Lockdown Home gym

[Kpowell911]

Hi, Dont think many of you will be interested but Oh How Original did ask! haha!

 

My main hobby is the gym. Im no where near as serious as a I was in my 20s, but I still enjoy lifting weights, The only difference is now, IF I want a beer and a kebab, I will have one.

 

Obviously, Lockdown Hit. I had a single garage, I had a punch bag and some basic weights and I built a bench out of my work tool boxes etc.

 

 

I got the above and sone resistance bands. I was surprised how much I enjoyed training alone in a single garage. I was surprised with what I could do with the above. I honestly enjoyed working out here more than the gym, and I dread to think how they're going to be when they re open next week with the social distancing......

 

Obviously, prices sky rocketed for gym stuff. Local gyms were selling off their old stuff for monumental mark ups and you know what, it completed ruined my faith in gyms.  I then decided that I was going to commit to building a better home gym, and training at home and saving on membership and travel. My goal was to do this within a year, as Lockdown prices and stock levels went stupid. However, things escalated.

 

I read up on stuff, and worked out what I actually needed to completely train at home. Im not the worlds strongest man, but I needed Olympic sized stuff and around 200kg in weights . This would have to wait, as normal prices are circa £2 a kg for weights, however I saw uptown £10 a kg in lockdown. I decided Id need a power rack, bench and maybe a cable stack. I wrote down what I used in a normal gym, eradicated the machines and come up with what I needed and decided it was within budget and space restrictions.

 

I found he products I needed. They were out of stock, and I Was on Universal Credit due to been self employed., but not self employed long enough for any grant....... Dont believe all the hype about us being self employed being tax dodgers on easy street! I signed up for email alerts for when stock came back, and excepted to start buying stuff in September at the earliest.

 

However, I managed to find a weight bench and some weights in stock at Argos. I Went and picked these up and this is where everything changed for me

 

 

I did buy it, but when queuing for it, I got talking to a Security Guard who was a friend of a friend. I mentioned what I was buying and he said 'ha, don't waste your money, Ive just rebuilt my gym, you can buy my old stuff'. I laughed, thought nothing of it but took his number. 

 

Bare in mind, Olympic level stuff was going for £300 for a bar alone, stands and a bench around £500. This during lock down. Prices went crazy. 

 

WE spoke for a week or so, and eventually he offered me this:

 

 

Semi Commercial Grade Bench

Semi Commercial Grade Barbell Stands

7ft Olympic Bar

 

I had no money so I gingerly asked how much. £40 he said. FORTY POUND. I asked him why so cheap. His reply was very poignant for someone Ive only known a few days at this point as a friend of a friend. 'You need them, I dont. I dont need money, you dont have money'. Fair enough. I tried to give him £100 but we settled on £60. I asked why so cheap again, he proceeded to take me through into his garden. He had a 24x24 ft purpose built Dogo for his MMA. Amongst all the punchbags etcIt also had brand New Full cage, 500kg of Olympic Weights, Cables, the lot. I've since got quite close with this guy, we've trained a few times and been to a few garden parties. Strange how life works.

 

I however, had no Olympic weights. I worked put what I needed and found a Steel shop on Instagram who were  using the lack of weights available to their advantage and had started making their own weights. They were basic, but were accurate and IMO a very good price. I organised to drive upto Liverpool to pick them up and leant some money off my Dad to pay cash! They worked out at less than £2 a kg, and I bought around 150kg's worth at the time. I'm about to order more when money improves.

 

So now I had this

 

 

Another good thing was, this was now around June, and Id done the odd job, I had a little bit of money. I decided to spruce it up and make it more homely.

 

I painted the walls (£50)

I got proper flooring (£80)

I rewired and changed to an LED Light (£60)

 

Strip out

 

 

Looking nicer 

 

 

I could honestly do everything I needed here. IT just took a lot of adjustment for the squat stands for various height, but I enjoyed this set up. However, towards the end of last week. I started to get some in stock notifications..... I did something potentially silly. I ordered the lot on my credit card.... However.... Its here now! I also made a fair bit back selling my older stuff (with permission from the guy who sold it me so cheap )

 

I went with a Gym Master Lat Pulldown Machine, with an additional twin rope and V Bar attachment. This was around £210 all in. Its great for my Garage as its short. Im only 5ft 8, but I think anyone 6ft+ would struggle with this. Its perfect for me and I can load it up with either 1" or 2" Plates. Looks and feels a lot more gym grade than it actually seems.

 

 

 

I added some more weights, this  time I got them delivered to save driving to Liverpool

 

 

My Favourite exercise is T Bar Row, so made sense to pick up a Landmine. This is bolted through the floor using M10x120mm Rawl Bolts. I inserted the Olympic Bar and use the V Bar as the handle and row away

 

 

I had a hard time deciding this next part. I didn't have enough room for a Full Cage, but I honestly didn't need one. I wanted to have different heights pre set for the barbell for Squat, Incline Bench, Flat Bench and Seated Military press. This seemed the best bet. Its a Mirafit M2 Semi Competition Walk in rack. Its very secure and strong. I train alone, and the barbell stands needed weighting down to stop them tipping over when I got above 100kg, which isn't ideal. I also bought the matching bench. I didnt need this but it was in stock,  and matches plus Ive sold the white one already.

 

 

 

 

I also added a 20" fan, and mirrors which cost me a lot more than I thought because gains! Also curtained off the garage part of the garage.

 

The majority of my training is down within the rack now, with the barbell, and then can do a fair amount on the cable stack, which goes above 100kg. I have 5 levels of resistance bands which Ive been tying to the cage/punchbag which have really changed how Ive been training. Very impressed with them. 

 

I also have a pair upto 40kg dumbbells and maybe 80kg in barbells, but they're the spin lock style so need building up. 

 

So what's next? Well, Ive s point more time working on the gym, than in the gym so I need to use it!!!
 

I'm after a really nice Barbell, but that can wait. It'll be a treat to myself. Id like:

 

Rogue Ohio (£420)

https://www.rogueeurope.eu/the-ohio-bar-cerakote-eu 

 

But that's a lot of money, I'll probably settle on:

 

StrengthShop 2028 Original (£140)

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/weights-bars/bars/olympic-bars/olympic-bar.html

 

Or a Mirafit M3 as it matches the rest (£200):

https://mirafit.co.uk/mirafit-m3-7ft-20kg-olympic-barbell-black-orange.html

 

I'll also add one of these just to give me more weights

 

https://www.proplatesonline.com/product-page/standard-full-set

 

I'll look into  a rack of dumbbells, but not think its going to be do able financially! Ill stick to barbell!

 

Oh, I also had to buy a Garage Door as the old one collapsed on me! haha

 

From what Ive read a home gym is never finished, but Im very content and lucky to have been able to do this. I'll certainly be better prepared if there's a second lockdown!

 

Cost wise, id like to say sub £1k with what I sold back on BUT I think its closer to £1300 with all the extras, paint, lighting, bolts etc

Edited July 17, 2020 by Guns

[GMballistic]

Great set up. 👍 

I've always worked out at home mainly using dumbbells and a barbell/s (straight bar & an EZ curl bar) but also had some other kit that I sold on last year (incline bench, preacher curl set up etc).

 

Not lifting serious weight at all though and now I only have the dumbbells and barbells to use with minimal weights available. I occasionally watch Athlean X on YouTube to try to get tips for maximizing my usage with what I have. Have you seen them at all?

 

Your username makes more sense to me now, ...always thought you enjoyed shooting like I do from time to time but I'm guessing you meant different guns. 🤔 😆 

[Oh How Original]

11 hours ago, GMballistic said:

Great set up. 👍 

I've always worked out at home mainly using dumbbells and a barbell/s (straight bar & an EZ curl bar) but also had some other kit that I sold on last year (incline bench, preacher curl set up etc).

 

Not lifting serious weight at all though and now I only have the dumbbells and barbells to use with minimal weights available. I occasionally watch Athlean X on YouTube to try to get tips for maximizing my usage with what I have. Have you seen them at all?

 

Your username makes more sense to me now, ...always thought you enjoyed shooting like I do from time to time but I'm guessing you meant different guns. 🤔 😆 

 

He means his 42" pythons brother!

 

 

Gym looks awesome man, quite an incredible turnaround from how it started to how it looks now.

Nice of that bloke to hook you up with some stuff too, weird to think if you hadn't gone to that shop at that exact time you might never have even met him.

[Kpowell911]

11 hours ago, GMballistic said:

Great set up. 👍 

I've always worked out at home mainly using dumbbells and a barbell/s (straight bar & an EZ curl bar) but also had some other kit that I sold on last year (incline bench, preacher curl set up etc).

 

Not lifting serious weight at all though and now I only have the dumbbells and barbells to use with minimal weights available. I occasionally watch Athlean X on YouTube to try to get tips for maximizing my usage with what I have. Have you seen them at all?

 

Your username makes more sense to me now, ...always thought you enjoyed shooting like I do from time to time but I'm guessing you meant different guns. 🤔 😆 

I honstly suggest picking up some decent resistance bands, dunno what “weight” you would need but some decent quality light to medium ones. I have a black one which says “heavy” and honestly, I struggle to rep out rows with it. They completely changed how I train, and even now I have this set up, I still use them in every workout 

[Kpowell911]

41 minutes ago, Oh How Original said:

 

He means his 42" pythons brother!

 

 

Gym looks awesome man, quite an incredible turnaround from how it started to how it looks now.

Nice of that bloke to hook you up with some stuff too, weird to think if you hadn't gone to that shop at that exact time you might never have even met him.

Thanks, it just started and escalated really haha

[GMballistic]

22 minutes ago, Guns said:

I honstly suggest picking up some decent resistance bands, dunno what “weight” you would need but some decent quality light to medium ones. I have a black one which says “heavy” and honestly, I struggle to rep out rows with it. They completely changed how I train, and even now I have this set up, I still use them in every workout 

Thanks that's actually a really good suggestion as I hadn't thought about trying those. 

Can't buy at the moment even though they're fairly cheap as I've been spending way too much lately but definitely going to try those this year. Thanks. 👍

[melissajeffrey]

WOW! Great, I also already make my home Gym, but you are doing amazing work with complete gym equipments, I have just some barbells, Treadmill, and exercise bike I collected it through Bluefin Fitness coupons, time by time, but most important thing bench still I don't have, I am looking to buy it.  

Edited January 15, 2021 by melissajeffrey

[Nick]

This looks great.

 

I setup a home gym as I thought I could just do it at home instead of £45/month (I'm rural so my gym choice was limited to a fancy Spa!). I did this before the whole Covid thing and glad I did as prices are crazy now.

 

The thing I have a problem with is motivation though, I could go to the gym 4 times a week but I just can't be bothered when all the stuff is at home???  

 

[epons300]

This is mine no heating no electric,led lights from 12v 110a battery , car stereo from 3s lipo, been down as low as 1 degree c Haha,  got bout 200kg in standard weight.  

 

Got all this , 6 dumbells,squat rack ,bar,200kg ,wall leg raise,pull up bar,tricep bar ,ezbar ,all flooring,lights,batterys,cable machine all attachments , all cost about  250 pre covid , cant get anything at minute cost way too much 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by epons300

[Marco_WO]

My lockdown garage gym is very basic but does the job 

[Kpowell911]

Im after a multi gym/weight stack that is less than 1.9m tall, but still has decent weight, but struggling to be honest. Soemthing like this:

 

https://www.costco.co.uk/Camping-Sports-Spas-Leisure/Fitness-Exercise/Gym-Equipment/Marcy-68kg-150lb-Stack-Home-Gym-System/p/1234840

 

 

Also want to get some dumbells, I dont mind paying for the adjustable 40kg ones, but want to try them somehow first? Like these:

 

https://www.costco.co.uk/Camping-Sports-Spas-Leisure/Fitness-Exercise/Strength-Core-Training/MX-SELECT-MX55-Rapid-Change-Adjustable-Dumbbell-System-with-Rack/p/349938

 

Or this, but with less incriments and upto maybe 40kg. I only need 5,10,15 etc

 

https://www.costco.co.uk/Camping-Sports-Spas-Leisure/Fitness-Exercise/Strength-Core-Training/Marcy-Rubber-Hex-16-Set-Dumbbell-with-2-Racks-Total-Dumbbell-Weight-335kg/p/320122

Edited March 14, 2021 by Guns

[Marco_WO]

Oh I 'd like that Marcy multigym a lot. I think I'll need an upgrade soon. If you'd need some decent recovery supplements. I can help 🙂

[cklim]

I'm CK from Malaysia. Really nice home gym setup!

I started setting up my home gym back in 2017 after I moved to a new place. Initially wanted to save membership fee and time to travel to gym, so invested some money on some dumbbells, a bench and pull up bar. Never expected the pandemic in 2020, and this proven the best decision I made since 2017. Upgraded my gym with the rack for squat and chest press. It was so boring staying at home so started make some workout vlog.

Just few days ago, found a used Adidas performance home (which is a multipurpose gym station) for half price from the original price. Waiting the delivery tomorrow.

Many gym clubs closed down and I could see many used gym machines, weight plates, bars, dumbbells are on sell. Best time ever to setup home gym!

Edited June 1, 2021 by cklim

[GMballistic]

Welcome aboard @cklim .
Nice set up and I liked your video for it's honest approach.   

[cklim]

Thanks @GMballistic
Glad to see the growing of home gym community!

Just got the used multipurpose home gym machine! Really happy with the purchase. Is was a good deal. Although some tear and wear and dust, but it looks almost as good as new after some cleaning.

Recommend to source for a used gym equipment instead buying new one! 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by cklim