Olympic weight set

billwill

About a year ago, I half-assed getting into bench pressing and bought a cheap bench + weight set from Wal-Mart. It was maximum 100 pounds to bench and the whole thing was actually pretty small.

I'm 6'4" and so it's just too tiny for me now.

I only did it for a few months and I think I got up to only 70 or 80 pounds. Now it looks like the size bench I need is called olympic, right? Any recommendations on cheap but reliable brands for a weightlifting newbie? I'm looking to stick with this and hopefully I'll make good progress (as I have been with dumbbells for the last few months).

Thanks for any tips.

iRevert

billwill wrote:

About a year ago, I half-assed getting into bench pressing and bought a cheap bench + weight set from Wal-Mart. It was maximum 100 pounds to bench and the whole thing was actually pretty small.

I'm 6'4" and so it's just too tiny for me now.

I only did it for a few months and I think I got up to only 70 or 80 pounds. Now it looks like the size bench I need is called olympic, right? Any recommendations on cheap but reliable brands for a weightlifting newbie? I'm looking to stick with this and hopefully I'll make good progress (as I have been with dumbbells for the last few months).

Thanks for any tips.

Whats your budget?

Best bet is to grab a cage if your budget allows for it, couple it with a utility bench and your sitting pretty.

Dr. Frenchenstein

Olympic sets are big, do you have the space for them? I'd agree with iRevert. if you have the space, get a cage so you can do squats more easily as well.

JohnnyCache

Olympic is not actually a bench size, per se. What you're going to need to do is just pay attention to the maximum adjustment weight sets offer. I'm about your height and sadly the cheaper a set is, the more likely it is to be have ergonomics built around average people.

Marketing material for weights will often use the term "Olympic" to refer to the fact that they have an Olympic-legal (44.1 pound) bar and weight increments, but actual Olympians generally use regulation bumper weights - rubberized, color coded plates that can be dropped after technique lifts like the power clean. They cost more and you probably aren't going to do power cleans at home on your own floor anyway, unless you learn to do a controlled drop power clean. Incidentally, bumper plates are all the same size, and if your gym has black bumper plates, it can be hilarious and/or good for your image to put, like, four tens inside of one 45 - a buddy and I did this for a short film once to create a dirt cheap "super-strength" scene.

The above posters are correct - the single best all in one home gym item is a power cage. They are big, but less expensive than you think - like <500. With an adjustable power cage and a pair of adjustable safety arms, you can do real barbell weight lifting with no spotter. Their space footprint is also minimized by the fact that you can hang your plates from them, do pullups in them, and store barbells behind them vertically.

What you probably want to look for for a home gym is a half rack/cage like this



Although I don't know if I would get this particular brand because it has rather short safety arms and a slight angle, I prefer a straight cage and longer safety arms.

See how it doubles as a pullup station and has storage posts for the weights? And you can just add any sturdy/comfortable/cheap bench to it. There are adjustable benches that can be angle adjusted all the way up into chairs.

Remember, always shop used for weights. Always. Let health clubs and really rich people buy brand new weight stuff - the rest of us should get it off craigslist, because there's a metric ton of it on the market, and it's a bitch to move, so it sells cheap. And it's not like people can break a plate.

iRevert

A cage/power rack will run you from 300-500 new, a half rack will run you 300-500 new.

All depends on budget and space constraints.