I am currently thinking of putting together a home gym, but budget is a huge factor at the moment. I am looking to purchase equipment that is good enough quality that won’t fall apart overnight, but is not going to send me bankrupt either.
I have looked around at a few websites but was wondering if any of you have found good places to buy weights in Australia? If I bought from overseas i just know that the freight costs will be over the top so it rules out that option.
My main focus is on the bars and weight plates. If I’m going to have a home gym i don’t actually have the space to store a power rack etc, I need to do some creative thinking on how to make my own so that it can be disassembled and stored more compactly, allowing me to park my car in my garage! Or I could do something like use a solid pair of adjustable sawhorses to act as a “rack”, which is a tip I got from Dan John’s website.
I will need an Oly bar, maybe a few other “normal” bars and of course the weight plates. A flat/incline/decline bench would be preferable, but I would accept a flat/incline only and use weight plates to prop the flat bench into decline. As I’m getting into Oly lifts I probably need to explore some bumper plates, although the loads I use at the moment can be lowered by catching it on my thighs on the way down. Hopefully I’ll progress to be lifting heavy enough weights soon where I can’t do this.
The other item is dumbells. A power block would probably be the most ideal, however they seem to be hugely expensive. Most other dumbell sets you can buy don’t seem to go much above 20-30kg, which is too light for things like DB bench presses.
Does anyone know of the stores that offer good prices and don’t rip you off?
I am not sure about the O-bars, I am using stanrd bars and plates still, the plates still spin and the weight isn’t that high yet for real concern.
I found a place locally that sells plates for $1.70/kg, versus $2.20 - $3.00 for the other stores. Shipping might not make that very helpful for you, even though you are only a couple of hours down the road. Look around enough you will find good prices. I didn’t have much luck scrounging garage sales or other second hand sources…
I am using scaffolding as a rack. It works for me, assemble/disassemble in a couple of minutes.
I recently bought a good Incline/Decline/Flat bench from the Sportsman’s Warehouse. I don;t know if you have one of those where you are, but they have a big range of plates, benches, dumbells, bars(unfortunatley i don’t know about olympic bars). Good prices, too. Any sporting goods chain will have a basic range.
Also i was flipping through the Trading Post the other day and saw about 5 different ads for benches, racks, plates, so that would be a great place to start. You also might be able to buy stuff from Gold’s in Sydney, but i’m not really sure about that.
[quote]scrooge wrote:
I am not sure about the O-bars, I am using stanrd bars and plates still, the plates still spin and the weight isn’t that high yet for real concern.
I found a place locally that sells plates for $1.70/kg, versus $2.20 - $3.00 for the other stores. Shipping might not make that very helpful for you, even though you are only a couple of hours down the road. Look around enough you will find good prices. I didn’t have much luck scrounging garage sales or other second hand sources…
I am using scaffolding as a rack. It works for me, assemble/disassemble in a couple of minutes.[/quote]
Thanks guys for your replies. I have had a look in trading post, I’ll keep an eye on it when the time comes to buy gear.
Scrooge,
$1.70/kg for plates is very cheap, and would definitely be worth the trip up to Newcastle to buy them. What store is it? Do they have bumper plates for the Oly lifts at all?
Also, how do you rig the scaffolding, got any pictures that could give me an idea on what your set-up looks like? Where is the best place to buy it from?
The plates are from Health and Fitness Supplies Australia at 197 Main Road Cardiff. I only have standard plates, not oly bar plates, but their prices for those (and the bars) were also the cheapest in Newie. I just can’t remember how much…
I will take some photos of my disgusting home gym setup I will post them tomorrow. Mine were given to me, as will become obvious when you see the pics. I am sure a similar thing is still available.
Hi from Brisbane. I bought a heap of weights from an Elite Fitness store at a decent price. They had both standard and olympic weights, with a nice selection of bars. Most of their benches were shit, but I don’t know how much it varies from store to store.
Also, if you talk to the guys at an Amart All-Sports store, they have some cool stuff in catalogues out the back (power racks and the like - just leave your car outside like the rest of us).
I checked the trading post for a long time before I went to both of these places, but cheap weights and gear are like hen’s teeth. In the end, I decided to just bite the bullet and fork out the cash. Good luck with it.
Hi from Brisbane. I bought a heap of weights from an Elite Fitness store at a decent price. They had both standard and olympic weights, with a nice selection of bars. Most of their benches were shit, but I don’t know how much it varies from store to store.
Also, if you talk to the guys at an Amart All-Sports store, they have some cool stuff in catalogues out the back (power racks and the like - just leave your car outside like the rest of us).
I checked the trading post for a long time before I went to both of these places, but cheap weights and gear are like hen’s teeth. In the end, I decided to just bite the bullet and fork out the cash. Good luck with it.[/quote]
Thanks for the info.
I’ve got an Elite Fitness Store in the next suburb which I was going to visit, pity it ain’t the same as Dave Tate’s Elite Fitness!
Don’t know if we’ve got Amart All-Sports stores down here in Sydney, although there are a variety of other stores I’m going to have a look at.
My main budgetary concern is the price of plates. Bars and benches are everywhere and I should be able to find a solid one for a good price with little effort. As I want a few bumper plates for Oly lifts, this is really going to be what hurts the hip pocket! At the moment the weights I use are light enough to lower down myself under control, but like any good T-man I don’t aim to stay at these loads for much longer and I will eventually need to drop them from the top of a snatch or clean & jerk.
Have you checked out Rebel Sport? The store in Geelong has/had a sale on oly plates which made them about the same price as standard plates (about $2.00 kg). I dont know how much they usually are but Im guessing probably more than that. Dont know if the sale applies to other Rebel stores where you are, though.
Also, for standard plates, if you look on tradingpost.com.au there is a place called Crazycheap Fitness Equipment (03 9761 5778) that advertises new plates for $1.49 kg. However, its located in Melbourne, so if youre in Sydney that could be a problem ? sorry to get your hopes up! Good luck, let us know what you get.
I found the following articles on building your own Power Rack a few years ago;
Homebuilt Power Cage.
The latter is made of scaffolding pipes with braces and no welding required. You could maybe undo one or two of the braces after each workout for storage.
With regards to lack of space in the shed/garage, I live in Perth suburbia and only have a carport and small garden shed. I ended up buying a Power Rack and Oly Bars and Plates and placing them in the corner of my back verandah. I erected shade cloth between the poles to keep out the rain (and for a bit of privacy). It not only keeps out the rain, which is rare, but lets in the sun and some fresh air. I have some rubber matting down for deadlifts, rows etc (I previously dropped a 20kg plate and smashed a paver). I like it because it is permanently set up, ready to go. The shade cloth is also colour coordinated with my verandah, so it doesn’t look cheesey.
This setup snaps together really quickly.
Just for luck, the crossbars are a really good height for squatting, as the next pic shows. Another benefit: throw a couple of bars or suitable lumps of wood across the rails and you have an adjustable width dipping station.
One last pic, showing the scaffolding in use. Not quite all the way down yet, but you can see that there is enough air between the rails and the bar.
mini hijack:
btw if you see any glaring errors in my form, let me know
end hijack
I hope these pics help. The scaffolding is obviously quite old and a bit rusty, hence the colour. It is still really strong though. I was given mine, I am not sure where it could be obtained new.
A builder or building supply store may be able to help.
have been looking for bumper plates for quite a while in melb, rare as rocking horse shit, if you do find a place in Oz please post their address as i am willing to travel.
I got my plates and oly bar from a secondhand gym equiptment place (check the yellowpages.com.au), there are actually quite a few around here in melbourne. Nothing more than warehouses full of great stuff. And you can always bargan
[quote]gotaknife wrote:
I got my plates and oly bar from a secondhand gym equiptment place (check the yellowpages.com.au), there are actually quite a few around here in melbourne. Nothing more than warehouses full of great stuff. And you can always bargan :)[/quote]
Thanks a heap for all the replies guys, keep them coming!
Gotaknife, can you remember the name of the secondhand place you bought your equipment from? Even though I’m in Sydney they might have a website I can order from.
[quote]aussie486 wrote:
have been looking for bumper plates for quite a while in melb, rare as rocking horse shit, if you do find a place in Oz please post their address as i am willing to travel.[/quote]
I saw on the Elite Fitness (in Aus, not Dave Tate’s company!) website that they have Oly bumper plates. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the price, very expensive!
BTW guys, this may be a bit of a naive question, but do the plates have to be bumper plates to let them be dropped from a height? Many of the Oly sized plates come with rubber-coated edges, is this enough to allow them to bounce provided that an appropriate platform is used? Or am I gonna wreck the bar, and the floor for that matter, by not using bumpers?
[quote]scrooge wrote:
Oh my god, what happened to my face???
One last pic, showing the scaffolding in use. Not quite all the way down yet, but you can see that there is enough air between the rails and the bar.
mini hijack:
btw if you see any glaring errors in my form, let me know
end hijack
I hope these pics help. The scaffolding is obviously quite old and a bit rusty, hence the colour. It is still really strong though. I was given mine, I am not sure where it could be obtained new.
A builder or building supply store may be able to help.[/quote]
Scrooge,
That’s EXACTLY the sort of set up I am thinking about, something which is “modular” and can be broken down and packed away using little space. I’ll hunt around for the scaffolding and compare that to say building a rack out of tubular steel, which of course would require welding and a lot more thought into the design, but I may be able to integrate a few more options such as a chinning bar using this.
Where did you get the adjustable height rack from? The same store you got the weights?
I have had the rack for some time now, it is a piece of sh!t, very unstable. I am starting to question it’s suitability for the taks. Due to only being supported at the bottom it sways a bit when the bar is resting on the stops. Also, it is very narrow, I actually grip the bar outside the width of the rack. The lack of width makes for an interesting time when I add the first set of 20kg plates…almost like a see-saw. I really need something more like the width of the scaffolding.
I think I will have to come up with a better solution shortly, maybe just widening the base and adding some additional bracing to limit the sway.
I will post them tomorrow. Mine were given to me, as will become obvious when you see the pics. I am sure a similar thing is still available.