Home Gyms

Well after having the second gym close down on me in a one-year period, I have decided that I am sick of paying someone else for the privilege of letting me get my sad sack out of bed just to get to the gym at 5:00 a.m. to see a sign that says the gym is out of business (end of rant). Anyway, I am looking into setting up my own home gym. I am thinking about a power rack, an adjustable bench (to use in the rack), weights (no shit), and a power block dumbbell set. My question, to those who are so inclined to respond, is whether anyone has a power rack recommendation. I have done some searches, and they seem to run from $199 to over $1000, depeding on who you buy from and what bells and whistles. Perhaps I am being naive, but to do bench (and incline), squats, and deads, I don’t think I need to many extras. Anyway, any insights would be appreciated.

I think a pull-up bar and maybe a dipping attachment on the rack would be worth the extra money.

Check out Sports Authority, they have lower cost models.

I have the exact setup you mention at home. My power rack is made by Powertec, and is rated for either 1100 or 1500 lbs. It has a pull/chin up bar (actually 2 pieces, they are straight for about 6 inches or so, then angle down). It also has dip bar attachments, and an optional lat pulldown (w/high and low pulley) attachment (which I don’t have).

I think it’s a pretty good rack for the money (I paid $475 CDN, ~$325 US).

I’ve got the ‘Kodiak Rack’ from www.yukon-fitness.com along with an incline/flat bench. I’ve also got a generic olympic set from Dick’s. Total for everything was around $450, and I’m very happy with it all.

The rack has some attachments that you can buy…dip station for example. The only thing it doesn’t have that I’d like is a chin-up bar, although I have a standalone station for that.

Thanks for all the quick feedback. I’ll look into each.

Make sure the spacing for the pins are about an inch to an inch and a half apart. Cheap racks usually have bigger spaces. Elite lifts ( elitefts.com ) has a pretty good article about what you need to start a home gym.