Looking for Compact Bench Options for Small Home Gym, Please Advise...

blobert

Hello,

I'm looking to put a very miniature gym into the spare bedroom in my apartment, I'm looking for equipment with a very small footprint.

My original plan was to get a Powertec Narrow Folding bench:

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/barbell_benches/powertec_olympic_narrow_bench/9986_p.html

They no longer sell the folding version, but I was planning to buy the new one and swap it with a friend who has the folding one.

It's a very good solid compact bench that can be used with a 5ft bar and standard weights (what I'll be using to save space).

Unfortunately nowhere has the Powertec in stock, Fitness Superstore who are the UK distributor originally said they'd be getting them in at the start of August, now they are saying the start of September, which is longer than I want to wait.

I've been looking for alternatives and so was thinking of a pair of low squat stands and a multi use utility bench.

Something like these:

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/multi_press_racks/york__squat_stands/3037_p.html

and this:

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/utility_benches/marcy_mwb682_utility_bench/10043_p.html

In theory this would offer me better flexibility than just the bench, I could bring the utilty bench out into the middle of the room. It would also take up a less room than the bench.

There are 2 problems I wanted to ask people's opinions on.

Firstly are squat stands like this going to be OK to use to bench with? I'd imagine they might be less sturdy and could fall. I'm pretty weak so am not going to be benching much more than 60kg but I don't want the bar falling on me. Some ones come with safety catches, the York ones above don't unfortunately.

Secondly, and this is more of a problem with these specific squat stands, their lowest setting is 110cm, 10 cm higher than the bar on the Powertec. I suppose I need to find a 10cm higher Utility bench or lower squat stands so this should be less of an issue.

So do you think the squat stands/utility bench is a good option or should I hold on for the Powertec folding bench?

Any advice/opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Mickk

Hi Blobert,
I sell a nice compact bench press here
http://irish-lifting.com/product_info_equipment.php?cPath=1_8&products_id=177

I also have squat stands which are fixed for more stability and the lowest setting is 90cm

http://irish-lifting.com/product_info_equipment.php?cPath=1_11&products_id=199

A seperate bench and stands will offer more options for exercises but isn't as cheap...

blobert

Thanks for the reply.

The problem with the squat stands that are fixed such as those one is that they are only for use with a 7ft bar and take up a lot of space.

I'm going to be using a 5ft bar so I think that rules this kind of stand out.

I don't mind paying a little more for seperate squat stands (like the ones I posted above) and a utility bench so long as you guys think it will be safe for benching without falling over too easily?

Thanks

rubadub

blobert wrote: »

I'm pretty weak so am not going to be benching much more than 60kg but I don't want the bar falling on me.

Sounds like you do not have major goals of becoming huge/strong, which is fine, I don't. I have a crappy bench in another room, it is not mine and I never use it anymore. For my chest I do lots of various dips, weighted ones, I do inclined pushups and flyes on gymnastic rings- dips on rings are a whole other ballgame. I have pushup stands that let you go really deep.

I was considering getting those stands and making dip attachments for them too. At the moment I just press up onto my shoulders what I can manage and squat that, then sit on my bed and drop the bar down gently, all I can manage is 62kg. I have boxes to stand on and can load 80kg on a dip belt and squat too though. My stuff takes up very little room, you can do a lot with some plates a chin bar, dip belt and gymnastic rings. I now have a climbing rope to my collection, goes onto a bit of wood across my attic hole.

blobert

Thanks for the advice, I have the freeweights and a rack to store them compactly so I’ll be sticking with them, it’s just a case of trying to have as much flexibility as possible in a small room.

I found some more squat stands that look like they might be more suitable for benching, I’ve emailed the company to see what the lowest height they go to is and if they’ll deliver to Ireland:

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/store/product.asp?dept_id=10&pf_id=Bodymax_Squat_Stands

Any further advice as to the likely stability of these would be much appreciated. Was thinking of getting the York ones from Argos, could always bring them back if they were rubbish, but they are home delivery only.

Mickk

blobert wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

The problem with the squat stands that are fixed such as those one is that they are only for use with a 7ft bar and take up a lot of space.

I'm going to be using a 5ft bar so I think that rules this kind of stand out.

I don't mind paying a little more for seperate squat stands (like the ones I posted above) and a utility bench so long as you guys think it will be safe for benching without falling over too easily?

Thanks

Yea they work with a 6ft bar but not a 5ft one... I have designed some squat stands but they wont be here for about 8 weeks. They are very similar to the ones you linked to in powerhouse fitness, he only difference being that on the insides of them rather than having feet which you could trip over (while the bar in on your back squatting its the last thing you want to be worrying about) mine have a flat plate which can be stood on, which also greatly increases the stability...

blobert

Thanks,

I'm actually unlikely to be using these for squatting (I have slight back problems and so have been advised against regular squatting, I do squats with heavy dumbells instead) so the tripping over problem shouldn't be a problem.

I'd only be using these stands for flat/incline/decline benching so I'm just concerned about how stable they'd be for this. I assume they'd be ok, but would love to hear the opinion of someone whose actually used them.

Thanks again for your help

rubadub

Mickk wrote: »

I have designed some squat stands but they wont be here for about 8 weeks.

Will they have those safety bars on them too? Looks like you could do dips on them if you put padding on, thats what I was mentioned before in this thread about the argos york ones. I do not like parallel dip stations, I would much rather be able to move them to any angle I want. The york ones also allowed plates to be slotted on to further stabilise. 1 or 2 removable crossbars between the 2 stands would make them far more stable for benching. If they went high enough you could do chins on them too. Most chin bars in doorways (not the removable type) would only be around that high anyway.

If you ever want a critique of your designs give me a shout, I'm a design engineer and like that sort of stuff.

Mickk

rubadub wrote: »

Will they have those safety bars on them too? Looks like you could do dips on them if you put padding on, thats what I was mentioned before in this thread about the argos york ones. I do not like parallel dip stations, I would much rather be able to move them to any angle I want. The york ones also allowed plates to be slotted on to further stabilise. 1 or 2 removable crossbars between the 2 stands would make them far more stable for benching. If they went high enough you could do chins on them too. Most chin bars in doorways (not the removable type) would only be around that high anyway.

If you ever want a critique of your designs give me a shout, I'm a design engineer and like that sort of stuff.

Ha thats funny you have pretty much described the iron mind vulcan system.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/ironmind/Main/homesweathome2.html

I dont want to over complicate things though and I have always found that trying to slide load bearing feet horizontally to adjust width very awkward...

I designed 4 machines in feb (in mircesoft paint!) and just got them on my last container, they are in the gym now and great, I sold 4 more the day i got them to a rugby school gym who saw them being put together in my gym!

rubadub

Mickk wrote: »

Ha thats funny you have pretty much described the iron mind vulcan system.

Thats where I saw them! I thought it was on a homemade equipment site. I got the ironmind dip belt and they sent a few magazines over the months. They are very pricey and there was other good interesting stuff to look at in the magazines. I didn't know they had the chin or wrist bars on the stands too. The dip bars are still fixed to be parallel though, I can do way more dips with a 90 degree bar.

If you look up patent sites they have some crazy ideas. I recently made adjustable parallel bars for a chinning bar, worked OK but I think it can be improved.

Chris89

blobert wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, I have the freeweights and a rack to store them compactly so I’ll be sticking with them, it’s just a case of trying to have as much flexibility as possible in a small room.

I found some more squat stands that look like they might be more suitable for benching, I’ve emailed the company to see what the lowest height they go to is and if they’ll deliver to Ireland:

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/store/product.asp?dept_id=10&pf_id=Bodymax_Squat_Stands

Any further advice as to the likely stability of these would be much appreciated. Was thinking of getting the York ones from Argos, could always bring them back if they were rubbish, but they are home delivery only.

the max weight on these guys is 115kg? that seems a bit small, whether youll be working with that weight or not...still seems a bit light.

blobert

I know, the max weight seems quite low, but I won't be going anywhere near that.

I found this, which basically seems to be exactly what I'm looking for in a bench, narrow and folding, it's almost identical to the Powertec:

http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/store/product.asp?dept_id=26&pf_id=Bodymax_CF520

I'm still tempted to go for the utility bench and squat stands for greater flexibility, if anyone has used them before please give me your opinions.

Thanks again for all the advice.

edges

blobert wrote: »

Thanks,

I'm actually unlikely to be using these for squatting (I have slight back problems and so have been advised against regular squatting, I do squats with heavy dumbells instead) so the tripping over problem shouldn't be a problem.

I'd only be using these stands for flat/incline/decline benching so I'm just concerned about how stable they'd be for this. I assume they'd be ok, but would love to hear the opinion of someone whose actually used them.

Thanks again for your help

Then why not just get a stability ball and bench from that using your dumbbells?

blobert

I went ahead and ordered the folding bench from PowerHouse fitness, should be able to do the majority of stuff you can do on a utility bench and it will be more solid for benching.

Saving space was one of my priorities, and having had a look at the dimensions of utility benches they are actually pretty large and do not fold up. Plus I would be taking a chance with the squat stands in terms of stability whereas I know what I am getting with this bench.

Thanks for all the advice, it'll arive next week so I'll let you know how I get on.

blobert

Just to update, in case anyone is interested.

The bench from Powerhouse fitness arrived and it was absolutely terrible quality, holes were not machined properly, bars were not parallel, and the seat shook from side to side by about 2cm when I tried to use it.

They were very unhelpful about this, claiming there was nothing wrong with the bench and that it was better quality than the Powertec one (having used both this is simply not true).

They eventually agreed to take it back, but I am yet to receive a refund (they seem to be ignoring my emails).

Anyway Fitness Superstore finally got the Powetec Narrow Bench in and I got this last week, very cheap delivery (only £30 for a 60kg+ box). It's excellent quality, far superior to the imitation one, I'm very happy with it.

One thing I can't work out, you seem to be able to move the whole bench forward and back, if you look at the video here you can see what I mean:

http://www.powertecfitness.com/product.php?id=16

I can't work out what this is for, it doesn't seem to make much sense?

dave80

blobert wrote: »

Just to update, in case anyone is interested.

The bench from Powerhouse fitness arrived and it was absolutely terrible quality, holes were not machined properly, bars were not parallel, and the seat shook from side to side by about 2cm when I tried to use it.

They were very unhelpful about this, claiming there was nothing wrong with the bench and that it was better quality than the Powertec one (having used both this is simply not true).

They eventually agreed to take it back, but I am yet to receive a refund (they seem to be ignoring my emails).

Anyway Fitness Superstore finally got the Powetec Narrow Bench in and I got this last week, very cheap delivery (only £30 for a 60kg+ box). It's excellent quality, far superior to the imitation one, I'm very happy with it.

One thing I can't work out, you seem to be able to move the whole bench forward and back, if you look at the video here you can see what I mean:

http://www.powertecfitness.com/product.php?id=16

I can't work out what this is for, it doesn't seem to make much sense?

its prob to allow for shorter/taller people to get closer to the bar while inclining and seated shoulder pressing, also to raise the bench from the ground if doing the leg extensions, cant view the vid so iam just going on the pic!

blobert

Thanks for that, I wrote to Powertec and they say:

"The reason for that is so that you can incline the bench when there are still weights on the bar. This allows to move the backrest up when in the front position."

Handy enough I suppose...