# my small 8ftx6.5ft gym



## owas

just posting a picture of my gym area to show you don't need a ton of space to have a decent set up for squats/deadlifts/bench.

bench gets moved out the way to squat and deadlift, (its a corner of my kitchen)

power rack - looks homemade 2x2 4mm thick steel (£200)

bodypower 105kg set - £160 (will get a tbp when funds permit)

urethane plates 100kg - £100

commercial fid bench pulse fitness - £95

Weight tree (homemade) - bout a tenna on materials and i welded it up in around half hour. This is behind the door and not in the actual gym area.

2 stall mats and a garden mat - around £80

Also have dumbell handles and around 220kg of 5kg plates, which if i make some long handles, gives me 2x110kg dumbells not that ill ever need 'em.


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## George-Bean

Love it


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## owas

Slightly changed since lol.










I will be moving in to my 8x16 outbuilding soon though.


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## owas

Now consists of about 1.5 tonnes of plates, ivanko bar, texas power bar, specialty bars, womens bar,and another few decent 28-29mm bars.

Made a flat bench out 3" box steel, prefer a solid flat over my FID, but still have that for my new gym area.

Next purchase will be a set of dumbells from 10-60kg.

(Posted pic but waiting for approval)

This forum needs a mobile version


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## owas

moved in to the shed now, so much better.

outside










Rack side










Dumbell, bench and cardio side










Installed my rings too










Need to make some blocks to put on the wall to hang my bars up. (I will eventualy get round to actualy finishing the painting properly too lol)


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## BLUE(UK)

Do you have an olympic bar fetish?

I thought I was bad for buying more kit than I need but you're quite a bit ahead of me...!! :lol:


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## monkeybiker

That's bad ass man. Thinking of setting a home gym up again because of the hassle of getting to the gym. Think I'll stick it in the garage behind the motorbike.


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## owas

BLUE(UK) said:


> Do you have an olympic bar fetish?
> 
> I thought I was bad for buying more kit than I need but you're quite a bit ahead of me...!! :lol:


its nice to have choices? :lol:


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## HalfManHalfRusk

This is mind blowing, you can see the passion that OP has. You need a set of big **** speakers, if I was going to be pedantic. However, yes I am jealous! Though I need to go to a public gym as I need to my daily fix of ogling women


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## owas

HalfManHalfRusk said:


> This is mind blowing, you can see the passion that OP has. You need a set of big **** speakers, if I was going to be pedantic. However, yes I am jealous! Though I need to go to a public gym as I need to my daily fix of ogling women


I do have a cheapish 5:1 set thats ive just stuffed in the corner ..

I dont really need anything bigger as its not insulated so loud music will get me complaints 

Ive only really ever lifted at home, out of the 4/5 gyms ive just been to for a day, none have had a decent bar ...


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## BLUE(UK)

owas said:


> its nice to have choices? :lol:


Haha.

Seriously, do you prefer some bars over others when doing certain lifts or something?

When I trained at Powerbase(Loughborough Uni), they had lots of very good Olympic bars which I am sure were Eleiko as well as the weights. I remember one of the first times in there, I was bench pressing and stuck 50kg per side on as it's what I usually did in the other gyms I went to back then, came down with the bar and I could barely stop it and it smashed into my chest with no flex at all....turns out I was using the black oxide one which was for squats!! 

I had to work out what weights I could actually manage in that place since their weights were heavier.

Post up what bars you have and what you like about it and if it is favoured for any particular exercise?


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## owas

BLUE(UK) said:


> Haha.
> 
> Seriously, do you prefer some bars over others when doing certain lifts or something?
> 
> When I trained at Powerbase(Loughborough Uni), they had lots of very good Olympic bars which I am sure were Eleiko as well as the weights. I remember one of the first times in there, I was bench pressing and stuck 50kg per side on as it's what I usually did in the other gyms I went to back then, came down with the bar and I could barely stop it and it smashed into my chest with no flex at all....turns out I was using the black oxide one which was for squats!!
> 
> I had to work out what weights I could actually manage in that place since their weights were heavier.
> 
> Post up what bars you have and what you like about it and if it is favoured for any particular exercise?


I do have preferences for certain lifts.

For deads and rows I use my york international power bar usually for rep work and my texas power bar for my 1 or 2 rep work (on the rare occasion I do it), the texas power bar has some extremely sharp knurling.

For squats and bench I use the strengthshop power bar, the sleeve flange is thinner than the rest so it just fits better in my rack,

I dont have anything over a 29mm grip so most would actualy work for all the lifts.

I also have a womens 25mm bar for my sister to use.

then I have a few specialy bars I fabbed up I throw in for assistance work, safety squat bar, football bar, axle bar,

then my log too which I prefer usually for overhead lifts.

I dont think eleiko make a black oxide bar, I could be wrong though. Was it quite a thick diameter bar? You can get some squat bars that are 8ft long with a 35mm shaft.


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## BLUE(UK)

owas said:


> I do have preferences for certain lifts.
> 
> For deads and rows I use my york international power bar usually for rep work and my texas power bar for my 1 or 2 rep work (on the rare occasion I do it), the texas power bar has some extremely sharp knurling.
> 
> For squats and bench I use the strengthshop power bar, the sleeve flange is thinner than the rest so it just fits better in my rack,
> 
> I dont have anything over a 29mm grip so most would actualy work for all the lifts.
> 
> I also have a womens 25mm bar for my sister to use.
> 
> then I have a few specialy bars I fabbed up I throw in for assistance work, safety squat bar, football bar, axle bar,
> 
> then my log too which I prefer usually for overhead lifts.
> 
> I dont think eleiko make a black oxide bar, I could be wrong though. Was it quite a thick diameter bar? You can get some squat bars that are 8ft long with a 35mm shaft.


Unsure whether the black oxide bar was Eleiko but I know that their silver ones were. This was almost 20yrs ago(I feel OLD!!).

What's this football bar?


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## owas

BLUE(UK) said:


> Unsure whether the black oxide bar was Eleiko but I know that their silver ones were. This was almost 20yrs ago(I feel OLD!!).
> 
> What's this football bar?


Something like this, different variances around ..










I dont think ill ever get a an elieko, hate the chrome coating on bars, doesn't feel as nice as black zinc/oxide, oh and I dont do olympic lifts


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## badly_dubbed

you can see the football bar in the picture of the rings


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## BLUE(UK)

badly_dubbed said:


> you can see the football bar in the picture of the rings


Ah, Is this called a football bar as it's used by American Football players in training? (I was confused because I was thinking Soccer)!!


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## PurpleOnes

Really awesome gym!

Bench looks pretty narrow but it could be the angle of the camera.

:thumb:


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## badly_dubbed

aye i think thats why they called it that!

not sure... :lol:


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## owas

badly_dubbed said:


> aye i think thats why they called it that!
> 
> not sure... :lol:


Yeah thats the reason, too many athletes were getting shoulder injuries from benching with a normal bar.


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## owas

PurpleOnes said:


> Really awesome gym!
> 
> Bench looks pretty narrow but it could be the angle of the camera.
> 
> :thumb:


Thanks!

If i recall correctly i made it to ipf rules, cant remember what that was though, 11/12" or so I think.

It is made out of 3" box section so that may be making it look narrow


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## lm73

if it does the trick then why not :thumbup1: nice set up


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## owas

added dumbells up to 55kg, soooo much better than having to change spinlocks


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## Lazy G

This is absolutely epic! Get a cable machine in there and you can start charging for membership !


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## zacsky2

owas said:


> Yeah thats the reason, too many athletes were getting shoulder injuries from benching with a normal bar.


Is thst what its used for then different width grips when benching?


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## Prince Adam

owas said:


> View attachment 149612
> 
> 
> added dumbells up to 55kg, soooo much better than having to change spinlocks


Dread to think how much they all cost m8!


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## owas

zacsky2 said:


> Is thst what its used for then different width grips when benching?


Yeah and a neutral grip


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## owas

Lazy G said:


> This is absolutely epic! Get a cable machine in there and you can start charging for membership !


Funny you should say that, ive had a few people ask if they can pay me to use the place lol.


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## owas

Prince Adam said:


> Dread to think how much they all cost m8!


I got a pretty good deal on them, around 700ish deliverd


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## George-Bean

Thats a bloody ugly shed!

Great set-up mate.


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## owas

George-Bean said:


> Thats a bloody ugly shed!
> 
> Great set-up mate.


Haha it servers its purpose, making things look 'pretty' isn't really my thing.

thanks


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## George-Bean

Your cage looks ripe for a home made pull down ;-) can see your a handy guy.


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## gearchange

Get a gazebo for the summer and have a gym party,Hats off to you for building such a comprehensive gym . Good idea to move out of the kitchen before the missus started complaining that you were in the way . :thumb:


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## UkWardy

Any chance of uploading some more photos. Your gym shed looks great! @owas


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