Cheapest place to buy power rack/weights/etc

.ak

So this year I'm thinking of turning one of the rooms into a home gym. By home gym I just mean a weights room of course!

The main reason is I'm sick of queuing for a power rack in my gym. So really I just want to get a power rack for home, and build up a weight collection etc.

Just wondering what would the cheapest way of going about this would be?

JohnnyChimpo

fitness-superstore.co.uk can be pretty OK, even with shipping. customer service is ****e though

testtech05

Powerhousefitness.co.uk did some pretty good bundles of this kind of stuff when I was looking for a power rack!

dor843088

.ak wrote: »

So this year I'm thinking of turning one of the rooms into a home gym. By home gym I just mean a weights room of course!

The main reason is I'm sick of queuing for a power rack in my gym. So really I just want to get a power rack for home, and build up a weight collection etc.

Just wondering what would the cheapest way of going about this would be?

I set up my home gym last year and the cheapest/ best sources were
Power rack - ebay or classified ads
Bar - I got mine on special from strength shop
Weights - classified ads ( €2 per kg is the norm )
Benches - ebay ( got mine from British fitness via parcel motel ) rated up to 300kg and very reasonable imo
Flooring - cow/horse stall matting around €40 per mat most places.

I spent around € 1500 and im set for life with over 300kg of plates.

.ak

Sweet. The heaviest thing I lift is a deadlift of about 120kg so I don't need a huge amount of plates right now, maybe 150kg all together.

What do people make of these sort of half cages? What's the main downside to them? For me if I'm primarily looking at compounds around squats, pushes, and presses they should be okay right?

dor843088

Iv no experience with those but just looking at it you can tell its not the most structurally sound piece of equipment. Id pass personally. Try ebay or classifieds and you will get a proper cage for that money.

.ak

Right you are dor! First result on ebay has twice the load and is cheaper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RYNO-POWER-RACK-OLYMPIC-SQUAT-CAGE-GYM-HEAVY-DUTY-PROFESSIONAL-RACK-PULL-UP-BAR-/121214470221?pt=UK_Strength_Training&var=&hash=item1c38f2084d

Todd Toddington III

strengthandfitness.ie. got a nice sturdy full rack, adjustable bench and 145kg of rubber coated weights including bar for €1000. ring them and you'll get a better deal on the shipping.

Omega28

build your own https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dy5eyMDt3c

.ak

Dylanmc111 wrote: »

build your own https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dy5eyMDt3c

Yeah saw that....

I'm not that handy.

dor843088

Be interested to see your gym when your finished , post a pic.

.ak

Will do. Will probably get that rack and bench in the following month, weights will have to wait until the next pay cheque.

As good as a gym as flyefit Macken st is it's so packed now adays that I am very excited about setting this up. There's a noticeable difference in how effective my sessions are when I get to the gym in a quiet time. When it's busy you're just waiting around, your rest periods turn very long, and you end up leaving the gym like you've made no progress. Or skip sets all together because I don't have time to wait for a bench or rack etc.

So yeah, defo looking forward to having a weights room all to myself! And be far more accurate with progression!

.ak

Sorry, just another question... I noticed this one is the same price but comes with pulley system, handy for lats, tri work, cable crunches etc. Am I missing something? Or are those pulley systems junk?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RYNO-ULTIMATE-POWER-RACK-SQUAT-CAGE-GYM-w-LAT-PULL-DOWN-SEATED-ROW-ARM-CURL/301003927368?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3Da320da39eb634a1ebb1249b2cf599c57%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D20140122125356%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D121214470221&rt=nc

Todd Toddington III

Had one on my previous rack. they're fine for home use imo

Todd Toddington III

But you get what you pay for!!

dor843088

.ak wrote: »

Sorry, just another question... I noticed this one is the same price but comes with pulley system, handy for lats, tri work, cable crunches etc. Am I missing something? Or are those pulley systems junk?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RYNO-ULTIMATE-POWER-RACK-SQUAT-CAGE-GYM-w-LAT-PULL-DOWN-SEATED-ROW-ARM-CURL/301003927368?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3Da320da39eb634a1ebb1249b2cf599c57%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D20140122125356%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D121214470221&rt=nc

Iv had two powertec cages my first had high low pulleys and when I got my second I didnt bother getting it and I dont miss it. Sounds like todd didnt bother buying another one either. I would make a bet you wont use it nearly as much as you think you will and if space is any way tight these stick out a fair bit at the back of your rack when loaded with a plate.

.ak

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

But you get what you pay for!!

In the sense that they don't work?

Yeah just using it for home, and tbh I'm about 5'9 and 70kg... I'm not going to be throwing a load of weight onto this thing nor am I planning on failing and dropping during any sets so I'm not too concerned about breaking the drop bars.

.ak

dor843088 wrote: »

Iv had two powertec cages my first had high low pulleys and when I got my second I didnt bother getting it and I dont miss it. Sounds like todd didnt bother buying another one either. I would make a bet you wont use it nearly as much as you think you will and if space is any way tight these stick out a fair bit at the back of your rack when loaded with a plate.

That's what I was thinking... but if it's the same price why not? I noticed the 'cage' area is tighter on the one with pulley, but aside from that and the fact the max load is over 100kg less, is there any downside?

Ri_Nollaig

.ak wrote: »

So this year I'm thinking of turning one of the rooms into a home gym. By home gym I just mean a weights room of course!

The main reason is I'm sick of queuing for a power rack in my gym. So really I just want to get a power rack for home, and build up a weight collection etc.

Just wondering what would the cheapest way of going about this would be?

Sorry for going off topic, but mind me asking where do you plan on putting your home gym?
As in, a spare room in the house?

Plan on doing the same at mine but the only spare rooms I have are on the 1st floor and I assume it would not be a good idea to have any serious amount of weight dropping on a non-concrete floor, ...or suddenly it might be on the ground floor.

Or will you put it into a shed or garage?
I was considering buying an insulated shed for just this.

.ak

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

Sorry for going off topic, but mind me asking where do you plan on putting your home gym?
As in, a spare room in the house?

Plan on doing the same at mine but the only spare rooms I have are on the 1st floor and I assume it would not be a good idea to have any serious amount of weight dropping on a non-concrete floor, ...or suddenly it might be on the ground floor.

Or will you put it into a shed or garage?
I was considering buying an insulated shed for just this.

I was thinking the same. It's actually going into a spare room on the 4th floor of a Georgian house... I don't do much power lifting so I don't actually plan on dropping any heavy weights. I'll mostly be doing basic compound stuff like squats, bench press, shoulder press, most of the stuff will be going straight back onto the holders.

Only stuff that won't be going back onto the holders is stuff like deadlifts, cleans, jerks etc but even in the gym I never drop the weight, and I don't plan on lifting anything over 150kg for a long time really! That's the same weight as about 2 people, I'm sure the floors are designed to take 2 people!

Todd Toddington III

Get yourself some resistance bands with your rack, I find them as good as the pulleys for what I'm doing (ie getting those few extra pull ups at the end of a set to maximise them gainzzzz). and like a previous poster noted, a simple rack takes up less space. I would invest in some padding to go under your rack too. Whilst you may not intend on flinging weights around, your neighbours and their ceiling below might object to noise and vibrations! I bought some cheap carpet and just trebled it up under the rack to protect the floor, was about 100 euro and is pretty stable under foot

.ak

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

Get yourself some resistance bands with your rack, I find them as good as the pulleys for what I'm doing (ie getting those few extra pull ups at the end of a set to maximise them gainzzzz). and like a previous poster noted, a simple rack takes up less space. I would invest in some padding to go under your rack too. Whilst you may not intend on flinging weights around, your neighbours and their ceiling below might object to noise and vibrations! I bought some cheap carpet and just trebled it up under the rack to protect the floor, was about 100 euro and is pretty stable under foot

Actually I have some res bands that I never use! Good call. You can use them for alt lat pull downs right?

Luckily we own the house so there's nothing below me. I am gonna put down some cheap flooring and then a cow mat over that.


Do you guys bolt your rack into the ground? Do you need to? As I'll be using it for pull ups etc.

Todd Toddington III

and while I'm at it, some plywood as well will help spread the load across the floor joists, it's an old house after all. (can ya tell I was an engineer in a former life??)

.ak

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

and while I'm at it, some plywood as well will help spread the load across the floor joists, it's an old house after all. (can ya tell I was an engineer in a former life??)

So what would you do, cut a bit of plywood just to cover the feet of the rack, or a larger area?

Todd Toddington III

resistance bands for anything you can think of!!! my rig isn't bolted down, it's heavy enough that it remains stable under loads. its good size box iron so is heavy enough on its own

Todd Toddington III

I'd use 2 6ft sheets of 15mm ply, long sides against each other and centre the rack on it. If you have the ends butted against a wall they should stay together without actually joining them. gives a nice big platform to work on too. bit of investment but worth it in long run

.ak

So, I'm gonna buy my rack today, but I'm stuck inbetween these guys:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RYNO-ULTIMATE-POWER-RACK-SQUAT-CAGE-GYM-w-LAT-PULL-DOWN-SEATED-ROW-ARM-CURL-/301003927368?pt=UK_Strength_Training&var=&hash=item46153b6f48

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BodyRip-HEAVY-DUTY-SOLID-POWER-RACK-SQUAT-GYM-CAGE-PULL-DOWN-SEATED-ARM-CURL-/151553623082?pt=UK_Strength_Training&hash=item23494cc42a

The 1st one looks like a better deal, however I'd actually be buying it directly from them so it'd be £219 and their postage is £56 so it works out about €40 more expensive. Is it worth it for the extras? Which frame looks better? Currently I'm leaning towards the 2nd, looks sturdier.

Todd Toddington III

Think you've answered your own question there! now buy it!!! 😊

.ak

Did I?

Todd Toddington III

40 squids cheaper and both same weight loading ..easy decision

.ak

Bought!


Fingers crossed it doesn't turn out to be a dud. Although I think bodyrip equipment is generally okay.