Home gym; cable or fixed motion?

[Ken Sington]

Later on this year I will be making the jump from urban living where there is a gym within a 5 minute walk to rural living where the nearest gym is a 30 minute drive away. Man maths says I can set up a home gym paid for by the saving on membership fees and fuel. I already have some free weights so just need a bench to go with those, but for heavier stuff as I won't have a spotter, I am thinking of some kind of multigym set up. Don't know whether to go for a cable machine or fixed motion though? What would be better?

[BenM77]

Hi mate, what exercises are you looking to use machines for in particular ?

If you mainly do weight training then a power cage + bench and some oly weights would be a good way to go, I have never used a spotter and have only had to do the roll of shame a couple of times

[Mojooo]

You shouldnt need a spotter IMO - I havent and I have failed a couple of times, you just need to know what to do if it goes tits up and not try and lift too much.

[ApexJimi]

Bench

Squat rack

Olympic bar

Olympic plates

Good range of DB's

Dipping station

Pull up bar.

Job done for starters


As for the spotter thing - forget about it. You shouldn't consistently need a spotter, and if you do, the weight is too heavy for you.

[Hoofy]

Ex-Frankeh bought some kit that had those bars for when you bench pressed or squatted and failed. Cannot think what they are called. But if you failed a bench press, you just had to do the Roll of Shame.

PS What is man maths? Is it maths done by a person who wears a mantyhose and carries their stuff in a man bag? And tucks their skinny cuffed trousers into their military boots?

[amir_j]

Ken Sington said:

I already have some free weights so just need a bench to go with those, but for heavier stuff as I won't have a spotter,

Get a power rack with built in Dip bars and pull up bar. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Power_Rack.JPG

[LordGrover]

If your location is as your profile it won't be much use, but I have two 'spare' benches I'd like to get rid of. A CF430 adjustable and a CF302.
Power rack/cage is the way forward. You'll get the most out of an olympic bar and plates.

[anonymous-user]

amir_j said:

Get a power rack with built in Dip bars and pull up bar. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Power_Rack.JPG

Thats the rack I've got at home, excellent bit of kit (when I get the time to use it), you can see the dip attachments just behind it.

[Ken Sington]

Hoofy said:

PS What is man maths? Is it maths done by a person who wears a mantyhose and carries their stuff in a man bag? And tucks their skinny cuffed trousers into their military boots?

You're not married are you! Man maths is an equation used by man to justify expenditure on something that woman feels is not justified when she could be spending the money on furniture, curtains etc.

Strictly speaking, I could get away with only needing a bench. However, taking into account the following equation:

Man maths + new shiny thing + creation of woman excluded zone = want

[Hoofy]

Ken Sington said:

You're not married are you! Man maths is an equation used by man to justify expenditure on something that woman feels is not justified when she could be spending the money on furniture, curtains etc.

Strictly speaking, I could get away with only needing a bench. However, taking into account the following equation:

Man maths + new shiny thing + creation of woman excluded zone = want

Ah! That makes sense. Just never seen "man maths" until recently.

[BenM77]

Ken Sington said:

Hoofy said:

PS What is man maths? Is it maths done by a person who wears a mantyhose and carries their stuff in a man bag? And tucks their skinny cuffed trousers into their military boots?

You're not married are you! Man maths is an equation used by man to justify expenditure on something that woman feels is not justified when she could be spending the money on furniture, curtains etc.

Strictly speaking, I could get away with only needing a bench. However, taking into account the following equation:

Man maths + new shiny thing + creation of woman excluded zone = want

Man maths, very important in a marriage

Do you do heavy squats at the moment? If so then you will need a rack or cage.

The best thing to do is work out what you will miss the most, I wouldn't get a multi-gym unless it was powertec. The York and weider ones are crap IMO.

[mikebradford]

i have a home gym, and much prefer free weights, i now have the bodymax cf475 power rack with the lat pull down stack, ive also got a commercial leg press, lots of hex dumbells concept 2 rower, so can do just about every body part, without a spotter

ive also got pics of my old equipment which served a purpose but is in no way as good as the power rack


had for years and served a purpose


was ok for bench press but to low to use as a squat stand, without to much fear!


internet pic as i cant find my actual pics of my gym set up
but its a brilliant bit of kit, and would recommend

[bobmcgod]

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf375-...

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-cf330-...

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-145kg-...

Lots of win.

[LordGrover]

I have the CF475 similar to above which is great, plus CF302 flat bench and rubberised plates. Couldn't get on with the fancy bench and am trying to get rid of it. The simpler and better quality you can justify is recommended. Fancy attachments and features look great in the catalogue but so long as you can squat, dead, bench, OHP and pullup in safety anything else is a bonus, IMHO.

ETA: Photo of mine and others here: click.

Edited by LordGrover on Monday 26th March 08:20

[eztiger]

This appeals greatly to me..and I keep coming back round to it every few months. But I have some blockers / concerns :

- Using the garage means the car(s) don't go in there. And I like having them in there.

- Using the garage means it gets cold. And I'm a wimp. Though I can MTFU I suppose (with a woolly hat). There are also spiders but that's a different problem :P

- I do have two spare rooms I could pick and choose to use..but they're upstairs and I have concerns about sticking this lot and a bunch of weights up there. Even if it's fine at any point in time am I going to end up with bowed floors over the period of a decade?

If the answer to the last one is 'don't be daft' then it would be game on tomorrow. But it makes me nervous

This is in a generic new build as well so not a half decently constructed castle. Any thoughts?

[BenM77]

eztiger said:

This appeals greatly to me..and I keep coming back round to it every few months. But I have some blockers / concerns :

- Using the garage means the car(s) don't go in there. And I like having them in there.

- Using the garage means it gets cold. And I'm a wimp. Though I can MTFU I suppose (with a woolly hat). There are also spiders but that's a different problem :P

- I do have two spare rooms I could pick and choose to use..but they're upstairs and I have concerns about sticking this lot and a bunch of weights up there. Even if it's fine at any point in time am I going to end up with bowed floors over the period of a decade?

If the answer to the last one is 'don't be daft' then it would be game on tomorrow. But it makes me nervous

This is in a generic new build as well so not a half decently constructed castle. Any thoughts?

It depends what kit you need and how much weight, I have had a bench in an upstairs bedroom with 100kg weight no problem. Had a running m/c up there aswell. I now train in the conservatory which works well.

I have had the gym setup in the garage before and it is hard to get motivated in the cold, I say go for the bedroom if you ant to train at home. What kit would you need to leave the gym ?

[eztiger]

Pretty much as above. Power rack (with pull up and preferably cable pulley for best flexibility), bench, bar plus some weights and maybe some dumbbells on the side. That would do me fine - I could literally just make a shopping list out of the above posts.

Figure on 100kg for the rack + bench.

I'm ~75kg now but I've been out the loop with injury for a while. Should be easy to get back up to my previsou ~80-85kg once training and future proofing maybe a bit more though I'm not interested in going super big.

Plus call it 150kg of weight in use at one time. The rest would be stored around the room so easing the load.

I figure 350-400kg (tops) of load...reasonable or are my numbers mental?

Again this all sounds a lot for a room though probably not far off an upstairs bath tub filled with water + a fatty. But then that would be spread over the footprint of the tub and I don't know if house builders do anything special with regards to support for bathrooms as a result..?

I signed up for a cheap local gym a few months back to start getting back into the swing of things, but I'm just not going. Work circumstances make going there during weekdays difficult to make routine. Although I concede I'm probably looking for an easy out. Hard to do when it's in a room 1 minute away...

[BenM77]

I don't think weight will be a problem but what about height and width ?

Cages are quite tall and oly bars are 7' so you need quite a big room !

[eztiger]

It's a double bedroom so should be ok. Or at least my quick squint at a measuring tape says so. I should probably do a more thorough measure up

[BenM77]

eztiger said:

It's a double bedroom so should be ok. Or at least my quick squint at a measuring tape says so. I should probably do a more thorough measure up

I understand about things getting in the way like work/family. If you had some kit at home then even if you can't do a full workout you might push yourself to do some deadlifts or bench etc . 20 mins before a shower is better than no training at all