I'm going to get a new rack and bench and looking for recommendations for the bench, and reason for recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

What's your budget?

I'm flexible on budget.
I want the best I can find for the least amount of money. Is that helpful :)
I'd pay for something that would really help my workouts, but also know it's just a bench...it's easy to overpay.

Do you mean you're buying a power rack and need a flat bench? I'd imagine any old flat bench would do.

If not, maybe you're looking for a simple incline bench. For my needs, this one was perfect and cost me about $200 Canadian (likely much cheaper in the U.S.).

http://www.nlfit.com/Benches/images/Benches/NL-OWCB.jpg

It's very attachment-friendly. It already came with the dip bars. I bought the leg extension and will likely buy the lat pulldown this summer. I believe you can get another 5 attachements which are all very useful.

Ken

Yep, getting a power rack and need an adjustable bench. May just go with what John has (see picture below). Looking for:
- adjustability
- comfort
- need leg curl / extension

Thanks again.
http://www.johnstonefitness.com/images/rack_large.jpg

It's very attachment-friendly. It already came with the dip bars. I bought the leg extension and will likely buy the lat pulldown this summer. I believe you can get another 5 attachements which are all very useful.

Ken[/QUOTE]

One thing to keep in mind...Bench Wt. Capacity will mean Your Weight + what your lifting. That bench has a 600lb Cap. so remember to look forward into where your training may lead you. If you weigh 150lbs, you can safely lift 450lbs...if you ever reach that. (supirman would break this thing within a week... :lol: )
The Leg Attachment has a 250lb Cap. on it, and if you speak to Jake at Powertec, he's gonna tell you that the bench wasn't really designed to do Single Leg Extentions, and that's why the weld breaks on it. I'm doing single legs at over 125lbs because I'm afraid that I'd easily max the extention out fairly rapidly if I use both legs. Jake did say that they will always warranty the unit, but it wasn't designed to be used that way. I think the way they state it is "The leg attachment is an added feature of the bench, and is not it's primary purpose"
This is the reason they came out with a dedicated Leg Machine that has a 350lb Cap.
I'm just trying to save you some head aches down the road, or at least help you to know what you're buying into. Body Solid's Leg Attachments on their benchs are rated about the same.

Ok...I guess I flapped my gums, and then didn't offer any input as to what WOULD be a good bench line to look into.
NY Barbell has some nice benches, but they don't state any warranty on any of them. I'd give em a call, and find out what's up, and how warranty claims are handled if there ever is a problem.
A good utility bench is the foundation of any home gym, so I personally would plan on spending at least $200 for something that you're always going to have. I'd take a good look at the Body Solid line up here. (http://www.bodysolid.com/BSStrength/SpecializedStations/PowerBenches.html) Don't worry about what the prices say on that page because if you call Fitness Factory (Body Solids internet store) they'll always have a better price than stated. Stay away from their Powerline stuff. In their own words (BS Service Dept.) the line is crap, and only has a 1 year warranty.
I own the WFID71, but I wouldn't recommend that to you. The thing is HUGE, and excessively overkill. Look at the WFID31. It's designed shorter to fit into a rack and is rock solid. Definetly call the customer service dept. and find out what the weight cap. is on the leg attachment. They'll probably say "300lbs, but they were told to tell you 250"... :lol:
The FID46 is a nice bench, but the leg attachment doen't come off at all...which will be a pain in the ass down the road.
There are many benches out there by many different companys, and I'm sure that there's gonna be a few members chiming in here, plugging their bench.
Just be sure to check:
Weight capacity of the bench
Weight capacity of leg attachment
Removable leg attachment?
Other attachment available (IE: Preacher station)
Warranty period
Ease of service if there is ever a problem, and warranty procedure:
Will they send you the needed parts with a call tag, or do you have to send the bench to them at your cost, and they decide if it's a warranty issue.

Buy right, and you'll be buying once. :tu:

I ordered the Powertec rack but don't have it yet. For now I'm using an old bench that needs to be replaced. I can spend $200. I don't want the Powertec bench because I don't want to leg curl thing. I'd rather work my legs other ways so I don't want the curl attacthment to get in my way. I have no idea what I'm going to end up with.

Do either of these good good to use with the Powertec rack?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15278&item=3688622205

http://www.newyorkbarbells.tv/90655.html

I second the body solid recommendation. I can't find my bench (http://www.skoorbs.com/images/gym2.jpg) on those links, but I bought it a year ago and it's been very good. The version up from it that has the two "arms" to raise/lower the bench, as opposed to my single arm, is far more solid feeling, but I returned it and got my cheaper one for two reasons:

1) mine has far more incremental angles available. For me that was a big plus
2) The leg extensino attachment on the first bench I tried was simply a bad fit with the bench. It was far too far out from the seat and at my heigh of 5,11 I was much to short to make use of it. I got the cheaper bench and have been actually happier with it.

Play it again sports may carry it, since it's where I bought mine.

There's a good chance I'll end up with this here bench

http://www.fitnessfactory.com/FitnessFactory31/catalog.cfm?dest=itempg&itemid=714&secid=3&linkon=section&linkid=3

I'm also on the look out for a decent bench. Just like Skoorb, multi-angles (more than three or four positions) is a priority. Not that it's necessary, but it's nice to have several options. But I personally don't want one that has the decline positions. The bench you linked in your last post looks good, but the width of the seat is wide strickly for the purpose of having better leverage for leg curls. If you don't want the leg curls, as I don't either for the same reasons as you, then I would recommend a bench where the seat is narrower. If you ever noticed that most free standing adjustable benches at gyms, the seat is small. Picture yourself lying flat on the bench doing dumbbell presses. The width of the seat will determine how much you are going to have to spread your legs to get your feet flat on the ground. If you are a pretty tall person, then this isn't an issue. But at my height of 5' 8", my feet wouldn't be flat on the ground. Just something to think about maybe. I'm looking into the Legend three-way position bench. http://www.ironcompany.com/Legend_Utility_Benches.htm It might be a little out of the price range you're wanting to spend, but it seems to be a really good bench for a decent price. By the way, the seat, as you might notice, is narrow and adjustable.

Good luck with your bench hunting!! :tu:

I'm also on the look out for a decent bench. Just like Skoorb, multi-angles (more than three or four positions) is a priority. Not that it's necessary, but it's nice to have several options. But I personally don't want one that has the decline positions. The bench you linked in your last post looks good, but the width of the seat is wide strickly for the purpose of having better leverage for leg curls. If you don't want the leg curls, as I don't either for the same reasons as you, then I would recommend a bench where the seat is narrower. If you ever noticed that most free standing adjustable benches at gyms, the seat is small. Picture yourself lying flat on the bench doing dumbbell presses. The width of the seat will determine how much you are going to have to spread your legs to get your feet flat on the ground. If you are a pretty tall person, then this isn't an issue. But at my height of 5' 8", my feet wouldn't be flat on the ground. Just something to think about maybe. I'm looking into the Legend three-way position bench. http://www.ironcompany.com/Legend_Utility_Benches.htm It might be a little out of the price range you're wanting to spend, but it seems to be a really good bench for a decent price. By the way, the seat, as you might notice, is narrow and adjustable.

Good luck with your bench hunting!! :tu:

That's a very nice bench. It's actually a Gym bench, and at a very good price. This looks like an excellant choice if you're planning on having more than one bench, as this one does not incline to 90 degrees. Also, that's a solid one pc frame...good for gym applications, but not the easiest to move around from room to room if you ever had too.
I believe that the person that actually started the thread is looking to buy "a" bench though, not multiple benches.
A good choice in a home gym bench would include the ability to go from a decline posistion, for decline exercises such as presses, flys, and tricep work, to a full 90 degree position for seated shoulder presses, front and lateral raises, etc...and best case, should be able to accept a leg attachment of some type. Unless of course you have the extra cash, and room to buy a seperate leg extention/curl bench. In buying equipment that has versatility, your training options in the future are more varied, even if that only means that you won't have to buy new equipment to perform a new exercise that you did not foresee yourself doing presently.
As far as the "wide" seat goes...I'm 5'9". Now I have two different benches, one that is part of my leverage machine, and is most like the one that John uses, then my Body Solid bench (http://www.bodysolid.com/BSStrength/SpecializedStations/PowerBenches/WFID71.html) which is an absolute tank at more than 120lbs. (good thing this has wheels on it)
The width on anypart of the Powertec bench isn't an issue at all, it's a pretty decent set up. Just not the most stable in the whole world.
Now on my Body Solid bench, (which I AM NOT recomending) the end of the short section flares out to about 16.5". This was definetly designed to provide better support for leg work. Which means nothing to me since I do all of my leg work on the Powertec machine, even with it's sub par leg attachment. (I'll buy the Body Solid attachment eventually, maybe) The top portion of the BS bench is 10" x 36", and where the short portion meets it, they are both the same width. That fact is, that my legs actually drop to the floor at that junction, not further out where the bench gets wide. So the bench being that wide at the end, isn't an issue to be concerned about.
Unfortunately, I do not have the equipment links on my home pc that I have at work, or I could give you a couple other gym quality benches to look at if that is indeed the route you wish to follow.
I have purchased equipment only to later on realise that it did not meet my needs as my training expanded, which meant I had to buy new equipment. This can be rather aggrevating, and tends to get expensive, to say the least :lol: . I've actually developed a pretty good working relationship with the Service Managers at both Powertec, and Body Solid, so I know how THEY feel about the products their companys sell. I've got my eye on a couple pcs. of equipment that I would like to buy, but I'm still trying to figure out the logistics, since I live in a two bed room apartment at the moment. (I'm really surprised that the floor hasn't collasped in my weight room :lol: )
I'm simply trying to help somebody from not making some of my earlier mistakes, or at least bring to light some information that may be overlooked before making a purchase.

That's a very nice bench. It's actually a Gym bench, and at a very good price. This looks like an excellant choice if you're planning on having more than one bench, as this one does not incline to 90 degrees. Also, that's a solid one pc frame...good for gym applications, but not the easiest to move around from room to room if you ever had too.
I believe that the person that actually started the thread is looking to buy "a" bench though, not multiple benches.
A good choice in a home gym bench would include the ability to go from a decline posistion, for decline exercises such as presses, flys, and tricep work, to a full 90 degree position for seated shoulder presses, front and lateral raises, etc...and best case, should be able to accept a leg attachment of some type. Unless of course you have the extra cash, and room to buy a seperate leg extention/curl bench. In buying equipment that has versatility, your training options in the future are more varied, even if that only means that you won't have to buy new equipment to perform a new exercise that you did not foresee yourself doing presently.
As far as the "wide" seat goes...I'm 5'9". Now I have two different benches, one that is part of my leverage machine, and is most like the one that John uses, then my Body Solid bench (http://www.bodysolid.com/BSStrength/SpecializedStations/PowerBenches/WFID71.html) which is an absolute tank at more than 120lbs. (good thing this has wheels on it)
The width on anypart of the Powertec bench isn't an issue at all, it's a pretty decent set up. Just not the most stable in the whole world.
Now on my Body Solid bench, (which I AM NOT recomending) the end of the short section flares out to about 16.5". This was definetly designed to provide better support for leg work. Which means nothing to me since I do all of my leg work on the Powertec machine, even with it's sub par leg attachment. (I'll buy the Body Solid attachment eventually, maybe) The top portion of the BS bench is 10" x 36", and where the short portion meets it, they are both the same width. That fact is, that my legs actually drop to the floor at that junction, not further out where the bench gets wide. So the bench being that wide at the end, isn't an issue to be concerned about.
Unfortunately, I do not have the equipment links on my home pc that I have at work, or I could give you a couple other gym quality benches to look at if that is indeed the route you wish to follow.
I have purchased equipment only to later on realise that it did not meet my needs as my training expanded, which meant I had to buy new equipment. This can be rather aggrevating, and tends to get expensive, to say the least :lol: . I've actually developed a pretty good working relationship with the Service Managers at both Powertec, and Body Solid, so I know how THEY feel about the products their companys sell. I've got my eye on a couple pcs. of equipment that I would like to buy, but I'm still trying to figure out the logistics, since I live in a two bed room apartment at the moment. (I'm really surprised that the floor hasn't collasped in my weight room :lol: )
I'm simply trying to help somebody from not making some of my earlier mistakes, or at least bring to light some information that may be overlooked before making a purchase.


Sorry, I was actually replying to SteveSatch's post and his quest for a new bench because he didn't want the leg extensions. The bench I linked, does incline from 0-90 degrees. But you are correct, it doesn't decline. I personally don't need one that does. But I can't say that for SteveSatch. It also has wheels on the back and a handle on the front for mobility. (for 160lbs., it better!) I assumed that most people, with a home built gym, wouldn't be moving a bench from room to room for exercise purposes. Actually, I just spoke with the sales rep from Iron Company, and he told me that Legend, the manufacturers of this bench, has a new bench coming out within a week or two. It's their 4-way bench which goes from a declining position to a full 90 degree incline. I think I'll hold off buying a bench to get this one. I know I said that I don't do declining exercises, but I like to keep my options open just in case I see the light!!