My Home Gym - Stage 3: Titan
May 21, 2005 - December 27, 2007
NOTE: Click any image on this page for an enlarged view (opens in new browser)
I should preface this section by noting that I think my power rack was an excellent piece of home gym equipment. I really loved mine, and I made some very nice gains on it. The biggest shortcoming of a standard power rack is that it is only capable of around a dozen exercises.
As we all know, lack of variety over time translates into one thing: boredom! From a mental standpoint it's critical to keep our workouts fresh and interesting. From a muscle-building standpoint it's also important to change up our workouts frequently. Because I workout exclusively at home and have limited space & funds, I thought I'd never have the luxury of commercial quality gym equipment and a large variety of exercises from which to choose. Thankfully I was wrong: enter the TITAN...
If you are looking for my formal, in-depth review of the Titan it can be found here.
There really is no other home gym equipment like the Titan on the market today. It's an amazing machine, and is built like a tank (a fully loaded Titan weighs almost three quarters of a ton - without weights!) A fully loaded Titan (all available options) is capable of nearly 100 exercises. Of course there are safety spotters so I can do all the same heavy free weight exercises that I did in my power rack, but that's just the beginning...
If you are interested in purchasing a Titan you've come to the right place! John Stone Fitness is pleased to be partnered with the exclusive North American distributor of the Titan. When you purchase a Titan through JSF you are guaranteed the absolute lowest price available anywhere. You'll also receive a number of free gifts with your purchase. Get all the details in the Official Fitcore/Titan T1 Information Thread on the JSF Forum.
This is my Titan as it appears from the upper left. Some items of note visible in this photo include: front lat pulldown assembly, the high and low cable crossovers, the smith carriage, the counter-balance assembly, the rear low pulley system, the safety spotter arms and the adjustable sliding bench.
This is the view from the upper right. In this picture you can just make out the leg lift/curl attachment at the right rear of the machine, and the rear lat pully at the top left of the machine.
A wide shot from the upper left.
A wide shot from the upper right.
Relaxing after a very tough workout on the Titan.
I finally bought a dumbbell rack in December 2005. Here's the view as you enter the gym. You can also see the new recumbent bike (on the left), and just visible on the right is another recent addition: an Everlast 100 pound heavy bag.
Here's a side view of the dumbbell rack. I have a complete set of hex dumbbells ranging from 3 to 100 pounds. The 5 - 50 pounds dumbbells are in 5-pound increments. The 50 - 100 pound dumbbells are in 10 pound increments, and I use a set of four 2.5-pound Plate Mates to hit the "fives". I also have a set of four 1.25-pound Plate Mates (you can see them attached to the dumbbell rack) for micro-loading in 2.5-pound increments. The Plate Mates saved me a lot of money, and now I can workout with any dumbbell weight from 3-105 pounds in 2.5 pound increments. I'm keeping my eyes open for a set of 110 and 120 pound dumbbells, but you don't see many of those around here.
Yeah, the 90s and 100s didn't fit on the rack. I don't mind where they are now, but when I get my 110s and 120s I'm also going to purchase another rack for my 90+ pounders.
I purchased a single 300-pound Olympic barbell set back in late 2003, but had to add another complete set as my strength increased. I love having two barbells and double the plates. In early 2007 I needed more plates, so I bought 6 more 45-pound plates (see next photo).
This is the area of my gym where I do my deadlifts. You can also see quite a few of the accessories that I use hanging on the wall. Roughly from left to right: Exercise bands (APT); pressdown straps, pressdown rope & adjustable pressdown straps (all APT); Heavy bag gloves (Everlast); Hanging ab straps (Grizzly); Old Glory; An assortment of wrist wraps (APT); A few sets of lifting straps (APT). I've got a total of ten 45-pound plates on the bar.
More accessories that I use while working out. From top, left: wrist wrap, weighted heavy bag training gloves, a couple of Olympic barbells, an EZ-Curl bar, two Captains of Crush grippers, MyoTape and Fat Track digital calipers, a Grizzly Leather Dipping Belt, a set of Dumbbell Power Hooks and a pair of Lifting Straps.
This is the Titan equipment rack. It holds most of the various attachments that come with the Titan. In this shot you can also see some miscellaneous equipment, such as my Grizzly dipping belt & abs straps, a pair of ankle weights, a few pair of lifting gloves and my Power Hooks dumbbell spotters.
In this shot you can see the mirrors on the south wall, a couple more Titan accessories, the EZ curl bar and the cheap elliptical.
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