Garage/Home Gyms

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

You’d like Ironmaster then. They are small and compact! When I got em I bought the 75lb set, plus the 120lb add on. Now they offer another upgrade to 165lb. I’ve almost pulled the trigger many times to upgrade again but haven’t just yet.

Cage

I’ll check them out! I actually only paid $200 for them and they’re the 1090s so figured couldn’t hurt to try them out for that price!! Someone off of Facebook marketplace who just never used them!

 

[marssel]

I tried the local gyms here after Hurricanes blew through. Found sooooo many that were getting rid of everything due to water damage. However, they still wanted basically manufacturer cost less 10%. I’m like insurance is literally replacing it all yet you’re still gonna try and fuck over people huh. Told em fuck right off…. So I never bothered trying again. This is NOLA and there’s no shortage of corruption here!

Cage

Yea NOLA is grimey as fuck. My family settled in Louisana in the 1700s and we are mostly near Dodson and Monroe but a few are in NO and I’ve never been to Bourbon St. I’m a Beale St. cat but the stories I hear are INSANE. Those gyms prolly had a go fund me for hurricane damage too, greedy bastards.

 

[strongsafety41]

@SAVAGEPMHNP, man ya done fucked up already with the adjustable Bowflex dumbbells. Trust me I had the 1090’s and finally got so fed up with the breaking I tossed em.

There’s is hope though if you want to spend some extra money to beef them up. The discs on the Bowflex are plastic and break easily. I donated to a fella years ago that was coming up with ideas to make them better. He successfully did. Go to averagejoeinnovations.com. Joe is a great guy and very helpful too!

I love my Ironmaster set for dumbbells. It takes some time to change weights though. I recently just bought the TruLap adjustable set. So far I like em, but you cannot drop these either. They’re 95% steel.

If you want a solid adjustable dumbbell set that’s ALL STEEL and droppable then check out Pepin adjustable dumbbell. They’re pricey!!! They’ll be my next purchase if I’m not happy with the TruLap’s. So far I’m happy with them.

Cage

Have you tried the Nuobell adjustable dumbbells? I have a set, I wouldn’t say they are droppable but they have a nice feel to them.

 

[Mufasa123]

Powerblocks here. I have an old Pro Rexan US made milled set and matching stand plus the expansion to 130lbs. Obviously don't drop them but that's the nature for all of these. I'm a Barbell guy mostly so uses a small area. What's nice is that they are ALWAYS in the perfect spot and height. Moving big dumbells and getting them ready from some corner always sucks.

 

[EnhancedFatGrappler]

Hey Cage!! That’s a nice setup you have there! I have yet to step foot in a commercial gym since getting back in to it! I’ve slowly been constructing my garage gym with equipment! Here’s my “in the works” set up right now! Feel free to send any tips or suggestions my way!

One of the best advices I can give - be sure to try the piece you want to buy beforehand. For example, my row machine is mostly for upper back due to the design, I have to twist and tweak myself to get my lats to engage on it. So I barely use it. Would I have known this before, I never would have bought it.

But there is no way I would have dissembled the whole machine, put it all back into the packaging, and sent it back via freight (on my dime). Same for my Leg Press, it is made for taller people, not short dwarfs with even shorter legs than me .

Imho that would be a nice addition for your home gym, a legpress / hacksmith combo. Also, a good Pulley Station. MAybe the Pulley before the leg press.

This is what I want if I’m able to move out of the city and into the country! I’m jealous of the space!!!!!!!!! More space, more excuses to buy more equipment! Hopefully one day I can make that happen.

Cage

Same

 

[Palifter]

Awesome setups in here. Makes me jealous when I enter my commercial gym at 6pm and it’s a damn mob scene.

@Standfast has a sick home setup as well.

 

[cage99]

Have you tried the Nuobell adjustable dumbbells? I have a set, I wouldn’t say they are droppable but they have a nice feel to them.

I looked at them and they were on the list. There’s a video on Rep fitness’s website where they drop all the new adjustable dumbbells from various heights. Hell they even dropped their own version from the top of their warehouse. Good way to gauge the dependability of them all.

I’m the end I went with TruLap since it had the least plastic. I would’ve went with Pepin but I wasn’t wild of its design. Reminds me of the Powerblock, and I’m not wild abt the Powerblocks.

When it’s all said and done it’s not wise to drop any of the adjustable dumbbells.

Cage

 

[cage99]

Powerblocks here. I have an old Pro Rexan US made milled set and matching stand plus the expansion to 130lbs. Obviously don't drop them but that's the nature for all of these. I'm a Barbell guy mostly so uses a small area. What's nice is that they are ALWAYS in the perfect spot and height. Moving big dumbells and getting them ready from some corner always sucks.

Check out the Spot Grips!!!!

Cage

 

[cage99]

Awesome setups in here. Makes me jealous when I enter my commercial gym at 6pm and it’s a damn mob scene.

@Standfast has a sick home setup as well.

@Standfast made a sick version of the pit shark awhile back. Solid fabrication work!!!

Cage

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

One of the best advices I can give - be sure to try the piece you want to buy beforehand. For example, my row machine is mostly for upper back due to the design, I have to twist and tweak myself to get my lats to engage on it. So I barely use it. Would I have known this before, I never would have bought it.

But there is no way I would have dissembled the whole machine, put it all back into the packaging, and sent it back via freight (on my dime). Same for my Leg Press, it is made for taller people, not short dwarfs with even shorter legs than me .

Imho that would be a nice addition for your home gym, a legpress / hacksmith combo. Also, a good Pulley Station. MAybe the Pulley before the leg press.


Same

Thanks for the advice! I recently picked up that Titan seated calf raise without trying one and I am not liking it!! Can’t feel my calves contracting well with it and the pads are too thin on the thighs!

 

[Mufasa123]

Check out the Spot Grips!!!!

Cage

They look cool but I don't think they will work with the enclosed handle on Powerblocks.

 

[cage99]

Thanks for the advice! I recently picked up that Titan seated calf raise without trying one and I am not liking it!! Can’t feel my calves contracting well with it and the pads are too thin on the thighs!

Ran into that with a few seated calf raises. However they were all on the cheaper side, under $400.

Now there’s literally nothing to a seated calf raise to fabricate one. Of course you gotta be able to weld, etc. You’d need to spend $1000 or a tad more for a quality seated calf raise.

I recently purchased a Steelflex iso-row machine. Quality feel, good welds, excellent padding, great feel of the target muscle. I love it so far and it feels great to use. I know they make a seated version, but like I said it’ll cost over $1K.

Steelflex PLSC Plate Loaded Seated Calf Machine

Steelflex Plate Loaded Seated Calf Machine PLSC If you're like us, and have lackluster calves at best you may want to consider this machine. Strengthen and tone your calf muscles with the Steelflex PLSC Seated Calf Machine. Designed with 11 gauge steel and 2" x 4" oval tubing, this machine is...

selectfitnessusa.com

Now the Titan Leverage Squat machine works great. You can get an excellent stretch on your calves with it! Just giving you my opinion. I’ll post the link for the Titan Squat here too.

https://www.titan.fitness/strength/specialty-machines/lower-body/leverage-squat-machine/400937.html

Cage

 

[Standfast]

This thread is for anyone that has or is looking into putting together a home gym. I got tired of the public gym rat race & people in the early 2000’s. Bought your generic all inclusive functional trainer rack for like $400 and 350lb plate set to start. At the time I had a shack basically that this set in. Less than ideal in the summer time. Terrible actually! Well Katrina blew through the city and wiped that shack setup away.

I drug the machine outside and had it set up out in the backyard. Just open air in the rain, the heat/humidity, and cold. Eventually after a while I rebuilt a nice 20x20 building that would be my new gym. Except this would be air conditioned!!!!! Anyways that’s a lil backstory into my home gym start up.

Fast forward 20 years and I’ve bought many pieces of equipment, tossed some, sold some, etc. Today I’ve pretty much got things situated and I’m able to do any workout a commercial gym offers. Throughout this time period I’ve stumbled upon many websites along the way.

So I wanted to share a list of these websites for anyone interested that heads down this road. Now there’s plenty of big brand name site that aren’t on this list. So if there’s places y’all have utilized and want to share then by all means post em up!

I’ll attach a link for a quickie tour and pics.

Cage

What brand is that plate loaded seated row?

 

[Standfast]

Awesome setups in here. Makes me jealous when I enter my commercial gym at 6pm and it’s a damn mob scene.

@Standfast has a sick home setup as well.

Soon as I get some personal things in order and free up some time I'll start adding more equipment. I really considered building more peices but the time it takes and seeing how good help is rare to come by I'll just go back to buying them.

Where I'm located a home gym is the only sensible option. Plus it's something my wife enjoys with me, or tolerates who knows. Lol

 

[cage99]

What brand is that plate loaded seated row?

Steelflex, I had picked this one up for the small footprint.

Steelflex PLSR Seated Row - Buy Online | Free Shipping

<p>Steelflex PLSR Seated Row for Sale!</p> <p>Steelflex PLSR Seated Row independent machine that 10 degree pattern for comfortable work orbits.</p> <p>Special Sale Ends Soon!</p> <p>Buy Online Today.</p>

www.fitnesszone.com

They also have this for another back row option.

Steelflex PL2200 Lat Pulldown Back Row Machine

Steelflex Lat Pulldown Back Row Machine PL2200 The Steelflex PL2200 Lat Pull Down/Back Row Machine provides the ideal dual workout giving you the ultimate strength pull exercise. Dual Purpose Machines. Perfect for the gym which is tight on space but wishes to take advantage of our Budget...

selectfitnessusa.com

Cage

 

[alfresco]

I just got my hands on some of my old, 70's Iron Man Magazines and found the ad in the back of the magazine for the original Saf-T-Gym. You can read the details and see the prices in another post. And I bought all the accessories pictured except the T-bar rows.

This 'machine' moved with me many times; from home to the football coaches back yard, to a friends garage (made my best progress there, never duplicated), back to my parents back yard to who knows where.

Rick Adams who built the machine (lived 7 miles away) also built be a leg ext / leg curl machine to my specifications. It had a huge flat bench so I could do leg extensions lying flat on my back (the best position) or upright, and you could do hypers off the back with a strap over your ankles of have my partner sit across my ankles.

He also built me bullet proof adjustable incline bench, a hack squat / calf raise machine. Sadly, I don't have fotos of them.

I also had a York 320 lb.(?) Olympic set and various, costume built (I was a journeyman machinist) fat bar and square bar dumbbell, fat bar for curl's, dead lifts and presses, literally any movement
you would normally do with a regular bar. Then I built a biceps supination and pronation machine for working my biceps and forearms.

I wrote extensively and posted my forearm routine here . . . will post it again when I can find it. It is very amusing and very interesting in my humble opinion. My goal at the time (I was rock climbing and weight training during all my free time, eventuality climbing literally all over the world) was to to do a a 1 arm pull up, which I did, and them a pinch grip pull up
on a 2 x 4, pinching the 2" part . . . never could do one.

Most people, including PT's and MD's don't know this but the primary function of the biceps is supination. The second function is a curl movement. The third function of the biceps is raising the supinated and contracted biceps upwards where the elbow is near vertical, near your ear. This is the only way you can achieve a true and complete contraction of the biceps.

Another this most people don't know is the the only way to reach full contraction of the triceps muscles is to have you arm behind mid line of of the torso. A machine was built for this purpose put is was not not used properly so it was removed from the market. I have an ad for it somewhere. I also photographed a proto of this machines in one of Arthur’s friends house in Florida, one of the few remaining machines in existence.

The old magazines that I still have (I sold many of them through my mail order business at the time) have lots of ads for contests I went to, equipment I owned, and historical information. I remember writing Perry Radar who owned Iron Man Magazine at the time and asked him to
send me 1 copy of every Iron Man Magazine he had. I got a box full of them including a first edition. Later, Perry and Mable, his wife, got tired of running the magazine so they offered it to Arthur Jones (I have the letter), Arthur declined.

Got off topic a bit here. Apologies.

 

[MAD_SCIENTIST]

I just got my hands on some of my old, 70's Iron Man Magazines and found the ad in the back of the magazine for the original Saf-T-Gym. You can read the details and see the prices in another post. And I bought all the accessories pictured except the T-bar rows.

This 'machine' moved with me many times; from home to the football coaches back yard, to a friends garage (made my best progress there, never duplicated), back to my parents back yard to who knows where.

Rick Adams who built the machine (lived 7 miles away) also built be a leg ext / leg curl machine to my specifications. It had a huge flat bench so I could do leg extensions lying flat on my back (the best position) or upright, and you could do hypers off the back with a strap over your ankles of have my partner sit across my ankles.

He also built me bullet proof adjustable incline bench, a hack squat / calf raise machine. Sadly, I don't have fotos of them.

I also had a York 320 lb.(?) Olympic set and various, costume built (I was a journeyman machinist) fat bar and square bar dumbbell, fat bar for curl's, dead lifts and presses, literally any movement
you would normally do with a regular bar. Then I built a biceps supination and pronation machine for working my biceps and forearms.

I wrote extensively and posted my forearm routine here . . . will post it again when I can find it. It is very amusing and very interesting in my humble opinion. My goal at the time (I was rock climbing and weight training during all my free time, eventuality climbing literally all over the world) was to to do a a 1 arm pull up, which I did, and them a pinch grip pull up
on a 2 x 4, pinching the 2" part . . . never could do one.

Most people, including PT's and MD's don't know this but the primary function of the biceps is supination. The second function is a curl movement. The third function of the biceps is raising the supinated and contracted biceps upwards where the elbow is near vertical, near your ear. This is the only way you can achieve a true and complete contraction of the biceps.

Another this most people don't know is the the only way to reach full contraction of the triceps muscles is to have you arm behind mid line of of the torso. A machine was built for this purpose put is was not not used properly so it was removed from the market. I have an ad for it somewhere. I also photographed a proto of this machines in one of Arthur’s friends house in Florida, one of the few remaining machines in existence.

The old magazines that I still have (I sold many of them through my mail order business at the time) have lots of ads for contests I went to, equipment I owned, and historical information. I remember writing Perry Radar who owned Iron Man Magazine at the time and asked him to
send me 1 copy of every Iron Man Magazine he had. I got a box full of them including a first edition. Later, Perry and Mable, his wife, got tired of running the magazine so they offered it to Arthur Jones (I have the letter), Arthur declined.

Got off topic a bit here. Apologies.

@alfresco... keep those stories coming. Love hearing about "back in the days" experiences/stories of yours.

MS

 

[alfresco]

@alfresco... keep those stories coming. Love hearing about "back in the days" experiences/stories of yours.

MS

Am working on a forearm article I wrote here but it is too long, must cut it in two parts but it is coming.

 

[Standfast]

Steelflex, I had picked this one up for the small footprint.

Steelflex PLSR Seated Row - Buy Online | Free Shipping

<p>Steelflex PLSR Seated Row for Sale!</p> <p>Steelflex PLSR Seated Row independent machine that 10 degree pattern for comfortable work orbits.</p> <p>Special Sale Ends Soon!</p> <p>Buy Online Today.</p>

www.fitnesszone.com

They also have this for another back row option.

Steelflex PL2200 Lat Pulldown Back Row Machine

Steelflex Lat Pulldown Back Row Machine PL2200 The Steelflex PL2200 Lat Pull Down/Back Row Machine provides the ideal dual workout giving you the ultimate strength pull exercise. Dual Purpose Machines. Perfect for the gym which is tight on space but wishes to take advantage of our Budget...

selectfitnessusa.com

Cage

Thanks I've been waiting for a used hammer strength to pop up close for sale and no luck

 

[cage99]

Thanks I've been waiting for a used hammer strength to pop up close for sale and no luck

You may have to head to Htown to catch one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one pop up around here.

The only chance I almost had would have been the damaged gyms from hurricanes. Course they’re trying to screw you over! You know how they are down here, they hold out for a padna of theirs or something. Or rake you over the coals on the cost!

Cage