Home gym equipment

[11111]

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. 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 . . .
use the search engine to find it. 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
if anybody is interested. I also personally photographed in Florida (but did not print) 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.

Could go on and on and on but don't want to bore everybody. Hit me up if you want to see more.
I grabbed a handful of magazines, not all, but a good enough selection to keep some people
occupied.

Always enjoy your posts on here Alfresco

 

[CarnitaShreds]

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. 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 . . .
use the search engine to find it. 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
if anybody is interested. I also personally photographed in Florida (but did not print) 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.

Could go on and on and on but don't want to bore everybody. Hit me up if you want to see more.
I grabbed a handful of magazines, not all, but a good enough selection to keep some people
occupied.

Thank you so much for this reply. It’s a multitude of bodybuilding history and technical knowledge that is fascinating

 

[CarnitaShreds]

Fresco- would he make you one now for those same prices?

 

[Rot-Iron66]

I love my garage gym, but when older and downsized, I will get a "do it all" type of machine and maybe some Powerblock type dumbbells.

 

[alfresco]

Fresco- would he make you one now for those same prices?

I'm sure he could

My gym reopened before I was able to get a quote from him. It would cost a bunch
I am sure to duplicate all of what I had at that point in time. So much of the standard
stuff is / was out of stock and the custom stuff was just that; custom and very
costly to replicate if it even could be duplicated. For anything even close the quality
sucked, has really gone downhill.

Funny story, if it wasn't so sad, about about revisiting my last 'garage gym' about
a month ago. Just unbelievable. All the gyms were closed and I was desperate to
find a place to work out so I sought out one of my partners, the one who had
everything in his garage. I still had the key. It had been over twenty years and it
did not end well for me. When I get a chance, I will tell the story.

I also have some old ads for some equipment I once owned. Will post fotos when I
get a chance with my comments. Memory lane for sure.

 

[BigNJ]

Bowflex workouts just don't feel right. The push pull movements feel very odd and unnatural. They don't even come close to cables and free weights.

 

[Cv215]

Ive really enjoyed this thread.

 

[mpjuice]

Bowflex workouts just don't feel right. The push pull movements feel very odd and unnatural. They don't even come close to cables and free weights.

The bowflec revolution is very similar to cables, the load is pretty linear. This is my progress so far using the Bowflex. Only started working out in January after a long hiatus.

 

[mpjuice]

But the staple of my workouts are all barbell, squat row, bench etc. I would definitely get a bench/barbell (before getting a Bowflex) especially one that doubles as a leg extension leg curl preacher curl.

 

[Wynn]

NÜOBELL Adjustable Dumbbells Review: The Powerblock Killer?

 

[333_pharma]

i made my ghetto gym during the quarantine with a couple bags of cement, different size aluminum cans. just while they opened the gym. they worked pretty good, they are pretty heavy tho so they helped you just gotta get creative

 

[PanterA101]

I have a power rack and 3 barbells. Dip/pull-up bars. I can do it all, and I have for over 2yrs now.

 

[Wynn]

The 10 Home Gym Essentials According to Coop

 

[Wynn]

GYM EQUIPMENT Is About To Get WAY More EXPENSIVE!

 

[maldorf]

GYM EQUIPMENT Is About To Get WAY More EXPENSIVE!

The cost of a bunch of raw materials has gone up bad. Lumber is really bad now. The cost of building a new home now is about 25% more than before covid. Its insane. We are wanting to build another home but in no hurry now because of that.

Many electronic goods are sold out because of shortages. Its a great time to sell, bad to buy.

 

[cage99]

I’ve had good luck with Powertec Fitness equipment. Built my home gym back in 2006 with many pieces from Powertec. They have great warranty’s and stand by them too.

Cages