Equipment Crew- Part II

[Hishiad]

Damn one small step and a dislocated and torn up knee **** luck for sure! Hope all goes well with surgery and recovery man.




Also you guys swap/sell all the time...so I don't know why I didn't ask if anyone here (near Knoxville) had equipment (bench + weights) they were looking to move.


Edit: Right after I say that I see this deal - http://knoxville.craigslist.org/spo/2881653452.html


I'm assuming he wants 300 for EVERYTHING if that's the case I may pull the trigger...is there a certain brand name I should look for on that Smith Machine? I don't need/want one necessarily, but I have no issues holding it for a bit then flipping it later.

[Hishiad]

And then there's this deal...man either I've overlooked this stuff or I haven't checked CL in awhile.


http://knoxville.craigslist.org/spo/2850954699.html

[Skidmarx]

is there a certain brand name I should look for on that Smith Machine? I don't need/want one necessarily, but I have no issues holding it for a bit then flipping it later.

The better ones have real ball bearings on solid steel rods, not bushings on hollow(square or round) tubing. Commercial grade is best, but Body Solid, Hoist, Parabody made some light commercial smiths with gunracks that usually go for $400-$500. Stay away from anything Weider or Marcy brand.

[Hishiad]

Yeah I think I may have found my first home gym weight set (I say first cause like most of you I will likely flip and improve until I get to the upper level equipment)

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/spo/2882449558.html


Just waiting on an email to hear back.

[animalfan]

sorry about your knee Yankee.

Hishiad, that's a good deal on those VTX plates. I've got a site saved on my desktop that has good prices on VTX plates, I'll post it later. Just incase you are interested in adding plates without buying another set.

Edit: looks like it was a sale last time I was there. Keep an eye on here, they've had them for .79/lb.

http://www.pfcfitnessequipment.com/v...m.aspx?pid=573

[pumping4life]

And then there's this deal...man either I've overlooked this stuff or I haven't checked CL in awhile.


http://knoxville.craigslist.org/spo/2850954699.html

If you go with this deal, just make sure not to do squats in the curl rack

[Hishiad]

Alright bit of an update...the 780lb with curl rack guy only has plates left. He is sitting firm at 300 bucks and it's a buy all or none deal. That's $.38 cents a pound which isn't bad, but they are just standard barbell plates, no grip, no awesome brand and it's a 2 hour drive.

The VTX guy emailed me back, but said someone was coming to look at them and if he's got half a brain he bought that deal. So the search will likely continue.

[Keetman]

Update on my truck situation. Its taken a month, a lot of stress, and a big argument with my wife (and I didn't go to the Arnold Classic because I had to go looking at possibilities)...but the search is over. I don't have any pics or anything yet because the ad is down and I got back late, but I'm happy with the results. I got a large education on the value of a used truck....but I'm happy regardless.

I ended up getting exactly what I wanted, but with more miles than I would've expected when I started looking. I got a 2002 3/4ton HD, extended cab (4 doors..but not crew), 4x4, with a 6.0l motor and long bed. It is a Siverado with the LT package, so its pretty much loaded, although that didn't matter to me. Downside is, it has 167K miles on it... but the body is rust free and the motor runs like a top. I had to drive about 1.5 hours to get it and it handled absolutely fantastic on the way home. It has a couple of things that are broken here and there and a couple of dents in the top of the bed, but overall the body looks really good. The guy was asking $7K and I was going to offer $6k, but didn't even bother and told him I brought exactly $6500...take it or leave it.

He said he was firm and I told him I hadn't brought so much as a quarter more....then added all he had to do was take the deal and his Craigslist truck selling days were over. He went in to talk with his wife....came out and took my cash.

I wouldn't have thought I'd spend that much on a truck with 167k miles on it.... but considering I sold a 21 year old honda 2 weeks ago for $2400....I guess it isn't that bad. Barring a situation like JJ's....you can put well over 300k miles on these Chevy's....which is exactly what I intend to do with this truck. I got it as a third vehicle and I intend on taking very good care of it, so I'm pretty happy. After a month of research and looking at a bunch of trucks....I can say, that at least in my area....this was a fantastic deal.

Anyway, maybe I can jump back into the fray now, since I don't have to feverishly search for trucks on CL.


Oh....ironically....this is the exact truck my wife and I fought over.... for $4000 less and with much better gas mileage than the 8.1L engine. It is not in as good of shape and it has more miles...but for what I'm going to need it for, I think that I ended up doing better by not getting the first one. I'm not saying she was right....but, yea...whatever.

[Hishiad]

Awesome Keetman! I saw this one today on my local CL and thought of you. http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/2882817788.html


Also I myself am trying to swap the Taurus for a truck. I point blank said to the wife "You got a problem with me swapping this Taurus for a truck?" she was cool with it, little did she know how quickly I could swing it around. Here's one I plan to look at tomorrow after work.

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/2881411911.html


The odd thing is this, without knowing if it has any extras I looked up the value of the truck and the KBB has it right around that $3800 mark. The Taurus on KBB is right at $4500. I paid less, so I'm not sure if I may be better off trying to sell the Taurus and buy a truck outright or if I should try to weasel some boot money out of the trade deal. Edmund's TMV hates that truck, but I know it's worth a hell of a lot more than what the Edmund's TMV is on it.

Not expected to be my primary driver for long, but it will be until the wife picks out her new car. The good news (or bad) is it belongs to a 16 year old and his parents are helping him sell/trade it for something more gas efficient. I say good because the parents likely keep the vehicle dependable as a DD since their son is driving it. I say bad because he's a 16 year old with a V8. I don't think he's had the time to do much damage yet, but you never can tell.


Any thoughts from the crew? Either way nothing will happen tomorrow other than a thorough test drive/look over of the truck...Unless they offer boot I'm not going to mention it until I get home and think over the deal.

[KBKB]

The guy was asking $7K and I was going to offer $6, but didn't even bother and told him I brought exactly $6500...take it or leave it.

He said he was firm and I told him I hadn't brought so much as a quarter more....then added all he had to do was take the deal and his Craigslist truck selling days were over. He went in to talk with his wife....came out and took my cash.

I admire your negotiating skills.

(I tried to rep you, but need to spread some more first.)

[Keetman]

Here's my take on it (and on top of my equipment flipping experience... I have also bought 3 vehicles and sold 2 in the last 6 months).... but if you can swing it and don't mind the work...I would do a cash deal and sell your car on your own. You'll know exactly where you stand and you're really probably going to be better off. Who knows until you make the deal....but the numbers are going to be crisper with two separate deals. I mean, unless you have exactly what the seller of the truck needs and he doesn't care about the deal...the best you can hope for is for a wash on the give/take of a deal. If you do two separate deals, there will be less emotion involved (you won't be more apt to take less for your car) and you'll have two bites at the negotiation apple. Just some thoughts.

Oh...KBB is simply a guideline to be sure. My accord was listed at $1000 in excellent shape and I'd say it was good mechanically and a fair body. I sold it for $2400 with a line of people callling me. For all those trucks I was looking at...almost all of them were listed considerably over book. I don't know what all of them were moving for...but it is notable that every body thought their truck was worth more than the books. Market is king, apparently.

One other thing....I mentioned the "emotion" factor up there. What I meant is you want the vehicle in front of you and to some extent you start rationalizing everything. If you have a car to sell/trade and it in anyway helps the deal, you might be able to take less than its worth because it would be money in hand. When we bought my wife's car last month, we ran the Accord by the dealer and they said they thought it was a $1000 car...so they'd give us $600. We thought HARD about the $600 and we'd have both jumped at a grand if they'd offered..... not making that deal got us another $1400.

That truck you're looking at is a beast. Is that a 98 or 99? I'm just guessing, it looked like mid to late nineties...although I think some of the 2000 year models retained that front end. I was willing to go as far back as 98....but really didn't want to go back too much farther than that. You're fortunate that in your area, they've likely seen less salt. This is always a consideration here....and was a large factor in why I got rid of my last big truck a couple of years ago....it was a workhorse, but had seen too many Akron winters before I got it and was dieing a slow death from the underside, regardless of how much money I threw at it. I did not want a repeat.

I am curious on the truck you're looking at though....who gives their 16yo a 1ton dually? Not a judgement question....more like "wow"! That is a lot of truck for a kid and a LOT of maintenance....plus I think the insurance is greater on a 1 ton. That is a monster..... good luck with your deals.





Oh....was able to find the ad and get a pic of my truck:




I'm going to clean it up and I want to put nerf bars & black fender flares on it. I'm going to save up for those toys though, unless I find a smoking deal on CL......a set of those flares will run about $400 shipped...for nothing more than something to make it look good...ouch.

[Skidmarx]

Now that's a man's truck. Needs some 20's and a lift kit.

I'm still driving this, with over 200k. I'm hoping for 400k.

[Northernmoris]

Two thumbs up for the starting strength DVD..I watched it this morning while doing my dl's and it made a world of difference.. Its funny how things work when you do them properly..

[Hishiad]

The 2nd link is a 97 Dodge Ram that is the one I am looking at. After checking a bit I think you are right and I can probably get more cash for my car then barter down a good truck. May do that...

[Tyrbolift]

Now that's a man's truck. Needs some 20's and a lift kit.

I'm still driving this, with over 200k. I'm hoping for 400k.

My '98 has around 215k. Doesn't use oil and consistently gets 27mpg combined. 2.4 5-sp, cruise, air, nice stereo, and alarm. So I'm happy.

Hish, sure you want a big hog? Think about every trip for gas. 30 gallons x $4 = $120 for only 300 miles or so?

[Keetman]

The 2nd link is a 97 Dodge Ram that is the one I am looking at. After checking a bit I think you are right and I can probably get more cash for my car then barter down a good truck. May do that...

Duh. Reading comprehension is fundamental. I looked at the first link and ignored the second, sorry!

Now, the ram makes much more sense all the way around. I could see giving a kid one of those....in fact, I think it would be good in some respects. I also wondered what you were going to do with a 1 ton dually...not that it's any of my business....but that first link was a big damn truck!

How many miles on the ram?

[Hishiad]

151k miles, basically want/need a truck. Want to get something before summer so I can use it for all the planned projects. Wife will be buying a car of her choice pretty much anyday now, so the truck won't be a daily driver for too awful long.

Ideally I would like to have 3 cars.

Wife's
Truck
DD gas sipper

[buffbrown21]

Black cloud update. Many of the long time guys here know I've had a history of injury & bad luck. Here we go again.

Hiking last Saturday 25th. On fairly smooth ground, mostly sand & loose dirt. I step off a smooth rock about 8" tall & my knee collapsed. I could tell the second I looked at it that I had dislocated my kneecap. Tried to straighten my leg & it popped like a gun. I couldn't stand.

Had to call 911 & fire department got me out. Initial diagnosis is a torn patella & possible torn ACL. Still waiting on MRI. Insurance is a pain in the rear. I'm looking at surgery, 8 weeks on crutches, 6-8 months therapy. 6 months in a leg Immobilizer.

.

Ouch sorry brother. I feel your pain...literally.

Sorry I havent been around much guys. Ive been busy as hell at work (there was a round up here of almost 100 last week-I worked 2 14 hour days with no lunch break).
Then this past weekend I was in Tennessee for a funeral (my wife's aunt).

Anyways, been downsizing the gym a lot to make a little cash, consolidate and either get that room ready for my son to be born in May or get the house ready to sell. Im really hoping for option #2. The wife and I looked at houses a few times now and are 100% sure that we love the first one we looked at (that I told you guys about a week or so ago). The only ones that are any better are 50-60k higher in price.

Since everyone is posting their trucks, here is mine...

2006 Nissan Frontier

[dumb.bell]

Anyone have any thoughts on the benefits of doing this exercise. They sell the bar for around $300, but you can get very close to duplicating the experience with a regular Olympic bar, you just have to add a little more weight since the Olympic bar is heavier and more stable. I was somewhat tired on the first video, but had recovered by the second video. A standard bar might even work better than an Olympic bar since it is lighter.


http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...nt=Bamboo2.mp4

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...nt=Bamboo4.mp4

[ExtremistPullup]

Anyone have any thoughts on the benefits of doing this exercise. They sell the bar for around $300, but you can get very close to duplicating the experience with a regular Olympic bar, you just have to add a little more weight since the Olympic bar is heavier and more stable. I was somewhat tired on the first video, but had recovered by the second video. A standard bar might even work better than an Olympic bar since it is lighter.


http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...¤t=Bamboo2.mp4

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...¤t=Bamboo4.mp4

Looks nice and dangerous, how about pushups on rings.

[KBKB]

Anyone have any thoughts on the benefits of doing this exercise. They sell the bar for around $300, but you can get very close to duplicating the experience with a regular Olympic bar, you just have to add a little more weight since the Olympic bar is heavier and more stable. I was somewhat tired on the first video, but had recovered by the second video. A standard bar might even work better than an Olympic bar since it is lighter.

Seems like it might have benefits similar to those of the slosh pipe described by Dan John.

[cgc]

Anyone have any thoughts on the benefits of doing this exercise. They sell the bar for around $300, but you can get very close to duplicating the experience with a regular Olympic bar, you just have to add a little more weight since the Olympic bar is heavier and more stable. I was somewhat tired on the first video, but had recovered by the second video. A standard bar might even work better than an Olympic bar since it is lighter.

Man, I'm not going to lie...I lawl'd at the first video and the amount of shaking involved. I have NO doubt that it was awkward and hard to balance...and kudos for pulling it off. But the visual was just comical to me.

Seems like it might have benefits similar to those of the slosh pipe described by Dan John.

I think the slosh pipe would be nice, but I don't think you would get the back and fourth (head to toe) instability like you do with the above setup.

I think it would build some pretty good core work.

[dumb.bell]

Looks nice and dangerous, how about pushups on rings.

That is something I would definitely like to try. Eventually I hope to get some rings. I'm going to say that it doesn't just look dangerous that it is dangerous. I would either want a spotter or to have my head on the back side of the uprights in a cage so the bar couldn't get to me.

Seems like it might have benefits similar to those of the slosh pipe described by Dan John.

That also looks interesting, I'd like to try that too.

Man, I'm not going to lie...I lawl'd at the first video and the amount of shaking involved. I have NO doubt that it was awkward and hard to balance...and kudos for pulling it off. But the visual was just comical to me.

The funniest thing is that the bar doesn't weigh but somewhere around 5lb to 10lbs and they only had about a 100lbs on it. I also tried it with only about 50lbs on it and it still shook quite a bit. I don't know if anyone was laughing at me while I was on the bench; I was concentrating too much to hear anything. However, the next guy on the bench dwarfed me and he didn't do a whole lot better and his friends said he reps 405lbs. While he was on the bench I was laughing my ass off. The guy after him looked like he was maybe 6'5" 350lbs and he wasn't fat. Before getting on the bench he told me that he close grips 465lbs. He was able to control the bar much better, but they told him to shake it just a little. Once he did that, the bar went all over the place. I was still laughing at him when he walked back over to talk to me.

It is hard to believe such a small amount of weight can do that. My whole upper body was pumped and I felt exhausted.

[Keetman]

151k miles, basically want/need a truck. Want to get something before summer so I can use it for all the planned projects. Wife will be buying a car of her choice pretty much anyday now, so the truck won't be a daily driver for too awful long.

Ideally I would like to have 3 cars.

Wife's
Truck
DD gas sipper

This is exactly the vehicle situation we have at my house. Well, my car only gets about 25mpg or so, but its ok. For some time now, my wife has driven the Honda, I had my car, and I kept the SUV for hauling and a vacation vehicle....I can also pull my trailer with it, so I really had just about every base covered and they were all paid for. Having a third vehicle also makes it convenient when one of the others is in for repair.

When we got the new car for my wife.....it was a station wagon and its a turbo so its functional and an absolute pleasure to drive (seriously). It is clearly more dependable than the SUV and will now be our vacation vehicle and family ride. Now that the SUV isn't really going to be used for family stuff....I looked at it a month ago and decided that a truck would be so much simpler for loads that don't really need a 16' trailer, but are too big for a small SUV. She agreed and the search was on.....she just didn't know I planned on getting such a big truck. I figured I was going to set my sites on something that was nice enough to last for awhile and cheap enough to pay cash for (and make her happy budgetwise)....so I didn't want to compromise.

There really aren't that many trucks out there that had what I wanted, so I was either going to compromise or pay more than she wanted me to. It worked out so I'm real happy right now.

If the transmission goes out in a month....not so happy, but this is always the gamble with a used vehicle....eh? That truck would probably cost $50K new though, and this guy ain't buying a $50K vehicle that will sit in his driveway most of the time .





Skid..... that's a Tundra, isn't it? Funny, I drove past a Toyota dealership the other day and they had them sitting out there. I was impressed with the stock trucks....they actually looked pretty bad ass.

Buff... good luck with the house buddy, although you're going to miss your pool . Those nerf bars you have on your truck are exactly what I'm looking for. I saw last night that people are selling them on Craigs....so I might be able to snag me a deal on those too!

Good luck.

[dumb.bell]

Like I said in the earlier post, I tried this last night with a 45lb Olympic bar, hanging a 25lb plate from each side (50lbs). It didn't shake as much, but their was a similar affect. I'm guessing it might take a 150lbs on the Olympic bar to get a similar affect as I got from the 100lbs on that light weight bar.

I wonder if thick walled PVC would be strong enough to handle a 100lbs without breaking (it might flex too much)? There is bound to be something at Home Depot that could be used to get a similar affect with lower amounts of weight (I think that would make it safer).

[ExtremistPullup]

I wonder if thick walled PVC would be strong enough to handle a 100lbs without breaking (it might flex too much)? There is bound to be something at Home Depot that could be used to get a similar affect with lower amounts of weight (I think that would make it safer).

you could put 1 or 2 peices of rebar in the PVC. it will Will keep it from bending past it's breaking point and will still flex. Cap the ends shut.

[rthawker]

That is the Westside bandbell bar. Here is a video of Louie explaining it's uses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuU4GojGdkE

[buffbrown21]

That is something I would definitely like to try. Eventually I hope to get some rings. I'm going to say that it doesn't just look dangerous that it is dangerous. I would either want a spotter or to have my head on the back side of the uprights in a cage so the bar couldn't get to me.
.

Check your PMs.

Buff... good luck with the house buddy, although you're going to miss your pool . Those nerf bars you have on your truck are exactly what I'm looking for. I saw last night that people are selling them on Craigs....so I might be able to snag me a deal on those too!

Good luck.

No I wont.

[dumb.bell]

That is the Westside bandbell bar. Here is a video of Louie explaining it's uses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuU4GojGdkE

They make it look a lot easier with more weight and I'm sure they wouldn't have had any problems with what I was lifting. However, I noticed that their bands were stronger and the weight didn't jump around as much. When I used the 45lb bar last night I used thicker bands too. I think I'll try some more flexible bands with my 45lb bar and see if that makes it more unstable.

[Wildtim]

Anyone have any thoughts on the benefits of doing this exercise. They sell the bar for around $300, but you can get very close to duplicating the experience with a regular Olympic bar, you just have to add a little more weight since the Olympic bar is heavier and more stable. I was somewhat tired on the first video, but had recovered by the second video. A standard bar might even work better than an Olympic bar since it is lighter.


http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...¤t=Bamboo2.mp4

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...¤t=Bamboo4.mp4

I'm not a huge fan of instability training with weights. That said It looks like fun. I prefer to work on my cordination with something like olympic lifts, kettlebell swings, dumbbell complexes, or turkish get-ups, or my personal favorite indian clubs. If Iwant something that will place a similar demand on my core though I can do one arm dumbbell presses, it take a tone of core stability to balance the dumbbell with these.