Olympic or Standard

cobijones

Have a standard bar at home with a few plates, would anyone have any opinions on me buying more standard plates or shelling out for an olympic set.

What are the advantages of an olympic set apart from more weight, max I need is 120kg.

Thanks

BrianD3

cobijones wrote: »

Have a standard bar at home with a few plates, would anyone have any opinions on me buying more standard plates or shelling out for an olympic set.

What are the advantages of an olympic set apart from more weight, max I need is 120kg.

Is your existing bar solid or hollow? the vinyl weights in Argos come with hollow bars, the cast iron come with solid bars. The solid bars are pretty good, they only weigh ~6 kg but I have loaded mine with 190 kg and it didn't bend or break. I only moved to an Olympic set when I started deadlifting >200 kg.

It is easier to pick up regular plates, every Argos has them (2 x 10 kg for 22.99) irish-lifting and VJs, JJB, Elvery's have them. There are less suppliers of Olympic plates.

Olympic plates tend to be larger diameter and skinnier than standard plates - this added to the fact that most Olympic bars are 7 foot it means you can physically fit far more weight on an Olympic bar than a 5 foot regular bar(although reg bars are availble in 7 foot too) You'll probably need a 7 foot bar if you ever plan on getting a power cage.

rubadub

If you have the argos 50kg standard set the bar is 5ft. Most decent benches will be made for bigger bars, so you are stuck with the lighter shoddy benches. But you can get movable stands for a decent bench.

The 7ft oly bar would take up more room too. I have a 6ft standard bar and it is a bit big in my room. You do tend to get standard plates cheaper but www.irish-lifting.com have good deals on both.

I have never used an oly set, but hear they have a better feel to them, due to the rotating discs, AFAIK the bit you load the plates on can rotate, not sure it all sets have that.

The best value in olys is getting a full set, and it might seem OTT to many beginners. I remember getting a 20kg dumbell set and thinking it was a lot since I was struggling with them!

I personally would have no need for the oly set. I have about 140-150kg in plates now, but even if I was to go back in time I would still stick with the standards. I have 3 bars and 2 dumbell handles, they would have costs a fair bit if they were oly.

If you have a standard set I would highly recommend 2x20kg tri grip plates from www.irish-lifting.com these are large diameter so raise the bar off the ground for deadlifts. Also since they are tri-grip you can hold them flush to your side for other exercises.

cobijones

Thanks for the replys, the height for deadlift is my main problem. Im trying out the home gym thing for a while and Im used to oly weights so I thought about putting thick wood down so I can rest the bar on it to raise it abit for the standard set. Does anyone know of a shop you can walk into and get a 7 ft standard bar as the 5ft one is too narrow for overhead squats

rubadub

I got my 6ft in star fitness in bray, it was a reasonable price I am pretty sure they had 7fts too, best ring them

http://www.starfitness.ie/stores.htm

also here
http://irish-lifting.com/product_info_equipment.php?cPath=1_13&products_id=246

You can pm him here, his user name is Mickk or email him, you can collect it in town in his gym so you pay no postage.

I also have standard solid 20kg plates, they are lower than the tri grips. I used to put mine on blankets to raise them, and cushion the floorboards.

cobijones

Thanks, i appreciate the help