Starting Home Gym

I finally convinced my parents…especially my dad to make a home gym. I decided to start very basic…and to first invest in a powerrack. I felt this was a good choice on my financial situation…because its so versatial…and i can use it for all the compound movements. The beginnings of my home gym will be as follows:

Power Rack
One Olympic Barbell
Over 400lbs worth of weights
One adjustable bench

As of now I already have cardio equipment…treadmill…heavy bag and speed bag…grappling mats soon. My idea is to use the rack for everything…and with the adjustable bench i could use it to bench, for seated shoulder press, incline bench. With the rack i could do my squats…do rack pulls…set up deads in the rack…and even do pullups. I would invest in much much more…but im 18, my dads not gonna buy everything…so im on a tight budget. If anyone could help me find a power rack that is of good quality but also on the less expensive side…it would be MUCH appreciated. Also any suggestions or additions are welcome.

My suggestion Buy quality and buy once you will regret getting a POS when you have to replace it in a year or two.

Of course Top of the Line would be elitefts check them out. They also have good racks IMO at Newyorkbarbell not as good but also a bit cheap and ive had no probs with mine.

Other than that no suggestions get quality and get it once. Add some plate loaded DB’s next then slowly build a bad ass gym.

Looks good, i agree with getting good quality stuff.

Just make sure you can do chin-ups or have a lat-pulldown machine somewhere in there. Its the one movement that goes better with a machine.

This is the one I have. Its great and it was at my door in 9 days. Good luck.

Mike

http://bodybuildingequipment.ericsgym.com/powerrack/bodysolidpowerline/index.htm

Thanks for the help guys…yea im basically just sick of lifting at the gym. Im sick of all the kids doing roids and acting like assholes…im sick of the owner giving me shit when i do cleans or deads…im sick of people talking to me while im trying to lift weights. And im sick of paying a monthly membership lol. Ill upload pics when i get it in.

You might try craigslist or just talk to people. It seems everyone knows a person who is looking to get rid of old gym equipment.

I just bought a rack with a bench and 250 lbs of Oly weights from the guy I share a cube with at work for $100. It’s not a great rack, but it will work for a while, at least until I get closer to the upper limit the rack can handle. At that point I’ll get a better rack.

The weights themselves were worth the money. This guy started going to a gym and no longer trained at home. It was all just taking up space in his basement, and he wanted it out of his house.

Keep your eyes and ears open, and ask people to keep theirs open as well. It might pan out; it might not. But it can’t hurt to try.

[quote]Phill wrote:
My suggestion Buy quality and buy once you will regret getting a POS when you have to replace it in a year or two.

Of course Top of the Line would be elitefts check them out. They also have good racks IMO at Newyorkbarbell not as good but also a bit cheap and ive had no probs with mine.

Other than that no suggestions get quality and get it once. Add some plate loaded DB’s next then slowly build a bad ass gym.

[/quote]

I agree, buy quality, but shop around. If it were me, I’d rather buy a high quality used piece for the same price a new shiny POS.

As for the plate loaded DB’s, good idea, but they can be a pain to change the weights all the time. It makes sense to get some good olympic DB handles, so you can use the same weights you already have, and they are easy to change the weights.

If you can, get an adjustable bench that goes from decline to 90 degrees. Many of them do not decline, or they only go to 80 degrees.

Wanted to bump this one a bit.

I just bought my first condo and now that I have an actual basement all to myself, I want to get some equipment set up down there.

One thing I was curious about was what people use for their flooring. I have seen some various kinds of interlocking gym flooring on Froogle, but I keep thinking there must be a cheaper way to get some rubberized flooring to use so I don’t damage my weights and such.

Thoughts?

For the home gym flooring head to a large feed store or farm place. Places that have stuff for bigger animals (esp Horse) have thick rubber mats for a fraction of what they cost when sold as “gym mats”

[quote]lothos wrote:
For the home gym flooring head to a large feed store or farm place. Places that have stuff for bigger animals (esp Horse) have thick rubber mats for a fraction of what they cost when sold as “gym mats”[/quote]

YES!!

[quote]lothos wrote:
For the home gym flooring head to a large feed store or farm place. Places that have stuff for bigger animals (esp Horse) have thick rubber mats for a fraction of what they cost when sold as “gym mats”[/quote]

Ahh! Excellent idea! I think we have one of those in town.

Now just to save up my pennies for the elitefts rack…

Out of curiosity, what are other people rockin’ in their home set-ups? I know Phill presses moose and stuff.

I train at home too , i’ve just bought the BOW FLEX extreme, i’m so ripped right now

[quote]Kuz wrote:
lothos wrote:
For the home gym flooring head to a large feed store or farm place. Places that have stuff for bigger animals (esp Horse) have thick rubber mats for a fraction of what they cost when sold as “gym mats”

Ahh! Excellent idea! I think we have one of those in town.

Now just to save up my pennies for the elitefts rack…

Out of curiosity, what are other people rockin’ in their home set-ups? I know Phill presses moose and stuff.[/quote]

LOL thx.

I actually have a rack from New york barbell 1000lbs weight or so, saftey squat bar, various bars, dbs, etc. etc . high low pulley station the same flooring you are talking about from TSC. and the odd moose, tire, tree antelope.