Well, so I started my home gym adventure recently. I went onto craigslist, and I bought myself one of those all-in-one squat racks for a steal of a price. Paid 17% of what it originally cost, and it’s in like-new condition. I was kinda skeptical about getting one at first because they’re not meant for commercial gyms really, but, when I went and checked out the one I bought, I was pretty impressed with its sturdiness.
Although the safety pins for squatting are on the outside, they can hold a crapton of weight. They had no trouble holding 800+ lbs + me siting on the barbell and bouncing on it. Cables were very smooth, and they’re plate-loaded (THANK GOD) so I don’t have to worry about maxing them out.
The cable attachments come out of the top left and right corners as well as the bottom left and right corners of the front of the thing, and there are also 2 more cables in the middle–one smack-dab above the back pad for the chest flyes (also does reverse flyes) as well as at the bottom of that same bar, and down there is also a set of food rests for cable rows. The smith machine also was top quality. Couldn’t believe it, but it was smoother than the gym I went to, and it was a new smith machine at that facility.
Ok, so, blah blah blah, there’s what I have so far for my home gym. The all-in-one thing I just showed you. It’s a “Ultimate Smith II” from Fitness Gear. An adjustable bench that goes from decline to very steep incline came with it. I was kinda upset with the bench. I tried getting it to go up just one more notch, but it wouldn’t go. I was sad, so I may have to get another bench. Oh, and I also just recently bought the strongest pair of “haulin’ hooks” from hold-ons.com. I love’em.
What I need help with is some advice as to what else I should get. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like getting help, but I know I have a wonderful set of guys here who have all gone through the same thing, so I thought I’d pick your minds about the issue as to what’s most important for a home gym.
Ok, so I actually don’t have any weights yet. Yeah. No weights. I can’t use it yet. They guy who sold it to me actually had already sold all of his weights to a friend, so I was stuck with the gym only.
I’m gonna try to make this post shorter, so I’ll get down to the nitty gritty and say what I’d like to get for the gym.
- First and foremost, weights. Lots of them. I don’t exactly know how many pounds I want, but do know relatively how many of each plate I want. If I do power shrugs and seated calf raises, that could take up as much as 24 45’s at once, so I will need lots of those.
Also, from my experience, when using Olympic dumbbell handles, 10’s and 25’s work best on those, so I will want probably at least enough of each to max out the maximum possible amount of each respective plate on 2 pairs of dumbbell handles (so 4 handles in total). I don’t want to have to mess with changing up dumbbell handle weights between super sets of stuff like biceps and triceps, so that’s why I need so many 25’s and 10’s.
As for the 35’s, 5’s, and 2 1/2’s, I’ll just need 4 of each. 3 barbells and 2 pairs of dumbbell handles would be nice. Also, I’ve seen those small pouches that contain those small weights that allow you to add anywhere from a half a pound to 4 and a half pounds . . . or something like that. My point is, I want 2 of those sets. I saw those on one of the issues of “stuff we like,” so I’ll look that up later. That’s about it there. Oh wait, 2 Olympic tricep bars will do nicely as well, 34" each.
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Arm work-out equipment: First is the dip stand. I need one and a dip belt too. I can do almost all I need arm-wise if I just have barbells and dumbbells, but I need a dip stand. Also, a preacher bench would be nice. I’ve seen those benches with preacher benches on the ends of those, so I may have to look into one. I’d prefer a steep preacher bench. What else . . . a rope attachment and dual handle attachment.
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Leg work-out equipment: Ok guys, so here’s one of the biggest dilemmas I’ve seen in the home-gym world. I’m debating as to whether I should get a real leg curl and leg extension machine or just live with the leg extension/leg curl combo that you commonly see at the end of home-gym benches. Are those benches with that leg extension/leg curl combo at the ends of them really good enough? I’ve never used one, but I definitely need help deciding on that.
Another staple piece of equipment: Leg press machine. There’s no replacement for a leg press, so I think I’ll definitely need one.
- A second bench. I don’t know what kind of bench I want, but I need one. There are really 2 kinds of benches I would want. The first one is a bench with just a preacher bench on the end of it. This bench would only be chosen if I decide that a leg extension/leg curl attachment on the end was not enough and that I needed to buy the real machine for each exercise. The second option is the bench with the preacher bench AND the leg extension/leg curl attachment.
Again, I need your help as to whether I should go with that sort of thing or just buy the machines for each exercise. Either way, I need a bench that can do decline, flat, incline, and military positions. Like I said, the bench that came with my squat rack is questionable as to whether or not it would do justice for the military press exercise.
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I was also thinking about getting something so I could do reverse hypers, back extensions and glute-ham raises. Gotta work that posterior chain.
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Other machines, but are not as important. A lateral raise machine? I don’t know, but I’d like a machine that gets my delts fried, and I’ve seen some pretty cheap prices on machines. Hack squat machine also? That’d be nice.
Alright, that’s all I can think of right now. What else do you think I would need for my home gym that would be cost-effective? Thanks.
