How to Build a Home Gym: Gym Equipment Buyer's Guide (Blog)

[mjh]

Use this thread to discuss today's article from the stronglifts blog:

How to Build a Home Gym: A Buyer’s Guide to Gym Equipment

[mjh]

My workout partner and I often talk about one day having a shared home gym in one of our homes (we need the homes before we think about the gym, though!).

There are some things I'd miss about going to a commercial gym:

• the act of getting ready and going to the gym can be good for getting focused
• the wide range of equipment that I hardly ever use, but can have a play on if I so choose
• the possibility of meeting like minded people
• the possibility of witnessing impressive lifts

But, I'd say given the choice I'd like my own garage gym. I've suggested to some friends that in summer time, instead of afternoon drinking sessions we can have outdoor lifting sessions, or ad hoc strongman comps, followed by a huge BBQ feast.

[muddy]

My $0.02 is I don't get how the bar classification was done. It doesn't distinguish why the reader is buying a barbell in the first place. Just powerlifting? O-lifting?

If o-lifting, there is no way EFS - as much as i love their other gear - has a bar that is top tier. From a mechanical perspective, their bars use end screws, which are not what you want for o-lifting. Aesthetically, EFS bars are very rust prone. They also have no whip to speak of.

Ironwoody seems on the same level to me as muscle driver or rogue. Of the three, I would put ironwoody in last place, though I confess this is based on aesthetics and knurl preference rather than any hard data. The whip on the muscle driver bar is imho far superior to the ironwoody bar, but how exactly do you quantify that? They are all rated the same in terms of load.

I don't own or use the other bars listed, so I can't comment on those. But if someone is willing to spend $300USD on a new bar, rogue or muscle driver (pendlay) would be very hard to beat imho.

[mutt]

Barbells aren't a requirement, but are a really nice to have.

I'm a fan of http://www.powerblock.com/

[lovestolift]

A useful explanation of how barbells are manufactured, and how they are rated (bar strength measurements).
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/60_07_Where_Barbells.pdf

[guru]

I'm again acting as a proof reader here & it is quite late now, but I spotted a minor error in the article. I t says -

Width x Depth. 32 square feet (10²m).

Now I think 10m² is a correct space requirement, but it does not translate to 32 sq. feet. The equivalent sq. feet are about 108.

[Mehdi]

I'm again acting as a proof reader here & it is quite late now, but I spotted a minor error in the article. I t says -

Width x Depth. 32 square feet (10²m).

Now I think 10m² is a correct space requirement, but it does not translate to 32 sq. feet. The equivalent sq. feet are about 108.

You're right, made a mistake with the conversion.

http://www.metricamerica.com/convert%20 ... 20feet.htm

Fixed the typo, thanks!

[JorickDD]

Another typo: 10²m should be 10m²

And the article says:2 square feet (60² cm) . This should be 1858cm² (or 0,2m²)

You can also use google for conversions e.g. '2 square feet to square cm'

[Mehdi]

Fixed. Thanks!