My home gym, what do you think?

[riverrock]

Hello All,

I have decided to put in a home gym. For £900 ($1700) I have considered the following:

Squt Rack with Pull-Up and Dip Bars attached
500lb in Olympic Plates
Olympic Bar
Bench
EZ Bar
Screw Dumb-bells and 200lb in free weights

I am on the look out for a reverse hyper and olympic platform.

What do you boys reckon? Any suggestions?

 

[Introspective]

im just a newbie lifter but i recently got my own home equipment, following advice from some experienced guys I baught power rack, 165 kilo olympic bar and weights set and a bench that is a 3 in 1 flat/incline/decline bench and i got some olympic dumb bells
alltogether around £700, i baught all this on advice of people who have been lifting for years, from this uk site, www.bodysolid.co.uk

 

[blut wump]

I've seen some Oly dumbells at gymratz ( http://www.gymratz.co.uk ). It might save you some cash to be able to make more use of the Oly weights rather than getting separate ones for the DBs.

Make sure you get a good bench. Where are you looking for getting the stuff?

 

[anotherbutters]

I found http://www.worldofhealthandleisure.co.uk/ to be quite cheap if cost is an issue. I recently got 200kg of coloured, rubber coated oly grip plates for about £260.

I made a platform from four sheets of 8'x4' plywood, forming two 8' square layers, then cut it down to 2m square then topped it off with two 2mx1m rubber mats from the above place. It took a few months for the smell from the rubber to disperse though.

 

[riverrock]

Well, I did my pricing on www.bodypower.co.uk

Trying to get a Reverse Hyper is the more tricky part, but it'll get sorted. Also, I can't wait to see the looks when I begin Sleigh Dragging again!!!

Thanks for the advice fellows. Nice to see the Brit element on board! It looks like there is a fairly decent market out there for home equipment. The guys in Northampton offered to deliver for free and its a good 1 1/2 hour drive from my house.

Anotherbutters: The idea of the platform is excellent. I will definitely do that. Did you just place the rubber matt on the platform or have it stapled/nailed on?

Blut: The idea of the olpmpic dumb-bells is a good one. I mean, for a set of 40kg Dumb-bells its nearly £50 alone.

introspective: Sounds like the person who gave you the advice knew their stuff

 

[anotherbutters]

I just placed the mats on the boards and they don't move around. However, I don't drop the bar from a height because I don't want to terrify the neighbours. I screwed the boards to each other to give a solid base. I didn't glue them, so I can take them apart if I move house. Just get the cheap, rough ply from a builders yard - you don't need the stuff with a good finish. I think I paid about £80 for the wood.

It's worth keeping an eye out on ebay for everything else. Most of the stuff on there is just the cheap plastic weights, but I picked up a decent bench and 140kg oly set on there.

EDIT: Also, I abandoned the 140kg steel plates and picked up some rubber coated plates instead. They're much quieter, which might be something to consider if you're working out at home.

 

[AEKDB]

I would stay away from screw lock dumbells. They just take too long to change the weights. I agree with buying olympic plates to save money. As your collection of equipment grows, don't be affraid to buy standard plates. I have a large amount of standard plates and use them often.