I’ll be moving to a new house in october, and have decided to take a big step and set up a home gym in the garage. Am currently driving myself (and my wife) crazy going through websites, figuring out equipment/set-up. So, with a $2000-ish budget(canadian), what would everybody here do? what should I buy on the cheap/make myself/ splurge a little bit on?
I’m sure you want brand new top of the line equipment, who doesent. But I would be patient ask around where you can get some decent used stuff. Or craiglist/ebay.
I’m looking at new bars and plates, just having a hard time decideding on what squat rack will be best. lifting platform will cost around $300 in materials.
I’d look into Pendlay (bearing bar) equipment (get a set). Also, the BW Products portable squat rack is affordable and very solid!! At 315 US (not sure about Canadian) it’s a pretty good deal too.
I would get a power cage, so if you ever decide you want to bench press or do some chin-ups you have the option.
How much weight are you moving on a given day? You can use squat stands instead of a rack and a wall mounted chin up bar. it’ll save space and money. And if you put a flat bench under it you can use it for bench as well. This also helps if you have a ceiling height issue.
I have a homemade platform $200ish, Pendlay bar + 90kg Pendlay bumpers + metal change ordered from Muscle Driver Canada that I can’t remember the total cost maybe $1200? (you’d have to look that up) A cheap squat stand I got for $100 at fitness town in Vancouver and some homemade jerk boxes that cost less than $200 in materials.
I also have a power rack that cost about a grand but you can do without that if you’re on a budget. I have some body solid bumpers too that were relatively cheap. Rogue Canada supplies crossfit boxes with equipment so they’re probably not a cheaper option, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. My experience has been anything related to crossfit is $inflated.
I also have a couple of cheap no name oly bars that I use for deadlifting and squatting and whatever from a local fitness store but that’s only because I bought them before I knew anything.
Since I’m a girl and a newb so I needed to miss a lot of really light weights and the cheap flimsy ones don’t hold up very well so my cheap bumpers are cracked and coming apart, that’s why I bought the pendlay set (which I love 
). If you anticipate doing a lot of dropping of weights at less than 55kg you might want to avoid the cheapies.
I have a pendlay bar and the econ bumpers from MDUSA. I also have a promaxima fw-7 squat stand that’s easy to move and store. I just used stall mats as a platform setup. It’s everything I need under $2000.
Well, i’m officially overbudget!! Discovered MuscleDriverCan.com, and I threw my initial buget out the door. picked up the 90kilo set with a pendlay bar, a set of small metal plates and a 16kg kettle bell. All of which i see as good, basic equipment. the extra bit was a pair of do-wins, not necessary, but i have the money. i’ve just been saving so hardcore for the new house that parting with that chunk of change is painful. I have to wait until we’re moved into the new place at the end of the month before i build my platform, but i’ve figured on it costing about $300 in material. all of this stuff has me right at the $2000 budget, but i’ve yet to decide on a squat rack. That, plus a chinup bar will put me over, but i’m so pumped about cancelling my gym membership that I really don’t care!
[quote]BLUE wrote:
Well, i’m officially overbudget!! Discovered MuscleDriverCan.com, and I threw my initial buget out the door. picked up the 90kilo set with a pendlay bar, a set of small metal plates and a 16kg kettle bell. All of which i see as good, basic equipment. the extra bit was a pair of do-wins, not necessary, but i have the money. i’ve just been saving so hardcore for the new house that parting with that chunk of change is painful. I have to wait until we’re moved into the new place at the end of the month before i build my platform, but i’ve figured on it costing about $300 in material. all of this stuff has me right at the $2000 budget, but i’ve yet to decide on a squat rack. That, plus a chinup bar will put me over, but i’m so pumped about cancelling my gym membership that I really don’t care![/quote]
Glad ur pumped. Look on cragislst for plywood and matting. You may be surprised. Check for s quat rack too, or stands. you never know. If I would recommend anything, it would be to save up again and get a good power rack. I built my own 2x2 with EFS. Paid a lot (1000+ USD) but well worth it. The most versatile thing you wil ever own. The thing is great. Congrats on the Pendley stuff, I am so jealous!
The shipping rates for a squat rack from efs are a bit much. I plan on saving my pennies to get the pendlay elite with a chin bar from MDCanada. I really should focus on light technique work anyways, so i’ll just front squat whatever I can clean. I haven’t regularly trained the olympic lifts since i was in my teens, so back squats can be put on hold while i reaquaint myself with the more technical lifts. If I feel the desire to throw in some heavy leg work i can also re-learn barbell hacks and jefferson squats (used to love these - commercial gyms have made me lazy!)