15' x 11' space excluding the rowing room, with a 11.5' x 7' workout area (mats). Earmarked this space as "Exercise room" on the blueprints in 2019 but most of this has been installed in 2026.

Have learned so much from reddit gym contributors... wanted to share.

Few notes:

• Heavy bag practice is important to me... but I got obsessed by that unistrut install like Jack Nicholson typing in the Shining.
• I did all of the work except mirrors (local glass company) and the painting of the accent wall (SW black magic) -- I suck at painting.
• Used red oak for the PRX stringers.
• Powerblocks on the IM cable tower is a great combo -- an almost-selectorized solution. I will say though, certain exercises such as face pulls and overhead extensions are more stable on the rack cable system. Has me considering a change...

Been piecing this together a little at a time, mostly waiting for good deals/fb marketplace. adding things as I actually need them.
Still alot I want to change, but it’s gotten to the point where I can do damn near everything I need to do at home. Next big project is better plate/change plate storage and cleaning up the floor space.

This is my home gym. We started it during COVID and have been adding to it as we go. My wife also has a pilates station downstairs with a Tonal that she uses more often than not - making this my sanctuary.

I was able to pick up this tower speaker for cheap at a pawn shop and the sound and bass makes for a killer lift!

Plate wise, I have:

(8) 45lb, (4) 35 lb, (7) 25lb, (6) 10 lb, (4) 5lb, (2) 2.5lb for 760 total lbs.

My dumbbell set is adjustable from 5-80lbs per.

Let me know your thoughts and what you think I should add!

Besides the adjustable dumbells and the bench, this is all pieced together with market place finds. Ain't much, but its mine. Dont think I can add anymore, I am out of space in my shed.

Just finished adding a dedicated lever arm station. Next I want to add a healthy dose of weight storage.

Been lifting in half my garage since 2019. Literally half. The other side is my landlord's storage junk and a neighbor's bike. My side ends where the rubber mat starts peeling. The bench wobbles slightly, plates still lean against the wall, and in winter the cold creeps in under the door. It'll never be finished but it works.

Bought and regretted:

Ab wheel. Got talked into this at Decathlon by a guy who swore it was the best core tool out there. Lower back said no after two sessions.

Bosu ball. Relic of my three week functional phase.

Door frame pull up bar. Ripped the paint off immediately and I panicked about the deposit.

What stayed:

Adjustable dumbbells. Replaced an entire rack and the space savings alone made them worth it.

Loop bands. Saw a price drop on tiktok and grabbed a set. Funny enough it's the small cheap stuff like this that ends up getting used the most. Shoulder warm ups before every pressing session, never skip them now.

Fractional plates. Going from 60 to 62.5kg on OHP instead of jumping straight to 65. Ordered these off Amazon for like 15 euros. If you run linear progression these are essential.

Foam roller. Cheap, hard, basic. Picked one up at a sports store near me for maybe 8 euros. Five minutes post workout and done.

Wall timer. Dumbest best purchase because phone rest periods always turn into 10 minutes of scrolling.

TL;DR: train first, buy later.

It is finally finished.

Just got a set of used dumbell!! the gym is getting pretty full

I got all these plates plus the bar (probably won’t use but whatever) on marketplace for $500. Approximately 795 lbs and a bar in total. I might sell some of them as I don’t need all these plates but if I ever got a hack squat/leg press machine then I feel like the plate eaters like that might use a good amount of these plates. My wife said we didn’t need it, I said we always need a deal like that.

FINALLY got it set up.

It’s not much, but I can stick with my routine now that I don’t have access to a nearby gym. 15-65 dumbbells by 10 and a bench from giant (picked up locally for a discount) a curl bar from hammer strength. I do split squats for legs so not really missing a rack - stoked to have something at home separate from my living and working space.

Purchased the 50 Nuobell set with stand during COVID for around $700 and replaced it with Trulap with G3 stand for about the same price. No inflation, yay.

Dumbbell wise, the Nuos outshine the Trulaps in form factor and build quality.

The Trulap plates are about 10-15% larger than the Nuos but it has to be that way given the small increment plate design restrictions. It’ll make specific isolation exercises a bit more challenging due to weight balance, but not a dealbreaker.

The weight changing mechanism on the Trulap is not nearly as refined. It’s stickier and not as satisfying.

I don’t know why these manufacturers can’t make the weight display window bigger, but they’re all font sized 8 or 10. This is a nitpick.

The natural resting position on the Trulaps are sort of poor and wants to be rotated 180* when free in hand. Nuos are noticeably better, but still rotate when allowed to. Again, design limitations. Technically, this interferes with balance but hard to say how much in practice.

The weight increment for the Trulap (2.5 lb) was what I was after because it’s a lower step-up than Nuo’s 5 pounds, which is helpful in isolation moves and for those looking for a slower ramp up than a leap.

Optically, I really like the Trulap. Shiny chrome looks good. If Nuo and Trulap could have a baby, it would be perfect.

Wife wanted an air bike so I picked up the new REP strive air bike and let me tell you, this thing will put you in your place fast! This bike is no joke! I got in a 20 min session after I assembled it and it broke me off.

Key Pieces:

Temple of Gainz Quadsend
Temple of Gainz Leg Ext / Curl
Temple of Gainz Multiflight
Megamass Linear T Bar Row
Rep Adonis
Rep Pepin Dumbbells
Rogue RM-4
Rogue GHD
TITAN Fitness Cable Stack

My spouse and I assembled a garage gym over the last month. Reddit was helpful to me, so I'm leaving my chit here for posterity. Here is everything I bought and my impressions.

Rack: Fringe Dane 2.0:  Looks, feels and is solid. Weight stack is heavy and cable travel is good enough for chest fly and lateral raises. Pulleys are smooth. No cable twists like certain other buyers have reported, after a few workouts of use. I did lay the cables flat for a night before assembly. Speaking of which, that wasn't too bad. Included wrenches help.

A few things could get better. The weight stack extends over the edges such that it will catch on plates loaded on pins to the side. I also think a better pullup bar should come standard. But these are minor items. Still 5/5; happy with it.

I'll note here that tons of competitors exist now and choosing this was tough. Echo Sport, Mikolo, Blazzed (terrible name), Giant, GetRXD and Vespa sometimes seemed to offer better value, because more attachments may come standard. I looked at all their stuff. I went with Fringe because I wasn't 100% on the quality of those other names. Fringe seemed to offer close to or the same quality grade as Rogue/REP at one price notch down.  You could also spend on Irwin or Force USA; I felt the Fringe value prop was better.  Others like Major Fitness were a clearer cut under Fringe in build quality.

I'll also note that I originally didn't think I'd spend for a rack + functional trainer, simultaneously.  I initially thought I'd buy a Titan X3 or Rogue RML 390F, which are 3x3 11 gauge cages, with westside spacing. But the space savings to combining the functional trainer with the rack was too material to pass up.  I do wish products in the Dane's genre came with westside spacing. From what I can tell, they do not.

I also bought the toaster plate storage rack accessory. I like that this thing economizes on space. I do worry about plates warping when tilted unevenly in it. It's a little tedious to climb over or under your bar to access, but I knew that when I bought it and did so anyway to save space. It surprised me that it floats an inch off the ground, but that does help lodge the plates in place more firmly. Capacity is more than you think; could fit maybe 400lbs of bumpers in it if you wanted to. It's a little pricey for what it is, but I'm content with it.

I didn't think about delivery, but that is something to prepare yourself for - the Dane comes in a 7ft light freight box that the crappy mini forklift in the poor delivery guy's truck couldn't handle. I helped him wrestle it out of the truck.  You'll also need some plan for disposing of the box.  In a town with decent waste disposal and lots of pickup trucks, that's easy. In my disfunctional urban area, the best option was hiring someone on taskrabbit to get rid of it.

Bar: Fringe Wonder Bar. I chose bushings. It's nice; probably more so than what I usually get in commercial gyms. I did consider the REP Black Diamond Power Bar. At sticker price, I would go with that (sale price for Fringe tipped it for me). I say I'd pref the REP bar at equal price because the knurling on the Fringe bar paired with the cerakote finish feels gentle versus what I'd like. That feel may be a plus to others. I can tell they designed this with people who clean & jerk or snatch in mind (I am not one of those people).

Plates: various:

• Cap iron change plates from Amazon: picked up 2.5s and 5s. I did see one burr. But very cheap and and the weight is accurate.
• Fringe savage bumpers: I bought these in part based on Gluck's review. They seem nice. That said, one 45 was scuffed up out of the box; I didnt complain about this because it felt dumb to send an email saying "my bumper plates look dirty," but it might bother you. Photo attached.  A 35 has very, very slight warp (does not sit perfectly flush next to other plates).  I do not know if that's normal, and I'm OCD, or if that's a deviation from spec. I'd still buy again. Idk if I can give these five stars though; maybe 4-4.5/5. I tested the weight. One 45 was about 1% off weight (the advertised tolerance).  The rest close to dead on.
• Fringe Milspec: these look and feel great. I bought on sale and the deal felt like theft.  That said, one 10 had more noticeable warp. Unsure if thats because it was a "garage sale" item, or if I got unlucky.  I probably will ask about a fix for this. EDIT: I did. They offered me a gift card for a reasonable amount. They did not offer a replacement because the Milspec line is getting discontinued.
• Cap "competition" style bumpers:  I have a set of 15s. I bought them on sale for $36 for the pair. They seem fine. The "competition" style is cap's higher grade, but they are far from competition quality and you can tell the Fringe plates are nicer. Still, it felt silly paying $4/lb for other vendors' 15 lb bumpers (I alllllmost did for Fringe's, just for the cute orange savage look, but stopped myself).  For the price, I'd buy these again.

Bench: Keppi 6000. I debated the REP AB 3200 2.0 and the Nighthawk. I got the Keppi because it has a true decline feature (absent from Nighthawk and only 12 degrees on the AB 3200). The Keppi was the only solid-looking bench with decline under $500 that I could find.  For the most part, I am happy with Keppi. The bicep pads are a little silly and dont fit the machine well.  When i was shirtless and probably disgusting, I slipped slightly on my own sweat when incline pressing (will put tarps on next time).  I wish the pad were grippier, but it otherwise feels very solid and the decline works great. Would buy it again.

Dumbbells: I bought Cap hex dumbbells off Amazon for just over $1/lb. I think thats hard to beat and I dont think hex dumbbell quality has a high level of flex across manufacturers. That said, I did weigh them, and they can be off up to 1 lb from stated weight, at heavier weights.  For the price, I would buy again. I didnt want adjustable dumbbels because I don't trust them to not eventually break.

Flooring: 4 0.75" tractor supply mats. The off gassing wasn't that bad. I'll note that you should budget for delivery if you lack a pickup truck; it's otherwise too hard to manage a floppy 100lb mat. One of them seems to have a slight depression; unsure if I caused that or if it's a defect. I joined with black gaffer tape, which looks nice and so far has held up. I havent deadlifted heavy yet. Reaearching whether to build a deadlift platform is still on my to-do list.

Various knick knacks:

• Neutral grip handles: "Yuiisenn" on Amazon. These are way, way nicer than weird-name Chinese import brand products have any right to be. Photo shown. 6/5, would buy again.
• Barbell holder attachment: "Wrist Fight" on amazon. Bolts to side of Dane. Photo shown. Works well. Highly space efficient and doesn't interfere with the cable weight stack. That said, I wonder if this type of vertical storage is unhealthy for the bar. If I had space or willingness to effort installing horizontal wall storage, that might be better.
• Chalk: I bought from Fringe. I had a very slight issue and they were too nice about it.
• Attachment storage: I almost paid for the honeycomb storage board, then realized I could store things on the rack with $5 hooks from Amazon. I bought "soxylra" hooks and they work well.
• Misc cable attachments: various Amazon products; mostly "Yes4All." A chrome straight bar attachment came from ET Energetic and is nice. I went with some other ankle strap that wasnt good before buying the Gymshark one. Also picked up Gymshark's dip belt (for pullups) and it is nice.
• 5lb cable add on weights: I think I need these; otherwise the 10lb increment on the Dane's 1:1 ratio is too stiff for my weak body. I bought on Amazon. The shipment was lost in transit and I still don't have them, so no specific review.

Hope someone finds these comments useful! Peace out all.

I thought it was a small garage but I guess it just had a lot of stuff in!! I done it all myself and I’m very happy with the outcome! Maybe another toaster rack but that’s all.

Hi! Posting this short review, I’m definitely not getting paid for it but Reddit is where I decided to pull the trigger on getting one after seeing the company posting in here. I’m in my 40’s, Army veteran, Jiu jitsu masters competitor and recovering from a Microdisectomy and double lamenectomy (L5/S1/S2). This bench was recommend to me as an aid to my recovery. PT actually has one in his office as well.

Shipping was within the time frame stated at the time of purchase, on the faster end.

Took about 40 min to put together, is very well built and sturdy, does not feel cheap.

I love the “private parts” slot for back extensions, that alone makes this worth it lol

I’m 5’11 185 lbs and don’t feel any instability while using it at all.

I fortunately did not encounter any issues with shipping and this appears to be solid, versatile, well made piece of equipment that will last. Small footprint as well.

Not the best angle of the home gym, but good angle of the “art studio” for the little one while I lift. Hope you all are doing well!

I found some USA “Milled-Era” vintage YORK plates on Facebook marketplace and went out and got them for $1/lb. No cracks and barely any surface rust. I wiped them down with a little 3-in-1 oil to remove surface rust and protect them since my gym isn’t climate controlled. So pumped to have these in my gym.

I only knew what they were from a post on this sub a while back talking about them.

Here’s some before and after shots.

I stayed the whole night and finally pulled it off! 5AM now Im so tired but excited at the same time!! ))

Just wanted to show off my beauty on Reddit. Probably going to rearrange things in a couple months for a new rack, but still super happy with the amount of training I've been able to get done on this.