How is this for a beginners weightlifting setup from Elverys (sale on at the moment

Gheadphone

I have recently begun weight training, and would like to get a simple setup at home. I'm thinking of a bar, a pair of 5, 10 and 20kg weights, and a rack. I may go for a bench too. I'm doing the All pro simple workout here (https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=147447933) - seven exercises:

• Squats 
• Bench Presses 
• Bent-Over Rows 
• Overhead Barbell Presses 
• Stiff-Legged Deadlifts 
• Barbell Curls
• Calf Raises

My max is 50kg for a few of the exercises. There is a sale on at Elverys now (i have some vouchers for there, so it will cost a lot less). How is this for a beginner setup? Thanks in advance for any advice.

USF bar (20kg) https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/USF-Olympic-Bar/p/000000000001042027

Rack - this https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weight-Benches/Rival-Adjustable-Squat-Rack/p/000000000001119279

or this https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/Weight-Racks/Rival-Adjustable-Squat-Rack---RK-1458A/p/000000000001119277

Rival Cast Iron 20kg, 10kg and 5 kg

20 https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/Rival-Cast-Iron-Tri-Grip-Plate---20kg/p/000000000001119405

10 https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/Rival-Cast-Iron-Tri-Grip-Plate---10kg/p/000000000001119404

5 https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/Rival-Cast-Iron-Tri-Grip-Plate---5kg/p/000000000001119403

Bench https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weight-Benches/Rival-B4-Flat-Weight-Bench/p/000000000001119269

Gaz

You definitely need a bench. The items listed are fine but I would suggest the following

Get a bench that has multi-uses. I have an Ironmaster that can double up as a dip station.

Personally I prefer bumper plates, they are not as noisy as cast iron. Depending on where you have your setup, this might be important.

Also get some 2.5's and 1.25's.

Gheadphone

That’s great thank you. Good point on the bench, ill add it to the list.

I might look at bumper plates, they may be easier on my floor. I didn’t see 2.5s or 1.25s on sale, ill take a look in store this week.

Black Sheep

Shop around for other black friday sales. Look at MC Sport and Blk Box for example.

What you put up would work but consider ...

Getting an adjustable bench. Allows incline work and things like chest supported rows and raises. Get one with wheels.

Getting a quarter rack or half rack in lieu of squat stands. Safer and more versatile.

The bar is the cheapest of the cheap ... fine for now but down the line something with decent knurling and a better sleeve construction quality might be nice. I'd also rather a 20kg bar just for maths sake.

The cast iron plates are fine if you're not dropping the bar. They should be cheaper than bumpers Not a good idea to drop a loaded bar with that barbell anyway, a sleeve could crack. But be aware those plates will be out in weight by 1-2 kg in most cases. The grip plates would actually potentially be something you could use for rows and shrugs.

Definitely get 2.5kg and 1.25kg plates as mentioned.

I just took a look and MC Sport has HIT bars, adjustable bench and this quarter rack on sale. Would be a little step up quality wise. If you can find a quarter rack with catcher arms even better.

https://www.mcsport.ie/products/hit-fitness-e60-quarter-rack

Gheadphone

Thank you so much.

I love your suggestion, im only using Elverys because I’ve gotten vouchers from work, so it will cost me close to nothing.

Following your advice, I’ll switch from cast iron to bumper. Which is better, the flat https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/Rival-Rubber-Bumper-Plate-20kg/p/000000000001119409

Or the one with grips https://www.elverys.ie/Elverys/Fitness/Home-Gym-Equipment/Weights/Rival-Rubber-Radial-Olympic-Plate---20kg/p/000000000001119402

Thanks again

Black Sheep

The grip plates in the second link are not actually bumper plates - they'll be iron plates with a rubber coating.

It's really up to you which you want.

Pros and cons

Bumper plates

• PRO You can drop them, although I wouldn't recommend it with the bar you're buying
• PRO Probably quieter alright, in terms of plate rattle or putting the bar down
• CON Thicker once you get to 20kg and above, unless they're competition bumpers (You're not in that price range)
• CON No grips, if you care about that, some people find them more awkward to load and unload, move around etc.

Iron or rubber coated iron

• PRO A little cheaper
• PRO In theory you can use grips to perform various other movements
• PRO Thinner than bumpers
• CON Usually less accurate weight wise but that's not that big a deal
• CON Noisier and less pleasant to the touch unless rubber coated

If you're worried about your floor then I would suggest buying some rubber tiles to lift on and off of. You can get 1m square ones that you can cut down.

Gheadphone

Brilliant, thank you. I will go with the rubber bumper plates. I suppose if i stick with it (i will for 12 months unless i get injured) i may upgrade some elements

Thank you for the great advice

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119905654#Comment_119905654

Sorry for hijacking a thread, although it seems to be a bit dead anyway. I see you mentioned MC Sport. I was having a look at their bundles. I have no weights at home but have been meaning to get some and decided to look to see if there were New Years sales. I'm really just researching at the minute in terms of getting some "value"

Are they genuine discounts on there? The rack you linked in that post isn't on sale now but is 680 on their site. Would you think that this below is a decent price for example?

https://www.mcsport.ie/products/hit-fitness-athletic-pack-120kg-rack-bench-coloured-bumper-plates?variant=40276066566223

Compared to something like

https://www.mcsport.ie/collections/strength-bundles/products/hit-fitness-core-pack-80kg-squat-rack-bench-coloured-bumper-plates-2

(They have versions of both the above with cast iron weights but those versions are not much cheaper ...... I'd be putting whatever I got in a garage with concrete floor so not in the house).

I suppose the short question would be whether the likes of those "deals" are deals or not, and if they are, how frequently during the year would you see similar ones.

Black Sheep

Sales on gym gear are fairly frequent to be honest (Except during a global pandemic, that had the opposite effect...). If you don't buy now you could see a summer sale and then there'd be a winter sale, black friday sale, Christmas sale etc.

The packages you linked to above aren't terrible value but without crunching the numbers on the individual items and comparing to other sites like Fitness Equipment Ireland I couldn't be definitive.

The quality of this gear won't be as high as from Blk Box, Rogue etc or one of the smaller companies who fabricate equipment in Ireland, but that may not be a concern.

One thing I would say is that in the packages above you have a 'full rack' which would allow you to squat and bench inside the rack and offers a high degree of safety, and then the other package you have linked to is what we'd call a 'squat stand', which is a lot less functional and if you look at the spotter arms the degree of safety offered is a lot lower. On the other hand, it's cheaper and the footprint is smaller. But personally I wouldn't buy one unless I had no other choice.

What I would suggest is that if you have the ceiling height for it then I would recommend something like a 'half rack' such as this:-

HIT FITNESS Commercial Half Rack — McSport Ireland

A 'half rack' allows you to squat and bench in almost as safe a manner as a full rack, has plate storage on the side, allows pull-ups and has a slightly smaller footprint than a full rack.

If you added on a cheap bar and some plates to the one above you'd be better off than buying the full rack package in my opinion.