Im planning to make my bodybuilding gym at home.. I have a room sized 7 x 12 and hopefully i can get all the items inside the room

Shopping checklist :
a. Olympic weight plates - 130kg
b. Olympic barbell
c. Olympic sized dumbbell bar/ adjustable bowflex dumbbells (90lbs)
d. Rack
e. Straight, incline & decline adjustable bench
f. Deadlift platform (diy)
g. Resistance bands
h. Calf rise platform (diy)
i. Flooring mat


I need some opinions regard the rack and dumbbells..

1. Which rack would be better? Both support up to 400kg and have cable pull down & row..
From my view both are similar just that the first rack has a dip bar and storage for plates.. pls do tell me if u guys can see any disadvantage..





2. Is shifting plates in and out of the dumbbell time consuming & reduces intensity of the workout?
So should i get a dumbbell bar since i have the plates ready or get those adjustable bowflex dumbbells?

Pls do add other items that i might have missed which are essential for a bodybuilding home gym.. Thanks in advance

This post has been edited by Mantari: Apr 18 2015, 11:13 PM

A work from home job?

Workout from home haha

Go youtube checkout buff dudes. They diy him gym.

another difference is that the 2nd rack has this hook at the bottom that you can attach resistance band and at the side of the barbell.

i dont like to work out at home, no motivation lol

hey... I am also planning for my home gym.... room space almost similar... 6.5ft x 12ft. most probably getting a similar cage as your 2nd pix.... my only concern is not enough space to move the bench in and out of the cage.

Im not professional in this area but IMO
1) pic 1 looks nice. you can perform dips too
2) u can swap plates etc on barbells/dumbbells in between ur sets while resting so i dont see the harm there

Also, is ur house landed or condo etc?
might affect below neighbours during deadlift if u are staying in a condo.

If you like to incorporate bands for your squats, rack 2 would be the better choice. The dips attachment on rack 1 can be easily crafted so I'll go with rack 2.

For dumbbell set up, I'll go with 2 pairs of dumbbells. It would be good if you want to do drop sets.

OP can just do Romanian Deadlifts or Rack Deadlifts.

And be sure to put some padding under the power rack.

Dont forget the mirror!

Need to check out your gainzz form bruh

LOL I must like this post!

After a hard workout, nothing beats checking out those gains.

Returning to the rack selection topic, do note that the chrome part which the pull down weights travel on rust easily. In that event, the weight will be stuck when you try to do a row or pull down.

Not sure how to check the quality of the chrome plating, but see if the sales person offer warranty. While I did try to take care of my chrome plating from rusting, my efforts were not successful. Consequently, it rusted in a timeframe of 1 year. Might be a deal breaker for u

Whats a dumbell bar?

i would not worry about it that much on rusting machines

the one place that you MUST do maintenance is your barbell

whether you're getting a bronze collar barbell or bearing barbell, you MUST lube them often

when it rust, it will spin bad, and if enough chalk builds up or goes in ( if you ever use chalk), it will harden over time and the both end of your barbell will not spin

when this happens, when you deadlift or front squat, the weight spins supposed to bring the both end of the barbell spins but not the knurling part, however if it's rusted the whole bar will spin together

resulting in rolling out of your palm during deadlift or rolling out from your shoulder during front squat