Got the green light to build a small garage gym!

If you are in the USA I've seen power racks, weights, treadmills, quite a few times just given away for free or selling for pretty cheap on craigslist.
 
Found someone selling a gym worth of equipment on craigslist. Probably a gym that was closed down years ago and he's trying to get rid of everything. Over the phone he quoted me at 60 cents per pound of weight. Will try to haggle down to 50 cents. Plan to bring my scale and weigh the plates so I can choose the most accurate ones. I may be able to pick up all my plates at one crack. He even said he has dumbbells up to 180#. If he can sell me dumbbells for 25 cent a pound I may be tempted to purchase a large amount.... If he has some decent bars I may pick one up just have a cheap bar to mess with. You neer know though they may have ivanko bars, texas power bar there. Plan to check it out tomorrow. Depends on what he got I don't mind picking up a bench and some other random stuff

Also found a shop 5 miles away that sell 4x6 stall mats. A friend has a basic squat rack that he could sell to me for probably like $50-100. Tempting vs spending $300 for a titan rack. I may have a decent setup by the end of the year!
 
If u can, always spend the extra and get better equipment
 
Picked up some plates off craigslist for 50 cents a pound. Some are slightly rusted but should clean up well. Even weighed them first and all are pretty much the matching weight or slightly higher. I think 2 of the 45s I got are a little over 46#. Got 375# worth of plates so far!

45s x6
25s x2
10s x 4
5s x 2
2.5s x 2
 
Update. Decided to be cheap and bought this bar today. Came out to $202 shipped.
https://www.strengthshopusa.com/strength-shop-bastard-power-bar.html

The only cons I've read compared to a rogue power ohio bar or texas power bar is that it can be a little whippy with heavier weight. Not a issue with me since I'm weak AF now. Some reviews say knurling is even better than rogues bar. The only uncertainty is the coating. Almost pulled the trigger on a boneyard rogue power ohio bar, but after taxes and shipping it would be almost $290 and it wasn't included in the Buy 5 Ship for $5 blackfriday deal they got going now. That extra $90 can now go towards a bench.
 
Also plan to recondition all the plates. At the very least get all the rust away, but debating if I want to paint it or not. Anyone here every paint their own plates? My concern is it chipping after a while especially when deadlifting and stacking/unstacking plates over and over.
 
I just built a garage gym a few months ago. I bought these bumper plates from WalMart of all places actually. I wanted bumper plates, and after doing a lot of digging online, I found this. It’s 260lbs of plates for $300. It’s the best pound/dollar you can find for bumper plates. Also, if there is a WalMart close to you, you can pick it up in store and avoid the shipping cost.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Diamond-...MI48-LnZTi3gIVyR6tBh04VgQ6EAQYASABEgIN0PD_BwE
 
I don't have bumper plates. I use two 4x4s and one 2x4 on each side to raise the bar so that 45s just clear the floor. I don't drop the bar so this works fine.
 
More blackfriday week deals. Since benching was my best lift I decided to just buy a good flat bench so got the RepFitness FB5000. Shipping is ridiculous, but still decent price compared to some other pro benches. Battle ropes are on sale so got a 50 foot one. $200 shipped for both. More then I wanted to spend, but it's all good.
 
Nice!

Love home gyms, I'm definitely going to do one when I get my own home. Long-term wise it's much better than a regular gym. Stuff on classifieds are your friend. Friends and colleagues of mine who've gone down this route have gotten steals off them.

I can do all the squat rack curls I want without re-percussion
 
j123 said:
Nice!

Love home gyms, I'm definitely going to do one when I get my own home. Long-term wise it's much better than a regular gym. Stuff on classifieds are your friend. Friends and colleagues of mine who've gone down this route have gotten steals off them.

I can do all the squat rack curls I want without re-percussion
Click to expand...
Yup, you should do it when you can! I haven't been so excited about training for a long time. Going through this process is lighting up that fire again.
 
So I think I have plans on what I want to do about the flooring. I plan to make my platform 12' wide and 6' long. In addition I plan to add either another 6" or 12" behind the platform as an extension to give me more usable space in front of my rack and the larger empty area. I will be using 2x6x12 lumber that I will just lay down. It would be so much easier to just make a 12x8 platform, but I'm trying to keep as much room for the otherside of the garage since we still plan to park 1 car in the garage and will eventually get a 7-8 seater SUV. I don't want the platform to be a tripping hazzard for the wife and kids.

1) I plan to put down outdoor carpet first and stick it down with 2 sided carpet tape. It will be give a little extra padding, muffle the sound a little more and protect the plywood from moisture.

2) Next will be my 1st layer of 1/2" plywood. I plan to have them cut 3x6' x4 pieces

3) Then 2nd layer of plywood will be 3/4". I plan to do 6x6' x2 pieces over it. May use a little adhesive or double sided carpet tape and then drill down with some 1" screws.

4) Finally I will top it off with 3/4" 4x6' stall mats x3.

Here is a visual of the layout (excluding the back extended area and the carpet layer)
homegym flooring layout.jpg

Overall it will be slightly over 2" thick. If I want to bolt down my rack I could use 1 3/4" screws. I'm still unsure if I want to put the thicker plywood down first or as the second layer and I have no clue if the plywood crossing is even optimal. I just want to lay the plywood whatever is best to keep the platform as stable as possible and protect my floors. I would hate to creat this platform for it to start getting wobbly. I know nothing about this kind of stuff so any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Just purchased my power rack and high/low pulley system you can attach. Things are coming along and should be about $1100 initial investment excluding the treadmill!
 
boingyman said:
Overall it will be slightly over 2" thick. If I want to bolt down my rack I could use 1 3/4" screws. I'm still unsure if I want to put the thicker plywood down first or as the second layer and I have no clue if the plywood crossing is even optimal. I just want to lay the plywood whatever is best to keep the platform as stable as possible and protect my floors. I would hate to creat this platform for it to start getting wobbly. I know nothing about this kind of stuff so any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I'm interested in seeing how this works out for you. I've got stable mats down, and I'd like to understand whether it's worthwhile to get plywood underneath.
 
Look second hand. You can get it for a quarter of a price.

I got a decent home gym from over the years. Squat rack, bench, power station plenty of weights.

Just keep an eye out. I remember i was at a thrift store and they had weights there Olympic size. I grabbdd a bunch of 45 lbs plates and offeres up $20... They accepted.

Second hand is the way to go if you have a budget.
 
colby25 said:
Look second hand. You can get it for a quarter of a price.

I got a decent home gym from over the years. Squat rack, bench, power station plenty of weights.

Just keep an eye out. I remember i was at a thrift store and they had weights there Olympic size. I grabbdd a bunch of 45 lbs plates and offeres up $20... They accepted.

Second hand is the way to go if you have a budget.
Click to expand...

I know man. Secondhand can get you some crazy steals. Heck I could have gotten so many stuff for free or dirt cheap if I decided I wanted a home gym years ago. It just takes patience. Part of me wanted to splurge more though. I almost did with all the Rogue deals happening this entire weekend I could have easily spend $1-2k on new plates and a rogue ss ohio power bar.
 
Cant help with painting plates as i went rubber coated ones
 
Update. I got most of my equipment sitting in the garage. Won’t have time to do much with it until the end of the year or even early next year. I spent the past few days putting my wife’s treadmill together. Decided to just do 8x7 platform with 2 layers of 3/4” plywood on bottom and 3/4” stall mats on top. Back of stall mats towards the wall is 1x8 plywood. Bought an extra stall mat in case I want to make it 12 ft wide. Haven’t screwed it in yet though. I also plan to soak all my plates and scrub the rust off. I’m hoping by mid Jan I will be ready to start using it all.
1A219090-DB85-414E-9C03-D9E53982DDD2.jpeg
 
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