Home Gym-ers: Check in!

[Zanovar]

My kettler stroker is crap at 250.Wtf sounds like a porn film.Should of splashed the cash and got a concept 2?i think thats what its called.

 

[Zanovar]

I have a decent exercise bike and weight bench.prefer cycling in the fresh air though.

 

[Humpy]

Have had a similar gym to OP's plan that's been used a few times a week for nearly a decade.

Powerline rack with the cable attachment, Body Solid bench, Cap OB-86b barbell, full set of iron plates plus a set of bumper plates and a couple hundred lbs of 1" plates for the cable attachment. 10 to 50 lb rubber hex dumbells. A couple of plyo boxes. All basic middle of the road stuff that has kept the wife and I strong enough to enjoy all the outdoor activities that we really enjoy on weekends.

 

[Howard]

- Skip any pulley systems. Anything you can do with a pulley you can do with DB / Barbell / pull up bar and if you can't handle your own weight on pull ups or something, then get some resistance bands for assistance

There’s no direct DB or BB substitute for face pulls, which are a great exercise for shoulder health and upper back/post delt development.

I mean you can do bent over rows with the plane of motion under your head/neck instead of under the sternum or solar plexus but it then becomes a whole body exercise and there’s a bigger load on the lower back, glutes, legs, forearms, etc.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I used to go to the gym but I found it kind of annoying as it's an extra place to drive to, and have to deal with taking snow off the car one extra time in a day. When I moved to a job that was not close to the gym I got even more lazy and was going less and less till I decided to just cancel since it's a lot of money. Now I work out at home and do it as often as I can. I aim for every 2 days but since I work shift work it kind of depends on my shifts. So I might go 4-5 days without a workout but I resume as soon as I have time off again.

I just have a basic weight bench, and I bought an olympic barbell and plates online (could not find anything locally) to go with the bench.

 

[shortylickens]

I finally set up a cycle in the basement, with a clear view of my smaller TV.
Am not worried about body fat so much as endurance and metabolism. Of course, if I improve my metabolism then obviously some fat should slowly work itself off.

 

[TheVrolok]

Love my basement gym. Built a platform for my power rack. Have a nice bench. Got the Bowfles adjustable dumbbells (the 10-90 lbers) which are fantastic. Makes it incredibly easy to work out and saves me probably 40 minutes a day which may otherwise be prohibitive. I do miss having access to every machine I used to use, but this works pretty darned well.

 

[Majes]

How do you work-out regulars deal with injuries or even just general soreness?
I currently have two awful shoulders (baseball/spikeball) that flare up 2-3 times a month and cause me a lot of pain for a day or two. They don't actually stop me from doing anything they just hurt. Sometimes I keep my lifting schedule. Sometimes I modify. It doesn't seem to make any difference.

Also, I try to work legs at least twice a week. I'm generally pretty sore for 2 days after I do so. This means sometimes I'm pretty sore for my soccer games on Thursday nights. Should I make Thursday a leg day? Or just do one leg day a week instead?

 

[RearAdmiral]

My wife and I are expecting our first-born here in a few months, which I suspect will throw a wrench in my regular gym routine

In attempt to avoid the proverbial "Dad Bod," I've decided to purchase equipment for home use:

Titan Fitness X-3 Power Rack (going to bolt down in the garage)
Upper and lower pulley system for rows/lat pulldowns (and all attachments I use)
Adjustable bench
Titan Fitness deadlift platform
260lbs (I'm weak AF) Olympic bumper plates
200lbs adjustable dumbells
Misc. Accessories (yoga mat, 3/4" gym flooring tile, etc)

Future Purchases:

Magnetic rower for warming up/cool down
Leg curl/extension machine


All told, I'll recoup my costs for the above in ~2 years gym membership savings alone. Wife is also looking forward to getting in on the action -- will probably get her a 5' barbell once she's up to starting.

What do you have at home?

Your new-born could spot you with that amount of weight.

jk

Sounds like decent stuff though. Being able to squat / deadlift / bench at home is great!

 

[deadlyapp]

There’s no direct DB or BB substitute for face pulls, which are a great exercise for shoulder health and upper back/post delt development.

I mean you can do bent over rows with the plane of motion under your head/neck instead of under the sternum or solar plexus but it then becomes a whole body exercise and there’s a bigger load on the lower back, glutes, legs, forearms, etc.

I've found standing DB rows and face pulls with a simple resistance band can simulate it pretty well. However I also have access to a full crossover symmetry system so I do a lot of the scapular & shoulder development with that as accessory work.

Most people can achieve about 90% of what they want with their shoulders with just a handful of simple DB / KB movements.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I have two gym memberships. There is an elliptical rider with moving arms in the basement. I have cap hex barbell with rubber overcoat 15lb and 20lb sets. I would suggest a good adjustable bench that you can bolt into the floor. Don't waste your time with all the fancy stuff.

 

[deadlyapp]

How do you work-out regulars deal with injuries or even just general soreness?
I currently have two awful shoulders (baseball/spikeball) that flare up 2-3 times a month and cause me a lot of pain for a day or two. They don't actually stop me from doing anything they just hurt. Sometimes I keep my lifting schedule. Sometimes I modify. It doesn't seem to make any difference.

Also, I try to work legs at least twice a week. I'm generally pretty sore for 2 days after I do so. This means sometimes I'm pretty sore for my soccer games on Thursday nights. Should I make Thursday a leg day? Or just do one leg day a week instead?

Legs are a big muscle group and if you really fry them it can take some time to recover, especially if you aren't doing other things, like eating correctly, sleeping well, stretching/mobilizing, etc etc. Most "professional" strength athletes spend just as much time (if not more) on their recovery and rest because it's really the key to realizing the success in the gym itself. Doing two leg days a week shouldn't be an issue as long as you program appropriately. Currently I have one heavy power squat day (working sets total less than 15 reps), one moderate deadlift day (working sets total less than 15 reps, focus on grip and time on tension), and one light/moderate speed squat day (working sets total ~30 reps) and never have any issues with soreness but am progressing weekly. I do get very sore if I do extremely high reps (~75-100 reps total) of even lightweight movements (med ball squats, weighted lunges, high rep deadlifts, etc).

If your shoulders give you that much trouble you should think about self-PT or similar. Check out Crossover Symmetry - it's used a ton in baseball clubs all around the US and really helps encourage shoulder and scapular development & health. It's expensive, but you can find knock offs online (stroops is one). I spend about 5 minutes doing their recovery program every day and it keeps my shoulders feeling awesome, even though I have one that gives me trouble like yours.

 

[purbeast0]

How do you work-out regulars deal with injuries or even just general soreness?
I currently have two awful shoulders (baseball/spikeball) that flare up 2-3 times a month and cause me a lot of pain for a day or two. They don't actually stop me from doing anything they just hurt. Sometimes I keep my lifting schedule. Sometimes I modify. It doesn't seem to make any difference.

Also, I try to work legs at least twice a week. I'm generally pretty sore for 2 days after I do so. This means sometimes I'm pretty sore for my soccer games on Thursday nights. Should I make Thursday a leg day? Or just do one leg day a week instead?

I just work through it. I can't lift as heavy but I've learned to accept that, although it does suck. I've had nagging shoulder injuries for like 3-4 years. Then now I have had nagging bicep issues, on both arms, since like September. It's gotten better but not much.

But I'm stubborn and will try to lift heavy through it. This past week though I decided to change up my routine and I'm lowering the weight and doing sets of 12 for most things now instead of my usual 4-8. I'm hoping this lighter weight will help my injuries heal as best as possible. I also realize that there's really no point for em to push as much weight as I used to, especially if my joints and stuff ache more now due to age and the stress I put on them.

But we'll see how this goes. I have done this sets of 12 stuff before and had decent results. I typically have done it when I'm trying to lean up a bit. But this week it was tough squatting sets of 10 when I'm used to doing 4-8. And today when bench pressing for 12 reps, I had to drop weight a bit because my triceps just aren't used to it. My triceps gave out way earlier than my chest did. I'm guessing by next week or the one after my triceps will be used to it though.

 

[purbeast0]

There’s no direct DB or BB substitute for face pulls, which are a great exercise for shoulder health and upper back/post delt development.

Upright rows with a mixture of some type of reverse fly movements will hit the same muscle group pretty much.

 

[highland145]

nagging bicep issues

Deep, just in front of the elbow crease, burning?

 

[purbeast0]

Deep, just in front of the elbow crease, burning?

I'm pretty sure I hyper extended my right bicep and then just have tendonitis in my left bicep. It really only hurts while lifting, although the arm I think I hyper extended, sometimes when I try to pick up heavy stuff a certain way it bothers me.

 

[highland145]

I'm pretty sure I hyper extended my right bicep and then just have tendonitis in my left bicep. It really only hurts while lifting, although the arm I think I hyper extended, sometimes when I try to pick up heavy stuff a certain way it bothers me.

Partial tears on both of mine after years of heavy lifting. They were just worn out. Had both fixed and ended up with another tear on the right and I wasn't even going that heavy. Whatever, cardio for my future.

Pic attached. Not really gross, just a bunch of staples.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Appreciate all of the responses -- great conversation (mostly lol).

Everything arrived yesterday...1200lbs across a few pallets. Flooring tiles will arrive today, and I'm hoping to get things going this weekend I've spent the last several months meticulously picking out equipment to suit my needs, and am beyond pumped to see it all come together.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Lol wow you went all out haha. I think I got around 300lbs or so worth. I was going to get more but I figured it will be quite a while before I can lift more than that. My highest exercise now is 155 (deadlift). Once I get to a point where I exceed the weights I have then I'll just order some more 45's. Not cheap to ship though. The only way I can justify it is I know it's still cheaper than a gym membership.

 

[deadlyapp]

Lol wow you went all out haha. I think I got around 300lbs or so worth. I was going to get more but I figured it will be quite a while before I can lift more than that. My highest exercise now is 155 (deadlift). Once I get to a point where I exceed the weights I have then I'll just order some more 45's. Not cheap to ship though. The only way I can justify it is I know it's still cheaper than a gym membership.

You should be able to easily double your deadlift in probably 6 months if you knew what you were doing. My 120lb girlfriend deadlifts something like 260 which isn't even that high.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You should be able to easily double your deadlift in probably 6 months if you knew what you were doing. My 120lb girlfriend deadlifts something like 260 which isn't even that high.

I'm not exactly a bodybuilder or really that strong. I was happy when I got past 100. To be able to actually lift 100 lbs off the ground was a pretty big milestone for me. I could probably go a bit higher but I try to take it easy as I am alone so don't want to throw my back or break something.

 

[lxskllr]

I break wood. My wood is just about finished up, so I'm breaking other people's wood. Pointless exercise is pointless. Still haven't built my rock formations like I was talking about awhile ago. I'll have to get on that...

 

[deadlyapp]

I'm not exactly a bodybuilder or really that strong. I was happy when I got past 100. To be able to actually lift 100 lbs off the ground was a pretty big milestone for me. I could probably go a bit higher but I try to take it easy as I am alone so don't want to throw my back or break something.

I'm telling you that you are frailer than a 60 year old woman if that's all you can deadlift. If you feel it in your back then you're lifting all wrong and you'll injure yourself even at light weight. I would seriously consider spending 50-100 dollars for a few sessions with someone who knows how to teach you some fundamentals and it would benefit you hugely.

Neither my girlfriend or I are top tier powerlifters/weightlifters/bodybuilders but we each can deadlift more than 2X our weight which is a pretty standard benchmark for that lift. There are plenty of 45-60 year old men and women I know who are just trying to live longer and can easily deadlift their own bodyweight.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Lol what can I say I've just never been that strong or a big guy. Genetics. Already dead lifting a bit over my body weight right now. My back is fine, I just don't want to push it. Getting old. It's easy to accidentally use a bad form and mess up your back.

I break wood. My wood is just about finished up, so I'm breaking other people's wood. Pointless exercise is pointless. Still haven't built my rock formations like I was talking about awhile ago. I'll have to get on that...

Chopping wood is one thing I miss from camping in a cottage environment. Always feels satisfying to go from full cut logs to a stack of neatly piled firewood. Kindling was my expertise. It can never be thin enough. Get a nice log with absolutely no knots and it will go beautifully. For the longest time I was thinking of getting a wood stove for the house just so I can get to cut wood, but not really realistic due to no good place to put it, and insurance issues etc. Going to save up to eventually buy property and build a cabin instead. Then I can do all the wood cutting I want. After building my own shed I kinda want to step it up and build something bigger too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just finished today's workout, with all this talk of home gyms figured I'd share a pic of mine. Nothing crazy but it works.



The server room is on the left. Whenever I drywall that section I'll probably put a TV on that wall. The bench I kind of just move out of the way for most workouts then put it in place when I'm doing bench press.

I used to have some regular light sockets with CFL bulbs but I would come close to hitting them when doing overhead presses so I installed the T8 fixtures, works out nicely.