For me it has to be:

  1. Helix mattress ($1,217). Sleep is great.
  2. Home gym power cage & weights (~$1,000). Look good, feel good, get strong.
  3. Netgear Nighthawk AXE7800 ($339). No more random, annoying internet disconnects/slowness.
  4. Books ($0 @ library)
    • “Ultralearning” - Scott Young (how to learn efficiently)
    • “Enlightenment Now” - Steven Pinker (the world overall is improving)
    • “The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing” - Taylor Larimore (how to invest)
  5. PS5 ($500). So many great games like witcher 3, god of war, spiderman.

I’m searching for some more deep value purchases. Give me what you’ve got.

  • VikEnglish
    5•1 year ago

    Not OP but a power rack / half rack and Olympic barbell with plates can cover a lot of what you’d need at the gym.

    Some racks have plate-loaded cable systems which are extremely handy as well (I can rig mine up for leg extension, ham curl, pulldown, pullovers, cable rdl, rows etc). Can grab whatever handles or attachments you need (ropes, chains, ankle straps)

    Throw in an adjustable incline bench, an adjustable pair of dumbbells and you’re practically sorted.

    One thing I would strongly recommend is good rubber mats to go underneath it all (if your flooring isn’t already suitable). I spaced on this at first. Was a PITA to move stuff around to put them in but definitely worth it in the end.

    I feel like I went a little overboard with the home gym stuff during the pandemic but at the time put together what I believe to be a comprehensive setup for under £1000.

    • @ex_redditorEnglish
      3•1 year ago

      Thanks for the reply. Do you have a link to the rack you got? Haven’t seen any with a cable setup so want to check it out!

      • VikEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        Hey no problem.

        I don’t want to shill for them or anything but I have a lot of stuff from Mirafit (UK). Upon closer inspection, I believe a lot of their products are generic, and you can find identical or similar offerings elsewhere.

        I have the old Mirafit M100 half rack with cable system. It’s no longer for sale but derived from this model. It also came with the incline bench at the time which made it a pretty nice deal, but I would not recommend my particular half rack version as it’s only rated to 200KG. My one will kinda sway a bit if you back squat four plates and I’m considering a replacement. At the time I didn’t think it was too big of a deal, and I was kinda desperate to some kit with all the gyms shut during the pandemic.

        Their newer full and half racks are rated to a much higher max load (~350KG) and I presume that’d feel a lot sturdier in practice (probably similar to Rogue rack quality).

        I would try searching for ‘power rack with cable pulley system’. I can see a lot of results for this from Amazon in the UK but I’d be very careful about what you buy from there.

        Would be interested in what you find!