Been away for a bit as we just recently moved (awesome time as always). Anyway - the wife gave me the green light to turn our downstairs into a gym. What I am looking at doing is getting a good quality rack, a top notch adjustable bench, the obvious plates & bars - and gradually add dumbells. I am also looking to also add bands and so on.
What I am looking for are opinions or what you (or friends) have done personally in setting up a home gym.
Factors - I don't want to tear our the carpet if I don't need to - roughly 8-8 1/2 ft high ceilings - I have enough room for a rack & a bench although I don't really want to get a bench right now - I'd also rather not bolt the rack into the floor
What are the best companies to look at interms of best quality/affordability? I am currently looking at the different dealers on ebay.
With that being said I was wondering if a wooden platform was the way to go and attaching the rack to that. Sorry if this seems a little scatter brained but that is my state of mind right now. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions
If you've got the time to do it, attaching your rack to a wooden/rubber platform would be ideal. It would help protect your floor, too.
I bought a rack from Crepensek. They make awesome equipment, but it takes forever to get it. He told me it would take 4 weeks and it's been about 12 weeks. 3 months to ship this product is ridiculous. He's just not a very good business man.
I bought all the rest of my stuff (except my Q bar and my SSB) from a local vendor. It saves on shipping. I also had a local welder make my plate tree. That way I can fit all my plates on 1 tree instead of having to buy 2 commercial plate trees.
I would say New York Barbell is a very reliable place. I live 45 minutes from there so I can pickup my own stuff, but I've heard delivery is reliable from there.
I suggest a Q bar or a Texas Power bar for your bar. Both are the best bars you can get for the price. (around $300-350)
Tractor Supply has some great rubber flooring. I bought a rubber bedding for a pickup truck and it works perfect (40-50$ if I remember correctly). Walmart also has the little rubber squares that you can link together and they are about 6 - 2'x2' squares for $15. I suggest the rubber bedding for deadlifting and the squares to place under the rubber bedding and around the rest of the lifting space. The squares will not take the impact of deadlifting as they just get mangled.
I would say get an adjustable bench and a flat bench. Not a flat bench with the racks and stuff, but just a separate flat bench like this: http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/5900.html This is because the adjustable benches have a dip in them where the top bends from the bottom and it is annoying because that is right where your butt lies. It creates a lack of stability and definitely takes away from the weight you can do IMO.
I have a power rack made by BodySolid, it works good. Most any powerrack will work fine. Just look it over before you buy it in person, and you can tell if it is going to work for you or not (also measure the height and what not).
Get the weights from a local vendor. Shipping is way to expensive for weights online. The last time I bought weights, it was around 40-50 cents per pound.
Other not necessary but good to have if you have the money items: Safety Squat Bar, EZ Curl Bar, Adjustable Dumbbells with some weight to go with them, and a pullup bar if your powerrack doesn't come with one.
Iron Woody bands are the best for the $$ and you can find them on many lifting sites (LiftingLarge I know sells them). Chains you can also get at Tractor Supply. I think it was about $60 for 10' of 1/2 inch chain (2 - 5' chain pairs). Chains are expensive but definitely worth it.
Thanks for the advice guys. Mike - who is the local vendor you go through? I am not that far away and if I get a chance to visit soon I'd be in a position to pick some things up.
Andrew - good advice on the flat bench - wasn't thinking about that. Being in ND there are a ton of farm/tractor supply places ha ha. It is good to know I can look at some rubber flooring options & chains at those places.
I used a Q-bar at my meet a few weeks back and I liked it. I think the more experienced guys were a little split on whether or not they liked it but right now I'm not lifting enough weight to notice a real difference. I just want a good bar that doesn't start to whip once you get over 400lbs. Thanks again guys.
It's called the Exercise Equipment Center. Pricing is pretty good. They're not a real professional bunch, though, so if you call and place an order, you have to be specific.
Example. I wanted an adjustable bench, but since I compete, I'm very picky with it. I looked and found one I like. I ordered it. When I picked everything up, the bench they had wasn't the one I ordered. The explaination was, "The one you ordered was discontinued. This one was close, so we ordered it instead." It turned out okay, but I didn't get a phone call or anything about it. They just went ahead and ordered it. That and the plates I bought were all jumbled up among other plates, so now I have a mixture of black and grey plates. Not a big deal at all -- but it's the little things that reveal the character of the business. They're good folks -- just not real professional.
I am very familiar with them. They were contracted to do the repairs at the gyms I manage. Good guys as you said but - they are no longer doing our work.
I have had a home gym for years. I have a power rack where the base is solid front to back. I do not have it bolted down, but it is set on 3/4" plywoood, with a 3/4" rubber mat on top. It is solid. Squats and Dl's in the low to mid 6's. The platform is 4'x6', 4x8 would've been better, but room is an issue. My bar is a Texas Power Bar.
Also in my gym: Incline/flat bench, plate loaded lat machine, leg press, and a reverse hyper, and a plate tree. Room and money always an issue, but I get by with this.
Hey guys - it has been awhile. Anyway - I had been eyeballing a nice rack from elitefts (classic rack) but I had been hesitating on pulling the trigger (probably because of the cost & shipping).
So this morning my wife calls and tells me there is a squat rack and weights on our local on line classifieds. By 2pm I own a pretty decent parabody squat rack, a 1500 test bar, and six 45lb plates for $220. Unreal.
