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Building My Own Gym

NJL52 said:
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 :p ) you might wanna check out www.elitefts.com
 
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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.
 
Madcow2 said:
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!
 
thesuaveone said:
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
 
thesuaveone said:
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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