Home gym addition - opinions welcome

[brad310]

I have an olympic barbell set and bench I keep in my garage-ish area. I dont have room for a full power rack and have really been bummed about that. I have been hooked by the starting strength videos and pretty much anything else ive heard from Mark Rippetoe, so I need a place to do squats and presses. I go to a fitness club, that has no power rack, and only two free weight benches and an incline bench...so aside from bench, lat work, and dumbells...its not ideal for the big compound movements Rip likes. They have 3 smith machines, but i feel like they're hurting my squat form terribly, and they actually did hurt my wrist turning the bar in to hook doing bench...so im done with smith machines.

I argued with the wife over building a new storage shed so i could have a real setup with a power rack, but thats just not in the cards until i hit the lotto.

That said, i found two things on amazon that really caught my intererest. The first is two posts they call a squat rack, but i think it may actually work given my restriction on physical space.

http://www.amazon.com/Valor-Athletic...8007898&sr=1-4

The other thing I found are safety stands. From what i read its to catch the bar if i work to failure. I would really like these at home when im by myself...i cant really push myself like i would with a spotter.

http://www.amazon.com/TDS-C-93015-W-...007898&sr=1-17

Id love feedback on if you guys think these would be viable in a home gym - i feel like the concepts are good as long as i dont throw the barbell into it. Also interested if there is a better manufacturer or price other than amazon.

TIA

 

[Onita]

If you don't have room for full rack, look into a sumo rack.

 

[MotF Bane]

Neither of those are good. You're working out alone, so if you fail (your knees give out during a squat, whatever), there's nothing to catch the bar for you.

You need a rack. Powertec makes something that is I think 84" tall on the top, if you can't use that, go for a sumo rack. Since you are apparently vertically constrained, pressing will be an issue.

 

[brad310]

Neither of those are good. You're working out alone, so if you fail (your knees give out during a squat, whatever), there's nothing to catch the bar for you.

You need a rack. Powertec makes something that is I think 84" tall on the top, if you can't use that, go for a sumo rack. Since you are apparently vertically constrained, pressing will be an issue.

Its not the height, i have a 9 foot ceiling...its the width. The room is only 7 feet wide (rectangular shed - like 7x23) , which is slightly longer than the barbell...but doesnt leave any slack for sway during a lift or plate loading. A squat rack would fit, but i wouldnt be able to move the safety pins.

The more i think about it...the squat right might work if I just leave the pins in one position for benching - that should be low enough to not interfere with a squat. I need to look into the dimensions of a power rack...and find out how much clearence I would need for the flat bench on one side and for the plates on the other.

 

[HN]

looking at those "safety stands" -- i don't think they'll do much for you. in fact, i think they might even be worse if you're dropping the weights and hoping that they'll land nice and neat on those stands. If the plan was to just lower the weight onto the stands, then save some money and simply lower it to the ground (free).

By the way, with your olympic barbell set, you can still do deadlifths, cleans (and then press from the rack position once you've cleaned). so there's still plenty more you can do before needing a rack.

 

[brad310]

Is there such a thing as a "shorter" olympic barbell? I'll never need all the room to load 10x45's on each side. If so then the width of the bar would not limit me to which direction I made the rack face.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

Would something like this work for you?
http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/pro93140.html

 

[brad310]

Would something like this work for you?
http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/pro93140.html

that may very well be exactly the solution i need.

i was also considering this - do you think it would be as useful or nay?

http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/96031.html

The main exercises i would like to be able to do (safely) at home are bench, squat, press, deadlift, shrug, and rows.

 

[brad310]

if I can determine that space is not a problem, would this solution be better than the TDS adjustable rack?

http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/92563.html

 

[ZOOYUKA]

if I can determine that space is not a problem, would this solution be better than the TDS adjustable rack?

http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/92563.html

Absolutely. The safety cross bars are great for numerous things. Bench Press, Shrugs, Upright rows, etc.

 

[NAC]

if I can determine that space is not a problem, would this solution be better than the TDS adjustable rack?

http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/92563.html

I have that rack and I'm very happy with it. Everything I need.


It sounds like you need a shorter barbell, so I googled 6' olympic barbell. Here is one, I'm sure there are others:
http://www.amazon.com/6-Olympic-Bar-.../dp/B001EQY3FM

6" clearance on each side isn't great especially for loading and unloading. However I'd think you should be fine. I would make sure there is nothing valuable on either side in case you ever sway a bit... or more likey are tired and a little reckless loading or unloading the bar.

 

[NAC]

On second thought - this site sells 6' barbells, and indicates there are 46.5" between the sleeves:

http://www.warehousefitness.com/exercise-equipment/OB-72++++++++++/product.aspx


I measured my powerrack (same as the link above), and it is a bit over 48" width from one post to another (outside width, so they are about 46.25 inches apart on center). So with a short bar, you'd be resting the the sleeves on the hooks - not a good idea.

You might be able to find barbells in which the sleeves are shorter, but not the inner part...

 

[brad310]

I have that rack and I'm very happy with it.

Thanks so much for your input. Im leaning towards getting this now - will wait till i get home and measure and mark it out to be certain though. Im pretty sure i can still keep this rack in the same orientation i have my bench now, and use the same barbell. Being only 48 inches deep - it will have less wiggle room for press/squat, but will get the job for all the movements i want to do.

Now that I can use it, i need to invest in a bench, a belt...and im not sure what else. Do you have any recommendations on attachments or peripherals?

**oh and a big A fan to move this southern heat.

 

[brad310]

NAC it says that the height is 82.5 in - thats not high enough to do an overhead press so im guessing its either do them outside the rack or sit?

 

[brad310]

Ok i had a chance to measure and the the room is 86 inches wide...so the rack and bench will need to sit well within that demension...which isnt a problem. I could do a full rack or sumo rack np.

Im kind of wishy washy now about sumo or full rack because the rack extends pretty well through the space, and to do an overhead press i would need to set the rack to load from the outside. On the outside of the rack I can stand and press but it is very tight. The sumo rack would let me use that whole space, but no chin up bar - and i'd have to go outside to do rows and deadlifts.

Im so torn. I think ill get teh full rack and just deal with the space for pressing...or take that one movement outside if i have to. Such a critical decision, and the mrs is giving me a hard time about it too.

Whatever the case i think ill get the plate holders, and an extra bar holder. Probably also get some kind of hardened rubber floor for deadlift.

 

[NAC]

Yes - you need to stand outside of the rack to press. For me, I take one step back so I'm just about a foot from the rack when pressing. I guess you need at least 3 feet of space to be comfortable there.

I bought the handles for dips. I don't recommend them - the uprights are a bit far to comfortably do dips. I do use them for inverted rows. But for dips, I have a second barbell, and put the barbells on the safety pins spaced exactly as wide as I need them. Oh... and put a towel between the barbell and safety pins so the barbells wont roll when dipping. Learned that the hard way.

I'd think a sumo rack would be just as good as a full rack for everything except it doesn't have a chinup/pullup bar. So if you have a separate bar for chinups/pullups - you can take your pick.