Ongoing Acquisition

Equipment get: it's the XMark adjustable bench!

With a 1500-pound weight capacity, this baby will get your sweaty butt off the ground and then some. Fully adjustable for flat, incline, and decline positions-- you may now approach the bench.

IT RISES

*To the stirring sounds of "Also Sprach Zarathustra"*

Rack assembled! Look at that majesty! Provided by the good folks at Powertec, and designed to take a beating. Forged in the heart of a dying star (or maybe in Taiwan), I now have a power rack to call my very own.

Preliminary Assembly

Beginnings of a constructed base. I think it's going to be tricky to proceed without another person and a 13/16th" wrench. We shall see.

Wood stain having been applied, we now use a thin coat of fast-drying semi-gloss polyurethane to help protect against the savagery that will eventually be perpetrated upon it.

(Also visible are the components of the unsassembled rack, soon to form the cornerstone of my little project).

Applied Chemistry

I decided the wood of my lifting platform was looking a little unfinished. Here it is with a fresh coat of Minwax Fruitwood stain. As you can see, it's darkened the color slightly and helped to bring out the grain.

Rack Attack

At long last, the cornerstone of my nascent gym!

Achievement Unlocked: Handyman

Yeehaw! I built my very own deadlifting platform. 

That's four pieces of 4x8 particle board, 2 on top of 2 perpendicular.

 Then a 4x8 piece of maple on top and horse stall rubber cut to fit (cutting that shit was the hardest part by FAR). 

Total time: 6 hours, start to finish, including renting the truck to haul the stuff. Looks like an excellent base for some Quantum Gainz!