The ply for the box and rack ended up costing double what I expected, but that's still much less than what a plate rack and squat box would have cost. The rack works well so far, but it hasn't really been that long so there's that. I took care in construction to make the rack as strong as possible but it also relies on sitting in a corner of the wall. I think it would work quite well free standing too, though but if it was going to be used that way I would probably reinforce it somewhat with some 50x50x3 mm steel angle over the joins on the ends. The box is fine as far as I can tell but I haven't done any box squats. It's low, so whenever I do them they will be hard and I'm definitely going to get another floor mat to cut up to get various box heights. That will be in a couple of months, by which time the cast iron plates should have arrived.
How I configured the gym works well so far in terms of moving around and loading the bar. One small concern I had was how well the bench would sit in the rack in terms of placement. It works great, I can sit it hard against the bottom bracing bar and as long as I centre it correctly it is identical to benching out of a dedicated bench setup. That's a win, but I will mark the rack for even quicker setup. The bench itself is also quite nice to use, plenty grippy and also spongy enough to push my traps down into. How long the pad lasts is something I'll only find out over time, and most likely what I'll do is replace it with a Fatpad once it wears out. My idea of using the squat box to sit one end of the bench on to make an incline bench works to a point, but the box will need a stop fixed to it or the bench slides on it when I use it which is far from safe. That's an easy fix though, a 25 mm high strip fixed to one side of the box will work fine.
So the rack is fine to bench out of. Squatting is also fine, but takes a little more getting used to. For starters, the rack is only about 50 mm narrower than the 1310 distance between sleeves on the barbell. What I hadn't considered was the probability that every time I walk out, I clip the rack with the plates. I'll be able to refine my walkout to get around that, but it's something to adjust to. Realistically that's probably something I'd be dealing with in any power rack using a power bar though. I haven't squatted out of a rack using a power bar in over five years so this was something that simply didn't occur to me might happen. I'm not sure how the bow bar will go, but I'm anticipating a similar situation because I'm fairly sure the bow bar isn't much longer sleeve to sleeve than the power bar. The J-hooks work perfectly well to hold the bar, but because of how they are made and how I grip the bar they dig into my palms when I set up. This isn't a huge deal, but isn't comfortable. I can grip inside the rack, but then I end up crushing my fingers when I rack so on balance a little dig into my palms is fine. I'm going to look into getting replacement J hooks though, as a long term solution. The one issue I foresee in that respect is the fact that my rack uprights are angle instead of square tube. I'll ask around and see if that is a problem. There's also the hole spacing in the uprights but that may be less of a problem because the holes are around 25 mm in diameter so there's quite a lot of slop which I suspect will work in my favour. In terms of stability, the rack is absolutely fine. Racking, because of how I grip, is slower and more cautious than I like (although what I Iike is slamming back into the rack with gay abandon). This is to maintain the integrity of my fingers.
The barbell jack is actually rather good on first impressions. I like the design and it seems pretty solid. I would say the design is better than the standard single jack you usually see shaped more like a triangle. It'll take some time to determine how well it stands up to heavier loads because it isn't steel but initial indications are encouraging. It came with a booty band which I have zero use for, which I'm considering taking to a clothes alterations shop to get made into some elbow cuffs.
The plates from Loaded Lifting are perfectly adequate. They fit well on the sleeve, and don't rattle much if at all. I haven't weighed them, but Loaded Lifting state they are accurate within 0.3% and I have no reason to disbelieve them. The collars that came with the bar and plates are good. They're in the style of the Rogue lockjaw collars with an aluminium body, and fit snugly. I'm quite impressed with them so far, but the real test is going to be when I deadlift which is at the end of next week. I did use them doing Pendlay rows and they didn't budge so that's a positive indication.
I wanted to leave the barbell till last because of all the items making up my gym it was the one I had the most potential concerns with. I was confident Loaded Lifting wouldn't sell a bad barbell, but I also was always going to be measuring it against the barbells I've used that I consider acceptable, because when I decided to make the investment in a gym it was with the understanding that I wouldn't get anything but a barbell that would compare favourably with what I was using at the various gyms I have trained at. This meant that the Loaded Lifting barbell was going to be compared with the Rogue power bar, Australian Barbell Company power bar, Goliath power bar and Valhalla Strength power bar. I drew the line at making a comparison with the Texas and Eleiko power bars because that would be very, very unfair. For starters, those are argubaly among the best power bars you can get (for the record, my favourite is the Texas); and they are so much more expensive than any of the other bars I have used.
Now, I haven't had the bar long enough nor used it enough to review it properly but I've done enough to give a first impression of it. Aesthetically, it's a nice bar. The chrome finish and thin collars means it looks quite a bit like the Eleiko bar. Out of the packaging the whole bar was covered in a thin layer of oil, which I'm guessing is standard and protects the bar from rusting and corrosion. It was easy to clean off with a cloth. The sleeves rotate reasonably well, and on a power bar that's all you need. The bar seems well put together, with no noticeable slop where the sleeves and collars join the shaft. Initially I did have a couple of concerns about the knurling. It is very far from aggressive, and I was worried that it wouldn't be enough. However, having now held the bar a few times albeit with light weights those concerns have reduced significantly. While the knurling isn't sharp by any definition, it is also seems very, very easy to grip without chalk. Next week when I deadlift I'll get a much better idea, but initial indications are that despite being not aggressive the knurling works perfectly well. In terms of stiffness the bar definitely seems to be up there, although I haven't had more than three plates on it yet. Certainly squatting with three plates felt very steady and devoid of any kind of whip. How it feels deadlifting I'll find out next week. I won't be able to load it up with more than 177.5 kilos until the cast iron plates arrive and I won't be needing to until then either simply because my training won't call for those loads for a couple of months.
At this stage, I would say the Loaded Lifting bar compares very favourably to the Rogue, Australian Barbell Company, Valhalla Strength and Goliath power bars. As expected, the Texas and Eleiko are in a different class but to be honest, that still doesn't justify how much more they cost. The fact that the Loaded Lifting bar comes with a lifetime warranty says a lot about the confidence Loaded Lifting have in its quality and durability, and it gives me a lot of confidence in how it is going to last me. I'll probably revisit this after I've used the bar more; and after I've had over 200 kilos on it squatting and deadlifting.
Outside of what equipment I have, I'm beginning to think that I may end up investing in a back raise. Most have a relatively small footprint and out of the back raise, GHR and reverse hyper are also the cheapest option to train my lower back, hamstrings and glutes that I have always used in training. I can cobble together something to do back raises on, but it's awkward and I don't quite get the ROM I can on a proper back raise. Balance is also enough of an issue that I can't really use any weight. So I'll start looking around at back raises, and J hooks.
Part 3 will take a bit longer to put together because I don't want to write it until I've got the bow bar, the cast iron plates and have loaded both bars up with a bit more weight and have used the box to squat and played around with incline benching.
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