The Gray Matter Lab – V3

Last updated on January 11th, 2024 at 12:10 pm

We have arrived! The Gray Matter Lab – V3. We are just a year out of V2 from when V3 started, but a lot has happened. First, I finish my Masters Degree in September of 2016. Second, my wife is pregnant and expecting our first child (daughter) in the coming April. Third, I had a seizure. 100% out of nowhere, laying on the couch before a Sunday Leg Day, I throw a full Grand Maul Seizure into the mix. (a quick fast forward, there was no signs of why, and I haven’t seen anything sense, and have been cleared by my Doctor to resume all activities). We decide that, with me not driving for 6 months, and not wanting a 2 door with the baby, it was time to sell the Civic.

Enter, the completely empty 2nd half of the garage.

Pre-Reading

If you haven’t read Pilot Testing yet, start there. Then hop on over to V1, and then to V2.

Dedicated Space

After a few weeks of not having to move things around to lift, after eye balling, tweaking, testing, and retesting the numbers, we make the decision to fully convert half of the garage to gym space. No more parking the Civic (and the Frontier replacement) in the garage. It is Gray Matter Lab dedicated space now.

This was the ignition to make some big changes. First, taking advantage of Tractor Supply Co. and their Black Friday Horse Stall Mat sale, I grabbed enough mats to cover the half of the garage in beautiful black rubber. I grabbed some 1×2 frame boards and some concrete anchors, and made myself a permanent frame to keep the mats in place and to clearly define the allocated space (for parking needs). Then we moved everything around, as we now had dedicated space for almost everything. The GHD got a dedicated spot. The rack and platform, as they should, are front and center. And the remaining room was left for three big upgrades.

Upgrade #1 – The Powertec Levergym

I loved my Ironmaster SuperBench. While I still think that is the single best multipurpose bench on the market, it is gone. I tracked down a 2016 used model of the Powertec Levergym for almost the same price as what I sold off the Ironmaster items for. Now I have the ability to do High and Low Pulley work, Decline – Flat – Incline Machine Press, Overhead Machine Press, Machine Rows, and a bunch more. This thing is seriously awesome for such a compact and reasonably priced item. I of course had to custom paint it, from yellow to my Flat Black (they do offer a black version, it just never showed up used in my market).

Upgrade # 2 – Tech

The other upgrade, was the purchase of a computer and setting up my real-deal sound system in the lab. The sound system is obvious, it lets me get that extra edge for PRs. The computer however serves two purposes. One, it pulls in the music. Two, I’m now utilizing my programming directly on there, along with better tracking of my nutrition, bodycomp metrics, and lifting stats.

Upgrade # 3 – My Forever Plates

In V2, you noticed I was on an Ivanko kick for plates. I figured that was as good as I was going to get. I also had a Body Solid Weight Tree. It was solid, albeit a bit shaky since it was bolt together.

My wife made a trip down to Southern California to see her parents, and I spotted a huge vintage sale of plates. Kindly enough, she obliged to bring back a bunch for me. Now, we are talking she went and bought almost 1000lbs of plates, threw them in her brand new Forester, and drove them 8 hours up California back to me, so I could spend the next 3-4 months cleaning, painting, and lettering them. Talk about a lucky guy. The plates are American Made in the Bay of California (Oakland) in the early-mid 80s. They are deep dish, which I love, and cleaned up something beautiful! Plus, they are custom done, so not a single person on the planet has the same plates as me. And, they fit my weight tree perfectly, which is another interesting story.

Plate Tree

I spotted a commercial Maxicam Weight Tree in my area for sale and contacted the seller. It was a few minutes away, easy deal. The name of the seller kept bothering me, and the commercial tree being sold by a “normal person” felt odd. I go, meet the son of the lady for the tree, and instantly recognize that I’ve seen him before. Not sure where, but I know him. I drive home, it keeps bothering me. So I google her name, and the word gym. I quickly find that she owned and operated the first commercial gym I ever lifted at out of high school, and this tree came from it. So now my vintage plates from my wife, live on the tree from my first gym.

The Other Changes

The above items made up the major changes, but The Gray Matter Lab – V3 included a LOT of little stuff that added up big time. I reorganized my bars utilizing some Rogue Vertical Bar Hangers, and some random Harbor Freight hooks, so I had access to each bar without having to move another.

I upgraded to a Thompson Fat Pad on my Tuff Stuff bench, and painted the bench flat black.

The Used Market showed up big with a cambered bench bar for $20, a loadable mace for another $40, and a Fat Bar for $65. Upgraded my olympic bars to an Ivanko OB-84, Rogue Ohio Bar, and York B&R Bar for practically nothing. Added some Ivanko CO-2.5 collars, added an Airdyne, Concept 2 Rower, and huge garage fan. Upgraded my bumper plates, sold my Rogue Trap Bar in exchange for an Edge Fitness Systems Rickshaw. Added some Spotter Arms for the rack, and a handful of other misc. upgrades, flips, and changes.

Everything came relatively easy, except the Powertec. Before my truck arrived, a 2016 model, in black, was for sale in the Bay. Since I couldn’t drive, that was out. It unfortunately sold before I could get it. But the computer I grabbed was a steal @ $150 WITH the monitor, keyboard and mouse. The receiver and speaker upgrade was my older set from college, and I took advantage of the Black Friday Tractor Supply sale for mats. The V3 push cost a few hundred bucks, but I was killing it on Craigslist flips.

What I’d Do Differently

I would have done it earlier. There was no valid reason for me to park my civic in the garage as long as I did. While it certainly kept the car in solid working order, I missed out on a lot of opportunity here. There were a few craigslist pickups I could have made the move on earlier. A Rogue GHD for bottom dollar, a 2016 Black Powertec Levergym with some attachments. And even nearly free tractor supply mats from various areas. Other than that, everything right now is legit.

A Garage Gym is never done, so I’m always on the lookout for a potential upgrade, but I’m REALLY happy with what I have right now. V4 will be on the horizon, no doubt, but that will likely be a big overhaul in trading out some of the lackluster pieces for upgrades, moving some stuff around, and ultimately taking the past 4 years of garage gym experience to a culmination.

Take-Away

So a few big changes culminate the The Gray Matter Lab – V3. The dedicated space, the Powertec Levergym, the weights and tree, and the computer. The craziest part is, those 4 items make the gym look astoundingly different. And they bring about a completely different environment and large ability to get creative in the space I have. Its also everything I’ve had on my hit list since I first started building it (the plates and tree far exceeded my wishes).

Keep in mind, even with all of the changes and upgrades I’ve made, thanks to Craigslist, I’ve been able to keep expenses down. I’m nowhere near the likes of some of the guys covering their entire expenses through flipping, but I’m around a $5,000 total investment, and if I flipped my stuff today I’d get that back in a heartbeat plus some.

The Gray Matter Lab – V3 & Beyond

What I currently have, is far beyond my original expectations of owning a garage gym. I’d love to have some additional free space, and a fully dedicated room/shop would be awesome, with a custom paint scheme, etc. Maybe a few dedicated machines for leg curls/extensions, leg press, etc. But we are talking extreme wants here, no where near needs. I have a few random items like monolift attachments on my list, but those are a “I’ve done everything else” kind of item.

I’ve made some amazing progress in the last year or so, and my gym has been there for me throughout my masters degree, change in jobs, in sickness and in health, and it’ll keep being a solid addition when we introduce kids into our family. I’m glad they’ll get to see myself and my wife MAKING time for the gym. No one just has time for training, it has to come from making it a priority. Having a garage gym as badass as this, certainly is a step in the right direction there.

I have an awesome assortment of DIY, refurbed vintage, items that tell a story, and stuff that just plain kicks ass, that makes The Gray Matter Lab – V3 a true reflection of me, my life, my goals, and my future.

Wrap Up

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