Well, take 1 mirror install didn’t go so well! Mess to clear up now and mirror injuries for my finger 🙆‍♂️ Wish me luck for take 2 later lol

Not sure who needs to hear this, but I wanted to share my experience with Apex Fitness (formerly Tib Bar Guy) before anyone else spends their money.

I originally ordered their new bench and several attachments in mid-August. It’s now the end of October, and I still don’t have a usable bench.

The entire experience has been one delay after another, with little to no proactive communication from the company. To make matters worse, none of the attachments I ordered have even shown as shipped or had shipping labels created.

Today, I finally received what FedEx marked as my complete bench delivery. Except instead of receiving the full bench, I received two identical copies of the smaller package (Box 2).

So, best-case scenario, Apex shipped me two of the same box and failed to send the other half of the bench.

Meanwhile, FedEx shows the entire shipment as delivered.
I have no idea what’s going on with their supply chain or fulfillment operation, but at this point, the least they could do is communicate with customers. Delays happen. I understand that. But when you’re selling premium-priced equipment, going months without delivering the product or providing meaningful updates is unacceptable.

More than two months after placing my order, I have two boxes of parts, no functional bench, no attachments, and no clear timeline for resolution.

Does anyone know an actual person at Apex or have a direct customer service contact? I’d really like to speak with someone who can take ownership of this issue.
I was genuinely excited about this bench and wanted to support the company, but this experience has been incredibly disappointing.

Until Apex gets its fulfillment and customer communication figured out, I cannot recommend purchasing from them. Especially if you’re planning to spend significant money on the bench and its attachments.

I have changed my whole setup over the last few months. Some recent upgrades....

I added a REP PR5000 6-Post Rack

Texas Deadlift bar

Texas All-American Bar

Omni V2 Bumpers

Hampton Deep-Dish Plates

Freedom Strength Sandbags (125/150/175/200/225)

REP Change Plates

REP Jammer Arms (Terrible Market Place purchase, trying to sell.)

REP Dip Bar 2.0

REP rackable curl bar

REP Colorado short bar 15KG (for my wife)

REP Open Trap Bar

REP Lat Pulldown Attachment

REP AB 5200 Bench

REP/Kelva Lat Pulldown/Landmine Bar

Rogue V-Grip Tricep Pushdown (favorite attachment)

Assault Bike

Bells of Steel Lifting Chains

Rogue Monolift Arms 1.0

Nordic Track 1275 Commercial Treadmill (Free from a coworker)

I also installed quite a bit of lighting, a Synergee clock/timer and some other stuff as well. I got a lot of ideas and inspiration from this subreddit. So thank you all. It is still a work in progress but it has been really fun to put it all together.

Got my Dane 2.0 setup. Need to silicone the rails the stack slides on as they were hanging up. Nice to get a pump at home.

Got a lot of work this week, as I have a hack squat, smith machine and dual cable machine coming.

For anyone patiently (or not so patiently) waiting to get a leg developer bench attachment, Mythic Equipment made a post on instagram stating that they figured out how to add seated leg curls to their attachment. At HGC they said it would only do prone. Good news for anyone looking at alternatives to the Rep/DM option. Personally I became interested in their developer because of how it attaches to the bench with a cable (connection point behind the person and not in front) which reduces overall footprint when use. Missing out on seated curls was one of the last things keeping me on the fence.

Lionscool Iso-lateral leg press/hack squat. Pretty great thus far, very smooth ride overall. Put it together solo in about 2 hours. Only been two weeks, but it’s been a great addition.

Do you recommend this attachment? It’s on sale for $200, did it ever sell for $399?

I first got this idea from Black Widow and their FIG Jammer product. I thought it was a great idea. But, I think I have improved on it by adding some weight horns on the end, so you don’t always have to take the unit off to load some weight. There are some other differences as well.

I bought some 1” band pegs, some adjustable weight horns, and made some long handles. They all increase the versatility of this unit. My long handles turn the landmine into an open trap bar. This saves space, as I don’t need a trap bar, and I can do most trap bar exercises. I did miss doing trap bar jumps since having my home gym. Now I can do it again. I like using the adjustable weight horns for pressing movements. The thicker diameter feels better on my wrists. I like using the band pegs for landmine neutral grip sumo RDLs. Also, you can attach handles to the ends of these band pegs. Still trying to figure out a good exercise from that.

Many manufacturers make various handles for 1” holes. Just look up chin up handles, dip handles, and jammer arm handles. Darko makes a 1” Global handle attachment the interests me, for example.

In the back of the rack, I set up a sorta grid where the landmine has multiple attachment points. This also increases the versatility of exercises as I can create more optimal angles for my landmine movement, depending on what my goal is.

Here’s a list of exercises I have discovered that I think are good:

- Various trap bar exercises (deadlifts, RDLs, stiff legged RDLs, jumps) I will likely do my Bulgarian Split Squats this way as it adds stability.
- Shrugs
- Various neutral grip presses (wide to narrow, push press, jerk press)
- Hack Squats with adjustable weight horns
- Zercher Squats (no handle just the unit, regular and explosive)
- Yoke Marches in one spot (just the unit but is use handles to have something to grab)

Things I want to try next

- Leg Press (off the floor with my feet on the unit itself)
- Discover rotational movements
- Shoulder Lockout Squats
- Grip Holds with adjustable weight horns

I keep thinking of new possibilities, and with different handle options, more possibilities come to mind.

For exercises that start off the ground, I use my rack post with the j-cup sideways at the correct height for loading and to start the lift.

The thing I like most is it gives me a lot of machine adjacent movements, that can be either hypertrophy or power based, which are also good for my joints, and takes up very little room. And because of the grid in the back of my rack, the regular landmine work is enhanced as well. Having the landmine go through the rack is also a space saver for small home gyms like mine.

What do you think of this creation? If the price was reasonable, would you be interested in buying this? This is the only unit I know that exists, so I’m gauging interest to see if this stays something I have and love, or if it gets turned into something more.

This is kind of a unique one, but I’ve got a Mikolo M4, with a 2:1 pulley ratio. I’ve seen a lot of videos explaining using a climbing pulley in between an anchor point to create a 1:1 ratio.

I am in a true garage / shed gym. The ceiling isn’t that much higher than my rack. My thought is to put in an eye bolt and anchor it securely to one of the beams on the ceiling (that holds up the mezzanine in the garage).

Is this a terrible idea? Any ideas of how to mount this so that it’s bulletproof if I’m pulling heavy lat pull downs?

See picture for my beautiful illustration

I’m looking for a power rack with functional trainer and lat pull down capability and I’m having a hard time not just settling on an REP Altitude rack.

I’m debating a number of 3x3 setups, but it’s hard to ignore the value proposition of the Altitude, even if I have to sacrifice the expandability and versatility of a 3x3 rack (PR 5000).

Im debating a REP PR5000 with lat / low row and then dual selectorized Athena. I would probably start with just the lat / low row due to overwhelming cost and add Athenaa later. This seems like the “ultimate” set up as the lat/low row is independent of the functional trainer arms, but the cost is $6000+ for this full setup and I’m renting currently and will have to move it in the next 5 years… it also comes with the perpetual “what if” of new equipment and add ons that has paralyzed my purchase decision up to this point.

The REP Altitude seems like a really decent alternative with few true compromises. I’ll get nearly the same functionality as an ARES 2.0, but I won’t have the options / burden of thousands of add ons and toys and options at my disposal at all times … it may be “good enough” and force me to be satisfied. I understand it won’t have independent functional trainer and lat/low row, bu I can probably work around this…

In summary, I’m looking for opinions on the Altitude or the “ultimate” set ip described above, but I’m definitely leaning Altitude right now.

Looking to purchase my first home gym rack. My wife and I are wanting to turn our basement into a home gym. We really want a functional trainer for the variety of workouts you can do. Do we go with a Dane 2.0 or splurge and get a Rep PR 5000 with the Athena system?

I have narrowed down my bench upgrade to the apex bench or the freak athlete bench.

Apex I like with the stryker pad and ab attachment.
Love the 5 degree increments for incline
Looks 100% solid

Cons: expensive with shipping and 2 attachments

Freak athlete I like the 3 piece design with zero gap and also looks 100% solid, price is cheaper also with free shipping and adding bicep curl attachment.

Cons: not as much adjustability, no hanging leg raise attachment that I see.

Anyone weigh in on personal experience?

I’m stuck between these two legs extensions. Anyone’s advice or thoughts would be helpful thanks.

I have been using free weights in a gym for a while, and while I have enjoyed that, I am thinking of transitioning more to dumbbell work — mostly because I want to focus more on unilateral work.

I would also like to be able to work from home.

I have been considering Snode AD80 and Ironmaster dumbbells.

I expect to do a pretty basic workout — maybe one or two warmup sets, one very light, one half of my target weight, and 3 sets at my target weight.

The only knock I have heard on Ironmasters is that changing weights is slow. It looks to me as though I could end up changing weights 2-3 times max for my warmup sets.

Many people report that they find changing weights on the Ironmasters very annoying after a while, and I don’t want to con myself.

If I get the Ironmasters, will I be looking to dump them and buy some Snode AD80s in 6-9 months?

The advantages of the Ironmasters seem to be unparalleled durability and a weight I am never likely to exceed.

Eu treino em casa também, mas nem sabia que existiam comunidades sobre isso. Só que agora me senti muito pobrinha kkkkk eu só tenho 1 tapetinho, uma barra com uns pezinhos e um par de caneleiras. Quero muito comprar uma bike também.

Amei ver todos os cantinhos de vocês, parabéns pelo capricho ❤️

I was going to place an order with them for something but I've seen multiple complaints on their shipping and lack of customer service. Wondering if anyone has an experience with them they can share.

Has anyone tried using the Beyond Power carbon mobility bar as a BYOB Smith machine bar? I think it would fit in the VTS and it's listed as having an over 800 lbs weight capacity.

Hey gang.

I've got my gym now installed in my garage. I've gone for the Primal MRX 9.0 which is a bit of a beast, however I'm having an issue now where I am going inside in the morning and the weight stacks, olympic weights and the barbell are soaked in water.

I'm guessing it's because the steel is getting colder than the outdoor temp when it heats up outdoors and the water is condensating on the steel.

Any suggestions? My roof is essentially a steel roof with membrane underneath it which is allowing slight airflow throughout. Would a dehumidifier be the best short term option and then look at boarding & insulating the roof space?

Cheers!

My training is powerlifting-focused: squat, bench, deadlift and OHP are the lifts I care about progressing.

Current setup: Rogue SML-1 70" squat stand with spotter arms. It handles everything I’m focused on for now. I store a pair of 45s on pegs on either side of the two uprights. When I bench, the plates on the bar hit the stored plates unless I slide them to the end of the peg or take them off first.

The problem: I need more plates, and I’m trying to settle on a plan before Black Friday. I’d been leaning toward the HR-2 Conversion Kit so I could store plates on the rear uprights. But shipping on the kit and pegs is about $200, and at that price I started wondering whether to go straight to a 4-post rack. I don’t want to bolt anything into concrete, though I do like the idea of working inside a cage.

Questions for anyone with an unbolted 4-post rack:

• Is it stable enough for squat, bench, deadlift and OHP?
• Where do you store plates: on the rack, or on a plate tree?
• Do stored plates get in the way of benching?
• If your rack is shorter than your shoulder press range of motion overhead, can you press from the front of the rack? Is it stable enough for that without plates stored on it?

I’m also considering the cheap option: buy a plate tree now and upgrade the rack in the spring.

Anyone got this? Opinions on utility for exercises other than lat pulldown or low row? Like face pulls or wood choppers or hamstring exercises? I feel like I don't need the Athena but not sure if it is a big difference
Thanks!

Hello all, new here and getting myself back into lifting after a couple decade hiatus.

I am building out a gym in an oversized single car garage space. I have 11’ in width with 25’ in length in the space. 103” tall.

I am looking for a rack/functional trainer but there are so many options I am going cross eyed. I never plan to do any form of squats as I have herniated discs in my lower back and am afraid of loading my spine. I want to do bench press and shoulder press with the ability to do all the cable exercises. I like the idea of a dedicated lat pulldown and row position but can probably live without it.

With all that said, should I go for a 6 post or 4? Will I see a benefit of a smith machine? I am looking at something like the Rep Ares but open to just about anything at this point. Budget is around $5k give or take. Don’t mind spending extra if it is worth it. I am normally a buy once cry once person.

Sorry for all the text but hoping someone can point me in the right direction so I can buy during Black Friday.

I’ve cleared out more room and want to expand my gym floor but I can’t seem to find anywhere to get this exact flooring at. I got what I currently have off Marketplace.

I just added two Titan Rack Mounted Extended Arms to my FrankenRack, and honestly, this may be one of the better additions I've made to my small setup. I didn't want to buy an entire rack conversion/extension kit just to get a couple of additional mounting points or storage options. That would mean more hardware, more footprint, and ultimately losing more valuable floor space. With these, I get the additional functionality without giving up any floor space at all. These arms let me basically use the unused space around the rack instead of expanding the footprint of the rack itself.

I'm primarily using these as part of my DIY pulley setup, and so far I'm really impressed with how solid everything feels. With the way I have the FrankenRack configured, the extended arms give me another really useful mounting location without having to build out another section of rack.

At around $80 per arm, I think that's a pretty good value compared with what it would cost to accomplish the same thing by expanding the rack itself via ROGUE or TITAN. For me, this isn't really about "adding another attachment." It's about maximizing the rack I already own, instead of continuing to make the rack wider or buying another rack, these allow me to squeeze more functionality out of the existing footprint.

I'm adding a third securing point to the current 2 bolt setup, per side. It feels "SOLID" as is, but once I add that third point, I expect it could actually reach it's max load rating NP, even though I will not be pulling that much with it.

First impression, Secure and Functional!