My new squat rack!

Love it!

I have rack envy.

BRILLIANT!!!

I've been combing Craigslist and local Freecycle for a squat rack and never would have given any thought to my husband building me one!

This is AWESOME!!!!!

Thank you for sharing and the build of materials. Schematics would be fantastic. Hubby is quite the handyman and he can get most of the lumber from work so this wouldnt cost us more than $15 for him to build... AND he's laid off this next week! OMG I would love to have one!!!!

I do have a gym membership but we only use it for the treadmills for C25K and not much else. We keep the membership because we cant run outside yet, too hard on the knees until we lose some more weight. We also have his parents on our membership as an encouragement for them to get more exercise for their health.

But the gym only has a Smith Machine and I really REALLY dont like trying to do squats with it. Its slightly angled and seems like unnatural motion and I'm uncomfortable so I just dont do squats, but I want too!!

That's fabulous...well done hubby!

That's amazing!

Out of curiosity, how long have you been lifting? I've said to my husband that if I can stick with lifting for a year then I'd like to put together equipment at home.

I am just starting and do not want to join a gym. We have a spare bedroom and instead of setting it up as a "guest room" its my gym. Its a win, win, win situation. People don't come to our house and stay! :laugh: And I save money not paying a gym membership! Having it at home keeps all excuses at bay - I don't have to go anywhere but down the hall, anytime I want to! I say get your gym THEN start lifting! Don't wait a year. It's too cost effective to set up and I have started the stronglift 5x5 program and LOVE it! Hense the need for a squat rack!

Other than the rack, how much has it cost you to set your home gym up?

I've started lifting in my gym at work, which is decent and very cheap, but it would be good to have stuff at home for the weekends and holidays.

Nice. Have him add two sets of pegs that are lower so that you have a place to set it if you miss the top after a heavy set. And have him add catches at the end of the rails so that if you bail on mid rep you don't have to worry about the bar rolling back and landing on you.

Thanks for the advise. The pegs at the end are a great idea and we did think about that I just wanted something small and low profile so they are not elbow grabbers. Actually when building the rack, you could angle the bail rails slightly so the bar automatically rolls toward the back of the rack. I'll have to find something to use as a bar stop! Adding additional pegs - will do!

Definitely do NOT angle the rails. You want them level so that when you set the bar down you're not chasing it. There will be several exercises you do besides squats where the rails will come in handy.

So want one!!!!!