getting either the bodycraft f660 or bodysolid glph1100.

Both are rated to 1000lbs.

The bodycraft looks a lot more robust and I heard it's much smoother than the bodysolid with heavy weights.

Price wise, the Bodysolid is £900 and I can get it on 0% finance. The bodycraft is £1200 with no finance

I'm leaning more towards the bodycraft

 

[mrthingyx]

I'm looking to add a leg press/ hack squat machine. I like squats but I injured my lower back (two herniated discs) so can't squat at the moment.

I went to commercial gym for a leg workout but after a couple years of training at home I don't want to go back to a gym.

I was thinking of getting either the bodycraft f660 or bodysolid glph1100.

Both are rated to 1000lbs.

The bodycraft looks a lot more robust and I heard it's much smoother than the bodysolid with heavy weights.

Price wise, the Bodysolid is £900 and I can get it on 0% finance. The bodycraft is £1200 with no finance

I'm leaning more towards the bodycraft

Assuming you've passed the acute phase of the herniated discs, squatting is not something you should avoid because - assuming you're doing it correctly - actually requires correct, neutral alignment of your spine which is what prevents herniation in the first place.

I admit I am not answering your question, but I guess I am just not clear on why you need to drop the notes... Want is a different thing.

 

[albundy15]

Assuming you've passed the acute phase of the herniated discs, squatting is not something you should avoid because - assuming you're doing it correctly - actually requires correct, neutral alignment of your spine which is what prevents herniation in the first place.

I admit I am not answering your question, but I guess I am just not clear on why you need to drop the notes... Want is a different thing.

Interesting thought. I presumed the leg press would be safer/easier due to my back but if I can get back to squatting that would be ideal.

I think I'm beyond the acute phase. I injured my back and groin in April 2013. I only started training again 4 months ago. I'm not doing squats or deadlifts because of the back issue. It's much harder to make any gains without them.

I used the technogym leg press at the gym which didn't cause any back pain. They also had what look liked a 45 degree leg press but the foot plate moved in an arc. The range of movement was very limited, possibly less than half reps and it was non adjustable so I overdid it and pressed 120kg which caused a lot of back pain.
I don't know if the 45 degree leg presses will cause me back pain, thus rendering them useless. I haven't seen any gyms with standard 45 presses and not sure of stores around London where I could demo one.
I might just work on my back and return to squatting

 

[ronski]

After a lot of reading at the BB forums and this thread I am in the last throws of completing our home gym. I want to thank the guys on here for pointing me in the right direction

Following an extensive interior refurb of the house I got permission from the wife to embark on a garage conversion.

The first thing we had to do was fix the floor - the existing brick work was really unsuitable as it was not flat in any way and rose up in the center to a manhole cover. So I got some builders to remove them:

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They were soon out in a day and then we had them drill out the rear step to provide some extra useable floor space:

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They thought it would take them 3 days to drill out the step - it ended up taking 8....

Anyway it eventually got done and you can notice in the previous picture we also had a 2 ton AC installed to help make the temps reasonable to work out in. Then they poured a reinforced concrete floor:

Spoiler

Once that had dried/cured the walls were painted and I had the lights/TV/fans/sonos installed:

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[

The fans are industrial units so move some air and are really loud and the TV is probably a bit high - but will do for now.

At the weekend the power rack, bench and glute ham bench were delivered:

Spoiler

As was the rubber floor matting (solid rubber 17mm):

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There is a rather limited choice of this type of gear here unless you want to wait and pay for the shipping so this impulse fitness gear seemed to fit the mark.

This Glute Ham Bench

This Power Rack

This Bench

The total cost for these three items was 1300 quid - not bad considering I did not have to ship them into the country.

I also picked up a life fitness treadmill, elliptical and Concept 2 Model D rower with PM3 from a commercial gym that was closing down - this was a total of 2000 quid. Expensive yes but the gear is in great condition (397 miles on the treadmill, and 34.7km on the rower) and I had it all serviced by the local agent.

With some luck this evening - I have a Olympic Bar, 160kg of bumper weights, kettlebells and some slam balls and a few other things arriving this evening to complete the gym (well for now anyway)

 

[mrthingyx]

Interesting thought. I presumed the leg press would be safer/easier due to my back but if I can get back to squatting that would be ideal.

I think I'm beyond the acute phase. I injured my back and groin in April 2013. I only started training again 4 months ago. I'm not doing squats or deadlifts because of the back issue. It's much harder to make any gains without them.

The key think is neutral spine - irrespective of what you're actually doing. This will minimise the 'squeeze' on your ruptured discs. So, if a person has bad lifting technique, this will cause them huge pain in those areas.

If, on the other hand, they have good lifting technique, maintain a neutral spine when lifting, etc., then there shouldn't be a problem (having known one guy who returned to work as a Strength coach twice after herniating discs, and the physio who helped him do it).

I used the technogym leg press at the gym which didn't cause any back pain. They also had what look liked a 45 degree leg press but the foot plate moved in an arc. The range of movement was very limited, possibly less than half reps and it was non adjustable so I overdid it and pressed 120kg which caused a lot of back pain.
I don't know if the 45 degree leg presses will cause me back pain, thus rendering them useless. I haven't seen any gyms with standard 45 presses and not sure of stores around London where I could demo one.
I might just work on my back and return to squatting[/QUOTE]

If you do decide to work on your back and core strength, do this under the supervision of a good sports physio.

 

[booyaka]

Looks great ronski - just like the house!! pictures when it's all done pleasE!

 

[ronski]

Looks great ronski - just like the house!! pictures when it's all done pleasE!

Will do mate - we got the power rack and benches put together. Seems that bars and bumpers are going to be a few more days yet.

 

[ronski]

A bit like mini Christmas this morning with the arrival of :

1 x 20kg Olympic Bar
1 x 15kg Olympic Bar (for the wife)
1 x set of Premium Bumper Plates (2 x 25kg, 2 x 20kg, 2 x 15 kg and 2 x 10kg)
2 x spring collars
1 x Elite collars (2.5kg each) - big chunky and have a real quality feel.

A few other bits and pieces to arrive this week (4 x 5kg plates, kettlebells, some dumbbells, a trap bar) but can now really start to get some decent workouts in.

Here are some photos:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/705615/Terranova/Garage/2014-09-13 12.41.10.jpg
Resize image please.

Going to have store the bands elsewhere:

Close up of the bumpers with the elite collars:

 

[mrthingyx]

Awesome.

 

[T1Cybernetic]

That is awesome.

 

[Adrianr]

I dislike you immensely. That's far too good for a home gym.

 

[ronski]

Thanks guys! When the final bits and pieces are in, I will post some updated pics. However, first impressions of the Raze bars and bumpers is really good. Nicely designed - it's a young british company and I hope they do well.