How to make your own cable pulley system for your home gym 

I've watched a half dozen videos about DIY cable setups and this is EASILY the best one. Nice work man, earned my subscription for sure.

Very informative video that cleared up all apprehensions I had setting up my own pulley system! The 14 negative reviews are from people who spent a lot of money on standalone systems 😂

I really ike the idea of using the band pegs to hold the pulleys in place!

For those that already have chains for weighted exercises, you can use those for attachment points on your rack. Just wrap it around the tubing and put a bolt through it and then clip the carabiner or d-link through the chain.

Mint those pulleys you can also take it on a run with light weight in your bag and set it up in a nice spot for a nature training session ☺

If you get nylon dog lead , which is cheap and EXTREMELY strong , you can make a good rope with stop ends made of thick rubber ( or wood), just knot the ends. With plumbers waste pipe you can make handles too for unilateral work . It works great.

i've done something similar. we're obviously focused on different things, me being bodyweight calisthenics, i use nite ize rope tighteners from amazon or home depot. 280 lbs working load, 837lbs break strength. i thread 550 cord (army, have a whole spool of it, just search paracord). i've been looking into getting bumper plates, but right now i have power blocks, so up to 100lbs. i'll use this setup and attach it to a climbing harness to work on planche, one arm pullup, front lever, whatever. i personally think its better than bands, because its a consistent resistance and the power blocks let me scale in increments of 5 lbs.

The best and simplest video I've watch about cable pulley system. Thanks I'm now gonna do it.

Great Idea having pulleys attached width ways giving you the option to use the squat pegs when doing lat pulls. The bonus is you can use the bottom strut as support for your feet when you attach a third pulley for seated rows.

Some genius tips inside this video

Wow u just earned a sub. I just put together my rogue rack two days ago. I’m definitely gonna go did this. Awesome demonstration 👏

Good setup. Thanks for sharing.

Haha...You did exactly what I did with the big water jugs, filled them up then duct taped the tops down..I actually cut up some kavalar shoe laces to tie to the handles of the water jugs then put the water jugs on both sides of my barbel for doing squats..all I have are 2 X 45lb plates and not much dough so I had to improvise..good video btw I’m heading to Home Depot tomorrow getting this exact set up, Thanks

I did this at home depot for about $40.00 in pulleys, rope, and pre cut threads iron pipes to make the hand grips.

Great stuff James. Never seen you speak before. Very articulate and helpful video. Just setting up at home (garage) myself and looking at implementing a pulley system. Thanks for the advice 🙂👍

Very clever, inexpensive and elegant setup... Well done brother!

still far better than anything rogue them self have come up with

Excellent video - thanks

This is what I'm talking about! Gym advice from someone who looks like he actually works out!

Great stuff nice setup.

Way ahead of you brother. Fyi the plastic tends to break on the wire with that clear coating they use. I had to upgrade mine after a while. If you can get one with the black coating its way better. Don't forget to Grease the wheel too. I just added a second cable pulldown to have different weights setup or do chest fly or whatever. Really feels good on the muscles to change from weights or bands.

Good set up. Unfortunately, in Canada, Vinyl Coated Steel Wire Rope Kit are $29.48. That to me seems over priced.. Guess Ill stick to my resistant band pull downs.

Just put together a simple single high pulley. You're right - the weights feel heavy.

Don't forget to put the saddle on the long side of the cable - the active part - and the UBolt on the side that is extra. In other words, Don't saddle a dead horse or you will have a broken foot.

Awesome stuff bro

Just built my RML, been looking for cable ideas. Love it!!

Thanks man! Perfect for my power rack

thinking of doing something very similar, great vid! 1/8 wire rope seems so tiny but it's rated for 340lbs!

If you read this James. Try craigslist. Where i live there are quite a few thin6gs for sale. A nice cable pulldown is going for $200 . Right now I'm using a back pack with weights in it and resistance bands. I heard it'll be a year till gyms open.

Man you gave me a lot of tips. Thanks! Just got my rack in today.

Thank you a ton! Will be stopping by home depot tomorrow to make this!

The bands were an excellent addition.

Thanks for adding the details on this, going to build my pulley setup today :)

I’ve been doing Pulldowns with flat resistance bands wrapped around the chin up bar but I’m thinking of trying the pulleys to load the top end more

Great In depth video man. Respect!

Excellent man 👍👍👍👍 très ingénieux

This is really cool mate !!

Whoever disliked this video don’t lift

Massenomics in the house! 💪🏽💪🏻💪💪🏿💪🏾🔥🔥🔥🔥

THIS IS AMAZING THANK YOU!

Just a heads up if the non moving carabiner/pulley is rated for 400, that would only be 200 lbs load since you have to pull 200 lbs on the other side. You should be safe since you are splitting between pulleys, just wanted you to keep it in mind. Great video, I was having trouble during pulldowns with my setup because it wants to lift me from the ground. I will try putting legs under my pins. Thanks

Swimhack with the gymhack

Awesome. Figuring it out and finding a way to win.

Great idea and set-up. Thanks for the info

Dude! You are freakin Massive! Haha.. Sorry couldn't resist.. Great video I love the optional pulley positions... Will be adopting your wonderful creative ideas for my row machine.. Thank you kindly and Greatly.

If it feels heavier than it should maybe it is due to friction between the cable and your pulley. Perhaps some grease or oil would help.

This is an excellent diy cable setup

Wow I feel like I've seen a ghost, Finally a DIY video by someone who actually looks like they train and doesn't have every single bit of gym equipment there is, so there are big mofos on youtube then??... Us Iron Heads don't need every single bit of kit because we know how to train without spending loads on a squat rack and plates all we need... Nice Video bro

I'm intrigued to see how it holds up after a year. I've read about issues with those pulleys. I want to add something like this to my rack. Been trying to do a lot of research before I commit.

Noticed the vinyl coating on the cable being too stiff? I think gyms use nylon coating and those cables are a bit more expensive.

Concerning the pulleys, I have found that the best pulleys to buy are the pulleys used by professional mountain climbers. These pulleys are crazy smooth, quite and don’t add to the weight resistance. You can get them on amazon really cheap.

That was cool!!

Thanks for the video. Appreciate the links and description.

The flags are awesome!

Thanks for sharing DIY James 👍😀

Thanks for info

Brilliant Great Job!

Genius. Love it

Great video.

Great content ! You deserve more subscribers !

Love your content, it would be great to see you on LBRY !

Great video. Thanks for the ideas man.

Great tips and info , thanks.!

Beautiful. Thank you

thanks you Sir, awesome vid..

Dude, your a stud! May consider making this happen at my appartment. Definitely subscribing, stay safe out there 🖖.

Great video bro 💯

awesome. thanks for this.

I use a bike handle bars to pull down mine.

Bro good idea

Legend

Thanks for the awesome ideas brotha. Any advice if you are limited to a doorway pull-up bar and hooking one of these over that? I’m 200lbs so the pull-up bar holds my weight.

Amazing man great video !

nice engineering. i need to do this

First video i have seen of yours. Great stuff! I think i'll try this. Do you notice much drag or resistance with this setup?

Genialt med bands

Liking the beard it highlights the gorilla persona pretty well

I love that Lift banner/poster on the wall. Where can I get one?

This may be a dumb question but couldn't you just use a single pulley off your crossmember - especially if you use a band to stabilize the weights in between your rack? For space considerations - I have a wall mount rack - rml-3w and using the pulley front-facing is the best for me space-wise - trying to understand If I'd need to have a second crossbar with a second pulley or if I could get away with one. Thanks for the advice.

Great set up. Have you tried "reverse" block and tackle? In this system you add a mobile pulley to your system so that the effort doubles and the muscle tension you get is unbearable?

rack? engine hoist?? loading pin could be an iron 3" floor flange with a pipe. put the pipe end in a vice, then drill a hole.

good stuff thanks, got the amazon one but it only goes up to 40 pounds, it's useless.

Hi James- This is fantastic. I was going to try and build something attached to my ceiling joists, but I like this much better. My question is, I have a RML-3W (41"), which is a foldable rack attached to the wall. It does not have a second set of posts like a your rack, so would there possibly be less stability by having a load in the middle of the beam? It seems like it wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not an engineer (and I don't expect you to be), but does the idea set off any red flags for you (or anyone else who would like to comment). Thank you

Fucking loving it bro thanks for the idea!!

Your a smart guy i need your opinion. You prob been watching the deadlift lifestrem. Anyway think of this. Well I mostly agree with Eddie. In mark bells podcast Eddie said after Thor pulls 501kg that Thor was gonna retire which basically was confirmed cause after the 501kg deadlift he said he had a 7 figure contract doing something different other than strongman. So in other words Thor done just enough to crap on Eddie. And lastly Thor lied on the 520kg attempt. Which is what ppl clearly wanted because beating the record by 1kg was cheap being that a 1/1000 difference in bar tensile strength could of give him just enough or bar leaving the ground late enough to pull 501kg sense rouge is slightly weaker bar meaning the weights left the floor later which might have give him a 5-10kg advantage. Thor is letting eddie and his fans down. If he had done 520k then yes thor is stronger but 501kg seems cheap. And a way to pad pockets. Which is fine but if you look at the difference in bar bend the 501kg shoukd not be a record in my boom

Any chance you figured out a way to configure it into a low pulley? I assume you'd have to build a taller wood box

@swimhack Are those carabiners really the 340 lb one? I just bought the heavier rating ones, and the caribiners look too small to fit on those Swivel pulley

Very nice niceسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَ لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ وَ لَا حَوْلَ وَ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيْمِ niceاَلَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى ُمحَمَّدِ ُّوعَلَى اَلِ مُحَمَّدٍ كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى اِبْرَاهِيْمَ وَعَلَى اَلِ ابْرَاهِيْمَ اِنَّكَ حَمِيْدُ مَجِيِداَلَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى مُحَمّدِ ٌوعَلَى اَلِ مُحَمّدٍ كَمَابَارَكْتَ عَلَى اِبْرَاهِيْمَ وَعَلَى اَلِ اِبْرَاهِيْمَم اِنَّكَ حَمِيُد مَّجِيد

The vinyl coating on my 1/8in wire rope (3/16in with coating) keeps breaking after a few uses on the pulley. Has anyone had the same problem. I am trying to figure out if the fault lies with the coating or the pulley. Only use max 300lb. Thanks.

Can I use this pulley system outdoors? On a basketball hoop for example

Great video! Do you know where I can get those t-pins or what they’re called? Thanks in advance!

I have a cable and pulley system How do I keep the cables from twisting in the back. I'm not finding anything on youtube. It's a pretty complex system

Hi How does this feel compared to the dual pulleys at gyms? Not weight, but how smooth it is and how even the weight feels through the range of motion?

I like what you did there with the bench and rack bar to hold your legs down on the lat pulldown. I have a question about the pulleys. I've read that those metal pulleys aren't as smooth as the plastic or nylon pulleys. Are those pulleys pretty smooth for? Also, do you recommend having the pulleys being able to swivel as opposed to fixed in place? Thanks again. 👍🏼

Just built one using the same cable kit... works but on my first use of it the coating on the cable came off. Any ideas why this might have happened??

I wanted to know what is your preference for a flat bench for bench press while training: a flat bench close to competition specs (12" - 12.5" wide) or something wider, like the thompson fat pad?

Hey brotha, does the carabiner and pulley stay in place for the most part or do they tend to slip forward when you are pulling the weight?

I used coated cable and the coating started to come off.

What is the rack pin you are using? Great setup!

Ur power rack... How much thickness is that?? 1.60?