• Keep up to date with Ausbb via Twitter and Facebook. Please add us!
  • Join the Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding forum

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

    The Ausbb - Australian BodyBuilding forum is dedicated to no nonsense muscle and strength building. If you need advice that works, you have come to the right place. This forum focuses on building strength and muscle using the basics. You will also find that the Ausbb- Australian Bodybuilding Forum stresses encouragement and respect. Trolls and name calling are not allowed here. No matter what your personal goals are, you will be given effective advice that produces results.

    Please consider registering. It takes 30 seconds, and will allow you to get the most out of the forum.

Advice on a new home gym

K

Korbah

Guest
Hi all,


Been lurking here for a while and have read through a lot of the suggestion threads regarding what to get.

I'm looking to get a home gym as my work makes it difficult to get to a gym at a reasonable hour (I work ~120hrs a fortnight on average - if I'm not rostered weekends...if I am then it's more). I'm looking to get a solid setup to essentially help me to achieve and maintain a reasonable degree of fitness - I will realistically aim for 2 workout sessions a week (which is what I managed last year).

My housemate of last year had a power rack and bench that we both used and now that he's moved out I've decided to fill the void with my own kit. It was a great introduction to doing weightlifting for fitness and I really enjoyed it.

Given I'm 28 and considering the work I do, I feel it's important to get into an achievable workout routine for long-term fitness and with my experiences last year, the convenience of a home gym cannot be beaten. It'd be easy to let things slide and lose fitness into my 30's and with my mate's gear gone and me nursing a rib fracture I figure I better start planning to get my own setup before things go on too long.

Based on the thoughts posted on this forum I'm considering the following from gymdirect (basically a modified version of their package 7 deal):

- MMPR commercial rack
- ASFID super bench with leg extension
- MM 600kg thrust bar
- 175kg rubber oly weights
- Oly curl bar
- 3xstrength bands (Too puny to do chin-ups lol.....need help)
- Dip attachment
- 6m^2 rubber flooring
- shipping to gold coast

I was looking at the cheaper rack initially but when comparing it to the commercial rack it seems that the commercial has better hook options to easily adjust. I'll be benching as well as squatting within the cage and I don't want to spend lots of time mucking around adjusting a clumsy cage between exercises. The Boss also wants a tidy gym so the commercial rack with built in storage seems a better choice.

The bench needs to have wheels so I can pull it in and out easily for bench - the leg extension is purely because I think it's a great exercise to train before I go on a ski trip (I love skiing and try to go yearly which incidentally is how I broke my ribs.....goddamn you and your RUBBISH snow Lake Tahoe!). The bands are because I'm still not strong enough to do more than 2-3 chinups/pullups lol.

My programme last year was squats, bench, seated row (with pulley), lat pulldowns, curls with ezy bar, deads and overhead presses. Given the proposed equipment I'd swap the seated rows with bent rows, the lat pulldowns with band assisted pullups.

So there you go - a pretty large investment and ideally I'd like to make it leaner if I could but I don't want to be re-buying gear later because it's not good enough or annoys me. I want quick, effective and smooth workouts to fit in my busy routine and don't want to be wrestling with equipment to do it.

Please give any tips or thoughts. Perhaps there's a better set of gear from somewhere else that would suit better?

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Welcome Korbah,
Excellent choice with the rack and pack; you will be very happy with the purchase
 
Get the commercial bench instead of the one youve listed and with the plates get the following config instead of what they offer
- 2x1.25, 2x2.5, 2x5, 2x10, the make up the rest with 20s

Just be aware that the plates they offer are smaller than regulation so if you want to do deadlifts from proper height you will have to do rack pulls or raise the plates on some mats/wooden blocks
 
Does anyone know if the commercial flat bench padded top is wider than the asfid bench or are they pretty similar?
 
I will also add if I was doing my home gym from scratch again i would get the plate combinations hamburg suggested but get better quality plates from the start.
 
Better quality plates? I won't be doing competition lifting or anything - what difference will fancier plates have? What should I be looking at and how much more will it set me back?
 
Top