Gym Equipment

Its been a while since I've remodeled my gym. I started back working out pretty seriously 4 weeks ago and decided I needed to reorganize and get a fresh feel to my gym. For one thing its too cluttered. I've always dealt in used equipment and gotten great deals, but... Perhaps, I should have guessed that EVERYBODY is buying equipment right now and all the used sports equipment places in town are telling me they are sold out of everything. Same with Craigslist, I've never seen it so dried up.

I usually just end up giving away my old stuff because I get it so cheap but I figured the good news is that if I have to I would be able to sell my hack-squat machine and bench easily and could just use the money to help buy something new (a Smith machine/cage or half rack) - since I'm desperate. BUT, about everything I'm interested in is also out of stock.

I really don't want to spend $3k - $6k for what I want. It seems such a waste. For instance, my cable-crossover machine costs $3,500 new but I got one used for $800, it took me about an hour to find it. I've bought other equipment for like $60 and repainted it to look like new. For 40 years I've done things like buy a bench press for $25 and refurbish it to give to someone.

For instance, I bought my leg curl machine that was white and all scratched up and rusted for just $60, I took it apart, sanded it and painted it the same day I got it:


The backlash from this COVID never ends. I have a lot of plates with the 1" holes and was also thinking about switching over to all Olympic plates. Figured I could by rusted plates cheep and paint them, but no~! I'm bummed!

 

Pic where I want to put my Smith Machine, where the dumbbell rack is now:

 

I think I'm going to keep it simple and small. Tuff Stuff brand, one of my favorites. This should give me what I need.

Another reason for wanting this is that my bearings broke on the hack squat machine the other day and I decided to do some squats with a bar. Just light stuff since it was first time for doing this in quite a while, but I got a wake-up call. So, I pressed up the weight and as I brought it down behind my head I was super tight and to my surprise could barely hold on to the bar. That's what happens when you are 62 and haven't stretched that far in a while. We often don't realize we aren't as flexible and coordinated as we used to be... After the set I couldn't get it off my back without almost dislocating my shoulder! I need the safety spot arms to get back into squating. Anyway, I prefer to use loose weights and keep my balance and postural muscles active so I've ordered new bearings for the hack squat machine and will just sell it when repaired.

My bench press and hack squat machines take up a lot of room in my 16' x 18' gym and I don't need 2 benches. This will be a huge improvement and even leave me some free space should I find something else I want.

 

You should be my neighbor Salty, first I would get you on the hook, then I would transform you in 90 days, just for the fun of making you my pet Guinea-pig!

 

This is what I ended up with:


I went down to the largest equipment dealer in the state but their website was incorrect about having the half-cage. They did have a full power-cage. The owner told me they just had 2 come in yesterday and they just put it on the inventory that morning. He said I was lucky because they would be gone by tomorrow. He said back in April when the gyms closed he sold 6 months worth of inventory in 2 weeks. He has only been getting small shipments since and won't take back orders because people were getting angry when things didn't come in. I think I actually like this better than what I was was trying to get.