Garage gyms

[CrouchingWayne]

This is probably the right thread to post this - I finally got a new power rack that coincided as a birthday (40th) and Christmas gift. I had my first and only rack for about 10 years prior to upgrading last month...

The Rogue RM-6 Monster 2.0, in dark blue. I will post photos of the new rack in the next day or so.

I was debating on the monster vs monster lite and went with the monster rack because of the numbered holes. Since this is going to be my last rack I'll ever need, I also got the nylon safety straps in lieu of the pins and the adjustable monolift. I had wanted both of those features in my new rack and that really limited what I could purchase. I had looked at other brands - Sorinex, EliteFTS, Titan, American Barbell, Vulcan, etc., but this was the best bang for the buck, in my opinion. Also, since I had better than average year financially, I was able to spend a bit more for this rack and it was important to me to buy American, get something where I knew the manufacturer took care of the QC, and deal with someone that had a great reputation for customer service if something needed to be addressed. (I work in the Construction industry and know first hand how poor fabrication and quality control can wreck havoc on projects).

I have not bolted this down to the floor and I don't believe the rack has moved whatsoever since I first erected it. I do have a ton of weight on the back end for storage, but it has been a great rack thus far.

Finally, I had bought the custom Fat Pad on the Monster Frame, cut down to a 18" top elevation...so my gym is complete. The bench is a game changer and I have been blowing through my workouts with the extra support the 15" wide pad provides.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know. Pictures should be added sometime this weekend.

Really looking forward to pictures of this - sounds like a great set up and well deserved I'm sure.

[Leprechaun]

I loosely followed the standard build but made a few modifications so I could still park both cars.

180218_Weight Room_0004.jpg
180218_Weight Room_0007.jpg

[beastmaster103]

I've uploaded four decent pics of my new rack setup. This took longer than expected as I had formatting issues with the pics (rotating upside down for no reason). Anyways, see the four links below. Let me know if there are any questions.Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

[A Schenck]

I've got a design strategy question for everyone:
My garage is roughly divided into four 10'x10' squares. My home gym needs to be restricted to the top right square due to floor slope, door position, and the health of my marriage. However, the previous homeowner installed a built in 3' deep work bench taking up some valuable real estate. I'm planning on building a 8'x8' platform in the next couple of weeks and mounting a Rogue R3 to the platform.
I'm not sure if I should:
A)tear out the bench (losing the workspace) and place the platform against that wall
B)cut 12" of depth off the bench, place the platform as close to the bench as possible and mount the rack on the far side
C)leave bench unaltered, but have the last 12" of the platform hanging out in space a bit since the floor slope gets much steeper at the 10' mark
D)some other arrangement
I'm not interested in having the rack face the side wall because then the floor slope would be lateral not front/back.
Garage-FrontView.jpgGarage-SideView.jpg

[Speedygonzales12]

Anybody have some experience using undersized iron plates? I'm planning to buy some new iron, only issue is that that the plates are 43 cm in diameter which is 2cm (0.8 inches) less than standard.
Is this sufficient to cause issues on the deadlift, or will I be ok?

[Sean Herbison]

It's not ideal, but it won't kill you. Get other plates if you can, or 3/8 inch mats to put under the plates if you can't.

[John Watson]

It's not ideal, but it won't kill you. Get other plates if you can, or 3/4 inch mats to put under the plates if you can't.

If the plates are .8" too small that puts the barbell .4" lower than normal. 1/2" or 3/8" mats might be more appropriate.

[Sean Herbison]

You're right, good call.

[Banned_Pavel]

That's what you should do:

A)tear out the bench (losing the workspace) and place the platform against that wall
Garage-FrontView.jpgGarage-SideView.jpg

Imagine you bought this house and there is no work bench there. Still a great house, right? And no problem with home gym placement. Just bring it to that condition.

You are welcome.

[A Schenck]

Imagine you bought this house and there is no work bench there

So obvious, but so helpful. Sadly I've encountered the concept of loss aversion in my reading recently... but here I was being blind to its affects in my own life.