Sunday, July 24, 2022

Basement home gym - Summer 2022 version

 The end of 2021 was marked by a burst pipe in the basement, which ruined all of the flooring, but spared all of the equipment (as they were on top of mats so did not get soaked).  So, when insurance paid for new mats, this provided an opportunity to rearrange the basement gym.  Also, the big upgrade was the addition of the Whipr, a connected (i.e. bluetooth) multi-sport ergometer which sees regular use as a rower and ski-erg, and occasional use as a paddle (kayak/canoe) erg.

First, the equipment nook, which has the big changes from last year.

This side used to have the rack, a rower and the AirDyne.  Now, the flooring was replaced with rubber flooring to better withstand the heavier weights and equipment.  The treadmill was moved here, where the tougher rubber is a better floor than mats intended for martial arts.  
Equipment nook  - Basement home gym Summer 2022

The Whipr is the big addition here.  The Whipr (https://whipr.com/) is a multi-sport ergometer. The most common version of an ergometer is a rower.  It measures power, and bluetooth enabled (FTMS) apps can use it to measure your force production.  My son and I both use it as a rower (not as good as a Concept 2, but better than any other non-fan/water based rower.  In addition, I regularly use it as a Ski-erg, and occasionally use it for canoe, kayak, or stand up paddle. (ski and SUP are mounted to the rack). The big benefit is that it measures distance and calories directly from force production, which rewards good form. (less capable machines measure stroke rate and estimate everything else from there).  Both the Whipr and the treadmill (Horizon T101 with a Runn sensor) are bluetooth enabled, so I use Kinomap to give myself a virtual course to row/run/ski/paddle on and keep track of energy and work.

The other major component to this corner is the CAP power rack.  It is designed for the barbell, in particular squats and bench press (I do deadlifts on the floor after folding up the treadmill and moving the rower).  I have a bar with standard plates (1" hole, contrast to Olympic plates with 2" hole).  It is adequate for the weights I use, because I don't plan on going that heavy (i.e. low 200lbs is going to be enough). The biggest thing lacking with a standard bar vs Olympic bar is that standard bars do not spin, so I really cannot do the olympic weights with anything serious. So my Olympic movements are done with sandbags or kettlebell.


Basement home gym Summer 2022

Attached to the rack are rings and a cable pulley.  The rings replace a cheap suspension trainer, which was starting to fray.  I got better quality, but not willing to spend on a name brand trainer, I got rings instead. The wider webbing should make it last longer.  I do dips, rows, and presses on this. The instability due to not being anchored to the ground makes for a good challenge.  The cable pulley was an experiment.  Basically, it allows for using weights where the direction of resistance is more horizontal than normal with free weights (where resistance is toward the ground).  But I get much of that from the rings.

Also attached to the rig are the ski and SUP brackets for the Whipr.

The ski attachment is mounted on top of the rack using 3/4" webbing.  I mounted initially using a buckle, then wrapped the webbing like a big, repeated clove hitch.  Done twice, it is a very stable setup.  As the skierg movement is complementary to the rower movement (anterior chain as opposed to the rower posterior chain), this is a good complement to the rower. Also good if my legs are torched and I need something reasonably easy that is upper body cardio.  The paddle and SUP are also good for that in addition to the rotation stimulus they provide.


Whipr brackets on power rack

The SUP bracket is mounted to the lower rail of the power rack.  It took me a while to realize that I needed to have the hook and brace on the webbing in this order for it to work, or the brackets would slip off if any force is applied for any reasonable length of time.  I also have to put a couple spare mats under the bracket so support the Whipr base unit so it does not flop around.


\Whipr brackets on power rack

The other corner has the kettlebells, dumbbells, AirDyne, and punching bags.  The plate loaded kettlebells (variously Fitness Gear at Dick's sporting goods, or Apex, but made by the same company as Marcy.  They have a base weight of 20 pounds, but can be loaded with up to 4 5 pound standard weights. So this is my usual weight for StreetParking Crossfit-style workouts, with the weight depending on my abilities for the movement in question. The pair of 30 pound dumbbells is an aspirational weight.  For static moves, I am able to use these. But for olympic moves overhead (e.g. clean and press or snatches) I'm not there yet.  But I've been using these for dumbbell strength focused workouts.




Basement home gym Summer 2022

While the rower and treadmill are our cardio implements of choice, I get a lot of use out of the AirDyne.  The rower, treadmill, and skierg all are more technique driven while the AirDyne is more mindless (since the machine guides the motion along a fixed path). So for pure mindless work capacity, it is the goto. But also light mindless work (like taking a work break) it is good for moving when I want to listen or watch something.


Basement home gym Summer 2022

The next corner has homemade PVC dip bar, parallettes, a stepper, wobble board, and a set of sand kettlebells and medicine balls.  The dip bar is for dips and inverted rows, especially if the dip bars we have for the power rack are being claimed. The parallettes are for pushups (easier on the wrists) or as an obstacle for hop overs.  The sand kettlebells are mostly for my son(11). They are 10, 15, 20 pounds. We have another set, but they are scattered in rooms around the house for quick study/work breaks.  The medicine balls are used as wall balls. My daughter (8) uses the sand kettlebells and medicine balls for carries around the basement.  Last in this corner as the AV cart.  I have a monitor with an Amazon Fire attached which uses two bluetooth speakers for music when working out.  Also here are foam rollers and lacrosse balls for mobility, the fan for circulation, and whiteboard and cleaning supplies.




Basement home gym Summer 2022

Last corner are the jump ropes and sandbags.  We have jump ropes for both of the kids and myself, all sized appropriately (with a little bit of growing room set up for the kids.).  I have two sandbags, one at 40#, one at 65#.  I generally use the 40# bag for anything with serious volume.  Then we have shelves with the TKD gear.  I don't do TKD much anymore (a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic), but my son still does so he uses the space for practice.

Thanks for reading about my  home gym.  It has come a long way from when we moved in and all we had were mats and a set of spin-lock dumbbells.  But like all good home gyms, we built this up a little at a time and we have most of what I can think of.  Some things that come to mind are increasing weight on the kettlebells (will need an additional one), and a spin type bike.  (we can dream, right)