What to look for in a weight bench

[Sesq]

New to lifting, but want to add a bench + weights in the basement. What should I look for? Any brands in particular? I assume I want some flexibility in the design.

I plan to focus initially on the 'cat herd lifts' - deadlift, squat, bench.

Also, any recomendations for a video demonstrating good lifting technique? I plan to add a mirror and or video camera to try to hone technique.

[guitarfreak]

New to lifting, but want to add a bench + weights in the basement. What should I look for? Any brands in particular? I assume I want some flexibility in the design.

I plan to focus initially on the 'cat herd lifts' - deadlift, squat, bench.

Also, any recomendations for a video demonstrating good lifting technique? I plan to add a mirror and or video camera to try to hone technique.

I would suggest looking on your local craigslist. Marty's site is full of information on good technique. Happy lifting!

[Tom]

I don't know much about brands, but I'd suggest that you get a power cage and a separate bench with a sturdy adjustable back. You're looking for something STURDY. With a power cage, a good bench, and some weights , you have all the tools you need to get strong.

[Sesq]

Thanks for the tips. I will keep an eye on craigslist, and I appreciate the feedback on the adjustable vs flat bench + cage. Googling around those looked like the way to go, its hard to filter out all the machines on the web. Having read Marty off and on for a while I knew better than to look for that stuff.

Thanks again. Day two of calistenthics went well. My wife and I are doing this together, so I am expecting this to take.

[fireman1]

A good place to find videos of various exercises is http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html

Tom is right. Get yourself a powercage, bench, and barbell set. With that you have all the basics to start getting stronger.

[JimmyVengeance]

Just wanted to second the importance of sturdiness. My last adjustable bench bent and broke while I was doing a not-too-heavy set of bench presses. I realized what was going on and was able to control the weight (and would have been saved by the pins in the rack anyway), but the whole experiece was still unsettling.

[Sesq]

Any thoughts on olympic vs non-olympic?

A couple condenders on craigslist if anyone has any thoughts:

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/spo/197089466.html

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/spo/196580692.html (has cage, but no pic)

Thanks for the link Fireman, also. There is a lot there (and here).

[ms_irreverent]

I'll second fireman's recommendation. That site has a great inventory of clips, for just about anything you can think of.

[whistler]

Personally, I'd recommend a used bench, if only because it is already assembled. My new bench is still sitting in my dining room in pieces, waiting for me to get up the time and desire to put it together. Since I lift at Marty's, and don't much use my dining room anyway, those parts are probably going to keep sitting there a while longer...

[fireman1]

Sesq - I'm not wild about either of the things you found on craigslist. Be patient, what you want will come up (it took some time but that's how I found most of my equipment).

To give you an idea of what you're looking for, go to: http://newyorkbarbells.tv/index.html

Here's a good, basic power cage: http://newyorkbarbells.tv/92563.html You will see that this unit new cost $299. So I think you could pick up a similar unit on craigslist for less than half that. You might also find a better unit (like I did) by Parabody or BodySolid which would be more expensive. Personally, I found a ParaBody cage that sold for $700 new and I picked it up for less than $300. The key with craigslist is patience.

In terms of a bench, there are many examples of good benches: http://newyorkbarbells.tv/benches1.html Like Tom said, the key here is sturdiness. I have a bench that will do flat, decline and incline. I have a couple of friends that have a benches that have no adjustability. It's just a matter of what you think you might do with it. If you're not sure, get a bench that will at least incline (taking for granted that all benches will go flat)

In terms of standard vs. olympic - go olympic. I started out with standard stuff and as my strength grew, I found the standard stuff was too cumbersom to deal with. When looking to buy a set of olympic weights, the benchmark for price is $100 for a NEW 300lb set (that's a 45lb barbell, 2 45lb. plates, 2-35's, 2-25's, 2-10's, 4-5's, 2-2.5's) You can find sets like this on sale at places like Sports Authority and Dick's. If you're buying used, try to get under this price.

[Sesq]

Thanks for all the feedback folks. This is great.

Fireman, those examples are very helpful. I appreciate it. I have time to take a go slow approach with craigslist.

Used seems desireable from a budget perspective, and I hadn't thought of construction time. I have enough of those projects in the house as is.

[JimmyVengeance]

I've got that exact rack that fireman posted -- it's been great for me so far. It's no frills, and probably not something I'd want to trust to save me from catastrophic failure on a 1,000-pound squat, but, err, that's not a concern right now. Assembly took me about an hour, and was annoying, but not unexpectedly or unduly so.

Another reason to go Olympic -- a standard barbell won't fit in a lot of power racks. Mine would just barely make it, but it couldn't seat on the J-hooks evenly because of the raised portions at the end of the grippable area. (Also, you don't have to be hugely strong to bend a 1" bar and mess it up.)

[Marty]

make sure it inclines - we use the incline feature all the time - low incline curls, angled tricep externsions, incline BB and DB, on and on - look in the used exercise equipement section of the sunday paper - where are you located at? we also get this little 'advertizer' paper thrown on the doorstep wrapped in a rubberband and believe me, people are always trying to sell off used exercise equipment - (what's up with all those 'for sale' bowflex monstrosities?) - sturdy is good but some benches aren't ridiculously heavy - one maker used to make these 50-pound benches that would survive a direct hit with an A-bomb and weak people got more of a workout moving them around then lifting on them after they moved them into place

[Sesq]

Any thoughts on this one?

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/spo/203902915.html

Can't tell if it inclines on the picture, otherwise, has looked the closest to what was described.

[Tom]

A rack, a bench, bar, and 1000 lb of weight for 300 bucks. Dude, buy it. Even if the bench sucks, you'd pay more than 300 for the rack alone. That's an excellent deal.

[Sesq]

I was thinking it looked like the right deal. I'll go for it.

[guitarfreak]

oh that is really sweet. let us know if you get it.

[Sesq]

I think I will be getting it. Traded e-mails, guy has a trailer that can be used for transit if I help load + pay gas (otherwise the Subaru was going to be challenged). Just need to get a time and close the transaction. Hopefully this weekend.

Oh, and the bench doesn't incline/decline. The guy says he'd just put a block under it if he needed to do inclines or declines. I am a pure novice, so I imagine there will be enough for me to do without that feature for a while.

[Marty]

yes - buy it! its actually pretty rare to come across a totally unusable weight bench

[Sesq]

Rats! Lost the sale to some one else. Guy stopped responding to my e-mails, and had to inquire with a different e-mail address. Oh well, the hunt continues. . .