Sorinex base camp system, Hurricane, calf machine, GHD.

[RBLOCK]

I am ecstatic to say that my 1.3 ton Sorinex shipment arrived last week. Getting it all put together has been completely exhausting, but here it is. Photos attached. Several more in my next post.

These are my thoughts on the Sorinex base camp rack system:

This is what makes the Base Camp system such an improvement over prior racks: the regular spacing of holes on all four sides of each upright makes the entirety of the rack an improvisatory frame for any exercise you could care to do. As the folks at Sorinex are fond of saying, training density is key. Attached are photos of my rack functioning as a single training station for many different exercises. At the moment: Yoke squat, military press, bench press, EZ grip curl, pull ups, dips, incline press, leg raises, and rack pulls. The roomy 6’x4’ workspace ensures that there’s adequate workspace for real weightlifting behemoths.

This isn’t a “Bash EliteFTS” thread. I have some elite gear which is top quality, and I love my lat machine, 45 hyper, and rickshaw. Their designs, however, don't often show the foresight, brilliance and versatility of most of the Sorinex designs. The EliteFTS stuff that I do have I ordered because I didn't think Sorinex made that piece of equipment as well. In any case, Sorinex is excellent for both little touches and large-scale innovation. Take a look at the safety strap system, which allows for built-in faceguarding during bench press and one handed height adjustment. Wrestling a solid spotting bar out of position and lining it up with two distant machine holes at the same time isn’t necessary with this system. Look at the indexing chinup bar, which replaces any existing design anyone can think of. Do you prefer a certain angle of grips to another, or is there one particular grip width to which your body responds well? I have great news. This chinup bar quickly locks into everybody’s individually favorite grip positions.

More on the versatility point: the landmine attachments and pivoting arms allow nearly any leverage exercise to be performed on the Base Camp frame. I wanted a T-bar row machine for a while. Nice ones are nearly a thousand dollars. The landmine attachments use the barbell I already have to provide the same exercise for a fraction of the cost. Next, I was considering trying to fit a jammer into my gym. Sorinex addressed the demand for that excellent exercise with their upcoming "pendulum arms", which hang from the top of the base camp frame. Instead of dropping $1500 on a separate machine, I can exploit the existing, rock solid frame and get a jammer-inspired exercise which I prefer for the additional stabilization it demands. These pendulum arms I'm talking about should be shipping to me in another few weeks.

I ordered four roller pads. The ability to mount these on any dimension of the frame is incredible. Coupled with the utility seat, they provide a Poor Man’s Glute Ham Raise on the rack. Installed at calf height, they allow smooth and safe Bulgarian splits. Suspended near the top of the rack, they give me an inverted situp frame. Fix them above your bench and use bands for lat pulldowns. At elbow height, they prevent my elbows from cheating during the most crucial portion of any training program: power rack curls. And fixing one pair at ground level and one at knee level creates a quad blaster.

The possibilities are endless here. I’ve found myself day dreaming how to position the accessories for new exercises. The Base Camp system is dozens of machines, body weight benches, leverage exercises, and barbell stations in one. Kudos to Sorinex for designing and masterfully producing what is, in my opinion, the best-envisioned power rack line in the world.

The calf/tibia machine is ergonomically perfect, and addresses foot flexion and extension. I don't know of any other seated calf so well designed. The Hurricane is an excellent replacement for just about every leverage machine I've ever used. I don't have anything to say about my GHD. That's a recommendation in itself.

All that said, this order wasn't without problems. The pallet on which the Hurricane was shipped was so large that UPS freight couldn't fit them on their liftgate. I had to rent a 26 foot Penske truck and drive to the freight terminal, where the 3 pallets were loaded on with a forklift. I'm missing a couple of odds and ends that are still being shipped: utility straps, some more hitch pins, the Hurricane squat bar and band pegs, etc. That kind of stuff is inevitable when dealing with industrial shipping (at least based on my experiences so far). To sum it up though, I'm looking forward to decades of heavy lifting with this gear. I'll be proud to teach my nephews and grandkids on this equipment in the future.

PS: If someone knows how to embed these photos, please tell me. I can't make any sense out of the FAQ instructions.

[RBLOCK]

The last piece of equipment I'm expecting is the Power Runner, which should be getting here the end of June. I like it because it's kind of a hybrid between the muscle activation of a pivot leg press and a reverse hyper, with independent leg movement:

http://store.sorinex.com/Power_Runner_p/powerrunner.htm

I demoed this machine at the Sorinex showroom. You can push quickly for sprint training, or perform controlled reps for kind of a standing leg pivot press exercise.

[jackbravo]

Incredible.

What was your total cost, if you don't mind me asking? And...can you point out the Yoke?


Congrats on getting some phonomenal equipment!

[OutKlast]

Very nice setup indeed.

BTW, whats the deal with the purple springs on the hurricane? Did you ask for that? They just pop out at ya for some reason.

[pumping4life]

Sweet Lord! So much want in so few pictures. It's gorgeous.

I do have one question - what lift is the white fuzzy thing used for?

[PassinThrough]

Awesome stuff Rblock!!

[tmonkey]

sweet rack
do want

[DrInhale101]

I am sooo jealous!!!

[darkfact]

Nice new toys dude, that hurricane looks awesome.

[KBKB]

I am ecstatic to say that my 1.3 ton Sorinex shipment arrived last week.

Wow! Just wow!

PS: If someone knows how to embed these photos, please tell me. I can't make any sense out of the FAQ instructions.

I add the attachments as you were apparently able to do. Once that's done, I click the "Preview Post" button. My post shows up at the top with a list of attachments at the bottom. I then open each attachment in a new tab and paste the URL for each surrounded by [img] ... [/img] tags.

I'm guessing that you can skip the "Preview Post" step if you want and get at the URLs somewhat more directly. (If you right click on the attachment links, you can probably copy the link location. Not dead sure about this though since I don't do it this way.)

You should be able to use this technique to go back, edit, and then embed your photos. I think you can even include those attached to your second post if you want. (There's a limit on the number of attachments, but not on the number of img tags.)

[RBLOCK]

Sweet Lord! So much want in so few pictures. It's gorgeous.

I do have one question - what lift is the white fuzzy thing used for?

Sandbag snatch, with cardio thrown in to secure it for the lift.

Incredible.

What was your total cost, if you don't mind me asking? And...can you point out the Yoke?


Congrats on getting some phonomenal equipment!

It was about 16k for all the Sorinex gear, and that's after 5% off for buying bulk. The Yoke bar is from EliteFTS:
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elit...d=114&pid=1156

Very nice setup indeed.

BTW, whats the deal with the purple springs on the hurricane? Did you ask for that? They just pop out at ya for some reason.

LOL, I have no idea. I was assuming black or chrome springs. I guess mine are surplus from Planet Fitness.

@KBKB thanks for the info.

[gp92089]

Amazing gym man! Post pics of all of it please. Also I like your workout partner haha

[utmatt03]

Awesome home gym, extremely jealous!

[4MEandThem]

Nice equipment choices! That Basecamp is beautiful.

[Shoua]

Very nice. You're the first homegym owner that I've seen with the basecamp power rack. Looking forward to seeing that jammer attachment.

[keyboardworkout]

Holy sheeet! Nice gym.

Is that a labradoodle?

[giowuu]

Cool stuff but I don't understand how you can spend so much money on equipment and buy it in red color.

[RBLOCK]

Holy sheeet! Nice gym.

Is that a labradoodle?

He's a Komondor, my favorite dog ever.

Cool stuff but I don't understand how you can spend so much money on equipment and buy it in red color.

Notsureifsrs. That's like saying I don't understand why anyone would buy a red Ferrari because Ferraris are expensive.

[keyboardworkout]

He's a Komondor, my favorite dog ever.

Oh, minus the dreads. Cool.

[animalfan]

very nice.

[grumpytude]

thats some serious s..... you got going on there. I wanna here more about that hurricane. I've thought about it for a while now- would love to hear your thoughts on it. congrats

[Jimbo.]

WOW, very impressive setup. It looks like you could get lost in that cage.

[RBLOCK]

thats some serious s..... you got going on there. I wanna here more about that hurricane. I've thought about it for a while now- would love to hear your thoughts on it. congrats

I love it so far...the standing converging overhead press is really excellent, and I'm sure that the squat bar will be great when it arrives. I think it's a perfect machine for home gyms because of all the machines it replaces, and every exercise has band compatibility too. The squat bar alone lets it replace my seperate squat/calf machine. The only thing I feel like I haven't covered is a good way to do pullovers. Doing them with a barbell and bands in the cage coul be a solution though.

[HealthNutMD]

Very nice setup indeed.

BTW, whats the deal with the purple springs on the hurricane? Did you ask for that? They just pop out at ya for some reason.

My White framed hurricane also has purple springs. So it seems they all do....

[HealthNutMD]

Great Equipment, no doubt about it being top of the line!!

[thedickus]

The last piece of equipment I'm expecting is the Power Runner, which should be getting here the end of June. I like it because it's kind of a hybrid between the muscle activation of a pivot leg press and a reverse hyper, with independent leg movement:

http://store.sorinex.com/Power_Runner_p/powerrunner.htm

I demoed this machine at the Sorinex showroom. You can push quickly for sprint training, or perform controlled reps for kind of a standing leg pivot press exercise.

That seated calf raise is nice. Are those roller pads at the bottom for tibia exercises? I've not seen a seated calf with anything like that. Very nice.

[Kodokan]

Cool stuff but I don't understand how you can spend so much money on equipment and buy it in red color.

Red color? So tempting haha.

Great gym!

[RBLOCK]

That seated calf raise is nice. Are those roller pads at the bottom for tibia exercises? I've not seen a seated calf with anything like that. Very nice.

Yep...trains foot flexion and extension. Talk about easy circuit training. I looked at a Hammer strength tibia unit and they wanted 500 bucks for it. The Sorinex unit is the only seated calf I've found that does both.

[gp92089]

Hey how do you like your elitefts 45 degree back raise?

Thanks
Gus

[WSMReloaded]

Very nice! I hope there is another door we don't see, if not, props for getting all that down those stairs.