Needing advice
Once again your boy Growmore is seeking advice from his brothers and sisters.
With COVID restrictions and the likelihood this will go on for sometime I’m very tempted to drop some cash into a decent home set up as my current one consists of a dip and pull up station and some gypsy squat bar set up. I’ve been thinking of buying a Force USA G9:
https://www.gymandfitnessequipment.co.uk/force-usa-g9-all-in-one-functio...
Buy 200kg of weight for £600 and some dumbbell bars and Olympic ft barbell for an additional £200 or so and I’ll have everything I need to make some serious gains. Total cost would be a little north of £4K.
Not a bank breaking amount now that my situation has changed but I’m always looking for a bargain so I checked around and found similar in Alibaba..
https://m.alibaba.com/product/1600093030062/product.html?__detailProduct...@sc01/kf/H59fec78e224d4e9cbc0876d94a7f8fccR.jpg_220x220.jpg
Weights are around £1 for 1K so for the machine + 200kg of weight it would be around £900 mark without shipping. I imagine shipping would be around £500/£600. I already have a decent bench.
It would make the total saving of nearly £2k, more money for gear.. I mean the extension onto the dining room my missus wants.
Aside from the risks associated with Alibaba has anyone brought any equipment from there? I’ve looked around and found some results and a lot is positive.
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Thats alot of bread for something u don't know if ull be happy with. Have u thought about a wall or power rack and just customize them to ur style of workout? I had an all-n-one type of machine ($1200), it was good, but I was never satisfied with its performance. I sold it after a couple of years and went with a wall mount rack and accessorized it ($1400). Power racks have come a long way with all there accessories. It actually took up less room and I noticed I got alot more creative with my workouts. My workout room is simple,, but feels like a workout room. I spent about the same but it all works how I want it. Worth every dime..
Thanks for the advice, I’ve looked into many different brands, as all I’m interested in is a rack and decent cables I went with the Force USA G1. If it wasn’t for cables I would just get standing bars.
Awesome brother.. I'm glad u got what u wanted, everything seems to be on backorder or sold-out these days. That g1 is a badass unit. The one I had wasn't near what that one is..
I’m having to wait for most the equipment mate, the longest is the G1 which is not till March.
Today I received the Olympic dumbells and bench, weights is another 3 weeks but they keep getting pushed back.
It’s a good time to be in the fitness manufacturing industry!
What do you think to the handles bud?
I haven’t taken them for a spin yet as I haven’t got any iron but they seem quality. Slapping 50kg+ on them and benching will be a little odd given the size of the plates and the handles but it’ll do. Apparently they’re 7.5KG
I was always looking into alibaba as a place to buy small and not expensive stuff, for one very simple reason. If the quality will be poor, I'm not messing around with the refunds and that kind of stuff and accept my loss. Sometimes it was happening, not gonna lie. Personally me, I wouldn't be spending anything close to those money, as it might turn out as a huge pain to get your money back. Just ask yourself if you want to struggle after you have invested that much.
I think for gym equipment you are right, after further investigation I found reviews for a company in the uk who sell the Chinese item and there are many complaints and annoyed customers.
I went with a lower end Force USA rack with cables.
Good choice brother, sometimes it is better just to go safe and simple.
I agree, although you can add more weight to the cables on the more expensive machine - to do a lat pull down or row but I can already execute those exercises without the need for a machine using pull up bars and big bar so it wasn’t worth the money. Cable flys and delt raised however you can’t beat cables for so it’s worth the little extra money for this machine in comparison to just a cage.
Unfortunately I can see the gyms being periodically shut down for the next few years so having a set up which I’m content with is a priority right now!
Agree brother, having a home gym is a great addition to your interior, considering the current situation.
I was always a fan of old school hard core training solutions, such as, basement gyms and garage gyms.... Don't know why, those places brings a lot of good vibes. Not like all those new fitness centers, way too posh for me to sweat my ass off
I agree, I used to train at a fitness centre and I stuck out like a sore thumb and I felt many didn’t appreciate the occasional noise on a heavy lift ha.
Way too many softies out there.... The only thing that is good about those places, are girls ))))
AnonLooks complicated.
If you got that kind of coin, start with a squat rack/bench, a really good adjustable bench and build from there. Maybe add a pec deck and dumbells and you're set.
We all get caught up in the focused specialty shit in gyms, but you don't really need all that nonsense to get great lifts in, regardless of your discipline.
Only send to AliBaba what you're willing to lose.
Good luck
Cables are one of the most useful bits of kit in a gym for a bodybuilder in my humble opinion, less risk of injury, more focus on the particular muscle you’re trying to hit, constant tension..
I’m not saying free weights are useless but I am saying I’ve had more success using predominately machines/cables in my workouts than mainly free weights. Of course you need to mix it up but com’on fella nothing brings the pecs to the party like cable flys.
AnonYou are not wrong.
I am jaded in my view. Which is to say, we all go through struggles, with my 'center' always being the weights/gains/etc: "Nobody can take those from me." Bullshit!...here comes covid and the govt. F##k them!
So, long story short, free weights, dumbells, lat/row machine with a pec dec and cable add ons in my future...lifts adjusted without all the fancy machines. In my happy place.
Stay on Craigslist, next door and classifieds. I got my machine and doubled my Olympic weights, for nearly nothing. (Nearly 700lbs to work with.)
Good luck brother.
Meant to say Bud - After what you have brought up here it got me looking at Olympic loadable dumbell handles on Ebay. Found some in UK Stock (even thought the seller was actually chinese based!) and damn mate only paid £70 for the pair including 4 collars. Took 2 days to get here, arrived today. I thought the quality may be lacking as I would expect to pay £100 and but they are brilliant - 5.5 Kg each and fully chromed, machined either end with free spinning collars. Got them for rotator cuff rehab exercises and tricep floor extensions, pec flyes. Great purchase
Nice my man! I’ve literally just brought some on Amazon for £40, they’re not on ball bearing and they come from China but the reviews are brilliant so I went ahead.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RHK3MCY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KHQMRVAM6839...
I’m currently waiting on:
Proplatesonline - 225kg of various plates + a 7ft Olympic bar
Mirafit semi commercial bench (diamond find)
USA force G1 (went with this as it has solid cables and a decent rack, the Chinese one was litter and the 3k+ one had a load of extras I didn’t need).
I should have the complete set up by late March as I had to preorder the cage and the weights are going to take a while to arrive.
I’m looking to get a EZ bar and if you have any idea on bands I’m all ears as I know nothing, the ones you attach to the bottom of the cage to add resistance?
I’m fucking buzzing! Doing lunges and weighted dips/pull ups is starting to get old!
gearreindeer666That looks sick, 200kg is a nice home weight max
A BB/trainer I follow on social media has the USA set up and he does all kinds of workouts on it. It’s an impressive bit of kit and compact.
Going off personal experience I would be very very wary about shopping off Alibaba especially for such a large amount of money and for a piece of equipment you are literally entrusting with your life. If those safety rails go under a heavy bench or squat bud you are FUCKED, DEAD end of story. About 12 years ago I along with someone else invested a lot of time and money into the whole up and coming drop shipping business venture, using mainly alibaba to buy the products from then ship to clients. Hence to say most of the products didn't even exist, turn up or were not at all what they were supposed to be, fakes etc. Tried it with mobile phones and you can imagine how that all went LMAO. Seriously pal all you need is a basic power rack/cage, bench, barbell and plates. Curl bar and Olympic dumbell bars and you will be amazed at all you can train with those basic things. The power rack will come with a chinning bar across the top also.
With limited reviews I’m questioning the china man special also but the specs aren’t unbelievable and there isn’t much to a cage as such so it’s not to hard to make solid but.. metal comes in a lot of different qualities! I am leaning towards the USA model as it’ll be guaranteed solid and the seller is UK based.
Alibaba can be crap even if you know what you’re doing. I place a couple of big orders every few months with companies/factories I’ve met on there and they’ve been nothing but gold which encourages me to look further into the China man special. A lot of well known UK brands buy from sources on Alibaba.
As I said to JL below I’m a big fan in cables hence why I’m keen on getting some included in the set up, I know I’ll regret it if I buy only a cage.
Aah well tbh then mate if you know what you are doing on there then go for it, I would still go for the USA made one though bud - Looks way better made and its UK based. Who knows how long shipping something in on a slow boat could take currently Lmao
What about some pairs of dumbells too - Get some olympic dumbell handles which are £100?
So I'm guessing with having £5k to play with the nose powder business is booming at the moment with lockdown going on? LMFAO
I don’t really when it comes to fitness equipment mate so spending the extra few notes will be worth the peace of mind. Especially as you said you can kill yourself with 4 plates either side and the squat rack fails, knowing my luck it’ll be 1 plate on either side and my kids will forever think I was weak!
I’ve found some dumbells handles on amazon for £70 which look quality.
Haha I wish mate, you know a little of what I get up to and it’s just ticking over.
Wait for all the folks that are buying gym equipment for home that will never use it to sell. The market will get flooded with nice used equipment as things get back to normal. I’d only buy commercial grade for essential items. Hammer strength makes/made a great rack with a pull up platform, adjustable bench that locks into rack and also has a place to hook and hang bands. The bands can be used to assist with pull-ups or weight the bar for bench press. Add some decent dumbbells, a t-bar base, and an ez curl bar and you have a hell of a home gym. The corner cable stations are nice to for limited space. Nautilus makes a good quality unit.
No doubt it will mate but I think that’s a few years off yet, this bubble will continue to grow while the plague is still around. There will be a big price drop in the future though but I’m willing to spend the cash so I can continue to push gains rather than maintaining which is what I’m currently doing.
I’m a big fan of cables, in the last few years I’ve seen the biggest improvements in chest and delts while integrating cables into my routines, this is why I’m keen on one of these set ups rather than just as cage.
It is a huge difference in price. The USA one does look better built, but costs 4 times as much. Your ideal situation would be to find someone like me who is near you. I have a pristine Nautilus power rack and separate smith machine I would love to get $400 a piece for. Both commercial grade, over $2000 a piece when I bought them. They are over 9 feet tall so I can’t stand them up in my house or garage. The resellers basically want to take them for nothing and act like they are doing you a favor for getting them out of your way. I can’t be the only person on the planet with stuff like that sitting around. Hopefully you can quickly find someone near you
Pre-pandemic I would have picked something similar up for a few notes but the market for home gym equipment has gone insane. People are selling rusty own brand multi gyms for twice the nice price of new on various selling sites. It’s a shame as it’s a great idea as there are many who have stuff like that held up in their garage.
The gym my wife works at bought a big multi station cable crossover off of Alibaba. It is functional but honestly the quality overall is not as good as the more expensive domestic lines. But for a home gym you would likely still be further ahead.
I guess you do get what you pay for but as long as it’s fit for purpose I can make do. I’ll be looking after the machine unlike how you see many members of commercial gyms treat the equipment which will count for a lot in long term longevity of the kit. I’ve seen lads drop the cables needlessly from height which I can’t imagine does them any good.
Idk about the UK but most of my stuff I bought off govdeals.
I’ll check them out, cheers
4k or 2k inquiring minds want to know. I'd choose the 4k especially for resale purposes in the future
I doubt I’d resell it mate
Molinin302I mean, I'm sure you get what you pay for and the more expensive one has more bells and whistles. But if the less expensive one does what you need, is sturdy, warrantied, you know which way I would go. More liquid cash for all the other things in life.
Yes, it’s a years warranty but it could be much the same as a used car salesmen where they give you the run around for months. I’ll see what several companies quote up with delivery and go from there. Currently iron weight in the uk is around £3 per 1kg which makes my eyes water.
Bigun2No experience with Alibaba but my wife and I actually just went and priced equipment to expand our home gym last night. I’m interested in following this thread for ideas.
My only fear with the Chinese made models is sometimes their metallurgy processes aren’t great, so you end up with this pot-metal type end product. I’d just be afraid of how that would hold up with heavy weight loads, etc. Mind you I have no idea of the quality of the unit you posted from Ali, but in the past I’ve noticed Chinese metals aren’t great.
With all that said the vast majority of consumables we as a society use come from China, so there is a fair chance the more expensive unit was made in part or whole in China as well, so maybe not a huge difference. Both sets look great to me though. It is so expensive though isn’t it?
This is one of my concerns also, I’ve brought various things from China and it’s completely hit or miss. The various companies which sell the cage sell all sorts of fitness products and have a good reputation on Alibaba so I would expect it to be true to the specification on the description (300kg on the squat etc) which would mean it’s well build.
From what I can tell many smaller companies buy the generic model and rebrand it to their own. If it’s half decent and cheap in high units it could be a opportunity.