A total of 4 reviews of this product on Reddit.
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Bummer.
I bought this bench and power cage from Amazon. China quality, not gym quality, but not bad for home.
You’d still need a bar and plates though.
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As most have said on here, that’s a bad bench/rack.
If you’re looking for brand new in box, you can get the basics of what you’ll need for under $500 total:
- Fitness Reality rack and bench from amazon for $275
- 300lb Olympic Weight Set – available from most sporting goods stores, walmart, etc for $220ish, sometimes under $200 on sale. Just find one that you can pick up or ships free. This set is a little bit more, but is definitely standard size plates, which is a pluss if you’re doing any work off the floor (deadlifts, cleans). The barbells that come with these sets aren’t great, but should hold up for a while as long as you’re not throwing around big weight or dropping it hard.
You can do better, particularly on barbell/weights by scanning craigslist and contacting everyone until you get a good price. .50/lb is generally a good price for used weight.
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It’s an OK set, but I wouldn’t offer more than $300 for it. Here is my reasoning:
First – The width of the uprights on the bench are very narrow, not standard Olympic rack width – you’ll likely run into issues both tipping over while loading, and with the uprights being exactly where you want to put your hands while benching. Plate loaded leg extensions are generally annoying – my parents had one when I was a kid and I hated it.
Second, at least the straight bar and weights look to be part of one of those 300lb sets you can get at Dick’s or Walmart for ~$180. The barbells on those are generally trash, and the 45lb plates aren’t standard diameter – they’ll be smaller than any bumpers or plates you get later and are not the right height off of the floor for proper deadlfts.
Third – none of the olympic plates fit the smaller straight bar – it’s essentially there just to be recycled by you.
For reference, $500 could also get you:
A Power Rack with adjustable bench and The same 300lb weight set, but everything is brand new. And this way you can squat too. Or you could spend less than $100 on a pretty decent barbell and just get plates from Craigslist.
5-50lb powerblocks can be had for $230 on amazon at a later date, or at dick’s if they happen to be having a sale. An EZ curl bar is not generally worth the money and can be found later if you really must have it. A weight stand generally runs around $50.
As someone who is pricing home gym equipment myself, I will say you’re better off doing it right the first time. I have a friend who went the cheap route initially and he’s slowly replacing his gear and spending more money overall. I’d rather spend
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You can make a significant dent in the price of some of the basics for a serious home gym with $100.
Fitness Reality 810XLT Super Max Power Cage – $229 – you’ll probably want to add the dip bars at some point as well.
Fitness Reality Fat Pad Flat Bench – $99 – They have a passable adjustable for roughly the same price and a good one for $170.
XMark Elite Series Barbell – $150, try their Lumberjack bar for a little bit less if you don’t need the weight capacity and don’t plan on doing any Olympic-style lifts like cleans; the elite is a needle bearing bar and will spin.
Add some secondhand Olympic plates, try and find some used adjustable dumbbells, maybe add a landmine, and call it a day.
