You’re dropping cast iron plates from over your head or even waist height onto a hard floor? Surprised that plates, bar, or floor aren’t trashed. My stuff isn’t expensive either, but I am not doing overhead barbell work and don’t drop the bar, even deadlifting, ever so I can get away with it. The deadlift platform is more to protect the basement concrete floor from damage than the weights.
Sorry I wasn’t clear, I do have bumper plates but they are not expensive bumper plates.
If you’re not doing overhead work you aren’t doing Olympic lifting (snatch and clean & jerk), which is what the OP was asking about 
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Got it. That make more sense now.
I will never get serious enough to spend for urethane competition plates. I actually don’t think that I really need bumper plates at all, but I am deadlifting a decent amount and while I don’t drop it, it does get set sown heavy sometimes and I only have a single pair of 45s so a few cheap bumpers will help spread the shock a bit and make the rest of my cheap equipment last longer.
So we’re moving to a place with a garage in a few weeks and because nobody keeps a car in one of those, I’m planning on buying gym equipment, as well as a few other obvious bits (giant fan, secure bike storage etc).
My current “home gym” setup is two 8kg kettle bells which hasn’t been satisfactory. Previously I’ve used a proper gym, mostly just doing deadlifts (45kg) and using the leg press (250kg) 5x5 to help with weight loss
Obviously leg press machines are $$$$$$$$$$, but he problem is I have no idea what good form looks like for a squat.
What does everyone else do?
lots of YouTube videos to help with form, or get help in the gym, or hire someone.
At home I’ve been pretty happy doing maintenance work with 12, 16, and 20kg bells. Primarily doing swings, one leg step-ups with the 16 and 20 in each hand, goblet squats, split squats, etc. During the off-season I go to the gym and use the barbell.
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I’m going to get more serious about weight training at home and currently have a hex bar and 5-50lb adjustable dumbbells. I’m not even close to maxing these out yet…definitely have a cyclists upper body strength 
I’m having some help along the way from a buddy who’s been weight training for 10+ years and has all sorts of gear.
I’m trying to figure out if I should get a rack…I know these would be good for squats, bench press etc. and it would be nice to add a lat attachment. Do you think this would be needed for general strength training with cycling as a primary goal (never going to be a strength athlete)?
Thanks!!
You definitely can get by without a rack. I don’t have a rack and rely mostly on kettle bells. But after researching home gym set ups it is clear to me that if you have the space a rack would seriously enhance your home gym. Besides allowing you to bench and squat safely while alone, there is a ton of other stuff you can do with a rack. There are attachments, like lat attachments plus just having a convenient spot to attach bands, TRX straps, etc and a pull up bar really enhances a home gym.
I’m doing fine without one (at least I think so but if I had the space I’d get one.
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A power rack or cage is usually considered one of the “must have” pieces of gear for a garage gym. I love mine and it brings peace of mind while back squatting and benching. I also use it for overhead pressing, pin pressing, pull ups, dips, etc.
But… if not doing a lot of barbell stuff where you need the safety, or the pins to press off of, then a rack is not essential and might be further down the list of nice to haves than it seems.
Rather than a rack + barbell, consider a good incline bench. You can use that today with the dumbbells for various movements. If you add a cage/rack later you need a good bench anyway. I like to have both a good incline bench and a good flat bench in the gym. But a good incline is more than enough. Like bicycle contact points, don’t be cheap. Get a good one.
For pulldowns and rows, the rack attached units (like Rogue slinger or Spud pulley) aren’t that great IMO. I have a Body Solid GLM83 model Lat Pulldown / LowRow plate loaded machine. It was something like $400 when I bought it and is $600 now. You can do a ton of different movements very effectively with a high / low pulley machine.
A step up from something like the GLM83 would be to get something like a single pully selectorized column. With the right accessories you can do all sorts of great functional training movements plus lats and rows. I’m adding a Sorinex single column to my gym. It’s not easy to find on their website, but they make accessories to enable lat pull down + low row on the column. As long as you don’t need huge amount of weight for lats and rows it works a treat. With selectorized machines the pully ratio is important. If you need more you can add bands or a GymPin. Am guessing most of us on TR are not monster lifters so 300# stack even with 2:1 ratio is not a limiter.
For leg work, back and front squats gets the attention, but consider something like a belt squat set-up instead.
I find Hypers and GHD movements to be important. You can do those off a bench with bands, but a proper machine is nice to have. These run in cost from not bad to stupid expensive.
TL;DR - While the rack gets the most attention, I’d say for cycling and functional movements there are better ways to spend the money. If you are going to be doing the powerlift movements, then get a cage. YMMV
If I were setting up a gym to focus on functional strength and fitness I’d have:
Dumbells 10-75 pounds (powerblocks work too but I like good old hex dumbbells)
Kettlebells in 3-4 weights
Incline bench
Step up platform
TRX or other web system
Selection of bands
Functional cable column, single pulley adjustable
GHD/Hyper machine
Olympic barbell with 300#
Power Cage
That is likely going to read backwards for a lot of folks. As I get older and more focused, I value the functional strength and core work more than the powerlifting moves (bench, squat, dead, OHP).
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This is SUPER helpful!!! Thank you!!
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Much like guys chasing aero gains, I’ve spent way too much time thinking about our home gym 
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I just turned 60 and also recently discovered kettlebells. They are like a miracle drug. Standard weightlifting does make you strong but in and of itself, traditional lifting on its own does little for your athleticism (e.g. The ability to move well in various ways vs move heavy things in a fixed way). On the other hand, I find that regularly flinging a kettlebell around in various ways not only makes me strong but strong in the ways I actually use my body in daily life.
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Yes to Darth and STP. Kettlebell fan here. My go- tos are (no surprise) Pavel’s Simple and Sinister pairing of swings and Turkish Get Ups. Prior to my knee replacement last Sept I had been up to 55lbs on the TGUs and 70 lbs on the swings I stopped going to the gym during COVID, and picked up some nice Rogue KBs in 35 and 55. I’m back up to 55 single arm swings and just moved up to 35 on the TGUs.
I have a BodySolid half cage with a lat pulldown and row cable attachment, but find I don’t use it much as I’ve moved away from back squats and use the KBs for goblet squats. Also working on pistols (ugh) and Bulgarian splits. I’m finding less “stuff” to use/do seems to be better, with one a couple exceptions.
At the gym I have also been a fan of hex bar deadlifts, but I have to decide if I want to go that route at home – a good chunk of change for a decent bar and 300 lbs of bumpers. You’ve already gone that route so color me envious:) I also like doing cleans of various sorts, and thrusters (again, you’re set with dumbells).
Lots of easy ways to anchor straps etc to a ceiling. So short answer is from my POV at age 67 I don’t see much value in a cage/rack anymore.
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I like the hex bar set up, but some stuff I’ve seen mentions it’s more quad-focused compared to a traditional DL. I’m thinking of getting an Olympic bar and more bumpers for traditional/Romanian DL in conjunction with the hex bar, but then I started wondering if I’m missing out not doing back squats.
A rack is a no-brainer for my buddy who’s seriously into lifting but that’s easily another $400+ hence my hesitation.
Thanks all for the tips…lots to think about!!
Depending on what you mean by “traditional weightlifting” I might agree with you. If you are referring to machines and bodybuilding/isolation movements then I think you are correct. However, weightlifting (snatch and clean&jerk) are extremely beneficial and translate very well to overall functional fitness. I also think the basic barbell lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press) are great as well. There is a big trend towards specific strength training programs etc. but sometimes just sticking to the basics is the best. Build overall strength and use your sport to get the extra athleticism.
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Agreed, but road bike riding is one of those activities that generally does not provide a whole lot in the way of athleticism the way most people ride (especially if one does a lot of trainer riding). And, many road riders are one trick ponies when it comes to sporting activities.
I’ve always been scarred of the scratch and clean and jerk but after doing snatches and cleans and presses with kettlebells I’m kind of interested in learning the Olympic lifts. But first I have to dump Planet Fitness and find a real gym
I’m a big fan of squats and olympic weightlifting. The rack is certainly nice to have but if you look in some more “old school” olympic lifting gyms, they just have 2 scrawny pieces of metal holding up the bar and that’s all you really need. I think you can find something in the $200 range that will easily do the trick. Of course this is coming from the guy who decided to get the wall mounted Rogue rack.
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It indeed doesn’t have to be expensive. I’ve made my half rack out of 4x4’s and plumbing supplies. The pull up bar is a 1 inch galvanized pipe, and the suspension trainer are tow straps with cheap handles from Amazon. I also like to work with the heavy “sand bag”, which is really just a duffle bag filled with rubber mulch, weighing approximately 120 lbs. I’m still looking for a 72-inch bar to complete the setup. The other nice part is that it all fits in a roughly 8’ x 6’ space.
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That rack is beautiful. Having said that, I think you could wrap some metal hangar strapping around the wood just below the supports, and nail/screw it in place. …Just in case you drop the bar and the wood splits.
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Good advice, I’ll take it!
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To me it’s one of the nicest racks I’ve seen on the forum, lovely build, well done.
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