Assembled my new power cage

[Reincarnate]

it is done

[Reincarnate]

I posted this shit in the wrong goddamn forum because I am an idiot

Someone plz move to fitness

edit: Thanks Sky Kitten

[Sky Kitten]

All done! :)

And very nice power cage.

[Reincarnate]

Thanks.

One other idea I am throwing around is using the desk to hold up a monitor, putting my DDR pad in the center of the platform, and making some sort of insertable bar that'll fit in the holes. That way I can also use the power cage as a DDR/ITG/Stepmania station for cardio.

I don't know yet if I'll actually do that, though, because I tend to stomp pretty loudly/heavily.

Also still need to find a way to help noise-buffer the J-cups.

[demonllama6124]

I remember having these in high school. No excuse why you cant switch between arm and leg day now

[Arch0wl]

I have an erection

[Reincarnate]

Daytime shot (semi blurry pic, sry)



Also had the pin-pipe safeties in this one.

I'll need to number the holes with a white marker or something because it's too hard to count each time / ensure things are level when inserting the pins.

However, these suckers are noisy when setting them up (everything black = steel that makes clanky noises if two things touch each other). May need to add padding of some sort? Anyone done anything like this?

[Arkuski]

Looks awesome! I wouldn't add padding, just cover the walls in egg crates so the sound doesn't leak into other rooms.

[SCWolf]

This is sweet and makes me want to buy one.

How many weights did you purchase with this? or is this basically just the first step.

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by SCWolf

This is sweet and makes me want to buy one.

How many weights did you purchase with this? or is this basically just the first step.

I haven't purchased any weights yet. Doing that today (or tomorrow), depending. Not sure yet if I should get bumpers or iron.

[SCWolf]

Bumper might be better if you're in an apartment or something

[Reincarnate]

Any recs for such plates?

How about lifting gloves? (My hands suck)

[Zageron]

That's actually pretty legit.

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

How about lifting gloves? (My hands suck)

I had a long and intense debate with Chris and Andrew about this.

It was hard to convert me, but gloves will hurt you in the long run. Not that you'll be completely fucked if you use gloves, but your grip strength won't develop as quickly.

If you're like me, your hands are soft and you want to keep them that way. The good news is that you'll only roughen up the part of your palm where on the reverse side your knuckles would be; the rest will stay soft.

[Reincarnate]

Yeah I am the same way (soft hands). Although in my experience I can grip harder with gloves because it doesn't hurt as much. But perhaps it's one of those things I need to just work through until it's not an issue. What ultimately convinced you? Just grip strength?

[Arch0wl]

the heavier you're lifting, the more you will have to compensate with gloves.

it could create a muscular imbalance eventually re: deadlifts and other lifts involving grip. it might also impede your bench, since a stronger grip gives you a bit of extra force and control.

as of this post (i.e. july 2014) my deadlift is bad. 'bad' to me is somewhere in the 300s, but I have no idea where in the 300s this is because my grip strength isn't good enough to hold on to the bar for long enough. currently I am training grip strength a lot to overcome this, but I attribute my grip strength inadequacy to using gloves for a while.

as someone who also has soft hands, I seriously encourage you to avoid making the same mistake I did.

[SCWolf]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

Any recs for such plates?

How about lifting gloves? (My hands suck)

No recs on the plates. You can get some from Rogue Fitness though, those are fine.

Your hands will adjust.

[Reach]

Holy shit that is a nice setup. If you don't mind me asking, how much did that cost and where did you get to the equipment?

I might have to move outside the city in another year or so for work and building one of these might be a lot more efficient than going to a gym.


Keep us up to date with your progress!

As for plates, any plate will work for squat and bench press. If you are not on the bottom floor of wherever you are working out / would like to minimize noise, you might want to invest in a few rubber plates for deadlifting.

And don't use gloves. Particularly when deadlifting. It will improve your grip tremendously over time if you don't use them.

[SCWolf]

If I were to analogize gloves it would be the Judge 1 of lifting.

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by Reach

Holy shit that is a nice setup. If you don't mind me asking, how much did that cost and where did you get to the equipment?

Power Cage:
RML-390F Flat-Foot Monster Lite Rack ($795): http://www.roguefitness.com/rml-390f...ster-lite-rack

Bench:
Rogue Flat Utility Bench ($185): http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-flat-utility-bench (Version 1, though. Version 2 came out after I purchased everything)

Total from Rogue was $980 before shipping (which was a touch over $250 for me)

Bar:
CAP Barbell Olympic Bar ($127.66, I didn't have to pay shipping on this one): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001K4OPY2/...332200_TE_item

Rubber:
3/4"-thick TSC Horse Stall Mat ($40): http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/stor...at-4-ft-x-6-ft (I cut this in half for the platform)

Wood:
Four sheets of 3/4"-thick oak plywood from Home Depot, about $50 per board or something like that ($200 total)

Grand total: About $1600 even

Of course, I haven't bought a weight set yet, but I figure that'll probably bring the total up closer to 2 grand, depending.

I could have probably gotten by with a MUCH cheaper setup since I am a n00b (i.e. settle for used equipment from Craigslist), but in my case, I consider this an investment and I want it to last me as long as humanly possible.

Assembling the power cage was a bitch and a half, though (I needed three other people to help out and hold stuff in place while I bolted stuff together).

Originally Posted by Reach

Keep us up to date with your progress!

Apparently I have something messed up in my left elbow area where the triceps connect to the elbow, which means I may have to lay off the bench press (etc) until I figure out if I need surgery or whatever.

Seems like I should still be able to squat and stuff, though. Right now just planning on doing some stretch routines until I can actually start DOING stuff:

http://phraktured.net/starting-stretching.html

http://phraktured.net/molding-mobility.html

Originally Posted by Reach

As for plates, any plate will work for squat and bench press. If you are not on the bottom floor of wherever you are working out / would like to minimize noise, you might want to invest in a few rubber plates for deadlifting.

And don't use gloves. Particularly when deadlifting. It will improve your grip tremendously over time if you don't use them.

Yeah, will definitely stick to rubber plates / bumpers, and have also decided to avoid using gloves.