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Building a Home Gym

R

random8

New member
Hi guys, just wanted some advice on a home gym I'm trying to put together to save money as an alternative to the ridiculous local gym fees. I'm looking at buying a barbell, 150 odd kg of weights, a bench and adjustable dumbbell handles (already have a squat rack).

So far I've come up with the following reasonably cheap set up:
Force USA adjustable bench (I need one that goes to 90 degrees for seated press as the roof in my makeshift room is quite low.)
- eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d?r

Olympic 7' 700lbs barbell:
Olympic barbell - 700lbs

Adjustable Dumbell Handles
- 50cm Olympic Dumbell handles - $99.95

As well as 4x 20kg, 2x10kg, 2x5kg, 2x2.5kg Olympic rubber coated plates (note: already have 2x 1kg plates).

Only short comings I can find are that the barbell might not weigh in at 20kg which is annoying. Other than that, I'm not trying to powerlift so the gear doesn't have to be commercial strength. Currently doing the starting strength program btw. I'm trying to keep the price down but I've gone olympic as I want the gear to last for siblings that will use it in years to come.

Cheers!
 

Thanks for the input Taurus! Unfortunately the room I'm working with is pretty small, I don't think I'll be able to fit a ton of stuff outside the power rack. I might be a little slow, but what do you use tyres for? Are they just a weighted object to push around?

Edit: For all; does anyone have experience with the Force USA bar I've linked, stocked by gymandfitness? 350 should be a good rating but I have no idea what the knurling is like.
 
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I'd recommend getting a better barbell. Pay a bit more and you'll have a bar that will last a lifetime. Anything from Australian Barbell Co, or the Texas power bar, or even one of the new Iron Edge economy bars if you want something cheaper but good quality.
 

Are the Force USA bars likely to end up bending? The problem with going for a different bar is that I won't be able to pick them up (I'm in Adelaide), which means there's going to be an extra postage fee tacked on. The nearest price iron edge bar I can find is this; Iron Edge 20kg Economy Barbell - Iron Edge Fitness Equipment - Train Smarter, and yet it still seems this one will not remain straight over time :S.

Thanks for the advice!
 

Theres two types of barbell cheap beaters under $100 and decent ones around $500 everything in between is still shit.

If your not prepared to cough up $500 just get under a $100 beaters. I give the $85 dollar bars from cyberfit a hiding and replace every 9 months or so. I'm on my 2nd bar, still cheaper to replace then buy an ABC but not nearly as nice to use.

Also in your budget range you should be looking at second hand, heaps of cheap stuff on ebay and gumtree.
 
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Thanks for the info mate. Yeah I was looking at second hand for awhile, but what I've gathered is that non-Olympic bars will bend quickly past 100 kgs, and 2nd hand Olympic gear is very hard to find in my state, both weights and bars. One of us who plan on using the gym has already gone past 100kg for squats so it seems useless investing in standard gear just to have it bend very quickly. I think perhaps just going the cheap Olympic bar till I've saved up for a premium bar will be the best route for now.
 
random8 said:
I think perhaps just going the cheap Olympic bar till I've saved up for a premium bar will be the best route for now.
Click to expand...

Thats a pretty good idea. Email cyberfit he has a website and is by far the cheapest price on cheapy oly bars, weight plates and benches, freights cheap too.

I pulled 200kg, squatted 150 and benched 115 on my $85 oly bar, didn't bend till I started dropping cleans and doing rack pulls/power shrugs.
 

They do have decent prices but the bar comes out a few dollars more expensive when you factor in shipping. Shipping with the weights would put a huge additional expense in, as opposed to picking up the gear at my local Adelaide store :S. But good info on the durability of the bar!
 
Fluffy said:
Theres two types of barbell cheap beaters under $100 and decent ones around $500 everything in between is still shit.
Click to expand...

This ^

Knowing what I do now the only reason I would buy a sub-400 bar would be if I was doing a f*ckload of rack pulls.
But I don't (there's a gym down the road so I can bend their bars lol) so it's ABC, Texas or better.

With the cheaper bars a lot of the time you don't know what you are getting as well. Some people say they have lasted ages and they lift quite a lot frequently.
Other people will use the same bar once with 60kg and it will bend like a banana
 

ABC bop220 bar delivered to your door is around $550 last I heard...

That is a reasonable price to pay for something that will last a life time imo...

My kids will learn to train with my ABC bar...they should get many years of use from it too...
 
Good input guys. I'd love to invest in a solid lifelong bar but it'd stretch the budget excessively sadly. Might have been able to squeeze it in budget if I could find some of my equipment needs second hand but that doesn't seem to possible given the lack of gear on gumtree or ebay in SA. That said, it may be worth looking interstate for 2nd hand gear on ebay even if it means paying shipping.
 


If you got the time... Patience can pay dividends...

Good stuff is always coming on sale... Just need to be front of the line when it happens...
 

Don't worry random8, you're not alone. I'm in SA as well, and finding olympic gear or even racks second hand seems to be pretty hard. Those that are willing to part with their gear usually have it snapped up pretty quickly. But like nazzysmith said, we just have to wait it out and keep looking to be sure we are the first people in. If you can find 2nd hand gear cheap enough, it may well still work out better even with shipping included. Worth checking it out anyway. Good luck with your gear hunting mate!
 

Haha good to hear I'm not the only one. ATM it seems new gear isn't going to break bank, it's just a great barbell is out of my range for now. I'm happy with the price so far and the gear should resell fine at some stage, but I'll probably keep my eye out for quality barbells from closing down gyms etc. Waiting for second hand gear is a nice thought, but equipment is extremely sparse, often not as cheap as I'd expect and every month I wait equates to more paid gym fees which quickly surpasses the point of waiting in the first place!

All in all tho, it looks like a rack, 150kg Olympic rubber plates, an incline / decline bench, 7ft 700lb barbell (not quality build) and a set of Olympic adjustable dumbell handles will come to around $1000. Not too bad to be honest, given all that I'll need to add in future is more weight plates & eventually a premium bar. Easily beats paying more than $1000 for myself and brothers' year worth of gym fees.
 
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