Building My Own Gym

[tzan]

Alright so I recently came into some extra money. Not a lot, but a few grand. Anyways, I decided the time has come for me to ditch the old gym in favor of building my own personal home gym. Shits actually more affordable than I thought. I was just looking for ideas and making sure I'm not forgetting anything. So far I'm planning on getting:

power rack
lat pulldown machine
dip/pullup station
seated calf
preacher curl bench
flat/incline bench
db's
weights and racks
mat flooring

It's kind of funny when I think about it now. When I first had the idea I was thinking I would need to get a ton of crap like the gym, but when I think about what exercises I do, I really don't need all the other jazzy crap. So does anyone have any good ideas or anything I should consider??

 

[NJL52]

I'd just get the bare necessities. A rack, a good bar, weights, a stable bench and flooring. Once my gym membership is up, thats what I am going to do. It's cheaper to have your own in home gym then to be a member of a gym for a year.

 

[musclemom]

I have a home gym, my biggest regret: My bench won't take trays so I can't do heavier DB exercises.

Oh, and hindsight being 20/20 just get one of those adjustable DB sets, seriously. DBs are a PITA to change, and you need a crapload of small plates especially if you're doing a lot of isolation movements, just a whole PITA in general.

Make sure you check the quality of the equipment, in terms of construction/welds/safety features, it's better to spend an extra $20 and not have to worry that something is going to fail with you under it. And don't go cheap with something like the lat pulldown machine, the cheaper ones have plastic wheels and those wear out easily and are another expensive PITA to replace.

Now what are you doing for cardio?

 

[tzan]

I have a home gym, my biggest regret: My bench won't take trays so I can't do heavier DB exercises.

Oh, and hindsight being 20/20 just get one of those adjustable DB sets, seriously. DBs are a PITA to change, and you need a crapload of small plates especially if you're doing a lot of isolation movements, just a whole PITA in general.

Make sure you check the quality of the equipment, in terms of construction/welds/safety features, it's better to spend an extra $20 and not have to worry that something is going to fail with you under it. And don't go cheap with something like the lat pulldown machine, the cheaper ones have plastic wheels and those wear out easily and are another expensive PITA to replace.

Now what are you doing for cardio?

Haha..whats cardio?? Currently bulking and am not really doing much cardio. I'm just doing a warmup of 15 minutes prior to my workouts on the eliptical. That's the shit that's expensive. I don't mind running outside, but I also like variety, and considering I will be cutting in March I'm sure I'll end up buying something. I'll take pics when everyhting is done.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

Right now is a GREAT time to start hitting garage sales for treadmills and whatnot. A lot of people "think" they want them for christmas...and never use them.

 

[thesuaveone]

Be sure not to forget the ab/aductor machine, and make damned sure you get a squat rack for curling.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Maybe add a separate decline bench for ab work. Most adjustable benches come with a decline position, but the angle is usually barely below parallel to the ground.

 

[anotherbutters]

Why bother with a lat pulldown if you're getting something to do pullups on?

 

[NJL52]

power rack down be cheap here, get a good 1
lat pulldown machine do pullups on the power rack
dip/pullup station buy some 2x4s and make it outta wood, save some money
seated calf just do calf raises with an oly bar on your back
preacher curl bench just use the power curling rack
flat/incline bench yup
db's if you can afford then yea, otherwise barbell will work
weights and racks of course
mat flooring 3 pieces of cheap ply wood and a nice rubber mat is all ya need


Just thinking about this makes me want to shoot my self for buying a one year membership to my worlds gym. It wasn't bad, but it closed down and the closest gym available to me now is 15 minutes away.

 

[thesuaveone]

seated calf just do calf raises with an oly bar on your back

Just as an aside, the standing and seated calf raises hit two seperate areas of the calf muscle. Both exercises should be done to hit both the soleus and the gastronemious (sp).