home/garage gym for a mountain biker

Chat Forum

home/garage gym for a mountain biker

9 posts & 8 voices | Started 4 months ago by alfabus | Latest reply from neilforrow

Tags:

No tags yet.

alfabus - Member

I have a double garage, which is already most of the way to being the uber man-cave I always dreamed of.

It has a workbench and a huge rack of bikes. I've got a load of industrial racking being delivered for storage. Also being planned are some kitchen units with a sink, beer fridge and dedicated muddy kit washing machine. Oh, and there is a sofa in there too.

I've been wondering whether I should embrace the cliche and put a weights bench or some gym kit in there. Has anyone done this and actually managed to maintain the motivation to use it for any length of time, or will it just become another horizontal surface to dump stuff and a load of heavy things to stub my toes on?

Any recommendations for what kit to get? I don't want to be Mr. Universe, just general strength / fitness for biking and climbing.

Dave

Posted 4 months ago #
mustard - Member

TRX? (that is the first hit on google shopping, you may be able to find them cheaper) It does seem to be a bit of the new thing but they are a pretty versatile bit of kit and I am tempted to get it as I think it is the sort of thing I would actually use. Bodyweight excercises too so makes sense to me for climbing and a great core workout.

There are some vids on pinkbike of excercises for mtbers from the Yeti DH teams PT, he says it's what they use on the world cup circuit as it means they don't have to find a gym with specific bits of kit. Doesn't take up any floor space in your cave and won't give you as many dirty looks as a weights bench covered in an inch of dust/bike parts

Posted 4 months ago #
joao3v16 - Member

I'd suggest fitting a Chin-up/Pull-up Bar at the very least.

Combined with press-ups (I do elevated, with press-up bars), chin-ups & pull-ups are a simple way of building upper-body strength without the need for loads of equipment. And they complement climbing/cycling very well I find.

Posted 4 months ago #
alfabus - Member

I've already got a finger board in the kitchen. One of these:

was thinking more along the lines of free weights, as I used to use these yonks ago and really felt the advantages in core strength that they gave.

Dave

Posted 4 months ago #
sobriety - Member

I'd second joao3v16 on the chin up bar, I got one and doing regular and varied chin ups has improved my ability to 'muscle' my bike around loads.

Posted 4 months ago #
inigomontoya - Member

For a proper man cave you NEED a punch bag.

Posted 4 months ago #
schrickvr6 - Member

Bikejames.com

Have got half a room in the house pretty well kitted out and use it pretty much everyday. A cheaper alternative to TRX are gym rings and a cheaper alternative again would be rachet straps and some dog chew rings. You can make a dip station from PVC pipe which is well worth having. Kettlebell and/or homemade bulgarian bag made from an innertube plus the obvious bench/squatrack and pile of weights.

Edit: And as above a punchbag, resistance bands are also very useful.

Posted 4 months ago #
Stuey01 - Member

TRX? (that is the first hit on google shopping, you may be able to find them cheaper) It does seem to be a bit of the new thing but they are a pretty versatile bit of kit and I am tempted to get it as I think it is the sort of thing I would actually use. Bodyweight excercises too so makes sense to me for climbing and a great core workout.

£160!!
Wow.

I fantasise about one day having a house with a garage in which I can have a home gym. On my shopping list is the following:

Squat cage (with pull up bar)
Olympic barbell
Lots of plates
Dumbells
Selection of kettle bells
Bench
skipping rope
Heavy bag (if there is room)
Rubber flooring of some kind.
Spinning bike

Posted 4 months ago #
neilforrow - Member

Posted 4 months ago #