Home gym project.

[drivesitfar]

MSSCOTT: since you probably won't have a barn or huge garage to set up your gym take a look at a few pics I posted last week where I have quite a bit of a commercial gym in a 9x16 (half of our 2 car garage). when i wanted to have a little more space to work out or jump around I had rubber gym mats on my brides side of our small 2 car garage and I'd pull out her car and work out over there too.

can you maybe post a few pictures of the gym and exercise equipment you are planning on using or the types of workouts/exercise? also if you can post a few pics of your space and measure the size I (and we) might be able to help you figure it out.

good luck

S&P: I hope you've stayed in shape so when the contests/competitions resume you can keep winning and improving your #'s. I can't even imagine what this PANDEMIC has done to the gym community for those working in and around it and I hope it recovers and soon.

pretty strange how riots and huge protests are allowed to go on and people were not allowed to get up and go to gym or eat a dinner with their family at a nice CLEAN restaurant. end of rant and wishing all those in these businesses the best.

 

[lis2323]

When I built my house I incorporated a 100 sq ft room for home gym adjacent to my master bathroom (double French doors)

Single door access to the rest of the house and double French doors to the exterior.

This became the nursery when my daughter was born and I later set things up in one bay of my garage.


It's a library these days....




Today I utilize my entire 1500 sq ft garage as a gym and struggle to organize equipment for efficiency.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lis2323]

Got the maple down in the rack. Looking for the right decal/stencil, then I'll poly over that with a couple coats.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

The maple looks awesome![emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Old Man Roger]

You guys are making me feel really inadequate with my golds gym bench and power tower..lol

 

[drivesitfar]

OMR: if you use it then you are THE MAN cause a lot of people with great looking gyms don't use them much cause they are too busy paying for it and their other stuff in most cases.

LIS: great story and nice looking sitting room/library too.

CST: that Maple floor under your rack looks almost too nice to use. WELL DONE!!

just curious do all the homes in your area have huge steel beams? reason i'm asking is because I wish we had them on my house so I could hang a few thing from them.

good luck with the workouts

 

[Old Man Roger]

OMR: if you use it then you are THE MAN cause a lot of people with great looking gyms don't use them much cause they are too busy paying for it and their other stuff in most cases.

1 Hour, 4 days a week, for about 6 years now. Plus an hour walk a day, 7 days a week, more on the weekends.

Considering I DO NOT look anything like a body builder, even with all the work I do, I can only imagine what a slob I would look like if I didn't work out..lol

A think a lot of injuries in my youth keep me from going real heavy. When ever I try to bulk up, I end up hurting my back, or my knee, or my shoulder, or my, wrist, ETC ETC ETC.

 

[drivesitfar]

OMR: here's the link to the Get Healthy thread where we'd love to have you join us cause we know that if we keep moving and trying to eat a bit better WE WILL be better off for it.

some of the members do workout every day like you whether its with weights, cardio or just walking or moving and others want to and need guys like you just posting that you did your workout today can help us.

maybe my food pics will help you as you learn a few more ways to get in shape and exercise.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298568

maybe not the healthiest meal cause I do like my bread dipped in oil, but we grow everything but the cheese and my wife makes great sourdough bread. (I couldn't find pics of my home grown sun gold cherry tomato caprese which is even tastier)

 

[lis2323]

1 Hour, 4 days a week, for about 6 years now. Plus an hour walk a day, 7 days a week, more on the weekends.

Considering I DO NOT look anything like a body builder, even with all the work I do, I can only imagine what a slob I would look like if I didn't work out..lol

A think a lot of injuries in my youth keep me from going real heavy. When ever I try to bulk up, I end up hurting my back, or my knee, or my shoulder, or my, wrist, ETC ETC ETC.

I am similar. My only goal is to be active and mentally/physicallly FIT.

Everything else will fall into place...[emoji16]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[cstmg8]

OMR: if you use it then you are THE MAN cause a lot of people with great looking gyms don't use them much cause they are too busy paying for it and their other stuff in most cases.



LIS: great story and nice looking sitting room/library too.



CST: that Maple floor under your rack looks almost too nice to use. WELL DONE!!



just curious do all the homes in your area have huge steel beams? reason i'm asking is because I wish we had them on my house so I could hang a few thing from them.



good luck with the workouts

I wouldn't say all, but many do. Ours was built in 97, so newer homes may have laminated beams instead. I'm hoping to hang a Muay thai bag from that beam.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[PhilJohn]

Things are slowly starting to show up. Shipping has been painfully slow but I’m sure they are pretty busy. One of the items I was excited about was the Echo Bike, which was delivered today! Set up was easy and the thing is well constructed. I did 5, 25 second intervals as hard as possible and this thing didn’t even move. Its belt driven and very smooth. I think I will be happy with this addition.

 

[PhilJohn]

When I built my house I incorporated a 100 sq ft room for home gym adjacent to my master bathroom (double French doors)

Single door access to the rest of the house and double French doors to the exterior.

This became the nursery when my daughter was born and I later set things up in one bay of my garage.


It's a library these days....




Today I utilize my entire 1500 sq ft garage as a gym and struggle to organize equipment for efficiency.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very nice space.

 

[PhilJohn]

The maple looks awesome![emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice work! Looks good!

 

[lis2323]

Things are slowly starting to show up. Shipping has been painfully slow but I’m sure they are pretty busy. One of the items I was excited about was the Echo Bike, which was delivered today! Set up was easy and the thing is well constructed. I did 5, 25 second interals as hard as possible and this thing didn’t even move. Its belt driven and very smooth. I think I will be happy with this addition.

That Echo bike looks wicked.

I had a Keizer M3 spin bike but it was hard on my back and just WAY too boring.

I sold it mid Covid 2010 for several hundred dollars more than I paid for it. I felt lighter , stronger and happier.

Extra cash has that effect on me.... LOL[emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Samh]

Been making and selling a lot of these since COVID shut everything down.

 

[PhilJohn]

That Echo bike looks wicked.

I had a Keizer M3 spin bike but it was hard on my back and just WAY too boring.

I sold it mid Covid 2010 for several hundred dollars more than I paid for it. I felt lighter , stronger and happier.

Extra cash has that effect on me.... LOL[emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

lol hey, nothing wrong with that.

 

[BeeOtch]

Things are slowly starting to show up. Shipping has been painfully slow but I’m sure they are pretty busy. One of the items I was excited about was the Echo Bike, which was delivered today! Set up was easy and the thing is well constructed. I did 5, 25 second interals as hard as possible and this thing didn’t even move. Its belt driven and very smooth. I think I will be happy with this addition.

Air bikes are mean! what model do you have?

 

[PhilJohn]

Air bikes are mean! what model do you have?

Rogue Echo Bike. Free shipping going on right now.

 

[b-boy]

I really liked the idea of buying from Rogue Fitness. American company and high quality. Some of the equipment I purchased already includes the Monster Rack RM4, LT1 Trolly System, Dumbells with rack up to 60 pounds, 5 sided urathane grip plates 300lb, Mil Spec Bumper plate set 300Ib, Ohio bar, safety squat bar, sled and battle rope, arm curl bar, incline /decline bench, regular bench, Echo Bike, couple kettle bells and bags, and some other little things. Rogue currently has a special on shipping that I was able to take advantage of, which really helped on the overall cost.

Rogue makes some nice stuff. I have a folding Monster rack in my barn. The thing is a beast.

I got a great deal on some rubber-coated plates. I wanted bumper plates, but I couldn't justify the price. The rubber coated plates are very nice though.

 

[lis2323]

Rogue Echo Bike. Free shipping going on right now.

I’m so tempted to buy one. I sold that dumb Keizer spin bike used for more than the Echo sale price.

It’s just that this one’s footprint is a little bigger and I was kinda enjoying the extra space.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[drivesitfar]

PJ: I was able to use ASSAULT bikes similar to your Rogue one you just bought and it was a great workout. I usually used it in for a hard 4 minute workout when we had 10 stations at the gym we went to for our hour workouts 3 times a week.

I could really get the RPM's up on it during the short workouts, but at 6'3' I could get the seat right for my legs, but the handles were a bit short so I had to find a compromise where I didn't have to bend over too far.

did you look at Assault machines or maybe just decided Rogue had pretty good quality and more equipment so you bought all Rogue? are your handles adjustable or just the seat?

 

[drivesitfar]

SAMH: great that you were able to not only get the steel, but were able to make some people a quality rack and bench.

sad to see what's happened to all our gyms, but nice to see there is actually some MADE IN USA equipment still available.

it looks like a quality set up too.

 

[PhilJohn]

Drive, Air Assault, cant go wrong with that model either. I was looking at it closely as well.

Lis, Rogue has a free shipping promotion currently on the echo, (saves you almost 200 bucks) but you have to monitor product availibility daily as they sell out the same day they get more in. Also, its belt drive, no maintenance.

 

[lis2323]

Drive, Air Assault, cant go wrong with that model either. I was looking at it closely as well.

Lis, Rogue has a free shipping promotion currently on the echo, (saves you almost 200 bucks) but you have to monitor product availibility daily as they sell out the same day they get more in. Also, its belt drive, no maintenance.

Thanks PJ. I would have to buy from Rogue Canada probably. I see they have free shipping also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Samh]

SAMH: great that you were able to not only get the steel, but were able to make some people a quality rack and bench.

sad to see what's happened to all our gyms, but nice to see there is actually some MADE IN USA equipment still available.

it looks like a quality set up too.

Thanks. Luckily, didn't see any issues getting steel this past year.

 

[PhilJohn]

Rogue makes some nice stuff. I have a folding Monster rack in my barn. The thing is a beast.

I got a great deal on some rubber-coated plates. I wanted bumper plates, but I couldn't justify the price. The rubber coated plates are very nice though.

I ordered some rubber coated in 45's. Just waiting until other sizes become availible.

 

[Machinitect]

Hey I’ll jump in on this conversation. Those are some amazing home gym builds! I also quit the gym while it was shut down, but really always wanted to build at home anyway. I have 2 teen girls, and a 4th grader. We are having a blast in the basement with loud music and mostly functional training workouts. When I started looking for equipment nothing was available.

I found the dumbells barely used, and the plates took months to arrive so we are up and running. Horse mat flooring was from Orsheln farm supply. I found the heavy bag used and welded a bracket and drilled an I-beam in the basement for it.

I copied a rogue rack dimensions so I could add more accessories in the future, and built the j-hooks, the pullup bar out of plumbing pipe, and the dip attachment out of pipe as well. The paint was left over from a Series Land Rover project in Marine Blue single stage urethane sprayed. I would NOT ever build a rack to save money. It was hours and hours of milling around 800 holes, I forget exactly how many but a LOT.

The dumbell rack is 1/4 plate with a 1” bar welded at the same angle as the hex bells so they don’t slide off. It worked out great. We added a BOSU ball and some jump ropes and it’s all we need for now.

 

[drivesitfar]

MT: talk about making a nice rack!! that pile of shavings is very impressive too.

can I ask why you didn't make a safety bar you can set up about 1/2 inch above your chest so you can crawl out from under the weight bar if you have a complete fail cause i'm not sure the bands will be enough?

AWESOME GYM and very nice that your girls are joining you. do they also join you in your great shop to help or learn?

you might get them started (and you too if you are willing) doing YOGA cause it's a lifetime exercise that will help almost every part of your body.

thanks for posting all the great pics and the story too.

 

[Machinitect]

Thank you Drives. The safety straps are one of the accessories that I bought, and they work like safety pins but have other advantages as well. I trust them with the amount of weight that I can lift, which isn’t much! Here’s a good article on the subject of pins vs. straps.

https://gymcrafter.com/spotter-pins-saftey-straps/

My girls have grown up around the garage working on motorcycles, old cars, furniture, and random projects. When they were really small I would have them clean the tools and organize toolboxes to familiarize them with the terms and how it all works. They do some machining on the mill, but not the lathe. Some of their school projects have been outer limits awesome, made out of wood and metal. On the school projects I won’t help them, but direct them on the process and safety.

Funny you mention yoga. They do yoga, and I can’t keep up. It really helps with balance.

Where in the pacific northwest are you? I was in Gig Harbor and Federal Way on a few projects last month. Gig Harbor is a really nice area.

 

[drivesitfar]

MT: i'm about 8 minutes west of the airport south of Seattle just above Puget Sound. its pretty convenient to get almost anywhere in Western Washington from here AND we are sort of in the middle of both our mid 80's parents that are all still alive and above dirt.

That's great that your girls love yoga cause it will serve them well in life and you are maybe like me knowing it's good for us buy OMG it's tough.

I keep giving you links of good threads and if you want another here's one I started just before I turned 60 and I just turned 65 and it's still getting daily posts cause we all need to GET HEALTHIER.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298568

I do like that you are involving the girls in your shop/garage and sounds like they are quick learners. I sold Real Estate for almost 30 years so I'd always take my kids (3 boys and 2 girls) with me to PREVIEW properties and they all managed to buy a house that had more than just 4 walls cause they wouldn't settle knowing there was something a bit better out there if they were patient.

to all of you I hope you had a great day cause we had mid 50's and sunshine which isn't bad for the PNW.

 

[PhilJohn]

Hey I’ll jump in on this conversation. Those are some amazing home gym builds! I also quit the gym while it was shut down, but really always wanted to build at home anyway. I have 2 teen girls, and a 4th grader. We are having a blast in the basement with loud music and mostly functional training workouts. When I started looking for equipment nothing was available.

I found the dumbells barely used, and the plates took months to arrive so we are up and running. Horse mat flooring was from Orsheln farm supply. I found the heavy bag used and welded a bracket and drilled an I-beam in the basement for it.

I copied a rogue rack dimensions so I could add more accessories in the future, and built the j-hooks, the pullup bar out of plumbing pipe, and the dip attachment out of pipe as well. The paint was left over from a Series Land Rover project in Marine Blue single stage urethane sprayed. I would NOT ever build a rack to save money. It was hours and hours of milling around 800 holes, I forget exactly how many but a LOT.

The dumbell rack is 1/4 plate with a 1” bar welded at the same angle as the hex bells so they don’t slide off. It worked out great. We added a BOSU ball and some jump ropes and it’s all we need for now.

That blows my mind. The things some of these members can do is astonishing. Fantastic job Sir.

 

[PhilJohn]

Big update.

My large order after 73 days of waiting has finally shipped. Hopfully I will be putting everything together this weekend. Usually I dont get overexcited about things, but I am very excited about this.

 

[drivesitfar]

PJ: Yep even the 70 year olds around here seem to do things I am amazed at. have you seen Don Long's Party garage cause if not it's worth your time while you are waiting for your BIG SHIPMENT.

good to hear its on its way now!!

 

[olvs]

cool, always wanted to build home gym, it is so convy

 

[foodie]

I am getting ready to re-set up my basement with my weight bench etc after a long unscheduled renovation. For those of you that have the rubber mats do they off gas and smell for a long time?

 

[drivesitfar]

FOODIE: Yes some of the rubber mats surely do OFF GAS (SMELL HORIBLE) and some of the rubber dumbbells are made of the same material. some of those the smell never seems to go away so you probably don't want to put any inside your home.

it's been more than a few years since I was helping a lot of homeowners and commercial gym owners set up their gyms so I'm not sure what mats are available to you today that don't smell bad so maybe others here know.

That might be a good product to try and find used if you have a gym closing or on Craigs or Offerup. granted gym equipment is at a premium currently so you might want to wait a bit til this COVID BS is over before setting up your gym. maybe buy a nice Concept 2 rower or the Rogue or ASSAULT bike to get you warmed up.

any pics to post of your space?

 

[Machinitect]

Foodie,
Drives is correct. The horse mats smell bad at first, but now we don’t notice as much. We have operable windows in the basement that help with fresh air.

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL rubber products are not made or smell the same so before you buy them try to find somebody else's to see how they like theirs or get referrals. they come in all sorts of thickness too.

I found a box of 3/16 2x2 jigsaw pattern rubber mats laying around here a few months ago and knew I'd never use them so put them up for sale and met a nice kid trying to match his current ones to make his gym floor larger and he brought his that looked the same and his were maybe 3/8 ths.

one product that seemed to be better than the rest was about 1/2 inch 4x6 foot size and had diamond plate on one side and rubber dimples on the back. that said it was about $90 each and we could buy nice 4x6 3/4 inch thick horse mats for about $35 each (I saw these priced at $100 each during COVID 2020).

good luck all and if you get good mats that smell ok you'll have a better chance of using your gym.

 

[PhilJohn]

Well we finally got our stuff. UPS showed up at around 3:30pm. Props to the driver. He backed it up to my barn on a pretty tight turn so we didn’t have to get soaked in the rain. We worked setting it up for about six hours and finally called it quits (Wifey and I). Still got a couple things left but here is the meat and potatos of it. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I really learned a lot. You guys are awesome!

 

[MushCreek]

WOW! That's an amazing set-up. I'm curious why the wood floor? It looks gorgeous, but I'd be paranoid about dropping a weight on it.

 

[drivesitfar]

PJ: now that's the way to have a gym show up at your door. nice looking equipment and better looking boys.

just curious cause your 7 foot bars don't look olympic 2 inch and they look bigger than 1 inch so does Rogue have a size of their own now at 1.5 inches or maybe they have 1.125 like Ivanko did and maybe still does?

I know the boys will want to lift as heavy as they can to match dad so i'm guessing you've already warned them not to until they are 13 or in that range. let them know that they can ruin their elbows, shoulders, and knees and wrists for life if they don't wait, but they can run and do push ups, do yoga, maybe TRX if you get some straps and maybe build a climbing wall and or peg board for them to use til it's time to come in to eat. speaking of eating feeding teenage boys is something to behold so I hope you have an extra fridge and a Costco close by.

great job and thanks for sharing.