Firstly let’s define what a bench press is. In short, it’s a weight bench with a built-in bar rack. So something you can rack a barbell on at one end, lie down on (under the barbell) and bench press off. Lots of variety, including option to incline or decline, squat off, butterfly, preacher curls and leg extension attachments etc etc, but that’s it in a nut shell.

So when you’re ready to go – think about these points:
Have a look at your program and think about what you will be using the bench press for (or what you need to get out of it).

Ie. Is it just for barbell bench pressing, or will you be using dumbbells as well? Do you want to do leg work on it (some movements will require a separate leg extension attachment), curls (separate preacher attachment), shoulders / back (may require lat pull-down attachment) or squats (requires moveable bar holders), incline or decline work etc.

It’s important to consider all of these things and ensure that the bench you get will allow you to complete the workout you want to complete.

How much weight can it handle?

This is sooooo important with the amount of cheap shit you can find on ebay and “reputable” bricks and mortar stores (nope – not naming names).

Think honestly about what and how you will be lifting and ensure the bench you buy is strong enough.

Read the ads carefully, and please please ask about the weight ratings. Think, if you’re 80kg and benching 50kg, your bench needs to be rated to at least 130kg. Assuming you’re going to increase that bench press – you should be looking for benches rated to at least 200kg.

And if the seller can’t give you a weight rating – go somewhere else. Or be prepared to wear a barbell – sooner or later.

Is it nice and heavy and stable?

You do not want a light and poorly constructed bench press that is going to wobble everytime you press the weight. Not only is this unsafe it is really annoying when you are pumping some serious weights. You want your mind 100% on the job and not on the status of your wobbly bench press.

Where is the barbell holder situated?

This is a really important one because the barbell holders are often in really stupid places. The arms should also be in the right place. You do not want to have to lift the bar from a position that is behind your head. This is important.
Go back to the first point. Can you do the exercises you want to do? Can you bench press, can you dumbbell press etc etc. Lay down on the bench and get a feel for where you would be lifting the weight from

You need to make sure the bench will not prohibit you from safely completing your movements.

Is the price good?

Have a look around and find an equivalent bench or two and get an idea of price before committing. While you really don’t want to buy a cheap shitty bench, you also should make sure you don’t pay too much for a good one.

Finally, warranty

What is it, how long and what does it cover.

As a last point, if you are looking at used equipment – all but the last point about on warranty will apply when shopping. BUT – check for structural rust as it can weaken the bench – which can lead to broken bench = fall down under weight = messy face.

But for checking your form – if you train by yourself this is a must. It’s so easy to get complacent with your form when you work out by yourself – particularly as your weights increase. Meh – I’ll just lean into this squat a little and it will be easier and suddenly your form is shite and your back hurts a lot!!!

If you get into the habit early of training in front of a mirror you can learn to be objective about your form. And you can maintain it as your weight increases.

Now big mirrors are not that cheap. If you’ve got the cash, go for a couple of big ones that will give you vision of yourself from more than one angle. Low on cash? Go to ikea and buy a handful of little ones and join them together.

Got no cash? Mobile phones have some pretty decent video cameras in them. Use your mobile phone camera to record your form and watch it back.

Remember though – this is for checking out your form – not yourself. Ok – maybe one pose is ok……..

Unfortunately this can be correct if they are not tightened properly. And who wants to lift a loaded dumbbell over their head with loose collars on it?

The problem is with the size of the collars relative to the amount of torque required to lock the collars up tight. Basically, if the collars were three times as big, you’d be able to lock then up a lot tighter.

The good news is that there is an easy way to ensure you lock your spinlock collars up nice and tight and that is to use the plates themselves to tighten the collars.

What you need to do is:

1. Put your plates on the spinlock bar (barbell, EZ curl, dumbbell, whatever)
2. Put your collar on the shaft and tighten as tight it as you can with your fingers. This should ensure that the rubber ring on the inside of the collar grabs hold of your plates.
3. Grab the outermost plate (the one hard up against the collar) and twist it clockwise, ensuring that your bar itself does not turn (I normally stand on the bar, or grip it between my legs). You should see the collar turn, tightening it up a little more.

And viola! That baby will not be coming off anytime soon.

I’ll try and get a quick youtube up to demonstrate the above – hope it helps someone out…..

What are free weights? This term typically refers to equipment that is used free of restrictions or attachments – that is, equipment where you are in complete control of its movements.  Typically, we’re talking about steel bars with heavy discs (or weight plates) on each end to add weight.

Steel bars? These steel bars come as barbells – in a long form typically between 1500mm and 2200mm that is used with two hands, and dumbbells – a short version of barbells that ranges between 355mm and 500mm and is generally used with one hand (see images below). Other variations of bars include EZ curl / super EZ curl bars, trap bars, tricep / hammer curl bars and similar and while they exist, the most popular bars are barbells and dumbbells. These bars will generally have some form of locking collar on the end to preclude the weight plates from falling off the end of the bar when lifted.

Weight plates? These are the discs that fit onto the end of the bars you train with. These discs will come in a variety of sizes, and have a hole in the centre through which you slide the barbell and secure with the collar. These plates can either be fixed permanently to the ends of the bars (and form part of a larger set), or are able to be added and removed at will so as to increase or decrease the weight lifted on a particular bar. Weight plates can be made from cement (coated in plastic), iron, rubber coated iron or solely from rubber (called a bumper plate). They can also come in a solid style or style with handles (commonly called EZ lift plates) which can be used without a bar.

Why? Using free weights as part of your training not only helps to keep you fit, but it burns calories, increases muscle size, strength, power, and endurance, and increases bone density. However, unlike machines, using free weights rely on you to use correct technique (or form) when training so can have a higher chance of injury if used incorrectly. Start with light weights, get your form correct – and then go up in weights.

Now while there are a lot of machines that can help you to workout, including treadmills, lat pull downs, rowing machines, adductor machines etc etc etc we deal almost exclusively in free weights and their associated equipment. Why? I guess it comes down to our preferences. We choose to keep our stock range simple, and we choose to sell what we believe offers you the best value for money in train at home systems. In other words, while we could sell you a $2500 glute machine – we probably won’t – we’ll just tell you to go do some damn squats…..

This is an isolation movement in that by helping control the movement, it better isolates the biceps, which in turn helps to maxmise your curl time. To preacher curl:

• Start by adjusting the pad to the right height for you (your back should be straight, with the top of the pad close to your armpits).
• Irrespective of bar (barbell, dumbbell, dumbbells, EZ curl, hammer curl), your arms should be around shoulder width apart when you grab the bar(s).
• Slowly curl the bar(s) upward in an arc towards your mouth. Focusing on the bicep muscle as your curl, stop when your forearms have just passed vertical (and before you hit yourself in the mouth).
• Still flexing your bicep muscle, slowly lower the bar bar to your starting position (do not rest it back on the bar holder until you have completed your set)
• Repeat

As mentioned above, you have many variations of this exercise to try. Using an EZ curl bar, super EZ curl or hammer curl bar changes the area of the bicep you focus on and a change of grip to overhand focusses on forearms. Change to dumbbells and you can do alternating curls, single curls or hammer curls.

Lots of variations for killing those biceps but remember, focus on the bicep muscle as you curl to make sure it’s working hard, and breath as you curl – out coming and and in going down.

One last warning – if you’ve never curled with a preacher before – maybe go easy the first time. The day after – it will hurt!!!

Firstly – why buy one at all? Well, both EZ Curl Bars are designed to reduce stress on the forearm and wrist and provide a more comfortable grip while focusing on different bicep and tricep areas (but they can also be used on other body areas). In using an EZ curl bar for curls, your hands are slightly pronated (thumbs are higher than your little finger), which changes how the upper arm muscles are used (over just using a straight bar). It also tends to work your brachialis muscle more than normal.

Why choose a super EZ curl this bar over a normal EZ curl? To be honest, a lot of it comes down to personal taste. How you train and what feels right in your hands.

The super EZ curl bar is arguably a little better for isolating the biceps due to the angle of the handles. Unlike an EZ curl bar, with a super you can use a parallel grip (good for hammer curls, skull crushers etc). Also, a lot of people simply find that the extra angle in the super curl bar is more comfortable.

But both are very flexible bars and allow a range of exercises outside of curls like rows or even deadlifts.

So really, not a lot of difference. If your gym has both – try them out and see which one works best. You may find you use both.

If you’re looking to buy one or other, see if you can test both before purchasing.

If you can only afford one bar, but want a tricep bar and an EZ curl bar – maybe get a super EZ – it does a little of both.

I love this picture.

No idea on the source of these pictures – if they’re yours, let me know. happy to source them to you.

Firstly, what is an EZ lift plate? An EZ lift plate, put simply, a weight plate with handles.

These handles serve a couple of purposes – firstly to allow the plates to be picked up and moved around easily and often with only one hand. Convenient if you are adding and removing plates from your barbells a lot.

Secondly, the handle can be used to hold the weight plates while you do exercises with them. With the latter – most things that can be done with a kettlebell can be done with an EZ lift plate (some easier than others), so simply by having these plates you immediately increase the range of exercises you can do. Think lunges, shrugs, snatch, curls etc etc. Don’t change plates on your dumbbells – just use the plates themselves.

So why is this better than solid plates? Often you need two hands to move you solid plates, or strong forearms to do it one handed. So why would you buy solid plates? The single advantage they have is that they generally have a smaller diameter across which means they take up less space (the EZ lift plates are bigger as they have a cut-out for the handles. As the difference is neglible, not much of an advantage in our opinion.

EZ lift plates – IMO, a much more flexible and valuable piece of equipment.

Worth noting that we also call our plates tri grip plates. Why? They have three handles, or three places to grip.

Lastly – Plastic coated vinyl plates – don’t bother. Other than they break if you workout with heart and treat them bad, they are twice the thickness of normal plates so take up twice the barbell real estate.

An EZ lift plate

Solid weight plates

Why do it? Of all workout exercises, the deadlift hits the largest amount of muscle groups in one go. You can do heavy low-reps, or try a 15 rep set – they are taxing. So why do them? They’re great for long term strength development, muscle growth (provided you’re eating) – and they’ll make you look wide!!!!

There are a few variations of the deadlift – so which one is best?

Conventional Style
With your feet approximately shoulder width apart, stand in front of a barbell with your shins almost against the bar.  Bending over, grab the bar with your hands a little wider then shoulder width. Keeping your arms straight, bend your legs and flatten your back.  Lift your head so you are looking forwards, and pull the barbell off the floor by straightening your legs, then your torso until your body is completely erect, ensuring that you pull your shoulders back at the top. Then lower the bar back to the floor and repeat.

Sumo-style
The Sumo deadlift is a variation of the conventional deadlift. The only difference is that you start with your legs far apart (like you see sumo wrestlers do when they dig in). When doing this variation, rather than focus on lifting the weight when doing this exercise, focus on keeping your knees out wide and pushing your feet out to the sides and keep your hips forward.

Why do this variation? It makes the hips and legs work more, and the back work a little less. You may also find that the stance of a sumo deadlift is more comfortable that a conventional. Depending on your build the sumo deadlift may be easier to perform then the conventional deadlift.

Stiff Legged (or Romanian)

The stiff legged or romanian deadlift variation starts a little differently. Use a conventional deadlift to get the barbell up. Once you have it up, bend over at the waist, keeping your legs straight and a slight curve in your back, until you feel good stretch in the hamstrings and then straighten back up. Do not go too far, and don’t put the bar on the floor between reps.

Why the stiff legged? It places most of the emphasis on the hamstrings and lower back and is better suited than the other two for using lower weights with higher reps.

There’s also a 1-legged deadlift, but we’ll leave that for another time. So which is better? That’s up to you to decide. Find which one works for you. If you’re still not sure from the above about the technique – youtube it. And remember – with heavy lifts – it’s all about the technique. Watch in a mirror, film yourself, get a mate to watch and get the technique right with lower weights. Then go nuts.

One final thing on the deadlift: Some people choose to use a mixed or alternate grip (one hand facing forwards, one facing backwards) when doing a deadlift – the idea being that as the bar is rolls out of one hand, it simultaneously rolls into the other which allows the lifter to grip heavier weights (the hands balance each other). Do it, don’t do it – whichever feels right (but if you do do it, make sure you switch the front and back hands between sets to ensure your strength development is equal).

GETTING RIPPED: bodybuilding slang for extreme muscularizing (is that a word)? Or gaining awesome muscle hardness and definition through hard training and dieting. Also known as cutting. (Can also mean other things in other contexts – eg: going out and getting ripped)

ISOLATION: Exercising one specific muscle exclusive of others to focus effort on or protect that muscle. (In other contexts – eg: that feeling you get when it’s toooooo quiet)

PUMP: The enlargement and tightening felt in the working muscle resulting from the blood engorgement. (hmmm – other contexts??)

ATROPHY: Decrease in size and functional ability of tissues or organs. If you work out for 10 years and get big, then you stop working out, your muscles will begin to shrink or atrophy (Other contexts – what you win when you come first)

CHEATING: A method of pushing a muscle to keep working far past the point at which it would normally fail to continue contracting due to excessive fatigue buildup. In essence, where you are not strict with your form / technique in order to push your rep numbers up. (Other contexts – when you are not strict with your morals in order push your numbers up)

ESTROGEN: A female sex hormone. For example, in men excess testosterone is converted to estrogen sometimes leading to gynecomastia (breast development). (NO other context – just wanted to let all those taking tribulus and other natural wonder “test” drugs what may happen to their pecs)

SET: A set is a group of consecutive repetitions that are performed without resting. After the set, a rest interval occurs before you begin another set. (Other contexts – comes between ready and go)

TRAINING TO FAILURE: Continuing a set until it is impossible to do any more repetitions without assistance. Nowhere else in the world is training to fail a good thing…..

MAX: Maximum weight you can do for one repetition of an exercise. (Other contexts – that scary bloke on the supplement tubs – WTF is going on with that guy)

The list goes on but I think that will do for me…….for now.