Smith Cages at Home

[Brandon Pattison]

http://www.inspirefitness.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=33

http://www.amazon.com/Marcy-Diamond-System-Linear-Bearings/dp/B001D78PCE

From what I can tell, I would hate the Marcy as much as I would hate the Inspire's price tag. What do you guys use? I can build stuff to get by if I need to with cable and some supports in my basement which is 9'4" tall. I would like a squat cage, butterfly, 4 corner cable hook-ups along with one center one, and the rest I can do with and incline, decline, preacher curl, leg ext./curl bench.

 

[Redball409]

I like a simple power rack, adjustable bench, and free weights.

 

[Poser]

For the price tag, I'd consider some of the Rogue home packages: http://www.roguefitness.com/equipme...AtjZHQX2F6dhKLQ5A4UYF--jrzb_HI9co0aAg1d8P8HAQ

You can get your rack for under $600 (or built one for cheaper). Stack of bumper plates (you can safely drop them on the floor), barbell, kettlebells, medicine balls etc. Squat, deadlift, press, bench, clean, pull, dip, throw, breath hard.... what else do you need?

The problem with the Smith machines and the cables are that they use a unnatural bar paths with little or no stabilization required. The ability to stabilize a load of weight is important to hunting IMHO.

 

[Brandon Pattison]

Makes sense. Thanks, gents.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

I built my own squat stand out of 2x4's and paint buckets, just like in this website: http://homemadestrength.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-than-just-squat-stands.html. Then I added metal sawhorses for safety catches. It was super cheap, which left me money to buy a nice barbell and set of bumper plates and kettlebells. It was actually a pretty fun project and works well for me.

My advice is to stay away from Smith machines. As mentioned above, the bar follows an unnatural movement path that actually puts you at greater risk of injury than conventional squats, in addition to not teaching your body to stabilize under heavy loads.

 

[Nalgene]

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