Creating a home gym in a spare bedroom

GazzaL · 08-02-2021 08:37PM

Black Sheep wrote: »

The half rack you linked too first is definitely a better option than the one earlier in this thread. The argument against that design remains that the catcher arms are shallower than on a bigger rack, the actual hooks you're racking the bar in are going to be a pain (like all squat stands) and you've got no pull up bar on the top of the uprights.

The F100 rack is, in my view, a really bad option. It's attraction is that it's a full sized rack for a pirce that seems almost too good to be true. But, you're getting a cheaply made imported rack whose build quality is reflected in the fact that it weighs less than 50kg and has a max load rating of 227kg. Considering it's a full rack, that does not fill me with confidence. Because of the light weight of the rack, and the fact that there's no plate storage on the back of it, if you are doing pull-ups off it and are 85kg or above you might have the interesting experience of feeling the front of the rack go a little light if you get too energetic. For reference, my adjustable bench weighs almost as much as this rack by itself! I've also seen people doing moderately heavy squats outside the front of this type of rack and seen it rock about because of that. Now, if you have a full rack you should squat inside of it, because that's the point of a full rack, but it's still indicative of the instability of the thing due to lightness.

The Blk Box utility rack you linked to is, as you say, a really high quality product. Made in Belfast, westside hole spacing etc. There are other similar products in that price range that you could consider. For me personally, I would actually be as happy to buy a quarter rack from them and pay for a pair of goliath spotter arms, in order to have the smaller footprint at home.

If opt for a full rack over a quarter rack or a half rack you really need to explore why. They are the gold standard of safety and stability in terms of solo training, but a lot of casual trainees just don't need them.

I think one possible argument in favour of a full rack these days is if you have the money to really go all-out and fit things like jammer arms or cable stack attachments to it. That's becoming more commonly available.

Safety and stability would be the two reasons for going for a full rack. I'm not going to be lifting super heavy but I will be training on my own and want to be able to push my limits with confidence. When you look at the price/benefit vs the quarter rack with spotting arms, I feel like it's probably a better long-term investment for the sake of a few hundred euro.

Dtp1979 · 08-02-2021 08:38PM

GazzaL wrote: »

Which one?

The f100

Black Sheep · 08-02-2021 08:54PM

GazzaL wrote: »

Safety and stability would be the two reasons for going for a full rack. I'm not going to be lifting super heavy but I will be training on my own and want to be able to push my limits with confidence. When you look at the price/benefit vs the quarter rack with spotting arms, I feel like it's probably a better long-term investment for the sake of a few hundred euro.

Yes to all of this... But you only get the safety and stability when the build quality and weight of the full rack is adequate.

The 50kg weight is a major issue with the F100 but the catcher arms are also dreadful. If you lower a bar in a controlled fashion to them (as you always should try to, in fairness) they will take a decent load but if you did have to drop a loaded bar on them then they'll bend like the thin pipes that they are. I've seen this happen because I've done it :pac: Worth mentioning that the F100 we're talking about goes under other names when sold by other companies, sometimes with cosmetic differences, but seems to the same pattern of imported chinese made rack.

GazzaL · 08-02-2021 08:56PM

Black Sheep wrote: »

Yes to all of this... But you only get the safety and stability when the build quality and weight of the full rack is adequate.

The 50kg weight is a major issue with the F100 but the catcher arms are also dreadful. If you lower a bar in a controlled fashion to them (as you always should try to, in fairness) they will take a decent load but if you did have to drop a loaded bar on them then they'll bend like the thin pipes that they are. I've seen this happen because I've done it :pac: Worth mentioning that the F100 we're talking about goes under other names when sold by other companies, sometimes with cosmetic differences, but seems to the same pattern of imported chinese made rack.

Yeah, that makes sense, I had a proper look at the spec there. You get what you pay for.

caviardreams · 08-02-2021 09:05PM

Just got a notification this afternoon that the utility bar is in stock and just halfway through putting things in my basket and it's sold out again! :mad:

Dtp1979 · 08-02-2021 09:07PM

GazzaL wrote: »

Yeah, that makes sense, I had a proper look at the spec there. You get what you pay for.

I personally can’t fault the f100. When I find a permanent home for it I’ll be bolting it down for sure

GazzaL · 08-02-2021 09:08PM

caviardreams wrote: »

Just got a notification this afternoon that the utility bar is in stock and just halfway through putting things in my basket and it's sold out again! :mad:

I was just going to ask if the Belfast bar or similar is overkill if you're not doing olympic lifts and would it be better to go for the Utility bar or similar. That rules out the Utility bar anyway! :pac:

GazzaL · 08-02-2021 09:11PM

There's a place in Hamburg that has a decent selection of products. I'd say quite a lot comes from the Far East given the lack of stock at the moment, but prices are decent. It'd be interesting to know what their shipping costs are like.

https://www.simpleproducts.de/

caviardreams · 08-02-2021 09:30PM

GazzaL wrote: »

There's a place in Hamburg that has a decent selection of products. I'd say quite a lot comes from the Far East given the lack of stock at the moment, but prices are decent. It'd be interesting to know what their shipping costs are like.

https://www.simpleproducts.de/

Lots of stuff out of stock it seems :-( The shipping at BLK Box is pricier than I thought! €125 for the quarter rack, bar and 2 mats

GazzaL · 08-02-2021 09:32PM

caviardreams wrote: »

Lots of stuff out of stock it seems :-( The shipping at BLK Box is pricier than I thought! €125 for the quarter rack, bar and 2 mats

Yeah, they charge well for shipping unless you go big!

Black Sheep · 08-02-2021 10:27PM

caviardreams wrote: »

Lots of stuff out of stock it seems :-( The shipping at BLK Box is pricier than I thought! €125 for the quarter rack, bar and 2 mats

Yikes, that’s hefty.

You could also look at Strength Shop if they restock bars and had a rack you liked. Ex vat prices, you’d pay on way however. The shipping is free / negligible courier fee.

Black Sheep · 09-02-2021 10:24AM

GazzaL wrote: »

There's a place in Hamburg that has a decent selection of products. I'd say quite a lot comes from the Far East given the lack of stock at the moment, but prices are decent. It'd be interesting to know what their shipping costs are like.

https://www.simpleproducts.de/

I've heard positive reviews about their stuff before. Based on the price almost all of it is imported, but that's not bad as long as you understand what you're getting and check the specs.

I was really interested in seeing what shipping is to Ireland for a decent sized order, but I've just clicked about ten things and they're all out of stock so I gave up. If anyone else finds out what shipping would be on a 200-300 euro order let me know. I wouldn't mind getting a bow bar and swiss bar if it wasn't extortionate.

Their barbells have some great spec, by the way.

Dtp1979 · 19-05-2021 12:04AM

Black Sheep wrote: »

Yes to all of this... But you only get the safety and stability when the build quality and weight of the full rack is adequate.

The 50kg weight is a major issue with the F100 but the catcher arms are also dreadful. If you lower a bar in a controlled fashion to them (as you always should try to, in fairness) they will take a decent load but if you did have to drop a loaded bar on them then they'll bend like the thin pipes that they are. I've seen this happen because I've done it :pac: Worth mentioning that the F100 we're talking about goes under other names when sold by other companies, sometimes with cosmetic differences, but seems to the same pattern of imported chinese made rack.

Just saw coop on garagegymreviews drop 320kg from shoulder height and the safety’s barely bent. This was a crappier version of the one mentioned above

Black Sheep · 19-05-2021 08:53PM

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Just saw coop on garagegymreviews drop 320kg from shoulder height and the safety’s barely bent. This was a crappier version of the one mentioned above

And yet I have bent pipe safeties dumping far less? Don’t know what to say really.

Dtp1979 · 19-05-2021 09:28PM

Black Sheep wrote: »

And yet I have bent pipe safeties dumping far less? Don’t know what to say really.

God I’m not calling you a liar. Maybe they upgraded the safety’s to solid bar since you got your rack. I know my rack is easily 10 years old and the bars are solid

Dtp1979 · 19-05-2021 09:30PM

Assuming this is the rack or similar
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vV4Ze1z-HGM

Black Sheep · 19-05-2021 09:56PM

Dtp1979 wrote: »

God I’m not calling you a liar. Maybe they upgraded the safety’s to solid bar since you got your rack. I know my rack is easily 10 years old and the bars are solid

I didn’t take it that way, don’t worry! Actually I think the issue might be QC. Maybe it’s not binary - the racks are either good or bad... Maybe some will be good, some won’t, at that price point.

I looked at the Coop video and read some of the comments and there are multiple people now convinced their racks are bomb proof. My view would be Coop demonstrated his rack is good (although bent safeties are bent safeties), but the point with cheap imported stuff is you don’t know when it is a lemon. The safeties in the rack I’m talking about buckled when about 140kg was bailed onto them. Given the diameter of the pipes and price of the product not sure I would have expected more.

new2tri19 · 23-05-2021 10:52PM

http://www.adverts.ie/23362442

Any opinions on that ? My only concern would be of you failed a squat the weight might cause that whole thing to topple forward , unless you have weights on back of it . But I see these similar design on multiple websites .

Black Sheep · 24-05-2021 12:26PM

new2tri19 wrote: »

http://www.adverts.ie/23362442

Any opinions on that ? My only concern would be of you failed a squat the weight might cause that whole thing to topple forward , unless you have weights on back of it . But I see these similar design on multiple websites .

This is a quarter rack design and they're quite common.

I had a galvanised one in my back garden for a while.

It doesn't explicitly say it on the Adverts.ie page above, but when these are fabricated in Ireland then they're usually 50kg+.

That weight, coupled with the footprint of the base, actually makes them pretty stable.

You wouldn't want to kip with them or deliberately dump a bar on the very edge of the spotter arms, but for general use I would be confident enough in them.

For reference, Blk Box rates their quarter rack squat stands to 300kg.

new2tri19 · 24-05-2021 01:25PM

Black Sheep wrote: »

This is a quarter rack design and they're quite common.

I had a galvanised one in my back garden for a while.

It doesn't explicitly say it on the Adverts.ie page above, but when these are fabricated in Ireland then they're usually 50kg+.

That weight, coupled with the footprint of the base, actually makes them pretty stable.

You wouldn't want to kip with them or deliberately dump a bar on the very edge of the spotter arms, but for general use I would be confident enough in them.

For reference, Blk Box rates their quarter rack squat stands to 300kg.

Thanks good info , I've never squatted inside a rack before I suppose it takes a bit of getting used to , my consideration is are the spotter arms too short to hit if you fail but I suppose that most likely point of failure is at the bottom of the squat so you can just lean forward into the rack and let the bar onto the spotter arms.
It'll likely never see more than 150kg resting on spotter arms unless someone else is working out in my shed .

Dtp1979 · 24-05-2021 01:35PM

new2tri19 wrote: »

Thanks good info , I've never squatted inside a rack before I suppose it takes a bit of getting used to , my consideration is are the spotter arms too short to hit if you fail but I suppose that most likely point of failure is at the bottom of the squat so you can just lean forward into the rack and let the bar onto the spotter arms.
It'll likely never see more than 150kg resting on spotter arms unless someone else is working out in my shed .

You’ll probably look back on your post in a couple of years after squatting 170kg and smile

. Yes leaning forward at the bottom is the usual failure way but recently enough I nearly had the bar slip off my shoulders from a standing position. It’s important not to set the safeties too low either. Omar isuf did a good video on this a while back. It’d also be no harm to bolt the rack down. You’d see some crazy videos on YouTube of quarter racks nearly beheading people when it goes badly wrong

Dtp1979 · 24-05-2021 01:36PM

I think this is the video. Not certain
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=423Ew_DQC40

Black Sheep · 24-05-2021 02:47PM

I have always bailed out of a failed back squat by going forwards, kind of hopping out and letting the bar roll down off my back onto the pins. Ideally as gently as possible. I started doing it that may years ago because we were all training with squat stands and bumpers, in a CF box setting, the norm wasn't to squat in a full rack. You don't want to do it with a spotter behind you obviously!

I agree completely that the correct pin height is the main thing. If you were to fail at the bottom of your squat you should be able to just dip and little lower and let the bar rest on the pins. If you fail higher up, you go back down to the pins. I'd be reluctant to bow forwards or duck my head forwards personally, but to each their own.

As far as using catcher arms goes: I was initially paranoid about how long or short they are, but you do get used to them eventually.

Creating a home gym in a spare bedroom

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