Building a home gym

[Ron]

I have taken on a fitness regimen to get ready for the hunts for the rest of my life. My son and I have taken up strength training so we are building a home gym in the man cave.

Here is the wooden squat/ bench press set up I made for us. I now have 3Olympic weight sets with dumbbells and curl bar and about 700 pounds of plates and a lifting belt. I made the safety rack so it would hold all the plates off the floor. The wooden safety rails on the floor are installed and used only while squatting. I have some more pieces of equipment I will build and turn a portion of the man cave into the workout room so long as there is still room to shoot the bows and process deer. I will need to by a few more sheets of 4 x 8 x ½ to protect the floor. Time to stock up on ibuprofen. ;-)









With the squat rails installed.

[Ron]

My son found a trap/shrug bar on Craigslist for $150 and stated that he would like one. I told him I could make him one for a lot less. I bought

(3) 2 x 6 x 8ft

(1) inch Dia. X 45 inch long hardwood dowel

Assorted screws

The rest of the stuff I had laying around the shop such as the ¾ nominal iron pipe, glue, pain, etc.

I made the frame from the 2 x 6. Drilled through 5 layers and glued and screwed the 2 inch dowel in place.





After some sanding, I gave it a coat of black paint.



The grips are ¾ nominal iron pipe.



Then I loaded it up with a bunch of plates. It will hold (4) 45# and a 10# on each side for a max lift of 425 lbs. While I didn’t plan it and it’s a byproduct of the density of the wood I used, the empty frame weighs exactly 45 pounds (the same as an Olympic bar).

In this picture I loaded it with (2) 45# and (2) 35# and a 10# plate just to see how things held together.





Then I put 50# on it and gave it a test drive.





Later I loaded it for 205 Lbs lift and did 3 reps. (time to take some ibuprofen)Total cost was $22 and about 4 hours of my time. There are other things he would like me to build and as time allows, I will do just that.

[Ron]

A trap/shrug bar (or in this case box) helps strengthen the neck, back and shoulders. I find that after shooting on archery league night, I get a stabbing pain between my shoulder blades. I hope that by strengthening those muscles, I can avoid the pain. Its trading a short term pain of working for the chronic pain after league night. This is a snap compared to squatting. That is one exercise I dislike.

[Ron]

Dont fear the free weights. this is a perfect example of that which does not kill you makes you stronger. Wait till you see the next contraption I am just about finsihed working on. Its work-out gear that I will be able to use to hang and skin deer from (dual purpose) LOL

[Ron]

I spent some of the rainy Sunday working on the man cave. We laid down a rubber floor on top of the plywood floor on top of the concrete floor to make it a little quieter and more comfortable to work out on.



I finished another piece of workout equipment for Jr. and myself. This is a cable/pull set up. We can use it for a variety of things (including hanging deer for butcher).

I attached it floor to ceiling so its plenty strong. The cable is rated for 850 pounds and the weakest coupling it rated at 450 pounds. Here it is with the rowing extension shown in both the use and stored position. The end is padded for a bit more comfort.



I can stack quite a bit of weight on it and reattach the cable pretty quickly.



I made a tricep pull down rope.



Here is Jr. modeling it.



And also I made a bar for pull downs and rowing.






Now we just need to move the leg station into the man cave.
I bought another olympic set of plates so we now have about 700 pounds of cast iron to knock around with.

[Ron]

I don’t know if its age or what but it seems like after a archery league night I have been experiencing pain in my neck and between my shoulder blades for a few days after league night. Since Ive been making exercise gear and a home gym I decided to make a neck strengthening device. A few years ago I shot was a guy on a 3D course and the guy only had one arm. He drew the bow back with his teeth. He had a pretty big and strong neck and mentioned that his neck size and gone up a few inches in just one season of shooting. If his neck could take drawing back a bow and got stronger because of it, I thought it worth while to try to see if I could stop the neck and back pain myself.

I few years ago I bought 300 yards of seat belt material on EBay for projects like tree slings and safety harnesses so I used some of that since its rated at 5,000 Lbs tensil.



Then I fired up the vintage Singer Slant needle sewing machine that I have been using for these projects.



I started making some head gear.



Then another strap to attach the weight to. (I ran out of black thread and had to switch to brown)





Then I sewed in some “D” rings to attach a chain to.



Then it looks like this.



For comfort I sewed in some imitation sheerling to pad it.





Then some quick connects and chain to hang the weight from.





Here a weight is attached.



I had my son model it for a picture.

[/quote]

You use it by raising and lowering your head with the weight hanging in front of your face. Time to buy more ibuprofen.

[Ron]

My son wanted jump boxes for plyometric training. He wanted varying heights so I built one box with 3 diff size sides so he can jump up onto the sides that are 2, 24 and 27 inches tall. Wooden frame covered with 5/8 plywood then stained and varnished and then grip tape added.

[Ron]

Fish I can see you doing this.

[Ron]

Last year (early 2012) I caught some kind of respiratory bug that had me sick (pneumonia and bronchitis) all through Jan, Feb and March. I was coughing so hard I injured the ribs in my back, just under my shoulder blade and burst blood vessels in my eye. The coughing hurt my back bad and lingered for more than a year. Every time in the last year that I sneezed I nearly fell to my knees from the sharp pain. This had a seriously negative effect on drawing a bow and shooting on an archery league. After a year of this and seeing no improvement and shooting my bow less and less because of the neck and back pain, I opted to fix the problem with strength training.

11 weeks ago I started a 5 x 5 powerlifting, strength training program. I built a home gym with about 700 pounds of cast iron Olympic plates and bars. Yesterday I hit a lifting milestone with a deadlifting session of 245 pounds and a deep squat session of 175 pounds. Still making increases in the Bench, overhead press and barbell row, shrug, curl and neck strengthening. All lifts are 5 rep/5 sets. Should be in good shape by the time fall bowhunting rolls around. The lingering back pain is also gone. The 5x5 program has you doing the 5 basic core Olympic lifts starting with an empty bar (which weighs 45 lbs) and you add 5 pounds every time you lift except for deadlifts in which you add 10 pounds to the bar every time. Im considering buying a new bow and would like to shoot 65 or 70 pounds (current compound weight is 60 pounds) Also I want to begin again using a climber vs the ladder stands I have been using. There are some great remote spots I want to hunt but they really only work with a climber so the leg work like squatting and deadlifts are for that purpose.

After doing this a for a few months I learned of the hunt doctors (bowhunting emphasis see link)It turns out I was doing what they recommend to strengthen bow drawing muscles.

My routine for the last 3 months.

Monday:

Deep squats (current max of 175)

Bench (150)

Bent over, barbell row (max 130)

Barbell curls (max 70)

Barbell Delt side raises (max 35)

Tuesday:

Cardio, one hour on the treadmill

Wednesday :

Deep squats (current max of 175)

Overhead press (max 100)

Deadlift (max 245)

Dumbbell shrug (80)

Barbell shrug (50)

Thursday:

Cardio, one hour on the treadmill

Neck work (30)

Lat pulldown ( max 125)

Tricep pull down (50)

Friday:

Deep squats (current max of 175)

Bench (150)

Bent over, barbell row (max 130)

Barbell curls (max 70)

Barbell Delt side raises (max 35)

Sat. rest day

Sunday:

Neck work, 3 exercises (30)

Lat pulldown ( max 125)

Tricep pull down (50)

I have not touched my bow since the end of the bow season in Nov of last year. Now that its warmed up I plan to see if the pain is gone like the other back pain that has disappeared. Are others involved in a fitness regimen geared around improving bowhunting/archery?

thehuntdoctors.com/

[Ron]

I have been searching for battle/fitness ropes for several weeks now. They are pretty pricey. I was looking for 2 inch diameter by 50 foot long ropes and wanted 2 of them (one for each arm). Locally that would have cost $376 but I could only find 1 1/2 diameter ropes. Online and with shipping the price was about the same since shipping was a nightmare because 100 feet of rope is close to 50 pounds.

I checked Craigslist and found a guy selling 2 inch diameter manila rope in 110 foot lengths for $70. I picked it up yesterday. I then added a double layer of 7 inch long heat shrink tubing to each end to prevent rope splinters/slivers in my hands. Then I sewed loops into the ends of a piece of automotive seatbelt material and added a spring loaded clevis to act as the mid point anchor and I turned the $70 rope into what would have cost me close to about $400 to buy. I can anchor the mid-point to a tree in the back yard or the ball hitch of my truck or a few weight plates.

If you dont know what battle ropes are used for, this video will help.

[Ron]

Today was the day to go for a Dead lift personal best. The goal has been to lift 300 Lbs. After a bit of warm up I nailed 300 Lbs and felt good enough to go for 305 Lbs. I nailed that lift as well.

[Ron]

Its been a few hours since the new PR and the tightness is setting in. Morning might be a bit slow going. ;-)

[Ron]

I see the latest issue of WON has another article about getting in shape for hunting season and general all around fitness improvement and strength and endurance training called “regular exercise make hunting and fishing more enjoyable. “ Good to see.

My goal was to hit a 300+ pound deadlift and a body weight squat and I surpassed both. I deadlifted 310 Lbs and squatted well over my body weight with a 220 Lb lift. The new goal is a combined total weight (squat, deadlift and bench press) of 750 Lbs.

I did a little running the other day to remind myself how much I hate running. ;-)

[Ron]

Living down near Milwaukee and not having a bear tag means all the activities associated with bear baiting were not going to be of much use to me as a fitness regimen so I pick up heavy things and put them back down so that when I get a bear tag I will be ready. Its the same reason I didnt adopt Alaskan crab boat fishing, deep sea salvage or blacksmithing as my home fitness routine. ;D