I've been out and about looking at various weight sets and lots of equipment. I've found three different styles of weights:bb: :


Vinyl weight with a split bar and spring holders - about $21 for 110 lbs
Cast weight set w/ split and threaded bar comes with 120 lbs and a wheeled plastic carrying case for about $45
The Olympic style, all sold separately
Now I'm pretty sure that the Olympic version is what everyone is going to say is the best, but I'd like to know what the drawbacks are to starting cheaper with the other two? Will they fit on the pegs for the leg and lat attachments if I went to get a weight bench?

I know that 110 lbs isnt much weight but it's realistically as much as I can handle at this point. That will probably change pretty quickly though once I get into the training.

Also, I've noticed a couple of arm curl dumbell kits :db: with cast weights and threaded bars. I didn't care for them because the distance between the weights seems too small. Are these worth bothering with?

I'm certainly no expert and I could be wrong, but if you're just starting out I don't see any reason why the vinyl weights wouldn't work just fine. I mean, 110 lbs of vinyl weighs just as much as 110 pounds of lead. ;) The only thing I see coming into play would be how soon are you going to outgrow them? If you read John's section about his home gym you'll see the problem he ran into when he outgrew his bench. But if you're looking to save some money I don't see why you shouldn't start out with the vinyl weights until you're ready to buy a nice set of Olympic weights. I just recently paid about $170 after tax for 300 lbs of Olympic weights, but I am also just starting out and don't see myself using the larger ones for quite some time.

I've been out and about looking at various weight sets and lots of equipment. I've found three different styles of weights:bb: :

Vinyl weight with a split bar and spring holders - about $21 for 110 lbs
Cast weight set w/ split and threaded bar comes with 120 lbs and a wheeled plastic carrying case for about $45
The Olympic style, all sold separately
Now I'm pretty sure that the Olympic version is what everyone is going to say is the best, but I'd like to know what the drawbacks are to starting cheaper with the other two? Will they fit on the pegs for the leg and lat attachments if I went to get a weight bench?

I know that 110 lbs isnt much weight but it's realistically as much as I can handle at this point. That will probably change pretty quickly though once I get into the training.

Also, I've noticed a couple of arm curl dumbell kits :db: with cast weights and threaded bars. I didn't care for them because the distance between the weights seems too small. Are these worth bothering with?If you have the money (I assume you do or your question would be mute), go with the Olympic set. It will last you a lifetime. It's money very well spent.

As for dumbbells, I like hex dumbbells. Good balance of price and usability -- grab and go. I don't like changing the weights on dumbbells while working out.

I use olympic ones, may aswell start properly

i wouildnt use any others
:)

I don't see why you shouldn't start out with the vinyl weights until you're ready to buy a nice set of Olympic weights. I just recently paid about $170 after tax for 300 lbs of Olympic weights

You can do even better if you live in an area with lots of sports stores competing with each other. I bought a new 300 lb. Olympic set with chrome bar for $89 at Oshman's (Fort Worth, TX) last week. :tu:

Well, I went out and bought some equipment. We (my wife and I) scoured all of the various fitness departments in the city, and came to some conclusions. Here's a list of notable things we found that may save someone else a lot of work:

1) Target - they didn't have much except a small cast dumbell set and some jump rope/rubber band type of things.

2) Kmart - They had a Weider 140 Standard Bench w/ Butterfly
for $79.00. I wasn't really impressed by it considering what I had already found at other places. Seemed a little thin and unstable. They did have sets of hex dumbells as a reasonable price for about $0.50/lb. They didn't have much of a selection of cardio items at that particular store, but it looks like they havd cheap elliptical machines and recumbent bikes starting at $199.00.

3) Play It Again Sports - We were excited to go to this place because we had heard so many good things about it. Well, we were pretty disappointed when we got there. Most of the used equipment was in pretty bad shape for the price. They didn't have any weights to speak of. They just had small cast plates. The benches that were there may have been decent, but were a bit overpriced compared to what we ended up buying. one thing to keep in mind is that all of the PAS stores ae independent and don't share any of the used equipment. They have some new machines, but they didn't seem like they were of very good quality. Your local store might do things better or differently, so it is worth checking them out. You still may find a bargain.

4) Dick's Sporting Goods - We bought a 300 lb Olympic set there for $129.99. And they had a nice selection of hex dumbells for $.49/lb, we bought pairs of 10,15,20,25,30, to start with. The other benches seemed a little expensive in comparison to what we picked up at Walmart. They seemd to have a good selection of machines and power racks, but we don't have the room for a lot of that stuff, so we are trying to keep it simple for now. We just have to figure out how to arange to fit a 7 ft bar in a room without killing the walls.

5) Walmart - We ended up buying the Gold's Gym XR 15 Olympic Weight Bench for $97.22. We chose this one because it seemed really solid for the price, and had a lot of different functions. It's the same setup that DrRocket bought - http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=388. They also had a nice range of other equipment. That is, if you hit the store on the right day. We went to 2 different Walmarts, and like most of the rest of the store, with all of the people picking over everything, was in a bit of disarray.

Now we need to decide what type of cardio equipment to get. We have a workout step block, but I think we need to get something more. I think we are leaning toward an elliptical, though it will take me some time to get used to the strange motion.

Why don't they make steppers any more? Can't find them anywhere. (PAS had some but they were all either $500 or broken).