I’m working on getting my personal fitness back into a semblance of what it should be. I tried a gym memberships and found I often blew it off because I didn’t want to drive 30 minutes each way.

I put together a little gym in my basement with dumbbells and a plate set with a short rack for low ceilings. It’s been working for the last months and a half or so. I find I enjoy being able to go downstairs and use it. It makes my day go better. But I really want to be able to do lat pulldowns/low rows.

Has anyone used the spud pulley (upper and lower)setup from rogue? They don’t require extra floor space and are cheap but I wonder how well they would work. I can get an xmark machine for a little over twice the cost of the spud pulleys. It would need some of my floor space but seems more useful.

Anyone with experience with experience with spud pulleys or something similar that could give me input on whether they are worth it?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: buddy357,

Pull up bar, and something like TRX straps? You can get creative. I enjoy doing body weight exercises, but I usually wear a weight vest or dip belt for pull-ups.

I have a free standing pull-up/dip bar on my back deck. If you look around, you might be able to find someone who would give one away. Always buy used exercise equipment.

ASKSmith is right on the money. Lat pull-down machines have their place, but in the long run, they are inferior to movements that require you to engage and stabilize your entire body, such as pull-ups and suspension straps.

If your pulling strength-to-bodyweight ratio is low, it's harder to scale down the weight than on a lat pull-down machine, but as Smith posted, you can get creative.

Yup, pull up bar for the win. That is the only piece of equipment you need to forge any level of strength you desire. They make door frame mounted bars with a 2nd set of attach points you can put at hip level for much easier “Aussie” pull ups, parallel bar dips, feet elevated (or hands elevated for easier version) push ups.

Just be careful of how you attach the rope to the bar. Had a friend in law school almost kill himself when the rope broke and he pulled the bar down into his head. The bar is a screw with an eyelet on it. It went about 1/2 inch into his scull.

Use something flush with the bar of pad it on some way

Also as you increase in weight you have to find a way to anchor your bench down so you don’t just lift yourself up. I had this problem with my Body Solid rack that has a cable setup on it.

I moved to pull ups and bent over rows about a year ago and have had much better gains. I don’t bother with the pull downs any more.

I asked about pulleys vs machine because I am very overweight and can’t do body weight pull-ups and likely won’t be strong enough for a while. And with low ceilings (82”) and no real yard I am allowed to put anything up in, I have no where to do them. Thanks for the suggestions. Hoping if I’m lucky someone will contribute something about the actual question. If not, thanks anyway.

Can you set a bar low on your rack? Hang under the bar with your feet on the ground and do pull ups. The higher the bar, the easier it is.

I have slowly put my garage gym together. It all started with this. I know have a treadmill, water rower, and a cycle. Also have adjustable dumbells and rings. No more crowded gyms for me!!


https://www.roguefitness.com/s...ter-lite-squat-stand

Mine is a mix. A 72” short rack, bench, and dumbbells from repfitness. Bar from rogue and plates from Vulcan. This picture is pretty much the entire finished half of the basement. I’ve got about 2/3 of that amount on the unfinished side if I want to add anything else. It was not fun getting all that downstairs alone. But I enjoy little projects.

That's a nice setup! You can spend the $ on the lat thingy if you want, but using a bar on the rack is a better pulling exercise anyway and free.

Put the bar hooks on the inside of the front rack post so you will be pulling the bar into the posts. Feet under the bar towards the wall, legs straight. Set at whatever height provides the right resistance. Can adjust difficulty between a grandma can do it, to elite 1-arm dead hang pull up and everything in between. Can also buy an inexpensive set of bands and hook them to the top bar for infinite variety of exercises. Something like these: https://www.amazon.com/Canway-...%2Caps%2C226&sr=8-10

Back in '95 I bought a Body Solid lat pulldown machine. Excellent quality. Still have it (although it doesn't get used - that will change though). I just researched it - GLM83 goes for $500 (yikes!) but you can do a lot of exercises with it besides pulldowns and rows (bicep curls, reverse curls, tricep pushdowns, cable laterals (shoulder exercise). It doesn't take up a lot of space either.

Good luck with everything.