Official Home Gym Building Thread

On the subject of racks:
I workout with dumbbells, barbells, and a bench and pull-up bar in my office/front room.

Ideally I'd like to add a mini-rack with spotter catches for benching and squatting, but it would really need to be compact and to be one I could fialry easily fold away or dismantle and store after use. I've been searching for one for a while, but not found anything suitable. So I thought I'd ask here - does anyone know of such a thing?

On a different but related note - this room is a downstairs room, but with joist and board flooring, so I'm a bit concerned about loading it with weight. What's the maximum people would feel okay about loading on standard floorboards? Obviously I have to be careful about lowering weights slowly, but even so when factoring in my bodyweight there's over 200kg of weight bearing down through my feet on some lifts, and of course I'm aiming to increase weights all the time. I've seen or felt nothing to alarm me yet, but where is the reasonable limit to this?
 
Skidder said:
Could you fit a half rack? e.g.
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Oh hell, no! I'd love one of those, but that's much too big.

I'd been looking at this kind of thing.

Even that is too big to be left out in the room all the time, so it would depend if it was easy to take apart and reassemble, and if it could be stored under my desk in its disassembled state.

These kind of stands would be okay in terms of space, but they look so unstable and the spotter catches are too small for me to have any confidence in. I don't know if there are any better versions of these, but all the ones I've been able to find all look very similar.

I know I'd not be getting an ideal home gym set-up here, but I just want something to let me barbell bench and back squat at home.
 
GiraffePencils said:
I have that squat and dip rack, you couldn't take it apart enough to go under a desk, you can pull the 2 halves apart and stack them but the cross bar is bolted tight
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Ah, I was hoping that since my desk is pretty large, with good clearance underneath it might fit somehow. It has 65cm of clearance in height below it, about 70cm in depth and 120cm spare space across.

The problem is going to be the depth if those crossbars are bolted fast. It says depth 100cm on the site, which would be a proble with it sticking out.

Oh well.

Thanks for the feedback.

Anyone tried those free-standing stands? Or know of any with deeper spotter catches?
 
strumpusplunket said:
I know I'd not be getting an ideal home gym set-up here, but I just want something to let me barbell bench and back squat at home.
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Is there a particular compelling reason you want to back squat and barbell bench at home??

If you are so strapped for space that you are looking for a setup you can put away between workouts its going to be a real pain in the ass to do anything meaningful. The weights take up a lot of room on their own then you add the stands and the bench and you honestly will need at least 9ft x 8ft area just to work in.

if you are adamant that working out at home is what you want to do, then forget a squat rack and barbell benching and invest in a set of adjustable dumbbells, and a folding bench.
 
Syla5 said:
Is there a particular compelling reason you want to back squat and barbell bench at home??

If you are so strapped for space that you are looking for a setup you can put away between workouts its going to be a real pain in the ass to do anything meaningful. The weights take up a lot of room on their own then you add the stands and the bench and you honestly will need at least 9ft x 8ft area just to work in.

if you are adamant that working out at home is what you want to do, then forget a squat rack and barbell benching and invest in a set of adjustable dumbbells, and a folding bench.
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I already have a bench, two barbells, four dumbbells and about 180kg assorted plates. I've been working out like this on and off for a while - about 10 months in this time around. The bench folds down, and I stow it next to my desk between workouts. Barbells lean against the corners, and weights stack neatly in another corner. It takes a little while to set up for a workout and breakdown after, but it's perfeclty doable and part of my routine.

There isn't a gym within easy reach of my house (nearest one is a good few miles and I don't have my own car), so this is the best option for me. I've been managing with a routine that includes DB benching, hack squats, and different varities of deadlifts amongst others, but I'm getting to the point where I soon won't be able to fit more weight on my dumbbells for benching (40kg plus the bars is the most I can use). Wrist weights let me up this to about 45kg per arm, but that's probably the limit. A bar with spotter catches would give me much more leeway. Plus, whilst I like hack squats, they're not as good as back squats for overall leg strength or development so it would be good to have that option too.
 
Then of the 2 racks you linked above the first is your best option, but if you want it to be storage friendly you will have to take off the orange cross bar each workout. Looks like its 3 bolts a side so wont take forever, but heck I wouldn't want to have to do that.

I would rather get a bike and cycle to the gym lol!
 
Syla5 said:
Then of the 2 racks you linked above the first is your best option, but if you want it to be storage friendly you will have to take off the orange cross bar each workout. Looks like its 3 bolts a side so wont take forever, but heck I wouldn't want to have to do that.

I would rather get a bike and cycle to the gym lol!
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Yeah, that does look like too much work, plus I'd be concerned constantly undoing and rebolting the arms would degrade the bolts over time.

If there aren't any mini-racks that breakdown more easily, I might have to start having a mooch around the house for potential storage options for that Mirafit rack. The issue might be coming a solution for storage that my wife and I are both happy with...
 
Hi all - I’ve been out the gym a few months with moving home and getting everything sorted. Now I’ve got a garage I’m looking at setting up a home gym.

I’ve just ordered some rubber matting from ark (18mm) and I’m looking at:

Cf475 - probably the premium strength package from powerhouse with bench, Olympic bar and plates and high/low pulley.

Was also looking at an Olympic Ez bar, couple more attachments for the cable and Olympic dumbell bars. I know the dumbell bars aren’t the best option - but not in a position to afford a rack of fixed weights.

Anything I should look at instead or replace/swap that I’ve missed?

Also - if anyone is looking at getting rid of any of the above give me a shout! Don’t want to cheap out but happy if I can save money and don’t mind not buying new!
 
Euro_Hunter said:
Regarding dumbbells take a look at the PowerBlock Sport 90 EXP

Yes there expensive but a lot less faff than ordinary dumbbells, and a pleasure to use.
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Thanks for this - got me thinking. Also had a look at the similar dumbbells made by iron master - anyone got any views on which are best? Think they’ll have to wait for now, but better than spending money now on Olympics that I don’t use...

Going to pull the trigger on the above I think (minus dumbbells).
 
mingeroonie said:
Any opinions or alternatives on something like this?

https://www.exercise.co.uk/marcy-eclipse-rs7000-deluxe-smith-machine-home-gym-with-bench

It seems to have all the options Im after, but not sure if the smith bar would get in the way when doing other exercises.
Also, I dont know what are good brands to look out for.
The price is about my budget, and I have plenty of space for something like this.
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Why do you want a smith machine?

Bought this: https://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf470-heavy-half-rack.php

With barbell and weights, dip bars, bench for less than that and happy with it almost a year on
 
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