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).

 

[Guinness5.0]

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.

+1

IMO that's all ya need. Maybe a dip station for the power rack.

If you want a nice rack (and who soesn't ) you might wanna check out www.elitefts.com

 

[Madcow2]

Some ideas - maybe some stuff gets added later but a few things to mull over.

A quality bar that spins well and bumper plates for OLs (these can be expensive)

A platform for OLs. I'm not sure if you do them or not but it's worth considering now or someday, you can build on cheaply or get one made and it can save the flooring. Some will have an open platform outside the rack and then extend inside to provide firm footing.

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about (this is from www.power-lift.com but if you have the means then by all means ): http://www.power-lift.com/dynamic/clientpics/122-pic.jpg

45 degree hyper
Reverse hyper or some type of attachment fashioned for your Power Rack

For dumbells I'd probably go with a set of fast adjustables to cover the light stuff through maybe 60-80lbs and then buy individual sets as needed from there.

Heavy bag comes to mind

Capable stereo and for gym simulation a 15 year old to play Britney on it to screw up your PR attempt.

 

[thesuaveone]

For dumbells I'd probably go with a set of fast adjustables to cover the light stuff through maybe 60-80lbs and then buy individual sets as needed from there.

Maybe a set of those handy dandy soloflex dumbells that cover 5-60 with only a few clicks!

 

[Madcow2]

Maybe a set of those handy dandy soloflex dumbells that cover 5-60 with only a few clicks!

A quality set of something along those lines is exactly what I was thinking. For light dumbells commercial grade is overkill as is having increments that take up tons of room. Heavy dumbells take abuse simply because they are unwieldly, you don't have to treat the 30s like that so breakage is less an option.

Along those same lines, you can buy 2.5lbs plate mates for dumbells. That means you'd only need to purchase 10lbs increments and then use the platemates to give you all the 5's in between. I think they even have smaller plates to give you fractional dumbells between the 5lbs increments too. That's a cheap, easy, and versitile way to go if you use dumbells a lot and are wondering how to best put a fully functional set together without tossing money or space.

Here's the site. They have various shapes in donut, hex, and brick as well as all the fractional sizes (plus the 2.5lbs magnets for the 5lbs increment dumbells). http://www.theplatemate.com/faqs.htm

 

[SgtSlaughter]

Maybe a set of those handy dandy soloflex dumbells that cover 5-60 with only a few clicks!

I have the bowflex select tech DB's... they suck, IMHO.

Broken for the 2nd time... they just sit there.

The handle is shaped oddly and not straight (it's buldged in the middle a little bit).

You have to be gentle as hell with them, and if you're in the groove/intense/in the zone and not thinking about that in the momment... they'll break.

Speaking of which i need to see if i can get another new one... Again. Then i'll probably sell them for a big loss. Retail $400 ... i'd rather get a few select standard DB's (like say: 25's-40's, then 70's, then 100's and 120's) or something like that.

 

[muscelove]

i tried the whole home gym thing a few times but i always end up with a membership. Its too easy to take your time at home

 

[blut wump]

I have a Powertec power rack. I comes replete with pullup station and dipping bars. As Madcow mentioned, ensure that the bar you get can spin freely. You should be able to find a bench with the required positions for flat, decline and incline. I have a York one that does 45 degrees and has an extra attachment for holding your feet while doing sit-ups.

Regarding small adjustments on DBs, a pair of spring collars weighs about a pound, a pair of quick-screw collars weighs 2 pounds. I have a pair of Oly DB handles which suit my needs but I don't do much DB work. I bought a few extra pairs of 22-pound plates for them. Jim Ouini has some good posts/threads on Kettlebells. You might also consider getting some bands from Elitefts.

Definitely get some rubber matting as a bare minimum for covering the floor.

 

[tzan]

Good input fellas...the hyper is a must. I'm deffiantly getting one of those. As far as db's go, I really don't use them for much(just fly's and some iso bi's and tri's movements). All my main lifts(and lifts that I go heavy with) are based around bb work. However, that being said since I have a lot of space to work with, I'm going to get the set that goes from 10's to 60's and see if I can swap a few light sets for a few heavy sets.

 

[draxxius]

thought you might find this interesting

my home gym is pretty much outside. I store my weights inside an old smokehouse on my property. I have a 17 foot climbing rope, 1 3/4".
do pullups on tree branches or a deck ledge.
No bench, use backpack with sandbag + weights ranging from 55 - 105 lbs. If I need more, I have someone load another plate on and make sure it doesn't fall off.

Dips between washer and dryer.

over 400 lbs of standard plates. Do deadlifts, power cleans, military press, etc. out on the grass.

145 lbs of olympic plates

dumbbell handles

a cheap walmart curling bar that comes in 2 parts, but I just keep it in 2 parts and never connected....weird shaped pieces....load those up heavy, 200 lbs each, and hold those for time.

heavy grips 100 and 150, more to come soon

iron woody bands, #3

power push up 2

huge duffel bag with sand for sand bag training
wheel barrow with whatever and push that uphill

Im on 15 acres with hilly terrain, half pasture/ half woods. Lot of large rocks to mess around with, as well.