T Nation

My Garage Gym Setup

#1

I have been fortunate the last few years having access to a gym at work. I am starting a new job and made the decision to setup a gym in my garage.

I purchased a 4x4ft and 8x4ft OSB board 18mm thick and 18mm stall mat 6x4ft for the base. I then purchased a squat cage by hard castle.

hardcastlebodybuilding.com/gym-equipment/cages/hardcastle-heavy-duty-power-cage.html

And

Strength shop bastard bar

www.strengthshop.co.uk/weights-bars/bars/olympic-bars/strengthshop-bastard-bar-with-centre-knurling.html

With bumper plates 10 and 5kg, 2,5 and 1,25kg rubber cased plates.

And 3 sets of 20kg hype rubber cased Olympic plates.

And an incline bench.

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I am receiving the posts tomorrow to finish it all.

I will post another picture when finished.

#2

That’s a pretty good setup to start off with. What’s the bar like?

#3

I am really happy with the bar, I have been using eleiko bars at work and I would say it’s up there with eleiko.

Quote from site "Each sleeve in these bars consist of one needle bearing, two ball bearings, and one brass bushing.

Lightly grooved sleeves.

Nickel/Phosphorus plating.

Quite a ‘flexy’ shaft, sharp knurling, and great free spinning sleeves."

I had 150kg on the bar on Sunday and it felt good. We will see how durable it is.

A review of the bar from the manufacturer:

#4

That’s impressive. I’ve tried out an Eleiko once and my impressions were 1) knurling sharp as a DL bar and 2) very, very stiff.

#5

The setup is now completed

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#6

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#7

Pretty. You might eventually look into covering the wood with some kind of sandpaper or grippier surface. I know I feel unstable squatting on wood. Same with any platform that has wood down the middle.