Colins New Free Weight Training Gym

Firstly, I am way behind with updates to our cool home gym section, so if you have got photos that you want to send in, please do. I am going to try and roll through a few gyms in the next couple of weeks. 

Colin’s story is great. These days I don’t do a lot of sales as the business has grown and my time is taken up with admin tasks. I have to bar myself from sales as I normally end up talking too long to customers. Then I run out of time to get all my other boring jobs done! But I love talking training, so it was great to get the time to chat with Colin and sort himself out a new gym, but most importantly point him in a new direction with training. 

Colin’s case was a story that we hear quite often. Colin thought he was on the wrong side of 50 – aches & pains, injuries – the normal things associated with aging. He took some convincing, but he now realises that he is on his way to approaching his peak fitness!

You see Colin was training the “safe” way. Lots of isolation exercises without much weight. I guess the medical profession has to advise this sort of training to people who have back injuries and alike given the fact they all fear legal action if they give the wrong advice. So I encouraged Colin to do his own research and give some light compound movements a try.

Like anyone who hasn’t done these lifts for a while, even with just the bar, Colin felt the old body breath some new life. These lifts use muscles that don’t normally get used, so there is nothing quite like the feeling after a workout where there is blood pumping throughout the body. It only took a few weeks and Colin was hooked! After years of treading water with the isolation work, Colin immediately saw progress in both strength and equally as important flexibility. 

So much so, even after saying that the MegaTec Power Rack would be overkill, Colin went straight for the top shelf and grabbed the Barbarian Commercial Power Cage System. He was pleasantly surprised……

Hi Sam,

I can’t describe how wonderful it was using the gym this morning. Even the floor tiles were a nice experience. The cage inspires confidence as I could perform squats with spotters and thereby keep my current hard limits of flexibility in check. The Barbarian is simply awesome and worth the extra dollars 🙂

I couldn’t be happier! I have much more room than I ever expected to have and best of all, I can train every morning without needing to move the car out of the garage. Even DIPs are no problem; I am baffled where all the extra space came from, because the Barbarian is very substantial and imposing (in a very pleasant way) and while compact, the cage is quite roomy.

Cheers Colin

This is a great shot that demonstrates how compact such a comprehensive set up like this really is. Colin as fit all this on 8 square metres – and there is loads of room to train comfortably. The 185cm Power Rack Barbell saves some much needed width. In this case, Colin needs to park his car, so the extra foot saved in the barbell makes all the difference. 

Now these photos do not do the Barbarian Cage justice. In these pics it even looks as if it is 60mm x 60mm tube steel. This is made from 75 x 75mm and a lot of people who come in the showroom to look at the Barbarian Cage end up walking out with a Megatec purely because they underestimated the Barbarian. Up close it is a beast. But in Colin’s case, he has a new found passion for his training, so why not lash out and spoil yourself. 

Back to the training, if you do have a serious injury I am not advocating throwing 200kgs on your back and belt out some triples. If you have been told to steer clear of compound movements it doesn’t hurt to seek out a second opinion from someone in the medical profession who actually has some understanding of weight training. It also doesn’t hurt to do some research yourself from credible sources.

If you don’t have a serious injury, but just suffer from back pain, maybe just try some squats and deadlifts with just the barbell. Then just add 1.25kg each side per workout. You might be surprised at the results….

***UPDATE*****

We have another Home Gym Addict!! Colin is loving his new gym so much he has made some excellent additions. As you can see it is super organised and got some very nice additions. If you want a lesson in home gym organisation then study Colin’s gym carefully. It makes me want to cry. My gym is a mess in comparison!! It certainly has inspired me to sort my gym out when I get some spare time.

**ANOTHER UPDATE**

Colin has been at it again and made some more minor tweaks to his gym, cementing it’s place as one of the best single car garage gyms in Australia – in my opinion. Yes there is someone out there who has probably crammed more gear in a similar area, but that is not what makes a home gym great.

What makes a home gym great is having a foundation of quality, essential gym equipment. But most importantly is laying it out in such a manner that you can train efficiently. This is where Colin’s gym excels. So thanks once again to Colin for sending in the updated pic. 

**THE EVOLUTION CONTINUES**

Just when I thought Colin’s Gym couldn’t get any better, it does! Although Colin thinks his gym is cramped, living in Sydney where gyms are shrinking, this is all the room you will ever need. 

Here is what Colin had to say..

Hi Sam,

After several years of incremental improvements I have finally completed my gym (see attached photo).  The car still fits in just right and everything is working out nicely.  It may look busy, but I actually have a lot of room for one person training and have not encountered any issues at all in that regard.

Cheers, Colin

PS: You cannot see it (on the floor beneath the chains), but the Camo ez-curl bar is great, it feels more compact while at least being perceived as heavier and yet moves so smoothly with those needle bearings and has a better knurl – totally awesome for a fun exercise.

I am very passionate about weight training, but I don’t feel comfortable preaching to the non-believers. But if you rock into the shop or give us a call and you end up speaking to me – which unfortunately is rare these days as the business grows – I will do my very best to convert you!

After hearing about Colin’s story it would be remiss of me not to share the benefits of what weight lifting brings to everyone. We hear these stories all the time. Not only is it a great hobby/activity which brings a sense of achievement as you build strength and/or muscle, the health benefits are only just beginning to be acknowledged by the mainstream health community. 

No wonder though, it is not beneficial to the mainstream health INDUSTRY to have blokes like Colin getting around at 53 stronger than what he thought was his glory days. Big Pharma wants Colin on multiple medications and receiving expensive surgeries. Being fit and strong is not good for profits. 

Thanks again to Colin for not only the updates, but most importantly the inspiration. After hearing Colin’s story it motivates me that my best days lie ahead. If you have a similar story I would love to hear it to.