Rogue vs Eleiko vs knock-offs

[Bjorn Opperud]

My apologies if this have been covered in the past.

I'm building a home gym, we're adding on the house. The room I'm planning will be about 4x5,5 meters (13x18 feet) and 2,6 metered high (102,362 inches). I plan to buy the following:

Wall mont rack, complete with spotter arms, J-cups and chin up bar.
Adjustable bench
Bar
240kg worth of bumper plates
Set of change plates (25 kg)
Rubber tiles of some sort
C2 rower

I basically have three questions that I want to bump of the forum:

1. The decision on a wall mounted rack. This seems to take up much less space than a full rack deep enough to squat inside, placed far enough from the wall to bench inside, and I can't think of any downsides. Does anyone have a good reason why a full power rack would be a better solution?

2. This is important, since it's easy to do something about now, and impossible to affect later.. How much hight do I need in the room for pressing? I'm about 184cm tall (6-6,1 feet). Does anyone have a home gym they wish were "4 inches higher"?

3. Rogue or Eleiko, and why? Cost is not a great concern, and I don't think the difference is all that big anyway. Living in Norway, I believe Rogue (American made) is a bit more costly here compared to the US, while Eleiko (Swedish made) is a bit more affordable here compared to the US. To sum it up I don't care. I intend to equip this room _once_ and I want to buy stuff that I'll never regret.

A friend of mine gave me a tip to check out a company called Play Sports that apparently deliver good quality to a reasonable price. It seems like the reasonable thing to do, but there's just something about having my own gym set up in full Rogue/Eleiko colours that appeals to me.....

Any recommendations on this, or anything else that you wish you had know when you set up your own gym, is very welcome! Like previously mentioned, i hope and intend to do this only once.

Bjørn

[Slim E]

A full rack is safer than a wall rack. Tipping backwards alone on a heavy squat with a wall mounted rack could be tragic.

[Bjorn Opperud]

A full rack is safer than a wall rack. Tipping backwards alone on a heavy squat with a wall mounted rack could be tragic.

Thanks, much appreciated. Not 100% sure I agree though... I agree that a full rack somehow feels safer, that’s why I’m not completely set on the wall mount.
But in the case of tipping backwards, a wall mount would simply have the bar fall off your back, while a full rack potentially could stop the bar as you tip and have it land on you somehow. Can’t remember having heard of this happening though.

[Slim E]

That’s not the only way it works. Plenty of YouTube videos to show that.

Only happened once to me when one of my kids, just as I unracked the bar. I got distracted, drug a foot coming out of the rack, and stumbled back into the posts. No harm done. If it weren’t for the posts, no telling where and how I would’ve landed, but dumping the bar while stumbling wasn’t an option.

I wouldn’t use a half rack alone.

[wsmoran]

Rogue racks have the advantage of "Westside spacing". Basically one in hole spacing through the bench press area, 2" everywhere else.

[wsmoran]

Rogue racks have the advantage of "Westside spacing". Basically one in hole spacing through the bench press area, 2" everywhere else.

1 inch in bench. 2 inch everywhere else. I just realized the way I typed it originally may be confusing.

[Bjorn Opperud]

Rogue racks have the advantage of "Westside spacing". Basically one in hole spacing through the bench press area, 2" everywhere else.

I know. That is an advantage, and to make matters worse, the Eleiko rack has not 2” but 3” spacing all the way...
That being said, I have trained a lot with that particular rack and it doesn’t really bother me that much. But, since both brands are known for great quality gear, these are the kind of small tings that could tip the scale in either direction. Thanks 👍

[Chris Goodrich]

1. I don't have enough experience with a wall mounted rack to comment on safety. One advantage of a full rack is that you can set up for one lift inside the rack, and another outside with spotter arms. This can be useful for sharing a rack with a training partner, or warming up presses between work sets on the squat, etc. A full rack can also use strap safeties, which have some advantages for safety and kindness to your barbell over spotter arms.

2. Your best bet is to have someone measure the height of the top of a regulation plate when your in the lockout position of the press (in your lifting shoes and taking into account the height of the platform), and add a little bit of buffer space for your ceiling height. That should give you room for presses, olympic lifts, and pull ups. More height can be nice for hanging rings, climbing rope, or other gymnastic equipment, but isn't really necessary.

3. Assuming Eleiko has good customer service where you are, I'd probably go with them for the bar and plates and Rogue for the rack, unless you're really set on a single brand gym. Rogue is a better value for bars and plates than Eleiko here in the U.S., but that's unlikely to be true with shipping to Norway, and Eleiko has very high quality. I would still give the nod to Rogue for the rack not on quality but on options. They have a huge number of configurations and add-ons. Eleiko seems to be expanding it's rack and rig offerings to appeal to the CrossFit market, but they still can't match Rogue on the diversity of options. Some of those are admittedly bullshit, like the rack mounted "mobility" balls, but some are genuinely innovative and useful. I really like the Rogue monolift attachment for benching solo, for example.

[Bjorn Opperud]

1. I don't have enough experience with a wall mounted rack to comment on safety. One advantage of a full rack is that you can set up for one lift inside the rack, and another outside with spotter arms. This can be useful for sharing a rack with a training partner, or warming up presses between work sets on the squat, etc. A full rack can also use strap safeties, which have some advantages for safety and kindness to your barbell over spotter arms.

2. Your best bet is to have someone measure the height of the top of a regulation plate when your in the lockout position of the press (in your lifting shoes and taking into account the height of the platform), and add a little bit of buffer space for your ceiling height. That should give you room for presses, olympic lifts, and pull ups. More height can be nice for hanging rings, climbing rope, or other gymnastic equipment, but isn't really necessary.

3. Assuming Eleiko has good customer service where you are, I'd probably go with them for the bar and plates and Rogue for the rack, unless you're really set on a single brand gym. Rogue is a better value for bars and plates than Eleiko here in the U.S., but that's unlikely to be true with shipping to Norway, and Eleiko has very high quality. I would still give the nod to Rogue for the rack not on quality but on options. They have a huge number of configurations and add-ons. Eleiko seems to be expanding it's rack and rig offerings to appeal to the CrossFit market, but they still can't match Rogue on the diversity of options. Some of those are admittedly bullshit, like the rack mounted "mobility" balls, but some are genuinely innovative and useful. I really like the Rogue monolift attachment for benching solo, for example.

Thanks for your thorough answer!

1. That is a point. So far, there hasn't been any "biggies" for choosing a full rack over a wall mount for my use the way I see it, but the small points keeps piling up, so I'll see where it goes. My wife will also be using the gym, and I suppose my children in a few years, so I suppose it could be worth considering.

2. That is pretty much what I have done. If I hold a pencil in my hand the same way I would hold a barbell, "lock it out" and shrug my shoulder and let the pencil set a small mark on the wall. Measuring 22,5cm (half a standard plate) it looks like the standard 240cm (94,4882 inches) would be just barely enough, so 260cm (102,362 inches) should be sufficient. I was just curious to hear if someone had a gym where they just wish they had those extra x inches that would allow them to xxxxxx.

3. I'm leaning the same way... I don't care about a single brand gym, I just want quality gear, and logistically it would be great to buy everything from the same place. The add on availability has been on my radar too. Although it does look like Eleiko also offers the more useful end of the "add on spectrum", Rogue looks like they have a more complete line of racks and everything related. Maybe I'll buy a rack mounted mobility ball some day

[5hout]

I set up my garage gym so I could overhead press with a 3 inch buffer gap. Then my buddy came over to lift, he's 4 inches taller than me. Depending on your height I'd aim for a minimum of 10 inches above what you think you'll need, in case of tall friends!