Official Home Gym Building Thread

Thank you for your reply.

I was thinking a multi-gym mainly for my GF and opening up addional options for leg strengthening, or would squats in the power rack cover this?

Just thinking a big power rack and Olympic bar may be little intimidating for my GF perhaps?

I used to go to the gym almost daily for 2 yeara and used all of the press / pull type machines but never the rack / smith. Is a power rack and bar set really as effective as all of these?

I'm at early stages of research as you can probably tell!

Thanks

Mike
 
Oh-ho-ho... you are in for a whole new world of awesome! :D

Machines will do a certain amount of work, but they are not even in the same universe as free weights for proper 'strength' work.

Save yourself a lot of money and ditch the multi-gym: it will add nothing to your workouts once you work out how awesome the power rack and free weights are. :D

Get yourself some dumbells to work with, instead of hte multigym...
 
Everytime I went to the gym in my past I used machines, with the exception of an occasional bench press. I spent most of that time putting in a lot of effort and not really seeing much gain.

Last year I thought I'd get fit again. Due to lack of time to get to a gym I bought a bar, dumbells, bench, pull up bar and portable squat rack/spotters/dips (CF415) instead. .I've made more progress in the last few months using decent free weights and this limited amount of equipment than I ever made in all those weak attempts at the gym on machines.

By all means get a multigym for your GF if she won't use free weights. But she will honestly make so much more progress using them. In particular squats will do wonders for her legs and bum compared to leg exercises on a machine. Free weights will also work the supporting muscles and her core much more, giving better definition (a nicer stomach!). She can just use lighter weights to start with if she's intimidated. And there's something so much more satisfying about lifting a weight off the ground than simply pulling/pushing something on a machine. If you can skip the multigym then you'd have more space and more money for decent weights etc.

EDIT: And decent weights and a good bench etc will be more sellable in the future if you get bored and don't use it. A multi gym will sit like an elephant in the room and be hard to get rid of.
 
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I've been thinking about selling my CF415 and buying a full cage. I'm finding the CF415 a little limiting due to the cross member linking the uprights clashing with my bench. So can't do shoulder presses or incline presses very easily along over things. It'd also be good to be able to bolt a cage down and utilise bands a little more in my workouts.

I've got roughly 2050-2070 from floor to the steel angles that the roof is bolted down to (these are around 40-50 deep and at roughly 1.2m centres). So most power cages will not fit without modification, which is why i went for the CF415 originally.

I've found a couple that look like they will fit:
The strength shop power cage with the pull up bar turned upside down is 2050 high (confirmed by strength shop), this is however a little over £400 with delivery.

I've also found a cage by MiraFit, this is sold as a Heavy Duty Power Cage rated at 400kg, it has solid steel spotter bars and 2mm thick 60x60 framing, so should be plenty strong enough. I've emailed Mirafit about the dimensions so hopefully they'll get back to me quickly. it's 2170 (hopefully from the top of the pullup bar), with a similar pullup bar arrangment to the Strength shop cage, so hoping with this flipped it'll fit, also the rear tie member that would be the problem height wise due to clashing with the steel roof supports in my garage is dropped 60mm down from the top members giving me a bit more room to get it in there.

This cage is £200 delivered, so a big saving.

My question is has anyone used MiraFit equipment or heard of them? only found a couple of reviews, both good, but would like more to go from really.

I'd like the strength shop cage, but i don't really want to pay double for it to be honest.

Edit:
Link: http://www.mirafit.co.uk/strength/power-cages-racks/mirafit-hd-350kg-power-cage.html

looks like it's rated for 350kg
 
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Mike1983 said:
Thank you for your reply.

I was thinking a multi-gym mainly for my GF and opening up addional options for leg strengthening, or would squats in the power rack cover this?

Just thinking a big power rack and Olympic bar may be little intimidating for my GF perhaps?

I used to go to the gym almost daily for 2 yeara and used all of the press / pull type machines but never the rack / smith. Is a power rack and bar set really as effective as all of these?

I'm at early stages of research as you can probably tell!

Thanks

Mike
Click to expand...

Squats and lunges are way better than leg extensions and hamstring curls (on a multi gym/machine) from an overall body work out perspective. I have my wife working out with the barbell and power rack. I would suggest getting a 15kg bar for her (smaller diameter bar and better weight for her to start with)

With a rack , bar and dumbbell set there is not much you can't do, if you get a rack with a pulley attachment then you will have all bases covered.
 
Thank you for the advice, much appreciated. I've firmly binned the multi-gym idea now.

So please can I ask for thoughts on the following equipment?

Rack
http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/body-solid-commercial-powerrack-selectorised-lat-attachment.html

* Doesn't appear to have specific chin up handles. Or do you just use the horizontal bar at the front?
* Doesn't appear to have weight holders? Can you get rack attachments or would it be necessary to get a separate holder?

Bar, bumpers & collars
http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/body-power-160kg-deluxe-rubber-chrome-olympic-set-1.html


Bench
http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk...ne-decline-utility-bench-full-commercial.html

Thank you

Mike
 
Wow - you're very serious about this? :D

If you want to get an awesome rack, the CF475 is a great piece of kit, too, for aroudn a third the price of the Body Solid one. You can then also get a lat pull-down thing if you really feel the need.

Bench? Fine... expensive and probably overkill but it's an awesome bit of kit.

Bar and plates? Bar is probably rubbish, but the plates will be nice. Don't try Olympic lifting with them, however (not that you will, but...)! :D

Nice kit - enjoy!
 
I'd also recommend checking out places like:

Strength shop: https://www.strengthshop.co.uk

Wolerson fitness: http://www.wolverson-fitness.co.uk

Following my earlier question about fitting a power rack/cage in my garage, i've got 2070 at a squeeze from matt to roof support. However the garage is only 2450 wide. I was hoping to put the cage against the side wall, If i put either of the cages in (both roughly 1450 deep), it'll only give me 1000 to play with. I can manage with that for getting the bench in and out. But i'm worried about whether i'll have enough room to pull the spotter bars in and out, It looks like it's touch and go.

I've emailed the strength shop regarding this, and i expect they'll get back to me sometime today as they're normally pretty quick. But was wondering if anyone else has a similar setup and could advise on space required to pull the spotter bars out.
 
mrthingyx said:
Wow - you're very serious about this? :D
Click to expand...

Yes I am.... I'm actually having a new outbuilding constructed in my garden and a gym will be it's primary purpose until I'm old and broken with desires for a workshop / cinema / office etc.

All of this research now is to plan out the floor space requirements etc. Will then be looking for advice on flooring and finer details.

So cages then. I'm guessing going for one with integrated weight holders, dip bars, chin up bars etc would be a significant benefit / worth the cost.

Now I'm convinced on not getting a multi-gym, putting extra cash to a commercial spec cage is feasible.

Thanks
 
I think getting one with everything you could conceivably use would be good... to bme that means (over and above the ability to squat in it, obviously):

- band mounting points (for deadlifts);
- chinup bars;
- weight holders;

If you can do chins/pullups, then lat pull-down is a bit surplus - IMHO - and you should be using Olympic rings hung from your rack to do dips with. ;)

The difference between 'commercial' and 'home gym' grading is somewhat meaningless, too: something between £4-600 is more than enough for a home gym... the key thing is loading capacity (i.e. how robust the thing is).

Bear in mind I am being a massive hypocrite as I wouldn't even use a cage if I could fit it in my gym (I don't bench or use the catchers).
 
Yes that looks well engineered and wouldn't have an issue forking out the cash for something of that quality / ability. Just want to buy once, right first time. That's the price exc VAT by the way!

May have missed it but where are the dip bars on that one?

Seems like you can't get a brand new cage for less than £1500 that has all of decent features such as plate storage, chin up & dip bars and band fixing points (not that I was even aware of those before reading your advice!)
 
I'm going to get some Olympic rings to hang from my garage rafters. Is there anything in particular to look out for when buying them? E.g. wood vs plastic etc? Or does it not really matter?

Thanks.
 
Hades said:
I'm going to get some Olympic rings to hang from my garage rafters. Is there anything in particular to look out for when buying them? E.g. wood vs plastic etc? Or does it not really matter?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Nice wood ones made from fig are good for gripping onto and hold chalk nicely
 
Mike1983 said:
Yes that looks well engineered and wouldn't have an issue forking out the cash for something of that quality / ability. Just want to buy once, right first time. That's the price exc VAT by the way!

May have missed it but where are the dip bars on that one?

Seems like you can't get a brand new cage for less than £1500 that has all of decent features such as plate storage, chin up & dip bars and band fixing points (not that I was even aware of those before reading your advice!)
Click to expand...

True, it doesn't mention dipping bars.

This looks quite good and states:
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk...functional-training-commercial-power-rack.php

"Multiple Olympic bar and plate holder pins offer convenience while a conveniently positioned chin up bar provides a great strength and stamina challenge. But that’s not all! This truly exceptional rack can also accommodate a Plyo platform, dipping station and T-bar row attachments."

No idea if they come with it, how to get them, how much they cost etc though.

Edit: http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-zenith-line-dip-bar-dipping-station.php
£60.00.
 
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