Catalyst Athletics Gym Tour 

and 30:50 assault bike too

Started there because I grew up in that general area (Planet Granite was originally right off of central expressway) and my wife and I moved back there in 2008 with intentions of staying. It hadn't reached peak insanity at that point but it just got too ridiculous and the area totally lost its appeal to both of us, financial viability of a weightlifting gym aside.

Bumpers and bars last a lifetime if you invest decent money into them. Our gym was outfitted with Werksan econ bumpers - the least expensive they made at the time, and purchased at our distributor discount - and we'll never have to buy bars or weights again, and even be able to sell them in the future if we shut the operation down. Platforms can be made less expensively and still perform well, and arguably better, with MDF over plywood. And when you're opening a business, or just building a garage gym, you prioritize on spending and channel as much money into the most important elements as possible while reducing the costs of everything you can in order to keep it within your budget. It's simple arithmetic. More importantly, it strikes me as odd to be upset about my giving people building a gym an idea of how to save some money. It's unlikely they'll be spending as much money as I did on bumpers to outfit a 5,000 square foot gym business, so maybe in that case you'd find it acceptable for them to save a few bucks.

Werksan. None of them work as well as they should considering the cost.

Bought those almost 15 years ago directly from Werksan. Hard to get Werksan these days because the US distributor shut down a while back and apparently a new one has acquired the rights but not started sales yet.

We keep this gym strictly for our competitive team lifters.

Fortunately, no. Climate here is very dry, and the garage is well sealed and insulated.

@@CatalystAthletics I'm in uk. We're made of 90% rain here 🤦🏻‍♂️

Off the top of my head, 116 jerk by a 58, 118 clean by another 58, 95kg snatch by a 58, 120 CJ by a 76, 80 snatch by a 49... I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

@@CatalystAthletics Greg what's your biggest lifts at a given weight category??

@@theylivewesee1674 145/180

If you can only have 1, and you have enough space, get a good power rack because you'll be able to do things like jerk support and pull-ups. Otherwise I'd go with a squat rack over the half rack unless the latter is an amazing thing I've never seen before and you can ensure it's level and stable.

Old because they're mostly the same bars we bought many years ago when opening the original gym. If I absolutely had to buy new bars, I'd probably stick with Eleiko, although I stand by my claim that barbells peaked in quality 10 or so years ago - of course I will likely never have to buy new bars because I bought quality ones to begin with, and that's part of the reason you spend a lot of money on a bar. My wife will be selling them for good money after my funeral.

No, for a number of reasons. First, we're not running the gym as a business here. Second, we're in unincorporated area in the county, not within any city limits. Third, our nearest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away and blocked by a big hill. So we are in no way a good example of running a commercial gym from a garage.

@@CatalystAthletics thank you for answering. I love your content and commitment to the practice of coaching.

Good bars, but so are Werksan and Eleiko, which I preferred at the time, and we were a Werksan retailer, which meant we got them at a reduced price.

Our team lifters - www.catalystathletics.org/

Good question... it would have been Muscle Driver (out of business) probably because we were a distributor at the time, but you can get them anywhere, like here - smile.amazon.com/OneFitWonder-Diameter-Olympic-Barbells-Collars/dp/B00MEVAX28/

Wow! Thank you! Beautiful gym tour BTW!

Either be on our competitive team or come to one of these - www.catalystathletics.com/olympic-weightlifting-seminars/schedule/?eid=35765

We don't offer training here for clients, just our competitive team lifters.

Pretty much just have to be constantly searching because these days any available are bought almost immediately. Always check with the companies like Eleiko and Rogue because they typically sell plates/sets used in competitions at discounts immediately after the events.

Catalyst Athletics I’ll keep an eye out, thanks for the info!

Look on Craigslist daily..also Uesaka has used plates from the Las Vegas youth worlds for sale on their website

Thanks for the heads up, Brian!