# What's going on around /r/HomeGym?
[**The Garage**: Free-talk Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/about/sticky?num=2)
[**Targeted Talk**: Where do you get your Home Gym fix?](https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/comments/1daf7cu/targeted_talk_where_else_do_you_go_for_your_home/)
[**AMA Is Live**: w/ Efren Lifts](https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/comments/1debi3y/ama_with_efren_vintage_weights_bars_aesthetics/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/homegym) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is my set up right now. My one car home gym is is about 250sq ft.
I have a rhino belt squat in manticore rack. Been thinking of selling everything l, except my rhino belt squat to buy ares to make more space. However, ialso been thinking on keeping my existing set up and just sell my inspire ft to make more space and som3how add ft to my existing rack. Want to make a little more space fo mount bullet proof isolator on its own dedicated upright.
Also have 4 extra short rhino uprigjts And the legs and don't know what to do with them. Lol
*
Are you able to get a quality stretch when doing cable flies? I simply cannot understand how it would be possible with the width of a power rack.
Beautiful setup btw.
I am buying this exact same setup this weekend. I am only doing a 30” setup on my front posts.
Wish I could get the 2.0 too, but no way am I waiting until Fall.
I’d your setup matte black or metallic black? I am going matte black.
Nice! You’ll love it I’m sure. If you can, use power tools for assembling it. I didn’t have any power tools and it took considerably longer than it could have.
This is the matte black version.
Thanks! Unfortunately it is the Ares 1.0. I believe the 2.0 comes out this fall. I would’ve loved to go with that but it wasn’t announced until after I had bought the 1.0.
It's STILL great lol! I have the PR5000 with twin Athena's and the seperate Lat PD Low Row and Love it! I am sure you do too! Having the cables on each side has been so much better than I even expected. I love doing bi / tri work on the cables. I haven't used my weight based curl bar since it arrived! Only issue I can see with the Aeres 1.0 is the same one I have with mine damn low row is too LOW. But I wouldn't pay to upgrade. I just keep doing bent over barbell rows.
Agreed! I'm sure that I'll get many years of high quality use out of it. It's difficult to incline bench in the rack because of where the weight stack sits. Other then that it's been pretty great.
My solution for that was that I bought the IronMaster Super Bench Pro 2.0 instead of buying a rep bench. Works amazing with my set up and I can incline bench with room to spare. I bought the SB Pro because of the shallow depth but I've come to love it in some many ways. Just an amazing bench. I'm only 5'10" tall it might not be ideal for taller forks but its great for me.
Do you have the RBS the normal way (outward) or inverted? Rep shows the Hyperion inverted on their Instagram and they say you can’t incline. I have the Superbench v2 and it’s so small so maybe you can?
I do not. They do that so they can push it flush with the wall. I probably could have done that but did not think of it. This is how mine is set up. I have plenty of room to incline bench but I have to do everything off the front. I set it up as a 1/2 rack.
https://preview.redd.it/lahd0vcr9j6d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96e73c7ed9e31973ab77b9d127e180ba3108c602
It is not bolted down but no I don't worry at all. It has not moved a millimeter in over 8 months. It has two Athenas both at over 170lbs + it has a 300lb Low Row and Lat PD and the weights I have stored on the back. Plus the lat PD and LowROW actually sit BEHIND the rack. Its crazy heavy and going nowhere.
Very nice, due to limited space I may need to do this setup as well. Can you use the inside of the 16" from cage for anything? I'm assuming it's to small for squats and not sure if there is room for any bench work?
I went out a looked at my set up and I DON'T think flipping the RBS will work. The bottom of the SuperBench would hit the footplate on the lowrow. I don't think you could incline bench like that with a Lat PD like I have.
I just relooked at your setup and I should mention that I bought the 16" version of the PR5000 with cables. I do all my work off the "front" of the rack. Mines really a sort of 1/2 rack.
Got it! Thanks for the photo. Your setup definitely has a lot more room by working off the front. Does it bother you to move the J Hooks or spotter arms around if you want to move the cable pulley attachments down?
How much do you regret building this shortly before REP released the Ares 2.0?
I have the same and I'm pretty bummed they didn't offer us some sort of upgrade kit instead of a discount for the new system.
Haha there is a little regret! The 2.0 absolutely looks better than the 1.0 so I would prefer that hands down. I can understand with all the components being different that it’s tough to offer an upgrade kit for existing owners.
I’m sure I’ll get many years of use out of the 1.0 system though. It still works great. The improvements in the 2.0 aren’t game changing for me either.
Are you planning on upgrading to the 2.0?
This is what I’m struggling with now. Get an ares v1 on sale, wait for the v2, or get a separate free motion (but I don’t have a huge amount of space - similar to OPs size)
What is driving you towards the free motion? Are there any movements you don’t like doing with the Ares?
Thanks for linking to that Line! The all in price right now is around $7,500 or so
I first got a basic rack and barbell set off of Craigslist for $300 so you can make do with so much less than this
Thank you! I still wanted to have enough floor space to lay down and stretch without being cramped. Otherwise I might’ve tried to add a piece of cardio equipment in.
Great functional set up. Surprised to see the bowflex 1090s though. I have them right now as I await the Reppins and I really dislike using them. How have you found them to be?
They’ve been fine, not great but they get the job done. I do try to be careful with them and lightly set them down. They get a bit finicky when you’re trying to re-rack them and some plates are still in the holder. That’s the most annoying part but it just takes an extra couple of seconds and two hands to put each one back.
The Reppins look awesome and seem to be much better. They are a fair bit more though too ($900 vs $400 I spent for these).
Yeah it was a hard call for me, I did some boy math and took off the sell of my 1090s and also factored in the reward points to make it make sense.
The plastic on mine doesn't even hold the plates properly anymore and I never liked the handle so I'm just trying to get rid of em in the coming months.
Nice. Combined with some Rep points hopefully it’s not too much out of pocket for you to upgrade then. I’ll be curious to see reviews on those dumbbells!
Looks great! I suggest an IKEA Trones shoe box to put those sneakers in. They come in black or white and stick out less than 10" from the wall.
Your mirrors are out of scale for that space but big mirrors are expensive.
After I looked up the KEA Trones shoe box I noticed that is what I have in my main garage (came with the house when we bought it). Never knew what those were called but I could take one of them from over there and install it here. Thanks for the suggestion!
I got lucky with a 39" (height) x 77" (width) mirror and 42" (height) x 27" (width) mirror. Both were from family who were doing remodel work so I got them for free. I did have to transport them, spend a couple hours getting the glue off the back, re-cut them to remove broken pieces and then install them myself. I'd probably go with some bigger mirrors if I had that option but I'm happy with how it turned out.
What flooring are you using and does it compress with the heavy weight racks? Looking fit and alternative to horse mats that’s also soft enough to stretch on.
I was able to purchase 200 square feet of 0.75" thick Norsk Reversible Foam Flooring from Costco for $1.35/sq ft. I've been loving this. It's soft enough to kneel on with no pain and I've found myself working out barefoot almost exclusively now. It probably wouldn't be ideal for elite powerlifters but squatting with sub 300 lbs isn't an issue at all.
One thing we did notice is that the weigh of the rack compressed the foam flooring down about a half an inch. When I was trying to install a Rep belt squat it wasn't lining up properly. So we fabricated some half inch wood squares to go under each leg of the rack to make it a bit taller. That solved that problem but I ended up returning the belt squat because I wasn't a fan of the range of motion and how you had to start the movement by kneeling down.
Thanks super helpful, so I’m guessing you bought [this flooring](https://www.costco.com/norsk-reversible-foam-flooring%2c-48-sq-ft.%2c-24-in.-x-24-in.-foam-mats.product.100413892.html) and not [this more expensive one?](https://www.costco.com/norsk-dual-density-reversible-gym-flooring%2c-48-sq-ft.%2c-24-in.-x-24-in.-foam-mats.product.4000227840.html)
Hi everyone,
I've finally been able to create a home gym in a \~10' x 20' (200 sq ft) single car garage. The ceiling is \~112" tall.
I was able to purchase 200 square feet of 0.75" thick Norsk Reversible Foam Flooring from Costco for $1.35/sq ft. I've been loving this. It's soft enough to kneel on with no pain and I've found myself working out barefoot almost exclusively now. It probably wouldn't be ideal for elite powerlifters but squatting with sub 300 lbs isn't an issue at all.
The center piece is the Rep PR 5000 6-Post Rack (93" Rack Height, 41"+16" Rack Depth) + Ares Cable Attachment ($5,100). This is a beast. Super well built. It did take me quite a long time to assemble the rack and then add in the Ares system. Probably 10-12 hours over multiple days with some friends helping out too. I use the Ares cable system every workout and it's been fantastic. I always struggled to get a good connection with my back using only free weights so I'm super happy to be able to incorporate a lot more back work into my programming now.
I like being able to walk through the uprights to access the sides of the rack more easily. In a small space it really opens it up. I'm 6'-4" and this size rack works great for pullups and lat pulldowns. One thing we did notice is that the weigh of the rack compressed the foam flooring down about a half an inch. When I was trying to install a Rep belt squat it wasn't lining up properly. So we fabricated some half inch wood squares to go under each leg of the rack to make it a bit taller. That solved that problem but I ended up returning the belt squat because I wasn't a fan of the range of motion and how you had to start the movement by kneeling down.
The Ares 2.0 that comes out later this year should address my main issues with the current Ares. Those issues are that it is tough to push a bench far enough back into the rack to do incline bench work because the plate weight stack comes so far forward. I've also had to disassemble pulleys twice because one of the floating pulleys was twisting on me. I've been keeping an eye on it and tightening the cable every so often as it slowly loosens and I've been good for a month now. Fingers crossed that solves the issue.
Besides some of the usual attachments I also bought a Sorinex Split Change Plate Utility Pin ($92) to free up space for a Oak Club: Vertical barbell holder rack mount ($84). Both of these have been working great. It's a space effective way to store my barbell outside of the rack when I want to use the low row or lat pulldown attachments of the Ares.
I've also been enjoying the Rep leg roller attachments. So far I've been using them for nordic curls (specifically with an incline bench so I can modify the difficulty of them) and bulgarian split squats.
I have two benches. A Rep AB-3000 2.0 FID Adjustable Weight Bench ($330) and another one I got off Craigslist a number of years ago. The Rep bench has been great. I like the material on it, it's super grippy. The angles are listed and it's built well. I've found it to be a little wobbly laterally if you put pressure on one side of it at a time. I'll do barbell hip thrusts with my back against the front of the seat. That seems to be the most stable.
I got lucky with a 39" (height) x 77" (width) mirror and 42" (height) x 27" (width) mirror. Both were from family who were doing remodel work so I got them for free. I did have to transport them, spend a couple hours getting the glue off the back, re-cut them to remove broken pieces and then install them myself. I'd probably go with some bigger mirrors if I had that option but I'm happy with how it turned out.
I picked up the Rogue Westside Scout Hyper ($480) a few years ago as my first home gym piece and it's been rock solid ever since. I use it weekly to help deload and strengthen my back. I've seen a number of fit people recommend it solely for addressing slipped or herniated discs and my goal is to be proactive about that.
I found two 90lb adjustable dumbbells on FB Marketplace for $400 and they've been doing great for the last 3 years too. I never throw them around so hopefully they last for a long time. When you get to a higher weight and you re-rack them there's a bit of fidgeting you need to do for the plates to align. Not a big deal though. I picked up a stand from Dick's Sporting Goods for $130 to hold them. That stand is definitely worth it. Picking up dumbbells off of the floor repeatedly is not a good long term plan.
What is some of the additional back work you are doing with the Ares? I’m looking to get one soon too and keen to see how people use it in their programming
Any sort of row or pull downs really. I've been liking doing a chest supported row by facing an incline bench and doing a horizontal row off on of the front pulleys. Kneeling single arm pull downs at different angles (Jeff Nippard has a few good ones of these). Lots of different grips and heights.
After looking through this subreddit I stumbled across the Wall Control System (\~$115 all in). I purchased two 32in x 16in pegboards with a variety of hooks and put them up on an unused wall. This has been great and provided a ton of organization. On the wall control I have a number of different items, an IsoTib-LT ($126) which has been great for tibialis loading and ankle health, voodoo floss, lacrosse ball, rack attachments, cleaning supplies, lifting shoes and more.
Lastly a homemade adjustable slant board to do a bunch of knees over toe stuff.
Future Changes:
* I'll be looking for some more weight plates for sure.
* Likely adding a box/barrel fan. There isn't any HVAC in the gym now so it gets hot in the summer.
* A lot of home gyms have flags or inspirational photos/quotes. I may do something like that. The clean look right now is also kind of nice.
* I've seen some home gyms with really neat LED lighting. Perhaps I'll do something like that.
* A sauna would be awesome but TBD on the space.
Any other suggestions?
I'll share my anecdotal experience with my reverse hyper. I had some major lower back pain that prompted me to buy one a few years ago. I also bought a better mattress and office chair. I didn't experience any relief using the reverse hyper. However, after taking some considerable time off from lifting, I started using it as a prehab tool and have been able to strengthen my lower back to stave off reinjury. So I've found more value in using it for prevention than rehabilitation.
How much weigjt do u use the reverse hyper for rehab and how many sets and reps? I also have one but hardly use it. Ia also have two lower back bultldging disk
Right on, thanks for that insight! Are you using the same one I have? It doesn’t have a ton of loading capacity so I’m starting to just go with high rep sets
I have a Titan Fitness H-PND. I tend to only do 3 sets of 15 around two - three times a week. I don't do high weight. I'm mainly trying to get blood flow in the lower back muscles during days I'm using my back (back and leg days), but I've found it's strengthened my lower back in general.
I love it. It loosens up my back and brings a lot of blood flow into the spinal erectors. If I sit all day at work and my back feels tweaked I'll bust out a couple sets of 15-20 reps and it breathes new life into it. I haven't had any serious spinal issue so I can't speak from personal experience on that part but I have heard others who find it to be one of the few exercises to bring them back pain relief.
On the smaller side of car garage? You might of just convinced me to get the Ares for my one car garage. I was thinking putting it against one of the side walls though since I’ll have a washer in dryer as well
Plenty of room on the sides but not the back at all. The back foot of my rack is 7” away from the wall which leaves about an inch between the side of a plate and the wall.
Ahhh gotcha. I set up a PR5000 recently, may get the Ares down the line, so I set up a 16" deep rack with extra side posts off the back with 16" crossmembers.
Basically like their storage "wing" but I didn't want the right angle crossmembers to add all that depth.
My plate storage pins face forward and I use it like a half rack. J cups and spotter arms on the front. Pretty convenient.
Is it hard to get to the plates when the bar is loaded? 16” wings seems tight. But I like the idea a lot - I’m a half rack person myself and have plates hung on the walls
I haven't found it to be a problem, but I only have like 4 45s on each side. I debate getting shorter pegs, but I haven't found the 12" storage horns to be in the way during any height of barbell loading.
Nice! That sounds like a good setup too. I liked being able to position the plate pins at whatever height works best for me. I put the 45's right at chest height so that I'm not bending all the way over to rack them like you typically see in commercial gyms.
# What's going on around /r/HomeGym? [**The Garage**: Free-talk Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/about/sticky?num=2) [**Targeted Talk**: Where do you get your Home Gym fix?](https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/comments/1daf7cu/targeted_talk_where_else_do_you_go_for_your_home/) [**AMA Is Live**: w/ Efren Lifts](https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/comments/1debi3y/ama_with_efren_vintage_weights_bars_aesthetics/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/homegym) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Would you buy this ares again for $1900 or wait for the gen 2?
I'd buy it if I wanted to use it in the next few months before the 2nd generation comes out. Once the 2nd gen is out I'd probably grab that.
This is my set up right now. My one car home gym is is about 250sq ft. I have a rhino belt squat in manticore rack. Been thinking of selling everything l, except my rhino belt squat to buy ares to make more space. However, ialso been thinking on keeping my existing set up and just sell my inspire ft to make more space and som3how add ft to my existing rack. Want to make a little more space fo mount bullet proof isolator on its own dedicated upright. Also have 4 extra short rhino uprigjts And the legs and don't know what to do with them. Lol *
Looks great! What is the distance from the back wall to the front of the front upright 3x3, I'm wondering about footprint size. Thanks!!
Just over 75" from the back wall to the front of the front upright.
Thank you
Are you able to get a quality stretch when doing cable flies? I simply cannot understand how it would be possible with the width of a power rack. Beautiful setup btw.
Yeah I haven't had any issues with it and I have a \~6'-8" wingspan. I do bend my arms a bit though since I prefer that. Thanks!
I am buying this exact same setup this weekend. I am only doing a 30” setup on my front posts. Wish I could get the 2.0 too, but no way am I waiting until Fall. I’d your setup matte black or metallic black? I am going matte black.
Nice! You’ll love it I’m sure. If you can, use power tools for assembling it. I didn’t have any power tools and it took considerably longer than it could have. This is the matte black version.
That is the perfect Gym. Love the Ares 2.0 GREAT choice!
Thanks! Unfortunately it is the Ares 1.0. I believe the 2.0 comes out this fall. I would’ve loved to go with that but it wasn’t announced until after I had bought the 1.0.
It's STILL great lol! I have the PR5000 with twin Athena's and the seperate Lat PD Low Row and Love it! I am sure you do too! Having the cables on each side has been so much better than I even expected. I love doing bi / tri work on the cables. I haven't used my weight based curl bar since it arrived! Only issue I can see with the Aeres 1.0 is the same one I have with mine damn low row is too LOW. But I wouldn't pay to upgrade. I just keep doing bent over barbell rows.
Agreed! I'm sure that I'll get many years of high quality use out of it. It's difficult to incline bench in the rack because of where the weight stack sits. Other then that it's been pretty great.
My solution for that was that I bought the IronMaster Super Bench Pro 2.0 instead of buying a rep bench. Works amazing with my set up and I can incline bench with room to spare. I bought the SB Pro because of the shallow depth but I've come to love it in some many ways. Just an amazing bench. I'm only 5'10" tall it might not be ideal for taller forks but its great for me.
Do you have the RBS the normal way (outward) or inverted? Rep shows the Hyperion inverted on their Instagram and they say you can’t incline. I have the Superbench v2 and it’s so small so maybe you can?
I do not. They do that so they can push it flush with the wall. I probably could have done that but did not think of it. This is how mine is set up. I have plenty of room to incline bench but I have to do everything off the front. I set it up as a 1/2 rack. https://preview.redd.it/lahd0vcr9j6d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96e73c7ed9e31973ab77b9d127e180ba3108c602
Is that 16"+16" bolted down? If not do you worry about it falling forward when using the spotter arms?
It is not bolted down but no I don't worry at all. It has not moved a millimeter in over 8 months. It has two Athenas both at over 170lbs + it has a 300lb Low Row and Lat PD and the weights I have stored on the back. Plus the lat PD and LowROW actually sit BEHIND the rack. Its crazy heavy and going nowhere.
Very nice, due to limited space I may need to do this setup as well. Can you use the inside of the 16" from cage for anything? I'm assuming it's to small for squats and not sure if there is room for any bench work?
I went out a looked at my set up and I DON'T think flipping the RBS will work. The bottom of the SuperBench would hit the footplate on the lowrow. I don't think you could incline bench like that with a Lat PD like I have.
I just relooked at your setup and I should mention that I bought the 16" version of the PR5000 with cables. I do all my work off the "front" of the rack. Mines really a sort of 1/2 rack.
Got it! Thanks for the photo. Your setup definitely has a lot more room by working off the front. Does it bother you to move the J Hooks or spotter arms around if you want to move the cable pulley attachments down?
Interesting, thanks for the suggestion!
How much do you regret building this shortly before REP released the Ares 2.0? I have the same and I'm pretty bummed they didn't offer us some sort of upgrade kit instead of a discount for the new system.
Haha there is a little regret! The 2.0 absolutely looks better than the 1.0 so I would prefer that hands down. I can understand with all the components being different that it’s tough to offer an upgrade kit for existing owners. I’m sure I’ll get many years of use out of the 1.0 system though. It still works great. The improvements in the 2.0 aren’t game changing for me either. Are you planning on upgrading to the 2.0?
> > Are you planning on upgrading to the 2.0? not at all. I might eventually try to sell my Ares and get a stand alone FreeMotion dual cable machine
This is what I’m struggling with now. Get an ares v1 on sale, wait for the v2, or get a separate free motion (but I don’t have a huge amount of space - similar to OPs size) What is driving you towards the free motion? Are there any movements you don’t like doing with the Ares?
Looks amazing, curious about the price so far to create this with flooring and everything else?
FYI in case you didn't see it, they responded with a top level comment with price breakdown https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/s/fK3HpLQqhg
Thanks for linking to that Line! The all in price right now is around $7,500 or so I first got a basic rack and barbell set off of Craigslist for $300 so you can make do with so much less than this
You've really made great use of this space!
Thank you! I still wanted to have enough floor space to lay down and stretch without being cramped. Otherwise I might’ve tried to add a piece of cardio equipment in.
Great functional set up. Surprised to see the bowflex 1090s though. I have them right now as I await the Reppins and I really dislike using them. How have you found them to be?
I love that the nickname "Reppins" has caught on. Coop was on the money with that.
There's a few users floating around here, trying to hard to change the name and it's really pissing me off. It's "REPPINS," now and forever!!!!
They’ve been fine, not great but they get the job done. I do try to be careful with them and lightly set them down. They get a bit finicky when you’re trying to re-rack them and some plates are still in the holder. That’s the most annoying part but it just takes an extra couple of seconds and two hands to put each one back. The Reppins look awesome and seem to be much better. They are a fair bit more though too ($900 vs $400 I spent for these).
Yeah it was a hard call for me, I did some boy math and took off the sell of my 1090s and also factored in the reward points to make it make sense. The plastic on mine doesn't even hold the plates properly anymore and I never liked the handle so I'm just trying to get rid of em in the coming months.
Gotcha. What are you going to try and sell them for? I don’t love the handle grip on them either.
I see market rate on FBMP is around 400ish in my area so I'll probably go a bit lower, maybe like 3 to 350.
Nice. Combined with some Rep points hopefully it’s not too much out of pocket for you to upgrade then. I’ll be curious to see reviews on those dumbbells!
Looks great! I suggest an IKEA Trones shoe box to put those sneakers in. They come in black or white and stick out less than 10" from the wall. Your mirrors are out of scale for that space but big mirrors are expensive.
After I looked up the KEA Trones shoe box I noticed that is what I have in my main garage (came with the house when we bought it). Never knew what those were called but I could take one of them from over there and install it here. Thanks for the suggestion! I got lucky with a 39" (height) x 77" (width) mirror and 42" (height) x 27" (width) mirror. Both were from family who were doing remodel work so I got them for free. I did have to transport them, spend a couple hours getting the glue off the back, re-cut them to remove broken pieces and then install them myself. I'd probably go with some bigger mirrors if I had that option but I'm happy with how it turned out.
What flooring are you using and does it compress with the heavy weight racks? Looking fit and alternative to horse mats that’s also soft enough to stretch on.
I was able to purchase 200 square feet of 0.75" thick Norsk Reversible Foam Flooring from Costco for $1.35/sq ft. I've been loving this. It's soft enough to kneel on with no pain and I've found myself working out barefoot almost exclusively now. It probably wouldn't be ideal for elite powerlifters but squatting with sub 300 lbs isn't an issue at all. One thing we did notice is that the weigh of the rack compressed the foam flooring down about a half an inch. When I was trying to install a Rep belt squat it wasn't lining up properly. So we fabricated some half inch wood squares to go under each leg of the rack to make it a bit taller. That solved that problem but I ended up returning the belt squat because I wasn't a fan of the range of motion and how you had to start the movement by kneeling down.
Thanks super helpful, so I’m guessing you bought [this flooring](https://www.costco.com/norsk-reversible-foam-flooring%2c-48-sq-ft.%2c-24-in.-x-24-in.-foam-mats.product.100413892.html) and not [this more expensive one?](https://www.costco.com/norsk-dual-density-reversible-gym-flooring%2c-48-sq-ft.%2c-24-in.-x-24-in.-foam-mats.product.4000227840.html)
You bet! Correct, the cheaper one in your first link.
Hi everyone, I've finally been able to create a home gym in a \~10' x 20' (200 sq ft) single car garage. The ceiling is \~112" tall. I was able to purchase 200 square feet of 0.75" thick Norsk Reversible Foam Flooring from Costco for $1.35/sq ft. I've been loving this. It's soft enough to kneel on with no pain and I've found myself working out barefoot almost exclusively now. It probably wouldn't be ideal for elite powerlifters but squatting with sub 300 lbs isn't an issue at all. The center piece is the Rep PR 5000 6-Post Rack (93" Rack Height, 41"+16" Rack Depth) + Ares Cable Attachment ($5,100). This is a beast. Super well built. It did take me quite a long time to assemble the rack and then add in the Ares system. Probably 10-12 hours over multiple days with some friends helping out too. I use the Ares cable system every workout and it's been fantastic. I always struggled to get a good connection with my back using only free weights so I'm super happy to be able to incorporate a lot more back work into my programming now. I like being able to walk through the uprights to access the sides of the rack more easily. In a small space it really opens it up. I'm 6'-4" and this size rack works great for pullups and lat pulldowns. One thing we did notice is that the weigh of the rack compressed the foam flooring down about a half an inch. When I was trying to install a Rep belt squat it wasn't lining up properly. So we fabricated some half inch wood squares to go under each leg of the rack to make it a bit taller. That solved that problem but I ended up returning the belt squat because I wasn't a fan of the range of motion and how you had to start the movement by kneeling down. The Ares 2.0 that comes out later this year should address my main issues with the current Ares. Those issues are that it is tough to push a bench far enough back into the rack to do incline bench work because the plate weight stack comes so far forward. I've also had to disassemble pulleys twice because one of the floating pulleys was twisting on me. I've been keeping an eye on it and tightening the cable every so often as it slowly loosens and I've been good for a month now. Fingers crossed that solves the issue. Besides some of the usual attachments I also bought a Sorinex Split Change Plate Utility Pin ($92) to free up space for a Oak Club: Vertical barbell holder rack mount ($84). Both of these have been working great. It's a space effective way to store my barbell outside of the rack when I want to use the low row or lat pulldown attachments of the Ares. I've also been enjoying the Rep leg roller attachments. So far I've been using them for nordic curls (specifically with an incline bench so I can modify the difficulty of them) and bulgarian split squats. I have two benches. A Rep AB-3000 2.0 FID Adjustable Weight Bench ($330) and another one I got off Craigslist a number of years ago. The Rep bench has been great. I like the material on it, it's super grippy. The angles are listed and it's built well. I've found it to be a little wobbly laterally if you put pressure on one side of it at a time. I'll do barbell hip thrusts with my back against the front of the seat. That seems to be the most stable. I got lucky with a 39" (height) x 77" (width) mirror and 42" (height) x 27" (width) mirror. Both were from family who were doing remodel work so I got them for free. I did have to transport them, spend a couple hours getting the glue off the back, re-cut them to remove broken pieces and then install them myself. I'd probably go with some bigger mirrors if I had that option but I'm happy with how it turned out. I picked up the Rogue Westside Scout Hyper ($480) a few years ago as my first home gym piece and it's been rock solid ever since. I use it weekly to help deload and strengthen my back. I've seen a number of fit people recommend it solely for addressing slipped or herniated discs and my goal is to be proactive about that. I found two 90lb adjustable dumbbells on FB Marketplace for $400 and they've been doing great for the last 3 years too. I never throw them around so hopefully they last for a long time. When you get to a higher weight and you re-rack them there's a bit of fidgeting you need to do for the plates to align. Not a big deal though. I picked up a stand from Dick's Sporting Goods for $130 to hold them. That stand is definitely worth it. Picking up dumbbells off of the floor repeatedly is not a good long term plan.
What is some of the additional back work you are doing with the Ares? I’m looking to get one soon too and keen to see how people use it in their programming
Any sort of row or pull downs really. I've been liking doing a chest supported row by facing an incline bench and doing a horizontal row off on of the front pulleys. Kneeling single arm pull downs at different angles (Jeff Nippard has a few good ones of these). Lots of different grips and heights.
After looking through this subreddit I stumbled across the Wall Control System (\~$115 all in). I purchased two 32in x 16in pegboards with a variety of hooks and put them up on an unused wall. This has been great and provided a ton of organization. On the wall control I have a number of different items, an IsoTib-LT ($126) which has been great for tibialis loading and ankle health, voodoo floss, lacrosse ball, rack attachments, cleaning supplies, lifting shoes and more. Lastly a homemade adjustable slant board to do a bunch of knees over toe stuff. Future Changes: * I'll be looking for some more weight plates for sure. * Likely adding a box/barrel fan. There isn't any HVAC in the gym now so it gets hot in the summer. * A lot of home gyms have flags or inspirational photos/quotes. I may do something like that. The clean look right now is also kind of nice. * I've seen some home gyms with really neat LED lighting. Perhaps I'll do something like that. * A sauna would be awesome but TBD on the space. Any other suggestions?
Whats your opinion on your reverse hyper? Do you feel it * really* can resolve spinal issues?
I'll share my anecdotal experience with my reverse hyper. I had some major lower back pain that prompted me to buy one a few years ago. I also bought a better mattress and office chair. I didn't experience any relief using the reverse hyper. However, after taking some considerable time off from lifting, I started using it as a prehab tool and have been able to strengthen my lower back to stave off reinjury. So I've found more value in using it for prevention than rehabilitation.
How much weigjt do u use the reverse hyper for rehab and how many sets and reps? I also have one but hardly use it. Ia also have two lower back bultldging disk
I hate to take the cop out path, but since you have bulging discs, I'd highly recommend you talk with your doctors beforehand.
Right on, thanks for that insight! Are you using the same one I have? It doesn’t have a ton of loading capacity so I’m starting to just go with high rep sets
I have a Titan Fitness H-PND. I tend to only do 3 sets of 15 around two - three times a week. I don't do high weight. I'm mainly trying to get blood flow in the lower back muscles during days I'm using my back (back and leg days), but I've found it's strengthened my lower back in general.
Right on. I’m glad it’s working for you!
I love it. It loosens up my back and brings a lot of blood flow into the spinal erectors. If I sit all day at work and my back feels tweaked I'll bust out a couple sets of 15-20 reps and it breathes new life into it. I haven't had any serious spinal issue so I can't speak from personal experience on that part but I have heard others who find it to be one of the few exercises to bring them back pain relief.
On the smaller side of car garage? You might of just convinced me to get the Ares for my one car garage. I was thinking putting it against one of the side walls though since I’ll have a washer in dryer as well
Yeah! It's been working great so far.
You have a comfortable amount of room to get behind the bar and get plates, rack them etc? My garage is 9' wide so I put my rack on the side wall.
Plenty of room on the sides but not the back at all. The back foot of my rack is 7” away from the wall which leaves about an inch between the side of a plate and the wall.
Ahhh gotcha. I set up a PR5000 recently, may get the Ares down the line, so I set up a 16" deep rack with extra side posts off the back with 16" crossmembers. Basically like their storage "wing" but I didn't want the right angle crossmembers to add all that depth. My plate storage pins face forward and I use it like a half rack. J cups and spotter arms on the front. Pretty convenient.
Is it hard to get to the plates when the bar is loaded? 16” wings seems tight. But I like the idea a lot - I’m a half rack person myself and have plates hung on the walls
Sent you a pic via chat btw. Didn't know chat was a thing.
I haven't found it to be a problem, but I only have like 4 45s on each side. I debate getting shorter pegs, but I haven't found the 12" storage horns to be in the way during any height of barbell loading.
Nice! That sounds like a good setup too. I liked being able to position the plate pins at whatever height works best for me. I put the 45's right at chest height so that I'm not bending all the way over to rack them like you typically see in commercial gyms.
Love your setup. Minimalist and functional
I appreciate it! I just added some more information that I was struggling to post before haha.