I’m in the market for some stuff for my new (hopefully) garage gym.
Mrs Wrecker is due to pop sprog in december so getting to the gym is going to become problematic.
I’m mainly after a power cage/rack, a bench, some rubber encased olympic weights w/bar but also want rubber floor mat and a couple of kettlebells.
I’ve trawled Ebay and Gumtree but there’s not a lot about, so I’ve priced new kit up on powerhouse fitness and a couple of other places.
With the impending wreckerjnr and a house move, I’m on a tight budget.
Are there any other reasonable websites for new, or even any forums with active classifieds that people know about?

Thanks!

i got mine from decathalon

I would try contacting the reconditioned gym machines sellers. They are often able to get 2nd hand free weights too. No point in buying the plates new but the bars can be worn smooth or the sleeves knackered. Unless you really need rubber encased then I would avoid as they had a massive premium to the cost.
Foam matting from Costco is about half the price of elsewhere. For the floor/weight contact areas get some used conveyor belts strips that can cut and doubled up or just glued to plywood to keep the noise down.
Powerhouse Bodymax weights are very hit and miss. Bad casting that gouges the sleeves, sleeves that don’t rotate evenly.

Thanks, but alas Decathlon don’t seem to sell racks/cages, olympic weights sets and their benches are pricey.
Looks like I might have to dig deep. Babies only eat milk for a while, right? That’s free, right?

Thanks Craig, I don’t need full rubber bumper weights, but I would really prefer rubber encased as cast ones will rust in a garage.
I hear you on the bodymax, but they are very well priced….
If I can find a set of reasonably priced used weights (and bench), I’ll be able to get the rack I want;
http://www.savagestrength.co.uk/strength-shop-power-cage.html

I got mine from Powerhouse. After I’d ordered I carried on googling and only then (typically!) did I find a few negative reviews wrt delivery/communications. Sure enough my kit did not turn up when it was supposed to, nor on the next 2 weeks. Feel I was fobbed off/bullshitted by them when I phoned to enquire/complain. It did eventually turn up though (3 weeks late), quality of everything was great and price was good so not too bad in all. I would probably use them again (but not if I were in a hurry!)

I got the Bodymax CF475 rack (very solid, recommend it, plus it’s a bit cheaper now than when I bought it!) and the Bodymax 145kg Olympic Rubber Radial Barbell Kit. The weights are good for the money IMO, I like the way they are easy to grab because of the cutouts, and I like the rubber coating as I haven’t bothered to build a platform yet or get any matting. Haven’t had any problems like Craig describes, perhaps I just got lucky though. Certainly they aren’t a premium product. The bar has bent very slightly but again is OK for the money. I’m going to get some more weights (probably bumper plates) and a stronger bar for deadlifting soon.

I did look around on eBay/gumtree for second hand racks, there are always a few about but they are normally beat up pretty bad, plus you’ve got the hassle of driving out to collect it (you will need a van!). You’ll probably have to take it apart yourself before you pick it up as well (unless it is welded in which case moving it would be even more hassle).

Second hand plates are also easy to come by but seem to go for nearly new prices a lot of the time, I found PH were quite open to doing a bit of a discount when I bought all my kit at once so that’s what I did in the end.

Ah, good to know about the discount. The CF475 is my 2nd choice rack, and I’m looking at the exact same weights you bought so glad to hear they’re OK. Did the bar bend with 145kg on it???
My PH wish list is currently £837, how much space for haggle do you think there is?

Apologies, it’s actually the Bodycraft F430 rack I bought not the Bodymax CF475. Sorry, it was a while ago and they all look pretty similar from the thumbs! I did consider the CF475, but the F430 is a bit more hefty and comes with a lifetime warranty which swung it for me. Also the spotter bars, etc are on sprung pins which makes them very quick to move – probably not ideal if in use all day in a gym but for home use is fine. I got some optional dip bars as well which work with the rack.

I was advised on another forum to phone for the discount rather than email so I haven’t got an exact record of what happened. I’ve got my invoice though, I paid full whack for the rack but only £180 for the weights so I guess that’s where the discount was.

Bar does bend a little with 145 on it (has a slight permanent bend now) but nothing that affects use. You’d probably want a stronger bar if you’re going to put more weight on it though IMO.

The Bodymax kit I had very minimal surface rust on the plates and they were used in an unheated concrete garage. The barbell took 3 attempts to get usable. The first 2 had misaligned sleeves due to the bolt and bar holes not being central. This made the sleeves into cams that would knock you off balance on squats and clean & jerks. The 3 one was central but had a notchy rotation. On all of them the sleeves suffered from surface rust through the thin chrome plating and bad casting of the plates. Non of the bars bent in use. I was lucky enough to get a 2nd hand Elieko bar for less than £100 off ebay which was like new and quality was night and day.

I used the CF480 rack which needs to bolted down to stop it rocking when dropping the weights back down on to it. The rubber bump strips were useless put replaced with strips of conveyor belt.
The bench was an F602 which was OK but the padding wasn’t firm or wide enough so on heavy weights you ended up with light bruising on your back, the vinyl split within a year so both of these wear replaced with a wider back support and firmer padding. The plastic caps on the legs kept coming off but glue soon fixed that. The only other problem was on seat angle couldn’t be raised fully with the back up right. When I replaced the back support I moved the bolt holes down 10mm to create a wider gap and that fixed the problem.

…..but apart from that it was all fine right? 😀
To be fair the CF480 is a half rack. I’ve heard that the CF375 is a bit shit.

You get what you pay for in the end. The tubing walls are quiet thin so not a great deal of weight in them like you get in commercial equipment. Bolting the rack down solved the problem.
I found the half rack much more to my requirements due to head height restrictions and full rack was nearly half the width of the garage taking a lot of space up.
The bench I really liked as the incline and decline angles where perfect for me and it was sturdy. Nothing worse than a bench that wobbles when your pressing on your last few reps.
The bars are poor quality. York and Mercy make a better quality bars in the same price bracket.
Powerhouse are local to me so that’s why I bought from them but the only items I’ve got left from them now is their Bodymax adjustable dumbells which other than a little bit of surface rust are great.