Pic's and discussion of your "Home Gym"

[ZenBowman]

Great ideas in here, I just quit my gym membership and started working out at home, this thread is going to provide serious inspiration. So far I have a couple of kettlebells, a pullup bar and a heavy bag.

[Coke_Zero]

Been a long time since I posted anything on this thread but now I have reason to do so. I finally got around to picking up some new equipment for my gym. I now have pretty much everything I'll ever need, which is great as I have NO space left to put anything. However it doesn't have to be pretty, just functional! No one else uses my gym so It's not like it will ever be packed with people. All the gear from one guy on eBay. Really decent guy who looks like he knows what he's doing in a gym too.

Firstly is the new Body-Solid Leg Press/Hack Squat machine:

Now that was rather awkward to put together on my own...


Next a Body-Solid Leg Extension/leg Curl machine:



It was new, never taken out of the box.


Body-Solid FID Bench:



Loads of Body-Solid bumper plates (listed below), some regular iron plates and loads of old Marcy/Golds Gym plates (about 250kg worth):

12x20kg
4x15kg
6x10kg


I also took apart an old bench which I didn't use, move some of the supporting struts around and fashioned a stand-alone dip station:



IronMaster Dumbbells:

Brilliant set of dumbbells, I'd recommend them to anyone.


I've also invested in some resistance bands to play with too from small to x-large, I also got some racing bike bar tape to wrap my pull up bar in. I found the grip too narrow and now it is thicker and padded I can keep a grip far easier and longer:



The quality of the Body-Solid bench is much better than my old one and all I need to do now is get some mirrors, new mats and then run some cables to get a radio/TV set up.
I also need to replace my rack for something a little more substantial (the rack will be here for a while longer as I can't afford a new one now). It goes to show that even people with a small amount of space can get a lot in if you plan reasonably well. My gym is only about 14ft x 8ft. It's nothing compared to what some of you guys have, but it works for me.

[Kodokan]

Great gym coke! ...But it kills me to see those bumper plates incarcerated on that hip sled. I feel your pain with the clutter. I wish I had more space to spread my stuff out as well.

[twodog]

Nice pick ups and great use of space Coke_Zero ! It's amazing how much gear you got into a little more than 100sq/ft. of space.

[kokidpham]

wow, very nice home gym guys

[96Blacksunshine]

Heres mine. Although not near as awesome as some of these, it does what I need it to for now. Bodycraft F430 with f320 bench.

[PaulWog]

Heres mine. Although not near as awesome as some of these, it does what I need it to for now. Bodycraft F430 with f320 bench.

I like the multicolored mats & the way you laid out the dumbbells

That bodycraft bench & squat rack look a lot nicer than I thought the product actually was (from the far-away pics I saw on Amazon.com and other places, it looked flimsy... but in your pic, your rack looks impressively solid).

I like your setup.

[96Blacksunshine]

Thanks. I was a little worried myself but I had seen a few pics taken by others that made it look better than the amazon/stock photos. I think the bench may not be good enough for someone benching more than 500 or something crazy, but it does just fine for me.

[Coke_Zero]

Nice pick ups and great use of space Coke_Zero ! It's amazing how much gear you got into a little more than 100sq/ft. of space.

Yea I was quite surprised myself. It was sheer luck the Leg press went in the way it did, when using it today my head was just touching the wall (but not in an uncomfortable way). Had it not fitted going across the width of the room I would never of had space to fit the other leg machine. I doubt I can get anything else in there now, but there's nothing else I really need, although I would have loved to get a GHR and I would have liked to replace my cross-trainer for a treadmill.

Great gym coke! ...But it kills me to see those bumper plates incarcerated on that hip sled. I feel your pain with the clutter. I wish I had more space to spread my stuff out as well.

Lol true. The guy selling them had loads of them though, far more than I needed but I took the lot as the price was so good (I mean like 75 pence/40 cents a KG) and it would have been dumb to leave some behind which would have also made it awkward to sell only a few plates. I used the bumpers on the machine as they are wider than my other plates and just can't get them all on my weight tree so may as well put them to use . The aim was to have a bar set up at all times for deadlifting but the space just ran out so I will have to deadlift from inside the rack now.

What saved the most space though were the IronMaster dumbbells. I was very against adjustable dumbbells and nearly bought a full set of 5-75lb dumbbells from a guy who was selling up to emigrate, the space they would have needed would have been ridiculous and I would have spent most of my time tripping over them and rolling them out of my way.

For anyone who has bad grip strength like me (I've broken most of my fingers several times over the years) I found wrapping the bars has been brilliant.

Thanks. I was a little worried myself but I had seen a few pics taken by others that made it look better than the amazon/stock photos. I think the bench may not be good enough for someone benching more than 500 or something crazy, but it does just fine for me.

I have a budget BodyCraft rack and the difference in quality over mine to the higher end one is huge. Whilst mine has served its purpose I would like to upgrade to the same rack as you. The are just as good as Body-Solid ones in my opinion. The only thing stopping me getting one is money and also the fact that I'm not a big fan of barbell bench press work, I much prefer doing dumbbell work. I may end up getting something like this, which will not only give me some space back, extra plate storage but also allow me to bench safely:

[ExtremistPullup]

Re-painting my 100 lb plates

[96Blacksunshine]

Good, job. Hell, that looks better than brand new.

[ExtremistPullup]

Thanks its hammered rustolium silver brushed on

[Squats49]

Thanks its hammered rustolium silver brushed on

I've been told this is the paint I want to pick up for my plates (Vtx) as well...Any specific technique used for painting the letters and numbers white? I like the way it looks but I feel like just repainting all my plates alone without doing anything special on the letters will be a serious undertaking.

Thanks.

[gp92089]

New addition
Atlantis Dip Station

[matrix563]

whats that bowl thing? . is the dip stand 3 feet apart?

[gp92089]

whats that bowl thing? . is the dip stand 3 feet apart?

It my cereal bowl lol
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elit...id=114&pid=670

The dip stand has the width option of 33 inches to 22 inches. Got this from the New York Rangers gym so thats pretty cool.

[jshpark]

i'm so jealous of your gym gp!

[gp92089]

i'm so jealous of your gym gp!

HAHA thanks man I appreciate it, I take pride in my MAN CAVE!

[ExtremistPullup]

I've been told this is the paint I want to pick up for my plates (Vtx) as well...Any specific technique used for painting the letters and numbers white? I like the way it looks but I feel like just repainting all my plates alone without doing anything special on the letters will be a serious undertaking.

Thanks.

Little paint goes a long way, I used a brush and put it generously so it will pool and looked hammered I used a Oil based white and a foam brush for the raised writing not on the 5' and 10's

I only painted the 100's some 10's & 5's I had previously spray painted black/ish. Touched up the 45's that had some rust.

[ExtremistPullup]

I sold my dip bars with my rack I'll have to make new ones

[Squats49]

Little paint goes a long way, I used a brush and put it generously so it will pool and looked hammered I used a Oil based white and a foam brush for the raised writing not on the 5' and 10's

I only painted the 100's some 10's & 5's I had previously spray painted black/ish. Touched up the 45's that had some rust.

Thanks for the advice...I was at home depot today and I'm a little torn right now as to whether to use the rustoleum silver that you went with or the darker grey rustoleum makes.

[PaulWog]

I got my multi press finally! I've put it together, but I have to rearrange a bunch of stuff in the room before I take pics... the room is kind-of a mess at the moment.

The unit pretty nice. Everything came together quite well. AAaaaaannnnd no complaints Perfectionist me caught everything that is imperfect, however there are zero issues in the end... the whole thing is level, uniform, etc. Feels great.

My only disappointment is that I contacted Powertec 2 weeks ago to check into the unit, and they guaranteed me the unit had an adjuster pin which allows for both the right & left handles to be unified. You can see the conversation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFbKICq6KFc

This isn't the case. But I don't really mind. I'll contact them and see if there's possibly an update that they didn't include in my package, but again... I don't really care. The thing is, to me, quite amazing.

[lacespace]

Thanks for the great ideas for a home gym. I am really sick of my small dumbells and stretch bands. Now that I have a little money saved I can invest in some real equipment. Glad there are pictures on here and I can't wait to start my own home gym!

[tfeifel]

Our basement is the gym!

[matrix563]

awesome how big is the basement? love all the room

[NoKittyNo]

I would love that gym space.

[tfeifel]

Thanks! It's not much bigger than the pics show! There is an extra nook and a little storage, plus an area where some utilities are... but I utilized all the space for my equipment !

[PaulWog]

Sort-of a vent here...

I've got to rearrange everything again. I'm most likely going to cancel the loft bed I had on order, and I'll likely be selling the Hoist dumbbell rack that I got since its footprint is so large. I'll likely replace it with a vertical dumbbell rack if space allows (otherwise the dumbbells will be placed on the floor).

I got my multi press, but I'm likely going to be selling it (what a blunder on my part) in order to purchase a Levergym instead. The reason for this is because it offers a smaller footprint (since the bench is detachable). Right now the Multipress bench comes out slightly in the way of the squatting cage area (where the barbell pokes out), so with the Levergym I could remove the bench when using the squatting cage.

So the plan is to:
- remove the dumbbell rack
- remove the multi press
- cancel the loft bed
- possibly keep the Powertec roman chair in a different room
+ add the levergym
+ possibly add a vertical dumbbell rack
+ knock out a bit of wall where the closet is (the wall is cosmetic, so knocking out this bit of wall just makes the closet an open space rather than a closet)

[KBKB]

I've got to rearrange everything again.

Why all the changes?

[PaulWog]

Why all the changes?

I realized I was being too optimistic with my schematics. Everything will fit when I get the loft bed in, but it'll be really jam-packed. The barbell will have enough clearance, everything will have enough space, but it's all within inches of acceptability.

If I get rid of the dumbbell rack, that allows me to place my desk where it is. If I get rid of the multi press and throw in a levergym, that allows me to place the whole unit a lot closer to my squatting cage (since I can keep the levergym's bench in the way of the barbell clearance on the side of my squatting cage while I'm not using the barbell, and then I can remove the bench when I need that clearance).

I'm also just kind-of getting depressed about having a loft bed. Realizing sleeping elevated isn't exactly something I want to do.

Anyway, it's all back to the planning stages right now. Extremely stressed out about this -- I hate making errors in my plans and having money on the line.