Home Gym

[SDG]

Seeing as how my local gym probably won’t be open for forever and I may not want to go back even when it is, I have been researching home gym equipment.

The Rogue stuff looks great and a good rack, bars, incline bench and bumper plates could get me doing squats, deadlifts, bench and shoulder press and don’t need much else.

Problem is everything is sold out and no idea when they will get it in stock.
Anyone recently got the home gym up and running? How much did it cost? Figuring around 2K to get fully outfitted. What did you put on the floor? Don’t want to ruin the garage floor but don’t want to spend a ton on it either.

Probably should have done this years ago. Used to lay on benches after other folks sweat all over them and now can’t imagine it.

[patf]

would you want to add a pully system for lat pull downs, tricep push down, rows or other pully activities?

[GreenPlease]

A friend of mine works for the PE firm that owns Academy sports. She’s told me that they’re sold out of virtually all fitness equipment: weights, treadmills, bands, balls, etc. and they have no visibility on new stock. Another friend of mine has been scammed twice trying to buy weights online (ordered and paid, order never shipped, had to fight with CC company). Proceed cautiously.

[AndyPeterson]

We have a fair amount of rogue stuff. Nice stuff. Great company (I mean they really go out of their way to treat employees and customers well).

Only 3 real pieces of advice:

1. Don’t skimp on the barbell. The nicer ones have way better bushings and are easier to service. Rogue Ohio bar is rock solid.

2. Skimp all you like on bumper plates. At least the bigger ones. 10s and 15s can wear out faster, but the only real benefit of the nicer ones is that they are more durable. Which is really only an issue for gyms where they get a lot of use. And used is fine.

3. If you get one of their foldable racks, make damn sure you have something very solid to anchor it to. I’ve seen a couple of injuries from the wall mount ones suddenly failing at the mount.

Andy

[heliix]

Stick with Rogue racks. bumper plates X-mark recycled rubber are fantastic for the price

Our home gym is a collection over years…

the tires are free
Racks cost the most (look for used)
ropes $50 to 100 each
the rope pull box scrap wood
mats are $100 amazon
sled rouge 150
plates 500 range 2x50 2x45 4x35 4x25 2x10
wall balls (cheap titan) $35 to 75 each do not slam these
slam balls $20 to $50 each
jump box make it from plywood
plate rack 200 range
sledgehammer 15 lowes
tricep cable (attach a plate) lowes hardware
bandbell look for a used one new 300 (great for shoulder rehab)
sandbags

[zed707]

This is an interesting thread. I hadn’t thought about a shortage of exercise equipment, but it makes sense with the gyms shut down.

It sounds like it will take a while for supply to catch up with demand.

I’m glad I still have my bikes.

[Former_User]

Ours is mostly Rogue stuff that I bought used from a Crossfit box that was merging with another. I’ve also got a Concept2 rower, a pair of adjustable Bowflex dumbbells, and a variety of bands.

To the extent you’re affected by the equipment shortage, don’t discount bodyweight routines. There was a discussion of minimalist body weight routines on Twitter (I think you can find the link to the discussion through this article, but I could be misremembering):

https://www.outsideonline.com/2243691/absolute-minimalists-strength-workout

Also, when doing bodyweight routines try adding some slow negatives. Do enough slow negatives (like a three- or five-count) and you’ll be smoked.

[j_p_o]

ETA - all in I am in under $5k - that includes $800 for the treadmill, $900 for the Computrainer way back in 2000, $600 for the 2 x lat pull machines, and a trip to Sports Authority for a whole pile of stuff that came to round $1500. The rest were ridiculous buys from ebay and live auctions.

I wrote a big long response then my computer froze so I’ll start again. And now I see the shortage of plates and that prices have jumped so I can change things. I collected my stuff over about 3 or 4 years. I have virtually everything. All but a small handful of stuff used. I started with a 500 sq ft room and have taken over a chunk of the basement too. The room I used was always meant to be a gym, concrete floor but big window at each end - I had no interest in being in a dungeon. I like working out in a gym but the added commute time and prep time gets too much for me.

Things I use a lot:
used commercial treadmill
Computrainer
power rack - I like being able to lift heavy without fear of dying - my rack was custom made for a gym training strongest man competitors - I actually have a platform if I want to use giant rock atlas balls - they were refurbishing and I got several things cheap
dumb bells - I have everything from 3 - 100 - nice being able to switch without work
cable crossover - I got mine stupid cheap at an auction - but a regular cable machine like listed below can do most of it
multiple flat and adjustable benches
Hi/low cable machine
Plenty of plates

Things i don’t use much, most of these were in package deals so no extra money:
leg press
single use seated row machine
leg extension/curl machine
pec deck
curl machine

I got almost everything used off of ebay. I am willing to drive - live in Columbus - trips to western PA twice, west of Detroit, Youngstown, and a couple scores around Columbus.

If anyone is near Columbus I have some extras I have been planning to liquidate - we can make a deal.

For flooring in the places that count you want this: https://www.ruralking.com/…-horse-mat-3-4-thick

For lat pull machine I have this - works well - and I have an extra that I bought before I found my cable cross - https://www.bodysolid.com/...olid_pro_lat_machine

I found a couple huge amounts of plates that I bought used - can’t ship plates very well so I drove to west of Detroit and brought home over a ton of plates.

You can make dumb bells from 1" plates and handles - use spin on collars so they don’t fall and smash your toes. So if you find a cache of these cheap don’t pass them up.

I have no idea what to tell you about the shortage of plates. I see Dick’s has nothing in stock - and used prices have gotten silly. I might need to sell some of mine.

[Moonrocket]

I have a total Mish mash of stuff and a lot of it was due to the small space I had. I have a really nice Ivanko 5’ Olympic bar - I guess they chop the ends off when they don’t pass quality inspection then sell them cheap. But as the room is only 7’ wide it was exactly what I was looking for - and way nicer than I expected to find for the price. I got a squat / rack bar holder that is two pieces so it fits my mini bar. I’ve seen shorter bars on Rogue’s site too. If that’s an option and others are not due to demand I wouldn’t hesitate to start with a 6’ bar as long as it fits in your squat rack.

I just have a little rebook step/ incline bench that I love but it’s short- I’m 5’6” and have to be careful to fit on it right. But I use it for both a bench and plyometrics. I love the TRX slam balls and medicine balls in general. And some stretch cords and/or trx are nice too.

[Moonrocket]

It’s not fancy and I need to put up my trx mount somewhere other than that door cause it sure does not sound robust when I use it. I can only do overhead stuff in front of the mirror since the ceiling is too low in the rest of the room. But I love my little pain cave. I just rearranged to make more room for yoga.

A bunch of stuff has migrated to my office for break use.

[Harry]

Get a TRX in stock on Amazon for $130.

I picked up a high quality bench, 6 bars and over 300lbs. Of weight dirt cheap when a relative moved 12 years ago. We also have a heavy bag, TRX and spin bike. I resisted wife’s attempt to sell for years wanting to hold on to see if my kids would want them in high school so I’m sitting pretty coved and beyond. Part of me wants to post super high on Craig’s list to see what happens. I’m looking for cheap treadmills on Craigslist but will pull the trigger on a new one if I’m confident in my job on the other side of this

[Perseus]

I started with some kettlebells about 10 years ago and have been adding equipment over the years. I picked up a nice bar on Craigslist cheap and found another guy selling plates cheap. I bought a cheap cage on Amazon (less than $300) and it works just fine. I also have some medicine balls and received battle ropes for Christmas. Everything is in the garage sitting in rubber stable mats from Murdock’s. It took a few weeks for the rubber smell to die down.

I don’t see the need to go high end, but if I had more money maybe I would.