The Cheapo Setup

[Joshy16]

Hello everyone!
I've been saving for a home set up and I think it's time to begin looking at my options.

Situation :
I am Canadian and live in a fairly remote small town (about 4.5 hour drive to any major city). Therefore, the local used market is not necessarily a good option for quality home gym options. As such, I have mostly been looking a at new items.

I'm sorry, but I cannot post any links yet.

Power Rack :
fit505-ultra-power-rack 499$CA on threadmill factory


Barbell:
CAP OB-86B (basically the one in the OP) 165$CA

Weight rack:
I'm looking at this one, but I have not shopped a whole lot. But it does not add much shipping costs to the order of the fit505.
body-solid-wt46-olympic-weight-tree on Threadmill factory 179$CA

I may very well have a look at the used market for a weight rack as I assume most of them should be up to the task.


I already have flat bench, so I'm not really in the market for an adjustable one just yet.

I still have yet to shop for weight plates... Anything I should be looking for? Obviouly I will not use hollow plates as I am too afraid they would break from deadlifting.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help!

[Duplicitous]

This is designed to be a dedicated flat bench, but you could probably move one of the supports to the top and use it for other purposes. $130 is a steal if budget is your primary concern (regularly $400 according to Dick's website).

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p...hslympcbncwgh/

[cwcmac]

This is designed to be a dedicated flat bench, but you could probably move one of the supports to the top and use it for other purposes. $130 is a steal if budget is your primary concern (regularly $400 according to Dick's website).

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p...hslympcbncwgh/

The Ethos line, at quick glance while at Dick's looks like surprisingly decent quality. The Fitness Gear stuff is 16 gauge trash but these seem pretty nice.

Edit: Don't need it and don't want to use the space on it but put it in my cart. Shows no local stores carry it so shipping was $240 in addition to the $130 price

[FreddieWinter]

Thank's for this recommendation!

[Zrecz]

The gold's gym xrs20 is pretty good you can bench,squat,leg extension,hamstring curl, and preacher curl with it and its only $174. With the barbell and weights it would probably cost you around $450 to $500

[andreabk]

This is a great idea

[Stasher1]

The gold's gym xrs20 is pretty good you can bench,squat,leg extension,hamstring curl, and preacher curl with it and its only $174. With the barbell and weights it would probably cost you around $450 to $500

Absolute trash.

This thread is about getting the highest quality setup you can for the least amount of money.

Not throwing money away on Walmart crap.

[BoreDefer]

For an FI bench of that quality it's a steal, although I have never ordered from that site before so I would be cautions given the reviews. The only other time I have seen it lower is during Black Friday two years ago when it was $150, but DSG will frequently have 15%-25% sales where Powerblock items have been included.

[daisy632]

I like this recommendation Dom. Mostly because if you're in the Continental 48, this should be easily obtainable by anybody.

yes i agree with you.this should be easily obtainable by anybody.

[daisy632]

Hello everyone!
I've been saving for a home set up and I think it's time to begin looking at my options.

Situation :
I am Canadian and live in a fairly remote small town (about 4.5 hour drive to any major city). Therefore, the local used market is not necessarily a good option for quality home gym options. As such, I have mostly been looking a at new items.

I'm sorry, but I cannot post any links yet.

Power Rack :
fit505-ultra-power-rack 499$CA on threadmill factory


Barbell:
CAP OB-86B (basically the one in the OP) 165$CA

Weight rack:
I'm looking at this one, but I have not shopped a whole lot. But it does not add much shipping costs to the order of the fit505.
body-solid-wt46-olympic-weight-tree on Threadmill factory 179$CA

I may very well have a look at the used market for a weight rack as I assume most of them should be up to the task.


I already have flat bench, so I'm not really in the market for an adjustable one just yet.

I still have yet to shop for weight plates... Anything I should be looking for? Obviouly I will not use hollow plates as I am too afraid they would break from deadlifting.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help!

Ok so let's go through the cheapest options for new equipment that you'd be willing to use for training.

While we all dream of buying that custom built rig, or finding a solid piece of used commercial or vintage equipment to outfit your gym, many times we just want to buy something that's usable to get started.

I think the Squat Rack that's recommended the most that doesn't get bad feedback is the Powerline PPR200X

the barbell is the CAP OB-86B

Academy Sports and Outdoors 300lb Olympic Plate Set is on sale for a good price (sell the barbell on Craigslist) buy 2 and the sales of the bars should pay for most of a better barbell.

For a bench, most people only really need a flat bench and the Rogue Flat Utility Bench 2.0 is great in terms of quality and value. Most people will want to buy an adjustable bench because they think they need to do incline and decline work right off the bat. in this case, the Powerblock Sport Bench seems like the way to go.

a couple of Tractor Supply Company Horse Stall Mats is far and away the best value for flooring.

i think you can buy all this for under a grand and be set to lift for a good long time. if you have more budget, i'd spend it first on the rack (GPR378 or better, and last on the plates (just because i think most of us have access to used iron weights for cheap).

i'm more than open to discussion and corrections on the gear and what you guys think is the best entry-level setup

[ometecuhtli2001]

Happy weekend everyone! I surprised myself by making more gains in strength during this quarantine than I expected and find myself in need of additional plates. Touring Nextdoor and the southern Nevada Craigslist has shown me a lot of sales, but nobody but one is asking for less than $2 per pound of weight. There's one person trying to sell two urethane-coated 10 pound Olympic plates for fifty bucks!

I can remember expecting 50 cents per pound ideally when looking at basic used weight plates. So is this all outrageous or am I totally behind the times and these asking prices are legit?

[irongrandpa]

Happy weekend everyone! I surprised myself by making more gains in strength during this quarantine than I expected and find myself in need of additional plates. Touring Nextdoor and the southern Nevada Craigslist has shown me a lot of sales, but nobody but one is asking for less than $2 per pound of weight. There's one person trying to sell two urethane-coated 10 pound Olympic plates for fifty bucks!

I can remember expecting 50 cents per pound ideally when looking at basic used weight plates. So is this all outrageous or am I totally behind the times and these asking prices are legit?

I wouldn't pay more than .50/lb for cheap plates or $1/lb for better ones.

[TAWS6]

Debating buying a cheapo lat pull down or just adding the Rogue slinger to the rack.

Any input would be helpful

[sera310]

Ok so let's go through the cheapest options for new equipment that you'd be willing to use for training.

While we all dream of buying that custom built rig, or finding a solid piece of used commercial or vintage equipment to outfit your gym, many times we just want to buy something that's usable to get started.

I think the Squat Rack that's recommended the most that doesn't get bad feedback is the Powerline PPR200X

the barbell is the CAP OB-86B

Academy Sports and Outdoors 300lb Olympic Plate Set is on sale for a good price (sell the barbell on Craigslist) buy 2 and the sales of the bars should pay for most of a better barbell.

For a bench, most people only really need a flat bench and the Rogue Flat Utility Bench 2.0 is great in terms of quality and value. Most people will want to buy an adjustable bench because they think they need to do incline and decline work right off the bat. in this case, the Powerblock Sport Bench seems like the way to go.

a couple of Tractor Supply Company Horse Stall Mats is far and away the best value for flooring.

i think you can buy all this for under a grand and be set to lift for a good long time. if you have more budget, i'd spend it first on the rack (GPR378 or better, and last on the plates (just because i think most of us have access to used iron weights for cheap).

i'm more than open to discussion and corrections on the gear and what you guys think is the best entry-level setup

This is pretty much exactly how I started my current home gym, based on reading up on recommendations on this forum. I got really lucky and found it for sale used, literally less than a mile from my house. Got me going and worked fine for years. I sold a bunch of it for more than I paid for it, but I still have some of the plates to this day. So it's very good advice, IMO.

[sera310]

Debating buying a cheapo lat pull down or just adding the Rogue slinger to the rack.

Any input would be helpful

I have a homemade version of 1, works great, cost a small fraction of what Rogue wants for the slinger, which is too tall for my space anyway.

[RestoringTally]

Debating buying a cheapo lat pull down or just adding the Rogue slinger to the rack.

Any input would be helpful

I progressed from a home-built pulley system, to a home gym, to a Body Solid plate loaded pull down, to a Body Solid Pro stack pull down/seated row.

The home-made system sucked. The pulley action is not good unless you use large diameter pulleys and steel cable. Then there is no easy way to anchor yourself (knee pads or even a foot anchor). Also, the rack posts seemed to always be in the way unless I backed off, then the angle was wrong. When I wasn't using it, it was a pain to move it aside and secure it. I never found an easy way to do that since I use both the inside and outside of my rack for lifting.
I visited a home gym where the guy had two big pulleys attached to an exposed floor joist. That would have worked better than mine, but my gym is in a finished room - no exposed joists and no way to mount it except on the rack.

I quickly replaced the home-made system with a cheap home gym solely for the pull-down and row feature. It worked well except that the action up and down the square guide post was not smooth. I used paste wax on the post, which helped. The home gym machine took up a lot of floor space.

Eventually I replaced the home gym with the BS pulldown row machine. It still had a square post, but it moved smoother than the home gym. This dedicated machine had a very small footprint, which was good except, since it was light-weight, it had some instability. Also, I needed to make space on the sides to load the plates.

I found a BS Pro-style stack-loaded pulldown/mid-row. It is very smooth. I love the ease of adjusting the stack. It is also heavy and solid, just like commercial equipment. It takes up a bit more space front to back, but I can put stuff right next to it. I have a very small home gym - 10x12, and it fits, barely. I made room for it. I consider the lat machine second only to my rack.

I was glad to go through the progression of equipment. It helped me decide what was important to me. And buying used and being able to sell the older machines, means the cost was reasonable.

[ometecuhtli2001]

I've been having trouble quickly loading my bar with the plates for a good deadlift, so I started using a set of jack stands to hold the bar. Much easier to load the plates, seems quite stable, but now I'm doing block pulls instead of a deadlift from the floor. I really felt this in my lower back, not in a bad way, but not in a good way either.

The solution as I see it is to stand on a platform so I will be on the same elevation relative to the bar. Before I commit to this, I wanted to know if anyone else has done this and how it worked out, and what (if any) safety concerns there would be. If this is a bad idea, alternatives are appreciated!

[sera310]

https://www.roguefitness.com/the-dead-wedge

[CanadaBuilder4]

I would probably get a large pc of wood. 2x6 or something, and go DIY Deadlift Jack. You can search for it on youtube and you will see plenty of examples. Wood, Screws, maybe some wood glue or epoxy. The ones I've seen hold up 8 plates per side, so they are plenty strong, cheap, and not too difficult to make.

[bean438]

Hello everyone!
I've been saving for a home set up and I think it's time to begin looking at my options.

Situation :
I am Canadian and live in a fairly remote small town (about 4.5 hour drive to any major city). Therefore, the local used market is not necessarily a good option for quality home gym options. As such, I have mostly been looking a at new items.

I'm sorry, but I cannot post any links yet.

Power Rack :
fit505-ultra-power-rack 499$CA on threadmill factory


Barbell:
CAP OB-86B (basically the one in the OP) 165$CA

Weight rack:
I'm looking at this one, but I have not shopped a whole lot. But it does not add much shipping costs to the order of the fit505.
body-solid-wt46-olympic-weight-tree on Threadmill factory 179$CA

I may very well have a look at the used market for a weight rack as I assume most of them should be up to the task.


I already have flat bench, so I'm not really in the market for an adjustable one just yet.

I still have yet to shop for weight plates... Anything I should be looking for? Obviouly I will not use hollow plates as I am too afraid they would break from deadlifting.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help!

I’m also in Canada. Make the 4.5 hour trip to a big city and go to fitness depot. Do yourself a huge favor and buy a “crossbox” power rack. It’s essentially a rogue r3 (or r4) clone. Canadian made, Canadian steel and high quality.

[urbanlifter]

Did anyone ever order these MAG knockoffs? Seems like an incredible deal, I know they are slightly different but should provide the same grip benefits....

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everyday-...caArOrEALw_wcB

[murphyreedus]

Did anyone ever order these MAG knockoffs? Seems like an incredible deal, I know they are slightly different but should provide the same grip benefits....

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everyday-...caArOrEALw_wcB

Thought about them, but haven't ordered. They're cheap, but I'm probably only going to use 2-3 of them and the cost for 5 isn't much different than ordering a couple real MAG grips.

[urbanlifter]

Thinking about placing an order, even if you only used 3 and sold the other two you'd make out pretty well. Hmmn....

[murphyreedus]

How long until we get your review?

[Duplicitous]

Did anyone ever order these MAG knockoffs? Seems like an incredible deal, I know they are slightly different but should provide the same grip benefits....

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everyday-...caArOrEALw_wcB

I just did. Est delivery date is 11/26. Shipped and sold by Walmart so if they suck, back they go.

[Leprechuan71]

How long until we get your review?

Saw this a couple of weeks ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_JTuH5Uo-s

[urbanlifter]

I just did. Est delivery date is 11/26. Shipped and sold by Walmart so if they suck, back they go.

Sweet, we'll get a good review soon! I'm still on the fence, it's not something I absolutely need right now and I'm trying to be happy with my equipment. But if you come back with rave reviews I might have to break down LOL.

[murphyreedus]

Shipped and sold by Walmart so if they suck, back they go.

You make some good points. Damnit.

[easygesus]

I don’t plan on going back to a gym anytime soon, so Im thinking of building my own in my garage. Is the PPR200X still the gold standard for a budget rack or is there something else y’all would recommend?

I’ve looked at the Fitness Reality 810XLT, but Im kind of concerned about the quality for the price. Rep’s PR 1100 is also a good deal, but the shipping kind of puts it into another territory. Im not even sure if PPR200X is still for sale, because I can’t seem to find it. I just see the PPR1000 which doesn’t seem bad for $540 shipped.

[BiGx5MurF]

I don’t plan on going back to a gym anytime soon, so Im thinking of building my own in my garage. Is the PPR200X still the gold standard for a budget rack or is there something else y’all would recommend?

I’ve looked at the Fitness Reality 810XLT, but Im kind of concerned about the quality for the price. Rep’s PR 1100 is also a good deal, but the shipping kind of puts it into another territory. Im not even sure if PPR200X is still for sale, because I can’t seem to find it. I just see the PPR1000 which doesn’t seem bad for $540 shipped.

It's not in stock anymore, but I went with the titan t3 after reading through hundreds of pages on these forums, documenting each of the early issues being addressed. My decision came down to thicker steel (11 gauge vs 14 gauge), and future modularity of the design (expandable, compatible with rogue, bolt fitness, fringe fitness accessories). I actually ended up getting two of them, to build a 6 post rack from the parts. The smaller of the two racks was only $400 shipped. I did find the larger rack ($600 shipped), was noticeably better finished in a few ways.