Home gym advice

A standard barbell is 7’ in length. So, you may want to consider a shorter barbell. I don’t know if that will affect your performance in anyway, but I doubt it. Weights are weights. You do not have much room to work with, so I would suggest you be as compact as possible. Any conditioning will have to be done outside unless you want to do burpees until your nose bleeds.

Ok, first use full size bar. I would get the shorter C70 bar from rogue for accessory work. The 10' dimesnsion will have to be your width.

As far as rack, with your dimensions, I would highly suggest a folding rack. Prx has the best but its expensive. Rigue,rep, elitefts, even titan should be places you are looking. Bolt fitness and heptagon strength are other options.

You want to stick with 3x3 if possible but 2x3 works also. 21.5" or so depth. Either 1" or 5/8" holes. 3x3 with those options would give you the ability to use the most accessories.

Go tallest you can fit. So you can hang rings from pullup bar.

You want foldable to give your self as much floor space as possible.

Get a flat bench that you can hang on the wall with a wall hanger. Rogue utility would prolly be my pick, cheap and well built.

Doing this setup would allow you to do all barbell movements in and outside the cage. Also with a pair of adjustable dumbbells later, allows for almost all dumbbell movements. Add rings and you have a shite ton of exercises you can do, especially if you get creative. Add a dip attachment and you are pretty much set.

I would get the dip attachment with the rack and add rings as my next purchase.

In order of recommendation

1) nice barbell(get a nice multi purpose bar with good knurl. I suggest Ohio bar raw or a power bar)

2) weights

3) rack with front safeties

4) bench

5) dip attachment

6) rings

7) landmine

8) bands

9) db-15 or similar loadable dumbbells

10) ssb bar from titan

11) ez curl bar

12) kbs in 26, 35, 53, 70

13) echo Ghd

14) leg roller attachments

15) loaded strongman bags

Build your sandbag as shown in the book for conditioning. Hit the barbell and bodyweight movements hard.

Slow build out the rest of the gym its plenty of room to do all rack and floor barbell movements. Also for bodyweight.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have 10' ceilings so that should be fine. My main concern was the width of the room and the length of the barbell in there. One side of the room is partially open so the bench and everything will clear. I have a cheap flat bench now and will upgrade in the future. A few other questions I have:

Why is 3"x3" important? Durability vs accessory availability?

If I go with a half rack, does it have to be bolted down?

I plan to get some rings in the future also. For conditioning, I plan on doing Peloton and burpees. I just hate running. Thabks again.

I don't bolt mine to the floor. It's already very stable. It has a built in weight rack, and after loading a few hundred pounds of plates it's not going anywhere

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db-15 or similar loadable dumbbells

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I just looked these up and they look NICE. Hadn't seen those before. Seems like a great option over a powerblock or something similar. Those "block" style dumbbells worry me from a longevity standpoint because it seems like if just one thing malfunctions the whole dumbbell would be useless.

Uhhh i have the powerblocks and love them. Had then 5 years with no problems. They have a long warranty too.

The db-15s are much cheaper and offer a more traditional feel. But that also are uncomfortable when sitting on your legs. Also need lots of 10s & 5s once you get to upper level weights. But you get to start small and build which for many is more pallettable than a bigger upfront cost.

But they are more durable that blocks, allow for Olympic lifts and can also hold db bumper plates that allow them to be dropped or thrown.

Both have pros and cons. I love my powerblocks though and would never part from them. I do plan to get the db-15s and the db bumper plates eventually though.

If you are using 25s you can let the weight sit on your leg which helps.

I do really like the new pepin adjustable and would give up my powerblocks for a set of those and the new nuobell adjustable

Nuobells are nice as hell but I have concerns with all the plastic they use on the moving parts. Seems that would wear out over time.

I also love my powerblocks but in general I think the pepins or the rogue handles are the way to go. Pepins prolly will be best in the long run for traditional dumbbell movements. But again, I would like to see some improvements on the design. Need to upgrade the rubber ring or send 8 replacement rings with the handles for users to replace them as they wear. Also needs umhw on the screw portion where it would contact the plates.

Also I am a little concerned that like spinlocks, the screw could come loose during the lift. Will have to see coops review on them.

Would also like to see a universal handle with screw sections that can handle 75/120/150 lbs respectively. I think they have the first two.

Also would love to see a fat grip knurled handle offered.

Overall I think they will be a game changer in the long run and wouldn't be surprised if someone like rogue started offered a similar product but one that uses Olympic plates instead.

Thanks for all of the solid advice. I will update once I pull the trigger. May I ask why you suggest a raw steel bar? Are most of the bar finishes personal preference? I guess I would worry about rust.

What brands do you recommend for barbells and plates? It's a bit tough for me to get past Rogue's shipping prices. I would like to look locally for plates in Texas if they are in stock. Any brands to avoid? I am going to pull the trigger soon on the Rogue folding half rack in 3"x3". Any thoughts on the Rogue echo bar or Rogue bar 2.0? I'm keeping an eye on the Boneyard stuff.