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? about constructing olympic platform

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Topic: ? about constructing olympic platform
Posted By: Shawn Baker
Subject: ? about constructing olympic platform
Date Posted: 1/07/11 at 8:14am
will be moving back to Albuquerque NM in 2 months and am planning on
converting part of garage into gym- anyone have adequate
dimensions/materials needed for an olympic platform- would like to be able
to drop snatches and do some heavy deadlifting- also anyone have any
recommendations on decent bumpers and bars, as well as lifting racks (not
too concerned about budget and want good durable stuff)

Thanks in advance



Replies:
Posted By: C. Smith
Date Posted: 1/07/11 at 8:19am
http://www.straighttothebar.com/2009/03/diy_how_to_build_an_olympic_we.html - http://www.straighttothebar.com/2009/03/diy_how_to_build_an_ olympic_we.html

muscledriver is probably the cheapest for your plates and bars. 


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Posted By: Pingleton
Date Posted: 1/07/11 at 9:05am

Shawn,

I would add an additional layer of stall mats under the
platform linked to by Craig.

In terms of bars and bumpers, it really does depend on
your budget. For bars, if budget is a consideration to
some degree, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the
basic Sorinex Bars (I like their Naked Bar in
particular). Their Six Shooter Bar is probably
excellent, but it is fairly pricey and I haven't tried
it. Don't even consider any bar with a diameter larger
than 28.5 mm (28.0 mm is the diameter of all "official"
Oly bars). For more details from an expert, check out
this thread: http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=13733&page=2 - http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=13733&page=2 :

I personally have both an Eleiko training bar and an old
York Oly bar, both of which I like a lot. I also
sometimes use both a York Olympic Training Bar and a
Sorinex Nickleblack Bar. I have heard great things about
the Chapman Bar for the money, but I am not certain if
they are still being produced.

Bumpers are less important than the bar but try not to
get the cheapest ones and I would personally stay away
from anything with a brass inserts as these seem to bend
over time. I know the Intek bumpers available from
Sorinex (http://store.sorinex.com/category_s/419.htm) are
superb, although they are relatively expensive (but good
value for the money). I can tell you that these are also
more than acceptable and a big step above cheaper
bumpers:

http://www.theg2scart.com/140KG_G2S_Bumper_Set_IWF_Colors_p/g2s-140kgset.htm - http://www.theg2scart.com/140KG_G2S_Bumper_Set_IWF_Colors_p/ g2s-140kgset.htm




 



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We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.



    - George Bernard Shaw





Posted By: Tommi
Date Posted: 1/08/11 at 5:18pm

I would suggest not only adding another stall mat, but also running the edges of your platform with 2X4 to give it a boxed in look. It will look better and won't make much of a cost difference. It will also allow you to use less screws because you won't have to worry about the piece sliding away from eachother on the edges.

If cost isn't an issue what I REALLY think would be best would be to have a frame welded for you out of 1/8 - 3/16" steel tubing about 3" tall and to fill it with Stall Mats so that it lays flush with the tubing. Then paint two white reference lines on the black rubber to help with foot placement and you have one helluva good platform. You could drop a car on it and it wouldn't move or hurt your floor. Also, consider using stall mats for the floor of your gym area to begin with. That's what we have in our home gym and it's awesome. You never have to worry about dropping a dumbell or dumping weight cause it will not hurt your floor OR your equipment, which in my opinion is more important.

We have some York Barbells and plates, and even a 100 yr old set of 90 lbs dumbells that still weigh exactly 90 lbs... Very good, durable equipment that looks awesome. They have the old-school 'raw' look which I love.



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Tommi.Kitchens.


Posted By: Shawn Baker
Date Posted: 1/09/11 at 11:53am
Thanks guys for the input- spent better part of weekend
constructing/installing 128 sq feet of shelving to free up essentially a one
car garage- now have about 150 sq feet to set up home gym- so far plan to
put in a rack-build 8X8 platform- obtain a decent oly bar and 500 or so
pounds of bumpers as well as some foam boxes for jumping on- already
have heavy bag from years ago- also plan on incorporating recessed D
handles into platform for banded lifts- this should enable me to do about
90% or more of the lifting I currently do- hope to get this all done by March
when I get back home for good.


Posted By: Deakion
Date Posted: 1/11/11 at 3:45pm
Nice find Craig

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Jonathan Irvin

And they shall know no fear.


Posted By: plockton
Date Posted: 1/18/11 at 5:48am

you might check roguefitness for affordable bars

i have the burgner/rippetoe bar which is 29mm and works well for oly as well as power

fyi good luck



Posted By: emac
Date Posted: 1/25/11 at 11:35am
Might check this out.

http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/homesweathome6.htm l

Eric


Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/19/11 at 8:15am

Well being poor like I am, I am going to try to throw one of those together on the cheap. Need to find a set of standard olympic plates as like I said...I am poor and can not afford bumper plates.

My thing is I have two 4'x6' stall mats in my garage right now. I can't find 4x8.



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Posted By: AlDargie
Date Posted: 2/19/11 at 11:52am
Brian I had picked up some plates at Dick's that got me
started and then scoured Craigslist, moving sales and
Freecycle and able to pick up several hundred pounds more
on the cheap.

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Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy. - Outlaw Josey Wales


Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 1:23am
Thanks Al. There is a place near Tulsa that used to be in business that sold used/ refurbished weight equipment. I am going to check tomorrow to see if they are in business still as they sold weights for 50 cents a pound.

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Posted By: mthompson33
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 1:49am
Craig's list.  I got a half rack with bar (cheap, not going to last) and 255# of Olympic weights for $150.  

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Matt Thompson

"If you wake up and you're not in pain, you know you're dead." -- Russian Proverb


Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 2:09am
Matt I looked yesterday here in Tulsa, nothing so far but will keep looking.  If that place in Sand Springs is still open I would be able to get 300lbs for 150.00. Am going to check both

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Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 2:11am
LOL just found this matt..

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/spo/2223753602.html

Hey what nights are you thinking of holding throwing at Manion? not sure how much I can get out there but I need to start working technique


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Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 8:11am
LOL I was able to get what the guy posted. Basically standing rack, with adjustable bench, 300lbs of weights for 200.00 solid deal.




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Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 9:13am
K guys I have a 10x10' piece of wrestling mat. I wonder if that would work by just putting it over the dual layer 4x8' plywood and securing with screws or do we really need the plywood section in the middle?

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Posted By: =Travis=
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 12:10pm

My home gym started with a craigslist deal of power rack, bench and 300# starter set for $200. I bent the bar so I upgraded to a better one. I've since picked up almost a ton of weight over craigslist, only because it was all a good deal.

Not sure what a wrestling mat is like, but the plywood in the middle is intended to give you a hard stable surface for your feet. My home platform uses the 4x6 horse mats from the farm store. The horse mats are pretty hard and I've considered adding another layer of mats to my platform, even over the center plywood section.

 



Posted By: Pingleton
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 1:27pm
The wrestling mat will not be ideal or probably even acceptable even for the sides of the platform and is totally unsuitable for the middle (since it is not a hard surface), to the extent that I suspect I have misunderstood something.  The wrestling mat would, however, be excellent as a base layer under everything and will really minimize the noise and vibrations resulting from dropped weights.

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We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.



    - George Bernard Shaw





Posted By: brandell
Date Posted: 2/20/11 at 1:32pm
K peter. Talked with a buddy of mine that threw in the games at one time, lifts and builds homes. He says with the wrestling mat just lay two 4x8 sheets of plywood down on it and lie two stall mats going the opposite direction. That should do the trick, with gluing the mats to the plywood of course.


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Posted By: Old Dude
Date Posted: 2/23/11 at 5:13pm
Here's a somewhat recent picture of my garage gym.

It's basically the same construction as shown in the link posted way up at the beginning of the thread.  The moo mats cover about half the floor of the garage in addition to the "drop zones".  The snatch blocks are constructed from 4x8s bolted together while the taller ones are modular 2x4s ... think Lincoln Logs ... and can be set to several different heights.  If I had it to do over again, I'd skip the Lincoln Log blocks and would simply build a second set of the 4x8s.

BTW, the Ivanko Olympic barbell in the picture was purchased with my Pleasanton prize money a number of years ago.  LOL!  Gotta love those regulation barbells with no center knurling when you do cleans.




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