Setting up my home gym

Hey guys

This is my first post on this forum, hope to still get to know everyone. Please excuse the noob questions.

As stated above im currently planning to purchase equipment for my home gym. I'd appreciate any input or advice.

Currently im a student so my budget is limited and ill have to start off with the minimum.

I'm aiming the start off with the following:

1. Half rack: Can be used for both squats and as a bench press rack.
2. Sturdy bench: Will be used for both manual exercises as well as for the bench press using .1.
3. Leg extention/curl machine loaded with free weight plates.
4. Bar and adjustable dumbells with assorted weights.

Of course the items above will be "commercial" equipment that can handle the weight.

Regards
Abrie

I have my own home gym equipment, because I live in the middle of nowhere. Setting up a proper home gym is not going to be cheap, because you will need the equipment, weights and most importantly the space.

Will you train alone or do you have a partner? That's important for two reasons, you need a spotter and if you train alone it's very hard to keep motivated.

If you train alone, you will have to forget about bench press or squats, trust me... I was almost killed by a solo squad session. I sold all my free weight equipment after that and bought a Powertec multi system gym from a forum member and is still using it. Leverage gym equipment are not as effective as free weights, but if you gym alone it's a no brainer.

Why don't you go for a full rack? That way you'll have a pull up bar and possibly a dipping station as well (depends on what model you get)

With respect to the leg extension/curl machine, I don't think this is a must or even recommended: Leg Extension can cause damage to your knee cos of the shear forces and a romanian deadlift does a great job in training your hamstrings.

1, 2 and 4 is a great place to start. What are your gonna do about cardio?

Add a pull-up bar - essential for lats. You can make one yourself cheap - get an offcut piece of 25mm diameter bar, about 1m long. Make two brackets from 50mm square tubing, fix to a solid wall with 6 rawl bolts...

admin wrote: I have my own home gym equipment, because I live in the middle of nowhere. Setting up a proper home gym is not going to be cheap, because you will need the equipment, weights and most importantly the space.

Will you train alone or do you have a partner? That's important for two reasons, you need a spotter and if you train alone it's very hard to keep motivated.

If you train alone, you will have to forget about bench press or squats, trust me... I was almost killed by a solo squad session. I sold all my free weight equipment after that and bought a Powertec multi system gym from a forum member and is still using it. Leverage gym equipment are not as effective as free weights, but if you gym alone it's a no brainer.

Agree with admin. I have a home gym and gym from home. All I really miss is a leg press and maybe a hacksquat. I also train alone as a personal preference and I agree that u cant go really heavy on bench press and squats. This is where I rather opt for more volume with a moderately heavy weight but still enough that I don't stuff myself up. Training to failure is tricky so once again lighter weight helps to fatigue the muscle to make up for some of the lack of total failure exercises. However....I do still find myself with a barbell crushing my chest on the rare occasion

Thanks for the input.

I did look at the multi-stations... its way out of budget.

I'm looking to invest around R10k right now and add to it as I go along.
I have to focus on the bare essentials but also buy those that I can later add on to.

I'd be happy to post a link to the power cage/rack that i'm interested in, however its forbidden as per the rules.

ADMIN: I'm including the equipment descriptions and prices below without any vendor names or links. If I'm in contravention of any rules I'll take it down.

I have the following options:
1.
a.Power Cage with Dip Station and Pull-up Bar R5999.00. Extra Lat attachment is R3000.00 for later addition.
b. Half cage for R4000. Can be used for both squat and bench rack. Extra optional attachments include Lat, pec, and "smith machine", at R3700, R2100, and R4000 respectively.

2. They have some benches that looks to be of commercial grade.
a. A flat bench runs about R2500, and the adjustable R3500.

I think given my current budget limit the flat bench will be more then sufficient for now.

I'm training alone at the moment, thus the reason why I'm looking for a durable rack for the sake of safety.

For cardio ill just do some jogging.

You are welcome to post links to the gym equipment you are interested in, I only flip out when it's links to sites that sell illegal substances like steroids.

What does a 20kg plate cost now? Must be around or over R600 I'm sure. Ridiculous

Sounds about right. I got a sweet deal on my weights: a gym was closing down and I managed to get my hands on their weights. Pity there wasn't much else left

Is there a specific reason you don't want to join a gym, do you stay far from a gym etc? Cos for R10000 you could pay off a good couple years of subscription fees one time. Being a student you can possibly get a discount rate at the gym anyways.

Not sure about Travincal but for me I'm just sick of Virgin Active... Can never gym at the most convenient time for me cos it's always so damn full. I usually have to wait for the squat racks or bench press station.

It's more than R10k to set up your own gym.. Closer to R20k. The way I justify it is if I had to join a gym with fewer members I would end up paying about R1k a month.. So I'll break even sub 2yrs and I intend gyming longer than that