Adjustable DB's

C

colby2152

New Member
I'll be working in my first professional position later this summer (still searching) and time will be a significant issue especially if I work in the city. My girlfriend and I both agreed that the first wise investment would be a home gym. She wants an ab bench, light DB's, eliptical, and a tredmill (already have one). I on the other hand want those rubber olympic weights w/bar, power rack, adjustable/selectable DB's, and an adjsutable bench.

The first (and cheapest) thing I want to get is a pair of selectable DB's that go up to 100lbs a DB.

What are everyone's opinions on the best ones to get?
 
I've only seen a few out there, and even though they are probably overpriced as hell, the bowflex ones seemed sturdy. The other ones seemed really cheap and I definitely wouldn't want to ever drop on of those. Hope you get a good job to buy your GF an elliptical machine!
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I have the plain old type with the spinner collars. 12.5lbs plates should get you close to were you wanna be.
 
Spinners. I use some 25 lb plates with them to get enough on them. Works just as well that way. I found at Play it Again Sports that they come in different lengths, so some will take more plates. I would get a longer set next time.
 
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(quadancer @ Jun. 28 2007,18:59)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Spinners. I use some 25 lb plates with them to get enough on them. Works just as well that way. I found at Play it Again Sports that they come in different lengths, so some will take more plates. I would get a longer set next time.</div>
I thought about those as well, and my only objections against them are the bulkiness' of the plates that may get in the way of exercises. Then again, I am not doing curls.
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(quadancer @ Jun. 28 2007,18:59)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Spinners. I use some 25 lb plates with them to get enough on them. Works just as well that way. I found at Play it Again Sports that they come in different lengths, so some will take more plates. I would get a longer set next time.</div>
Same here. Now, I rarely do dumb bell work, but these things work well enough and are a lot cheaper than a hex set. They also take up a lot less room.

If I had to do it again, I'd get some olympic dumbbell handles, but then again... what else am I going to do with all these standards plates I have? Can't use them for anything else.

If it were me, first thing I'd be getting is a bar and 250 - 300 lbs of plates. But you want bumper plates, right? Might cost more. Regular olympic plates can usually be found for around $100 for a 250 lb set, if you look around. Or you can hunt through all the garage sales, which, if your home is like mine, there are TONS of them everywhere this time of year.

Anyway, good luck either way.
 
I've had a sent of PowerBlocks that go up to 95 lbs. for probably 20 years now. The neoprene handle is comfortable and they work great for everything. Absolutely the only negative I have ever found with them is that you have to be careful when putting them down after some exercises. Because they aren't round it isn't as easy to just let them drop a little after incline presses or flyes. That's a very minor negative for me, though ... I love 'em! I'll bet I haven't used an actual dumbbell more than 5 times total since getting the PowerBlocks.
 
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(leegee38 @ Jun. 29 2007,00:30)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I've had a sent of PowerBlocks that go up to 95 lbs.</div>
Yup, when I first began to work out I used a set of PowerBlocks. They are much faster to load and unload than standard DB's, and because they stack upon themselves, they tend to take up very little space.

However, they are frankly rather expensive. So you might want to look deeply into that crystal ball to determine just how much of your weight training program is going to be involved with dumbbells. You may need to run a little cost/benefit analysis.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">If it were me, first thing I'd be getting is a bar and 250 - 300 lbs of plates. But you want bumper plates, right? Might cost more. Regular olympic plates can usually be found for around $100 for a 250 lb set, if you look around. Or you can hunt through all the garage sales, which, if your home is like mine, there are TONS of them everywhere this time of year.</div>

Thanks for the tips Tot. I may end up leaning towards Olympic spinner DB's. I would like to find some that have a long bar so that I could load a decent amount of smaller plates. Yes, I will be looking for bumper plates. I did some prospective looking and found a few good sites that sell a pair of 45 lb plates for 110 bucks. Three pairs of them and some lighter Olympic iron plates should be good enough for a while. The only lift that really comes close to surpassing 300 lbs is my deadlift and currently my PB is at 310.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">However, they are frankly rather expensive. So you might want to look deeply into that crystal ball to determine just how much of your weight training program is going to be involved with dumbbells. You may need to run a little cost/benefit analysis.
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I've had a sent of PowerBlocks that go up to 95 lbs. for probably 20 years now. The neoprene handle is comfortable and they work great for everything.</div>

I saw the Power Blocks online, but they only go up to 85 lbs each and costs $1,000! I think I am leaning towards the spinners.

My only real use of DB's is when I do any type of shoulder press. Everything else I do is done with a barbell. I could save 800-900 bucks and stick with Olympic Spinners.

Thank You Everyone...
In the future, I may start my home gym thread detailing everything I am looking at.
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12.5 lbs plates arent much larger than 10's.  Bulkiness wont be an issue, but the extra 2.5lbs adds up nicely.


Believe it or not, last summer, I had 8 12.5lbs plates shipped from CA to KY for $70 I think it was, that included the original price.  Cheaper than actually going local and buying them.  I was suprised.  
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http://www.wwfitness.com/
 
need2eat, I had already been to that website, and that is where I priced the bumper plates at, but I didn't see any 12.5 lb plates??
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">They are standard plates.</div>

OK... like Tot pointed out, I will want my plates to be uniform throughout. Olympic is the way to go. Thanks for pointing that out Bulldog.
 
Just a note, but I've not been inconvenienced with even 25 lb. plates on them. (spinners)
Also, Play it Again Sports sell used plates for about .39 / lb. - and a can of black spray paint puts you in business. Or pink, if that's your ethic.
 
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(colby2152 @ Jun. 28 2007,13:47)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I'll be working in my first professional position later this summer (still searching) and time will be a significant issue especially if I work in the city.  My girlfriend and I both agreed that the first wise investment would be a home gym.  She wants an ab bench, light DB's, eliptical, and a tredmill (already have one).  I on the other hand want those rubber olympic weights w/bar, power rack, adjustable/selectable DB's, and an adjsutable bench.

The first (and cheapest) thing I want to get is a pair of selectable DB's that go up to 100lbs a DB.  

What are everyone's opinions on the best ones to get?</div>
I had a set of powerblock adjustable dumbbells. They sucked. I dropped them after finishing sets and they got damaged pretty easily. If you're only going up to a 100 lbs and don't way to spend much money I recommend trying to find some used hex dumbbells.
 
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(quadancer @ Jun. 29 2007,19:16)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
a can of black spray paint puts you in business. Or pink, if that's your ethic.

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Careful! Regular use of pink weights can cause an urge for high reps and spandex...
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