Building a home gym

[brikis98]

None of the gyms anywhere near my house have the equipment necessary for olympic style lifts: bumper plates, platforms, any area where you can drop weights, etc. I make do with what's available to do squats, deadlifts, etc, but I can't really do any of the power/explosiveness exercises, such as the clean and jerk.

therefore, i've been considering putting together a gym in my basement. i'm thinking of getting the following equipment:

* A power rack for squats, pull-ups, dips (if possible)
* A nice bench that can do flat, incline, decline for bench press. It can probably be a simple bench that goes into the power rack (ie, doesn't need it's own weight stand).
* An olympic barbell
* A large set of bumper plates - probably ~500lbs
* Some kind of tree or stack to hold the plates
* Rubber padding (?) for the floor to absorb impact from deadlifts, rows, clean and jerk, etc

Anyone have experience with this? What kind of price range am I looking at? I've seen plenty of options online, but how can I judge their quality and make sure I don't get junk that'll fall apart after a year?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I envy you for even having a basement to contemplate doing this in. If you can get this stuff, that would be amazing AND convenient (however expensive it is). I don't know prices, but I just wanted to say good luck with the whole thing. It'll be a nice little project to get everything you want for cheap.

 

[SearchMaster]

If I can remember to, I'll ask my brother-in-law this week what he spent. He has an incredible home gym (I'll have to snap pictures sometime). He's a "money is no object" type so I'm sure it was tens of thousands of dollars.

 

[MegaVovaN]

I have no experience but there are numerous instructions on building such a gym. Such as flooring and whatnot.

 

[glenn beck]

Humane makes nice rubber flooring custom too(try to get 1/2"+ thick but it is not cheap)
http://www.humanemfg.com/
, Look to Life Fitness, Cybex, or Nautilus
for your benches and power racks, if you are going to power lift you must
buy the commercial level i.e. thickness of gauge of steel. Look to Hampton, IBX or
York for the barbell and plates. Make sure you get this barbell(http://www.hamptonfit.com/shop...D=90100&CurCatalogID=)
as it is meant for powerlifting.



It will come at a price though, you will get raped with freight charge, just buy direct for the racks and bench(most local dealers
for the mentioned brands usually only discount on residential equipment not commercial), but find a local dealer for the weights and flooring, you
can usually get them to come down in price since you want all that weight.
Here is a good power rack by Hammer STrength(Life Fitness) with adjustable bench

http://us.commercial.lifefitness.com/content.cfm/hdpr

 

[MegaVovaN]

For flooring I read that you want to go to local Farmer's supply and buy horse mats there. The mtfers will be heavy and big. You may want a friend to help you load/unload them from the pickup truck and then cut them to fit the floor.

Here's article on Garage Gym from Crossfit from 2002...most links don't work, but I like the overall advice, especially on flooring:

http://www.crossfit.com/journa...ry/cfjissue1_Sep02.pdf

 

[brikis98]

wow, thanks for all the advice so far. looks like i got a lot of research to do to see if i can afford this. i also just realized there is a fitness equipment store down the street from where i work, might be a worth a visit, as shipping costs on this kind of stuff would be killer.

 

[glenn beck]

Originally posted by: brikis98
wow, thanks for all the advice so far. looks like i got a lot of research to do to see if i can afford this. i also just realized there is a fitness equipment store down the street from where i work, might be a worth a visit, as shipping costs on this kind of stuff would be killer.

unfortunately if they order you commercial at the local fitness store, they still
usually add in the freight charge

 

[Deeko]

Can you talk to local gyms and see what kind of equipment they use?

I've always wanted to have my own gym equipment, laziness would no longer be an excuse to not work out. Once I have my own home that will definitely be a project of mine...

 

[presidentender]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
For flooring I read that you want to go to local Farmer's supply and buy horse mats there. The mtfers will be heavy and big. You may want a friend to help you load/unload them from the pickup truck and then cut them to fit the floor.

QFT. Under no circumstances should you pay for something "designed for people" when something designed for livestock is exactly the same thing

 

[spamsk8r]

Also, check out http://store.wfwclub.com/index.html for a good selection of bars and weights, with free shipping on most orders.

 

[EvilYoda]

Someone's already mentioned Crossfit...make sure you check out their forums as they have an entire subforum dedicated to outfitting a gym so you might catch a good deal on plates or something. Many people have done DIY projects as well.

 

[Koing]

Don't skimp on the bar or rubber weights. A good bar will literally last 20-30yrs+! A sh!t bar wouldn't last a few months of heavy use and it will fall to pieces.

It's nice to lift with £750 bars that spin correctly!

Good luck in your build and keep us udpated!

Koing

 

[paulxcook]

Post pics when you finish!