Home Gym Lifting Platform - More Thoughts

I do it alone. 

Starting a home gym and being fortunate enough to start putting one together just over a year ago has been one of the best decisions I've made in the 11 years that I have been strength training. In the past 6 months this has been accelerated as I moved into a house with a garage that I turned into my gym. If you love to lift in peace without having to wait for gym equipment or tread carefully lest you alert the lunk alarm, finding a place of solace in which you can lift will suit you well. 

Maybe you really can't create a space for your own gym, but are you sure about that? My first home gym experience was my multi-purpose second bedroom in a two bedroom basement apartment that also had my desk and dresser, so was no bigger than 6x8. If you really want to make it happen, you'll just do it. 

You'll eventually want a surface to lift heavy on, particularly for deadlifts and saving your property from bailing on squats. When that time comes, you'll need to build a lifting platform. 

Previously I shared with you how I built my Olympic lifting platform and how I had to elevate it to compensate for a cracked floor and garage prone to flooding. My platform is a beast and because the 'drop zones' are reinforced, even though the platform floor is elevated from the cement garage floor, I can still drop weight on it with no problem. 

Today I want to share another awesome platform design sent to me from JC, as there are many ways of building a lifting platform and seeing different options can help you to decide what will work best for you. Like I said in my original post, a lot of the materials I was given or already had, so I tried to wing it a bit without buying much. If you’re building in a confined space that’s uneven, using the deck levelers to get your frame in place is a great idea and very helpful tip. I’ll copy his build advice here and the photos of his home gym platform. 

Happy building and happy lifting.

Fortissimus

If you have an uneven floor, garage etc. you can buy these things at home depot called adjustable deck levelers.

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.adjustable-deck-support-4x4.1000746289.html

I bought these thinking I'd use them to support my platform because my garage is out of level in every direction but what I ended up doing was using those to set a level height so I could build my frame on them.

But after I had it built on those and it was all level I just used wood to support it for the height then removed those because they are a little bit unstable when at their max adjustment. (or if they are not in concrete or screwed in like they should be)

I returned them afterwards too so you can use those to help if your making it alone like me.

I started out using 2 of those deck adjustables on 1 2x4 then another 2 adjustables on another 2x4 to make a corner. That way it was level then I did the same to the other corner until my perimeter was done. My garage is super unlevel so those made it easy since I was alone.

Filled in the middle supports.

My 2x4's are closer than 16" centers.

Add supports to keep the height level

Add plywood 3/4"

Add mats I already had.

Also they sell pre cut 92.5 " 2x4's at home depot so you can buy  2 regular 8' 2x4's

then the rest you can buy at 92.5 so you dont have to cut each one. So easy.