Creating a home gym

Has anyone got a good set-up at home and was it expensive?

I'd consider a bench, squat rack and olympic weights as basic requirements and am looking into it at the moment but the prices are prohibitive. I am considering making some of the equipment as I know someone who's good with a welder, however build quality would be an obvious consideration as I don't want it falling apart at the wrong time.

Has anyone gone down this route and how did it work-out?

I have bought my own equipment and it works out ok. I considered building myself, but I'm not all that good at that kind of work so decided against it in the end. It is important that the stuff doesn't fall apart afterall!

I bought myself an olympic bar for £80 although watch as some will be 7ft but not the full 20kg - York and Hype Olympic bars are supposedly underweight although a fractional plate or 2 should fix it. I also bought a 70kg weight set from powerhouse fitness and I've had to order 40kg extra from ebay as my deadlift is getting high pretty quickly.

I also bought myself some squat racks at about £75. They work fine at the weight I'm currently working at (70kg squat) although I may have to consider a power rack when I start getting towards 100kg.

At the end of my workout, I pack everything away and you'd never know it was there expect for when the fiance complains about it

That's way cheaper than what I've been looking at. Olympic set €300, squat rack €400 (albeit high quality), regular bench at least €300.

Have been looking at this site, maybe there are alternatives. http://www.irish-lifting.com/

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/weights/weight-kits/barbell-kits/olympic-barbell-kits

There's also benches on there from £60 and squat stands from £75. If it's the full rack you want then you'll have to pay a little more, but you could probably substitute soemthing as safety catches and just use the stands?

The squat stands have catches on them but to make use of them you have to re-rack by stepping backwards which is never easy after a set of squats as I'm sure you'll know.

This probably sounds crazy but at the moment I am getting the bar up over my head without a rack. I just clean it up to my shoulders and then pop it over my head. A risky maneuver but it has worked out so far. My squat is not overly heavy at the moment, about 12 reps of 70 kg is the most I do.

incontinentia wrote:This probably sounds crazy but at the moment I am getting the bar up over my head without a rack. I just clean it up to my shoulders and then pop it over my head. A risky maneuver but it has worked out so far. My squat is not overly heavy at the moment, about 12 reps of 70 kg is the most I do.

Wow, that's like one massive super movement!

Can be quite difficult to get it back on the ground after the set though! Hence the desire for a rack. That site looked good liverbnz, wonder if they'll deliver to Ireland...

God, yeh, how do you get it back onto the ground? Surely you don't press it after doing a squat set?? Do you just drop it?

No i just jerk it back to the front, then lower it to the hips, then down to the floor. Its very awkward but i need to squat!

Not sure if they deliver to the South but it's free to the North. Getting it across the water is the main part though!

Fair play to you for cleaning the weights from the floor. I always found it took too much energy out of me for my actual sets and I'm not sure I could clean 70kg! Your probably better with the racks so you can get them back down safely as you say.

Would suggest getting a power rack, a reasonable olympic bar and a set of disks that you can add to as you get stronger.

From the power rack you can safely do squats and bench. It makes it easier for standing shoulder press too.
Then just add in deadlifts and bent over rowing.