After deadling with enough curl commandos and gymbeciles, my wife gave me the ok to start the home gym project (she actually is demanding at the bare minimum a power cage. I've taught her well). I want to do deadlifts, and am concerned about cracking the cement in my garage.
I was curious if anyone knew of a place where I could purchase some sheets of rubber? If anyone wants to pitch in some other “must haves” for a home gym, I’m all ears.
rubber plates
Tractor Supply is the cheapest place to get the rubber floor mats that I know of.
Other than that, get the basics. Power rack, plates, barbell, bench and some dumbbells.
After you have those you can start having fun and building something killer. I have a home gym (pictures in my profile) and it was one of the best things for my training that I’ve done.
Nothing like setting PR’s to Morbid Angel.
Oh, shit you asked for rubber mats.
Tractor supply store.
Wow, thanks for the great tips guys. Never woulda thought to check tractor supply.
You can make a lifting platform pretty easily. Get three 4x8 pieces of plywood. Lay two of these on the ground side by side (with the long sides touching each other). Put the third piece on top in the middle so that it covers the gap of the other two. Screw the top piece into the bottom pieces.
This will leave about 2 feet on either side of the board that is about an inch lower where you can put rubber mats on top. Make any sense?
Yeah, Pavel talked about building your own platform in Beyond Bodybuilding, so I was trying to find some rubber to complete it, but thanks for expanding the info.
http://www.strengthequipment.net/
He made my custom rack and lat pull/low row combo
Stuff you need to buy: -
quality Bars for dumbells and Barbell work
Power rack
Commercial grade bench
rubber mats
chalk
Stuff you can make
Sandbags
med balls
blocks and boxes of various sizes
Just for starters 
Read my blog about building your own home gym. I purchased 1/2" rubber mats from a feed store (they weigh 100lbs each and are very durable). I bought two 4’x6’ mats for $75 total.
One of the best things I’ve seen on this site… its been helping me decide what I want to do (when it comes to building a home gym)
http://crossfitweekendwarriors.typepad.com/homegym.htm
Witchita Falls Weightlifting has a set of bumpers w/ a Pendlay bar that is a serious deal.
I liked the idea of have just regular squat uprights and they have them in there on that site
At least check it out it gives good resources as to where to get your stuff
[quote]MidDistanceMac wrote:
OWitchita Falls Weightlifting has a set of bumpers w/ a Pendlay bar that is a serious deal.
[/quote]
I bought one of those and I really like it.
if you want thick handle stuff for cheap, I live in the same state though(IL) so shipping isn’t a factor for me, also got my regular DB handles from play it again sports for 15$. Also picked up cheap bars there for rack lockouts and stuff, no need to ruin the Texas PB.
Sounds like all of you guys have experience building home gyms. So tell me how much space do you think you should have in your home gym? 300 square feet? and how high should the ceiling be?
[quote]matrick wrote:
Sounds like all of you guys have experience building home gyms. So tell me how much space do you think you should have in your home gym? 300 square feet? and how high should the ceiling be?[/quote]
This varies on what you want. My home gym is in a 10x13 room. I have a bench, 2 oly bars, adjustable dumbbells (olympic and standard), over 400 lbs of weights and a power rack in there (the closet is great storage). Outside, I have a captain’s chair and some older weight sets for GPP work.
Of course, more room is never a negative.
[quote]Arioch wrote:
matrick wrote:
Sounds like all of you guys have experience building home gyms. So tell me how much space do you think you should have in your home gym? 300 square feet? and how high should the ceiling be?
This varies on what you want. My home gym is in a 10x13 room. I have a bench, 2 oly bars, adjustable dumbbells (olympic and standard), over 400 lbs of weights and a power rack in there (the closet is great storage). Outside, I have a captain’s chair and some older weight sets for GPP work.
Of course, more room is never a negative.[/quote]
yeah i am thinking about starting something like my own gym, not necessarily a home gym, so I would rent some place somwhere. so what you guys think?
[quote]matrick wrote:
Sounds like all of you guys have experience building home gyms. So tell me how much space do you think you should have in your home gym? 300 square feet? and how high should the ceiling be?[/quote]
Mine is 900 sq. feet with 9.5 foot ceilings. It is actually my garage that is completely finished with mirrors, heat , etc.
Mine is in my second bedroom in my apartment. It has 9ft ceilings and is about 15’ x 12’ (my power rack is centered along one of the walls with other equipment off to the sides and other parts of the room). Works great.
I started out in an 11’ x 11’ room, and that was tight, but doable. Probably wouldn’t work now because I have more stuff than when I started with only a power rack, 300lb Olympic set, flat bench, a few hex dumbbells and med balls.
mdf board is quick and fairly effective.