Building a home gym and need advice...

[gretak911]

My wife and I are about 2 months away from our new home being finished. I have been granted use of the basement for a home gym. I've found a pretty good site for buying equipment
Fitness Destination

I've set my budget at aound $1,000 - 1,200. For this price I can get:

Squat Rack $385 (DF4500 Pro Power Rack )
Adjustabel bench $160 (DF102- Two in One Flat to Incline Bench )
Lat Pulldown/Row $340 (DF906- Lat/Row Machine) *Not in stock
Preacher Curl $125 (DF306- Preacher Curl Bench) *Not sure if I need this but it would be nice.

*All above prices include shipping.

From the local Dick's sporting good store they usually have 300 LB olympic sets for $99 so I'd pick up two.

Total price $1210.

Eventually I'd like to get some rubber flooring, mirrors and after my next year's bonus dumbells from 5-120lbs. (but thats about $2k right there.)

Now the problem...

Is this enough equipment to train seriously at home? We already have an elliptical machine that I use 5 days/wk but what about leg day? All I can think of is squats. No 45 degree leg presses (my favorite exercise).

No chest supported rows for back day, just deads and pulldowns/seated rows.

No dumbells flat press/ military press/ bicep curls etc.

No dips.

What else am I missing? I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead or not. Please critique my future setup.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Nico Cujo]

Your basic needs should be a power rack, adjustable bench,
and a 300# olympic set with extra 45's. You can do benches, squats, shrugs, military presses in the power rack. Most of them have a chin bar on top. You can also purchase dipping attachments for the power rack if you buy the right one, like from New York Barbell.

 

[gretak911]

Thanks for the reply. I agree that the rack and bench are the most important but I'm worried that I'll regret they gym for the supplemental exercies that are available there. Granted, after leafing through my lifting log for the past couple of months I will be fine with what I have picked out. With the exception of dumbells I think that I'll be able to grow.

Has anyone had any luck with the Olympic dumbell handles? I don't know how they would feel but they are worth a look. I can't imaging doing shoulder presses with the 45lb plates on the handles. I guess you use the smallest plates you can to get the weight you need??? ie. stack 10lb plates till you run out of room then go up to the 25lbs if you run out?

I've also seen those dip/pullup/knee raise units for under $100. Maybe I'd be better of with one of those than the preacher curl.

 

[bignate73]

i havent checked out that site, but did you price everything at ny barbell? i think they ship alot of stuff free.

just a thought.

 

[JOKER47]

Thanks for the reply. I agree that the rack and bench are the most important but I'm worried that I'll regret they gym for the supplemental exercies that are available there. Granted, after leafing through my lifting log for the past couple of months I will be fine with what I have picked out. With the exception of dumbells I think that I'll be able to grow.

Has anyone had any luck with the Olympic dumbell handles? I don't know how they would feel but they are worth a look. I can't imaging doing shoulder presses with the 45lb plates on the handles. I guess you use the smallest plates you can to get the weight you need??? ie. stack 10lb plates till you run out of room then go up to the 25lbs if you run out?

I've also seen those dip/pullup/knee raise units for under $100. Maybe I'd be better of with one of those than the preacher curl.

- Most, if not all, of those "supplemental" excercises can be done with bands.
- DB's not heavy enough? Add bands.
- Another option is to not use DB's at all. All DB lifts have an equivalent BB lift.
- If you really like DB's, do them as a lighter, secondary lift following your main BB lift.
- Some power cage's have dip attachments that can be purchased and added to the cage you buy. (NY barbell has some really good ones.) The knee/pull-ups can be done on the cage itself.

Training at home is very convenient, and you can grow just fine. You just have to be a little creative at times.

 

[gretak911]

Thanks for the replies. I have green, blue and purple bands so that helps out too.

I haven't looked at the NY Barbell site lately. They have great equipment that gets great reviews but even a bad power cage can't be that bad as to be ineffective (unless it is so narrow that you can't do good mornings!).

Also the dumbells that I would probablyl end up getting are the cast hex dumbells. They suck compared to the chrome/rubber one's I've been using for the past several years.

Even in the past when I had a cage before I got married I still had a gym membership. I am a little scared of canceling the membeship.

I think that the $99 300lb oly set is a great deal. My strongest lift is the deadlift @ 495lbs X 1 rep. I guess I should pick up maybe 3 of the sets and see if they can swap out one of the bars for 4 extra 10lbs plates.