Got my garage gym setup ;)

**Civilized** · 04-03-2010, 02:54 PM

Not much but a starting point....I will write a review of all the equipment (goods & bads) and things to prepare yourself for when assembling these later when some people leave my house

Powertec power rack
Bodycraft F320 bench
Bodycraft F620 Lat machine
Generic treadmill
300lb olympic set (cap)
misc pull down accessories
1/2" cap rubber mats
olympic dumbbell handles
lcd tv for viewing pleasure (not in pics)

**hellzlegend** · 04-03-2010, 03:10 PM

great setup.

**eelsemaj** · 04-03-2010, 03:21 PM

loving the pink dumbells!

also digging the yellow on the power rack

**MHuskey6729** · 04-03-2010, 03:22 PM

beautiful!

**Kodokan** · 04-03-2010, 03:39 PM

congrats on your setup...it looks great.

i'd love to hear about your lat machine...what you like/don't, etc...when you get time.

**xephonics** · 04-03-2010, 03:53 PM

nice setup m8, congrats

**BuckeyeROC** · 04-03-2010, 04:00 PM

Nice, I like it!

**Manzooka** · 04-03-2010, 04:43 PM

Very nice setup bro. I love yellow power racks. They remind me of contruction equipment... and hey, isn't that exactly what a power rack is? Nice job.

**BRUTUSPLAC** · 04-03-2010, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by Manzooka

Very nice setup bro. I love yellow power racks. They remind me of contruction equipment... and hey, isn't that exactly what a power rack is? Nice job.

i second this. i'm getting tired of my GREY colored stuff, .

mmmmmmmm

**Civilized** · 04-03-2010, 06:45 PM

Thanks guys! And yes the pink dumbbells are pimp...a keystone of the gym

...I wanted to say a little bit about the equipment and what to expect when you get them so here it goes:

FOR ALL pieces of equipment WAIT to fully tighten all your pieces until the very end because you will find if you tighten early everything will not fit exact...this will give you some wiggle room in the parts with lining up etc...I ordered everything from Bestbuyfitness.com and cant say enough of how great they are to work with...great customer service

Powertec rack

The rack looks fantastic and is extremely sturdy (Im 6'2 , 200lbs and the pull up bar is just the right height and has literally no wiggle when doing dips or chins....) and easy to put together with only one person. I did it in a couple of hours after work this week...the directions are pretty easy to follow however they number the plastic the pieces are wrapped in and they do NOT match the diagrams shown in the book so they are basically worthless to the owner....it does say this in the manual however why in the hell wouldnt they not make them coorespond? Seems like something they could easily do....
One of my boxes was damaged a little which exposed a piece of my rack and scratched it but not too bad....One thing to expect when getting something from Powertec is CRAPPY packaging of bolts, screws etc...The plastic bags they use to hold these are literally horrible...BOTH my rack and my weight tree has this same issue and I had to search through the boxes to find everything and get it reorganized because they had torn....Also on both pieces of equipment the plastic end caps were almost all damaged. I have NO IDEA why they would preassemble this and not leave them off until someone puts them together, another simple fix....
Other than a couple nagging items, im extremely pleased with the rack...
I would recommend getting a small ladder to ease the installation with one person...i used the top of the ladder to support my cross members while I installed the first screw..

BodyCraft F320 FID bench:
The first thing I noticed when opening the box and picking up some items is that this thing is a beast....very sturdy and heavy.....All parts were very nicely packaged and unlike Powertec they left the plastic end caps off (thank god) & had extremely organized directions and each plastic bag and part was numbered (which matches) for simple installation...I was concerned a little about this bench because it sits so low but after using its FANTASTIC and just right (I have long arms too)....I love that I can put it in my rack and not have to move it that much because of the way it functions...would be great for someone with a lat machine attached to their rack......Like I said before the bench was sturdy feeling and confirmed this after sitting on it the first time...no wiggle and very comfy..
no real complaints other than I did get an "updated" model that had just one fix over the old bench in how the base mounts together but the instructions were not updated to correspond but was easy to figure out..
Love it...

BodyCraft F620 lat and arm machine:
Like the Powertec rack, it comes with a lifetime warranty. Just like the Bodycraft bench above awesome packaging, etc...and simple installation...this one was the only one I was not looking forward to putting together because of cables but it was simple to do with one person...the only real issue I had with this machine is that the bottom cable was too short to connect to where it was supposed to...I had an extra cable clip lying around that I used to make up the distance....
I was initially torn btw the Powertec lat machine and this one...I liked that this one didnt make you sit in the floor to do rows and it had the preacher curl attachment that came with it....I also heard the Powertec one was a little smoother...After use im really happy with it. It has a nice smooth pull and the bottom row foot plate and preacher curl work great....One thing I do not like is that it comes standard with 1" bars for standard weights but I had them supply an olympic adapter kit with the shipment to convert this over so i can use my plates which worked great....another knock is that I wished the knee supports were leather wrapped and not foam..
Overall I would highly recommend this machine and it doesnt take up much room at all... One thing I recommend is putting looking at the cable routing chart and put the cable on BEFORE mounting the pully wheels...the directions never say this lol and you could be stuck taking them back off since the cable doesnt fit btw the pully mounted and the bar....

The Mats (1/2" CAP rubber) 4'X6':
Came from Dick's and were super cheap...heavy mats (60lbs a piece)...they are nice but the only knock is that when you get them they are greasy as hell and SLICK...i was visualizing doing squats and my testicles hitting the floor....so I scrubbed them all with a deck brush and soap/water...worked great

Powertec Power tree:
really awesome other than the reasons mentioned in the rack review...

**GetEven** · 04-03-2010, 07:14 PM

So....those dumbbells aren't for you....right?

**Civilized** · 04-03-2010, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by GetEven

So....those dumbbells aren't for you....right?

hahah of course....jk..the wife uses them

**animalfan** · 04-03-2010, 07:48 PM

looks great to me, looks like you've got about everything you really need.

now you have to get to work making it look "used"!

**calebgreene** · 04-03-2010, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by animalfan

looks great to me, looks like you've got about everything you really need.

now you have to get to work making it look "used"!

LOL, that's what I was thinking! It's too "pretty"!!

**jshpark** · 04-03-2010, 08:12 PM

cool. nice and clean.

**Soylent** · 04-03-2010, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by animalfan

looks great to me, looks like you've got about everything you really need.

now you have to get to work making it look "used"!

This^

I am a little jealous btw...

**HardKore79** · 04-03-2010, 08:34 PM

The yellow thing looks awesome!

**wolfsburg2** · 04-04-2010, 04:22 AM

It looks great man. Real nice start to a home gym. A nice set of DBS and some more weight will do wonders.

**Riggaman** · 04-04-2010, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by Civilized

Not much but a starting point....

Not much? You have everything you need to get a great workout in there. Nice, clean, efficient setup. Thanks for sharing. Repped.

**wolfdragon** · 04-04-2010, 09:23 AM

Nice gym seems like more than a starting point. I like the yellow also.

**Jimbo.** · 04-04-2010, 10:11 AM

good job man, looks good

**GetEven** · 04-04-2010, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by wolfsburg2

It looks great man. Real nice start to a home gym. A nice set of DBS and some more weight will do wonders.

I second this. There is a used sports equipment place near here and I found a set of Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells for $100. Best purchase I've made in a while.

**downtodive** · 04-04-2010, 03:36 PM

Quick question - why didn't you go with the powertec workbench that locks into the rack over the bodysolid? I've read in some posts that the workbench creates some issues cause it's too high and it has some tendency to wobble. The bench you got looks sweet though.

**downtodive** · 04-04-2010, 03:38 PM

Quick question - why didn't you go with the powertec workbench that locks into the rack over the bodycraft? I've read in some posts that the workbench creates some issues cause it's too high and it has some tendency to wobble. The bench you got looks sweet though.

**Civilized** · 04-04-2010, 07:21 PM

thanks guys for all of the kind words! My next step later on this yr is a set of ironmasters or power blocks...for now my dumbbell handles will have to do

....I also want to get another set of weights once I "outgrow" these.....I have been out of the gym for a while but hopefully I get it back quick with some hard work...maybe I will start a blog to track my progress..

Downtodive, I went with the bodycraft bench just because I didnt feel like waiting on the powertec one since it is backordered plus I have read great things about this one....I can tell you tonight I did chest and couldnt be happier with it. Love the way it adjusts within the rack and has no wobble

**Civilized** · 04-04-2010, 07:22 PM

yes I agree that I need to break this in

**ownthislastime** · 04-04-2010, 08:10 PM

that is mean...

**justinluck** · 04-04-2010, 10:41 PM

I have to admit, I've clicked back into this thread more than once just to see the pics again. That is one gorgeous setup Civilized and it looks a heck of a lot more than a start! Compared to mine certainly! lol The yellow paint job looks very nice on the Powertec--much better than I imagined it.

I have never owned a power rack before, so I am curious about the safety bars. So far, I have read about the push-pin H bars found on more expensive racks and the saber bars found on the older Powertec racks. What type of connection do these square shaped safety bars use and how easy is it to take them on and off securely?

**cgc** · 04-05-2010, 05:45 AM

Originally Posted by Civilized

Powertec rack

The rack looks fantastic and is extremely sturdy (Im 6'2 , 200lbs and the pull up bar is just the right height and has literally no wiggle when doing dips or chins....) .

Thats my biggest complaint about my powerline. Yeah, i know it's not the highest on the food chain as far as racks are concerned...but hanging freel I feel like my knees are about to hit the ground and when I start doing pull-ups, I'm half scared the rack is gonna roll on over. And I've had a couple of pucker moments putting some weight back on the outside of the rack while doing push presses with 185-190lbs...

I like that PowerTech rack a lot...and the yellow looks REAL good.

**mas43** · 04-05-2010, 11:59 AM

you should build yourself an alooy platform mate! would make your setup that much sweeter

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