In the first part I rambled on about things I don't even remember talking about. This article will be to the point. So without further ado lets get this cracking.
There is a great article written by Dave Tate that gooes further into detail about the different equipment needed to start your own home gym. This article can be found HERE. My article is about my odyssey using the information from that article.
The first pieces of equipment I purchased were a barbell, 300 pounds of olympic brand weights and a 6 X 12 interlocking rubber mat. In my backyard I had an old steel swingset that serves as my chins, pull ups, knee and leg raise station. I found an old hand wrap that I used when I used to box and wrapped that around the barbell because I did not have any chalk and my hands would become so sweaty that the bar would slip out of my hands. This weight set I bought for $150 at the local Academy. The current date is 7/18/05 and for the past 3 weeks I have been using this weight set as my primary means of lifting. So there it is, nothing that exciting but I will list some pieces of equipment I already had and a couple I recently purchased.
A couple of years ago I purchased the "Sky King Calf Isolator" with the extra hard springs and it has been well worth the money. I use this piece of equipment when I workout my calves and I have found that it gives me a better calf workout than any machine I have ever used. I also incorporate this piece of equipment into my workouts. If you are interested in it, the Sky King Calf Isolator can be found HERE. Overall, I give this a 8 out of 10. I would have given it a higher rating but the bag that carries the device ripped and I had to buy two heavy duty screw on hooks because they broke on the device. It was no big deal, just a minor inconvenience.
On ebay I just purchased a weight tree, 265 pounds of weight, a 45 lb barbell and a EZ-Curl bar. This deal was a steal! What made me even more excited was the weight tree because always having to pick up your weights off of the floor gets to be a drag. I would recommend to check ebay and your local classifieds for weight equipment before you buy new. I checked the classifieds back home but the only thing people were selling was bowflex.
At my dad's shop he had an old bench that could also be made into an incline bench. I forgot I had this but fortunately when my mom, sister and dad went there this weekend to look for furniture for my sister's new apartment, he brough the weight bench back with him. I bought this weight bench way back in either junior high or high school. It has been so long I do not know how long I have had the weight bench. The weight bench has a cheap pec dec fly and a leg extension/hamstring curl station. Those will be removed from the weight bench as they only get in the way. This is a real fortunate find as it saves me some more money that I can put towards a power cage. Eventually I will buy a nicer bench but for now it will do. I was itching to do some bench pressing because doing nothing but push-ups for the chest was getting old.
Items in gym: 6 X 12 rubber mat, 2 - 45 lb barbells, 565 lb of weight, 1 EZ-Curl Bar, Sky King Calf Isolator, 1 Weight Tree, Incline/Flat Bench, 2 Clips, 1 Dumbell with 50 lb of weight
Total money spent on gym thus far: $225
Upcoming Purchases: Power Rack, 2 Clips, 6 X 12 Rubber Mat