I have decided to build a home gym.
I've been training for a little over a year with a powerlifter and feel I have a fairly good grasp on what I'm doing and would like to start doing it on my own.. saves me money that way and is much more convienant.
What recommendations do you guys have as far as good solid equipment should cost.
What are YOUR must haves?
Must haves: power rack or at least a squat rack, bench, olympic
set, dumbbells.
If you want to do deadlifts - I'm sure you do - I use heavy duty
rubber doormats to protect my wooden floor.
trap bar
Deadlifts are a must for sure jjj! :) How are you btw?
How much am I looking at spending for a good home gym? I don't have a ton of room but I think I have enough for a small one anyway.
I'll be going out on Monday to price stuff and I'd like a good idea of whats reasonable.. keep in mind that I'm in Canada.. lol
Although considerably more expensive, you might want to consider bumper plates....they are much more forgiving on floors. Here's an example
Definately shop locally first, shipping on plates can get extremely expensive.
Get a good bar too. Don't be afraid to spend the extra money on something that can take a pounding.
Anyway, my must haves are:
A good, durable bar. Bumper plates. A chin up bar and dip station. A good, sturdy bench. Either a power rack or squat stands with spotter racks. A jumprope. A few dumbbells.
I'm fine. :-)
As for the chin up bar and dip station that paw suggested, my
power rack has a chin up bar and I use two barbells on the safety
pins for dips.
People on this forum have suggested looking at classifieds or
garage sales.
This is the time of the year (New Year's resolutions) that a lot of
fitness stuff is on sale, too. Some of it is even useful.
So a power rack will have the chin up bar, most likely?
I'm not doing chins just yet..but I'm working on it. :)
If you buy online www.midwestbarbell.com has good prices and has recieved good reviews for service and quality from the folks at the Power and Bulk forum. I haven't ordered from them myself.
I don't think that there are any must-haves for a home gym. You can go a long way with just bodyweight. If you are looking at doing a powerlifting routine alone I think you need a power rack, bench, and an oly set.
-Gary
littleone: even if your rack doesn't have a bar specifically for chinning, you can set your bar on the top holes and chin on that. If you buy a decent rack, bench, and a few hundred pounds of weight, you'll be good to go for a while. Bumper plates are awesome but usually pretty expensive and hard to find at local sporting goods stores.
I also recommend sandbags, they're cheap, effective, and fun to train with. Good luck.
You can do everything you need to do with a squat rack, a good barbell, and a flat bench.