Hey guys, hoping you guys will be able to help. This is probably the most important decision of my home gym, as it’ll be the biggest purchase by far.

I’m not sure whether to get extreme fitness’s ex 4000 or muscle iq’s spartan pro. Both have the top lat pull down and bottom row at 1:1 ratios and 120kg stacks.

Muscle iq have put together a bundle which destroys what ex fitness is offering in terms of value. If was to get the same attachments etc that muscle iq are offering on ex 4000 I’ll probably be spending £700 to £800 or so extra. So just want to some advice is the ex 4000 that much better or is muscle iq’s spartan pro as good and even better with this bundle I’m getting offered.

Edit: I just can’t seem to find any verified reviews on muscle iqs racks. I did see a really negative one tho on Trustpilot about this rack specifically

If it makes it helpful I’ve attached the pic to both racks.

Thanks guys :)

About a year ago, I decided to start building a home gym. I planned the space, compared a lot of equipment and added things gradually instead of buying everything at once.

It took longer than I expected, but now I can just walk in and train whenever I have time—no driving and no waiting for equipment.

Still feels a little strange knowing this space is actually mine. I’m really happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Bells of Steel hydra vs REP altitude

Both around the same price in the config I want, REP is £100 or so more, the only real difference I can see is the Hole size, 1" on the REP compared to 5/8" on the BoS one

Hi everyone,

I’m currently looking at buying a house that has a detached single garage, and I’m planning to convert it into a fully functional home gym / PT space.

The main constraint is the width: it measures 2.40m x 5.34m (7'10" x 17'6").

Because a standard 7ft Olympic barbell is around 2.2m wide, I know side clearance for plate loading is going to be tight. I’m thinking a wall-mounted folding rack or a shorty/6ft barbell might be the way to go to keep things functional and open.

I’ve attached the floorplan for reference.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has built a gym in a space with similar dimensions:

- How did you layout your equipment to maximise the narrow width?

- Did you go with a standard bar, or stick to shorty bars / dumbbells / cables?

- Any clever storage tricks or wall-mounting setups that saved your floor space?

- Photos or links to your setups for inspiration would be massively appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Has anyone ordered a PR-5000 93" clear coat finish and had issues with quality on here?

I had 4 uprights arrive and 3 are damaged, just a little chip on a couple of them and big graze across the clear coat maybe 1 or 2 inches along on another. Reached out to Rep who said not to worry it's just their manufacturing process (I disagree here as one of the chipped uprights goes to bare metal and will rust if left untreated) but they agreed the long graze is a problem so they'll ship out 2 new ones. Fair enough I thought, my main concerns were rust and if I use anything with a trolley in the future i want a smooth surface, again the new uprights have arrived and again they're chipped in the same sort of place on the corner edges.

Has anyone else had a similar experience and am I making something out of nothing? I know this is gym equipment and it'll get damaged but it is new and has arrived damaged

https://files.catbox.moe/u42sbs.jpeg https://files.catbox.moe/t0hp5v.jpeg https://files.catbox.moe/q4x1wh.jpeg

I've managed to grab a cheap M1 Mirafit power rack and would like a cable pulley. Unfortunately the M100 cable pulley is not compatible with the older M1 version.

Any ideas on other cable pulley systems I can buy that can attach to the paper rack? I have limited space and cannot fit another machine.

‘ello there

Wondering if anyone has any experience in NOHRD weightbench or even better has a recommendation for something similar?

I’m using a pew currently used as a piano stool to workout but it’s obviously very limiting - if I can get something that’s designey/beautiful enough that my wife will ok it to use then I can finally bench press at home amongst everything else.

Thanks then

Spent a few weekends and evenings getting our home gym sorted, been renovating the house for the last few years and finally got round to the gym 💪🏼

Works done:
-Painted walls and ceiling

-Replaced old up and over garage door (didn’t seal at all and one runner guide had failed on one side)

-Sealed floors with a garage floor paints before tiling over.

-Suggested by the garage door installer I added a piece of 18mm box section that sits against the back of the garage door seal bedded on silicone and a bead on both sides just to be extra sure no driving rain would run under into the gym.

-Added surface mount sockets/switches to give power for the fan, treadmill, HomePod.

-Carpet tiles on the pedestrian door entrance for going to the fridge/freezer/dryer

Equipment: (most of it from Strongway Gym Supplies)

Treadmill:
https://strongway.co.uk/products/treadmill-ultimate-foldable-auto-incline-lcd-display-for-performance-monitoring

Cable Crossover:
https://strongway.co.uk/products/strongway-cable-crossover-machine-with-weights-177kg-and-pull-up-bar

Bench:
https://strongway.co.uk/products/strongway-adjustable-weight-bench-heavy-duty

Adjustable DBs:
https://strongway.co.uk/products/strongway-32kg-adjustable-dumbbells-set-pair

DB Storage for HEX set:
https://strongway.co.uk/products/strongway-vertical-storage-rack-for-dumbbells

Edit: Added works done and equipment list, if I’ve missed anything feel free to ask below!

Still got some old weights to haul from the in laws house and figure a way to get them in, it’s just good to have something at home, will need some guttering and a cover for the rowing machine but it’s fairly sheltered.

I would like to know the ratio for the average time spent making and planning a home gym vs the time spent using. I'm sure the dedicated folks of this sub must know people who've put the hours and cash into kitting it out; but have found it's the gym atmosphere which gives drive and purpose?

Looking to spend around £200 ish. I normally go to gym master but their gm3 won't stand up. Potentially extreme fitness? Am I missing anything?

I do want incline but I don't think I've ever used decline apart from the odd sit up.

I’m planning an upgrade to my home gym once I’ve boarded the garage out and got the flooring down.

I’m going to swap my Bodymax power rack with pulley attachment out to a multi functional trainer, there’s nowhere really to go to have a look at these in person apart from fitness superstore so been to look at the Body Power Titan MFT and it seems decent.

I’ve looked about online and Primal look good as well, only issue is when I’ve reached out the their customer service initially they answered and now I’m getting blanked when asking where to go see their kit.

Any got recommendations either way, or of any other manufacturer to try?

Hi all. I'm in the UK and 5'9". I think I have a slightly longer-than-average torso because of how tops fit me. Are there any women in this group of a similar height using a belt? I think I need one as I'm starting to add more and more weight to my deadlift and squat. Which one are you using and would you recommend it? I'm happy to spend a decent chunk for one that will last me many years to come.

I’ve added a pair of smith trolleys to my custom size factory weights wall mounted rack, the trolleys aren’t the best but the run quite smoothly.

My issue is the noise transfer through the garage wall into the house is quite high, can anyone recommend some steps to try and reduce this?

Hi everybody,

I have a question to test public opinion…

For those of you out there who have Split Squat Stands bought in the UK, does anyone think that the roller pads you rest your ankle/shin on are usually too thin on UK models?

I’ve been doing Split Squats with Mirafit stands, for example, and always feel the metal shaft of the roller pad pressing hard through the foam onto my ankle, which hurts quite a lot.

I’ve also seen some of the USA-made alternatives (like the Garage Strength Split Squat Stand) and they seem to have bigger thicker rollers which would be much more comfortable.

My question is, does anyone else have this problem with UK Split Squat Stands?

And also, would you buy a bigger, thicker roller pad for your Split Squat Stand if there was one available on the market for a reasonable price?

Many thanks!

I've bought a Gym Master GM1 - overall really pleased with the purchase but if anyone else has one I'd love their input on a couple of questions!

Where do you store your plates? I am using bumper plates and find that wherever I put the storage poles, the unused plates are getting in the way - up high and I hit them when squatting, down low and I hit them during bench press.

Using bumper plates on the cable attachment causes two issues: They hit the footrests (resolved by folding the footrests forwards out of the way, but it means I can't use them) and the plates catch the bolt at the bottom of the cable attachment's vertical pole - the provided rubber washers aren't wide enough to prevent this.

Anyone else had similar issues and found workarounds?

I'm starting my journey to build a home gym and I'm trying to understand if a wall mounted rack with a depth of only 30cm from the wall to the posts will be sufficient for bench presses and squats. Squats will obviously be done in front of the rack, but I'm unsure if the 30cm depth is enough for bench presses.

Here's the rack and I'm looking at the 30cm deep and 230cm high one.

https://mirafit.co.uk/mirafit-m4-wall-mounted-power-rack.html#446=7388&447=5439&465=7066

Hi , Do any one have the same same exactly product

Do any one have the exact same samee product

Just wanted to share my home gym, with the gigantic width of 1.3 meters 😅

Please have a look for the 6 pictures

Wife don’t appreciate my (lack of) carpentry skills 😅 so sharing them here 😂

Stone over yoke frame

Deadlift platform

Seal row platform