[Closed] Home gym - dumbbells

****ing hell.... they're nearly £400 !

spendy... I'd spend the cash on a bigger variety of equipment personally! they are only weights at the end of the day and normal ones are easy enough to change, guess it depends if youre short on space

Weeksy - they're way cheaper than power blocks or iron master...

alex - You've caused me to think a bit there - I could get some plate weights for the pulley system on the rack and a couple of 25kg platesI guess..

Reviews on those seem good, only real disadvantage (aside from cost) is that they'll always be pretty long regardless of which weights you have on them which may be awkward with pronated grip exercises where you bring the dumbbells together.

I guess it comes down to how short on space are you and how much is your time worth (if you're changing weights a lot on the dumbbells in a session).

I'd like to try some but as above there is A LOT of other stuff I'd spend that kind of money on first; they'd be way down my list.

I'm now looking at this lot which is around the same price as the dumbbells (with stand)

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-bar-hooks-for-cf475-cf485-or-cf470-pair.php
£30
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-deluxe-40kg-rubber-dumbbell-kit.php
£70
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/weight-stack-attachment-for-cf484-cf680t-cf475-cf485-cf660.php £200
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bodymax-olympic-rubber-radial-weight-plates.php
2 x 25KG £95

Definitely more sensible but less shiny.. 😉

I've got the 5-32kg Selectabells. Had them about 2 years now and going strong still. I don't find them too long for any exercises - even over head dumbells presses where you bring them together. I had spin locks before - I wouldn't go back.

Bought them from powerhouse who were great - I ordered a decent flat / incline / decline bench at the same time, plus some Olympic plates, Stand to store the plates on, squat rack etc....

I've semi converted half a double garage and got some really thick rubber matting. Haven't stepped into a gym since - so much better not having to wait for kit to become free.

Bought them from powerhouse who were great - I ordered a decent flat / incline / decline bench at the same time, plus some Olympic plates, Stand to store the plates on, squat rack etc....

I'm sure it's nice to have stuff at home, but £400 gets me three and a bit years gym, with classes included.

so much better not having to wait for kit to become free.

Or you could just join a gym with a decent amount of kit. The Box I go to has over 4 tonnes of proper Olympic bumper plates and something like 40 Olympic bars. It's never run out of bars or plates....

[url= https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5616/22845535038_f718b270c9.jp g" target="_blank">https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5616/22845535038_f718b270c9.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/ANMkD9 ]A lot of plates[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

Think carefully how heavy you will be going?! I started with Olympic dumbells and rubber coated Olympic plates, only to realize you can't get more than a max of 40kg including the dumbbell. Since then I have had to buy a load of cast iron 5kg plates to fit more weight on.

For exercises like lateral raises, curls etc the long dumbells are a pain to use, so I have fixed rubber coated hex dumbells from 5kg - 20kg.

For Olympic plates try to get properly sized plates, otherwise you are actually doing deficit deadlift due to the smaller diameter.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ironman-Olympic-2-Rubber-Coated-7-Hole-Disc-25kg-Weightlifting-Plates-/182173424168?hash=item2a6a61da28:g:XvgAAOSwBahVdX4c

These are a great price, properly sized and rubber coated.

Maybe it's just Bristol, but every gym I've been a member of has has a certain amount of waiting for kit. I've not been a member of a crossfit gym though. My neighbour uses one and it sounds expensive. I figure my gym gear st home will last ages as it's mostly metal plates / bars etc.

I'm considering buying myself a pulley station at some point - just trying to justify the cost at the moment and working out how it would fit. Got a treadmill in the garage gym too and currently have my racer setup in a turbo for some exercise whilst rehabbing my shoulder after a stabilisation operation.

If you have acess to a good gym it's great, but so many gyms are like ants at a picnic. My wife came home recently moaning she had to wait nearly an hour to use either a smith or squat rack! If you have specific training goals home gyms are great.

If you have acess to a good gym it's great, but so many gyms are like ants at a picnic.

yep, that's the mainstream chain model, build a gym which can fit 50-100 people and then sell 5000 memberships. Smaller gyms / Crossfit gyms have much smaller number of members, eg mine has 170 in total (although you do pay more, mainly as rents in Cambridge are so high).

Or you could just join a gym with a decent amount of kit. The Box I go to has over 4 tonnes of proper Olympic bumper plates and something like 40 Olympic bars. It's never run out of bars or plates....

All of my gym stuff (including a used but mint Concept 2) cost me about £1200 all in, and will last forever, which was great value (for me) as opposed to a gym membership.

I'm sure it's nice to have stuff at home, but £400 gets me three and a bit years gym, with classes included.

Time constraints and location can be a real issue and lets face it, getting to the gym can be half the battle. Other benefits of home gyms are you can wear what you like (deadlift slippers for me), listen to what you like and there is nobody dropping weights on the floor, squeezing past you as you power clean... Sometimes I will go for a social workout, but mostly I'm glad I'm out of it.

how much does that cost though? All the crossfit gyms near me are circa £60/month.

I pay £77/month. There are cheaper CF gyms in and around Cambridge, but this one is massive, central and only a 2 min ride from my house. However, I get classes thrown in for that and it's never too busy, so I can always go there and lift without waiting. Plus with a small membership you end up knowing everyone by name, which makes it quite nice and friendly.

at <£10/month, that's ridiculously cheap, so not a typical case at all! Work gym, I'm assuming?

Nope, Xercise4less. No swimming pools, saunas or juice bars, bring your own towels, but all the equipment you need and more. It's grim up north.

The cheapest gyms in Bristol (near me) are the gym group and pure gym. I was a member at the gym group for a while and it was ok. Loads of kit (except nowhere near enough squat racks) but always very busy. Took to going there at 7am and still you sometimes had to wait for stuff. Fitness First was worse, as were the local council gyms (which had rubbish kit in anyway). Tried some hotel gyms - not good. Crossfit gyms to expensive for me to justify. Ministry of Fitness gym is local but a bit too full of gurning apes for my liking. Good kit in there though.

Home gym a better solution for me.

Bristol? Redland Green (Tennis) Club gym is £15 a month off peak (£17 anytime).

It works well for me as an alternative to running / riding once or twice a week.

I have the selectabells - along with a full rack, high and low cables, plenty of Olympic weights, TRX straps and a heavy bag.

Well worth the investment. Yes, I could join a gym, but having been in and out of gyms for years - I knew that if I had what I needed at the bottom of the garden, I would use it more.

As above, my music, doesn't matter what I look like or smell like. I roll out of bed and head in there before work for cardio, and during the evening for weights.

My wife and 15 year old lad both use it regularly as well.

To answer the original question, the dumbbells are good enough - cheaper and easier to store than the fixed hex rack I wanted. Occasionally stick when changing weight, but can do all exercises with them.

I have some Olympic db bars for when I need to go heavier than 32.5 (esp one armed row)

I'm very very lucky to have a well equipped work gym 3 mins walk from my house (yes I work 3 mins walk from my house).

It has pretty much everything I would want (because I kitted it out), BIG dumbbells, barbells, plenty of plates, nice benches, squat rack, 3d smith machine (don't really use that), kettlebells, decent cable machines, decent cardio kit, we even have heavy bag and speed ball for the wannabe boxers on site.

It's one of the reasons I'm still with the company, that and the 3 minute walk to and from work.

If I was to move jobs or houses I would either go the crossfit gym route or garage gym, but space is a bit tight in the garage at the mo with all the bikes.
For a garage gym, I'd get a power rack with pull up station, barbell, plenty of plates, few kettle bells and probably some dumbbells of some description up to a max of maybe 50kg.
I'd get a concept2 or assault bike for cardio too...

Did I mention I have a gym and work 3 mins from the house?

3d smith machine (don't really use that)

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Thanks for the feedback on the selectabells Joe and sc-xc.

On this occasion, I've decided (as I'm moving off 5x5 too) to use the budget to get the weight stack for my pulley, standard 40kg DB's (I already have a set of DB's so will now have 2 sets), and some extra cage hooks.

I may look at the selectabells if I start using dumbbells a lot in future.

Home gym is way better for me - very convenient and there are no issues with queuing, can listen to my music, do what I want when I want and not have either my visual, aural or olfactory senses affronted

Fair enough. See how that goes - the selectabells are the best purchase I made - apart from the bench. Made such a big difference getting a decent bench to replace the wobbly York thing I had before.

Agree on all the points about training at home - just need to replace the tiny TV I have with something a bit bigger - makes cardio more bearable.

The only downside vs a commercial gym is the lack of Lycra clad lovelies to ogle.

I prefer going to the gym and find it motivates me more. I have a complete set up at home, which the wife uses, but it just doesn't work for me.....

if your anywhere near Bedminster stick your head into sweatbox. Scrappy weights section but its very rare to have 3 people lifting at the same time.

This is how my home gym is setup. Actually getting to use it a bit now post shoulder op!

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I got powerblocks, they save a lot of space and time compared to switching weight on spinlocks

It's the time saving that's the best thing about adjustable dumbells for sure - especially over spin locks. If I had the money and the room then a full set of proper dumbells would be great obviously.

Has anyone with a home gym got a pulley station for hi / low / middle cable exercises?

Looking at getting a Bodymax CF810 adjustable pulley station. I can't find anything else in the same price range that really compares as an alternative. Has anyone got one?

400 quid!!!!! Sweet Jesus! That's more than my car is worth!

I will tape some bags of sugar to a broom handle for you for 40p.