'Look What I Bought Today!' - Part Deux

[McBrody]

Awesome sounds like you got it down pat and congrats, how much did the Precor flat bench total out too, or in what ball park if you don't mind me asking?

I believe it was 500 and change, with the shipping it was 600 and change. It was shipped regular UPS. I bought it through Advantage Sports and Fitness, they were great. https://www.advantagefitness.com/products

[Duplicitous]

I believe it was 500 and change, with the shipping it was 600 and change. It was shipped regular UPS. I bought it through Advantage Sports and Fitness, they were great. https://www.advantagefitness.com/products

Wow, that's a pricey flat bench.

[McBrody]

Wow, that's a pricey flat bench.

For me, it was worth it. It had specs I was looking for and the quality is excellent. I was looking at the Rogue Monster Utility bench but some of the reviews said it wobbles when you sit down on the edge with heavy dumbbells, that was a deal breaker for me.

[boxer_for_life]

For me, it was worth it. It had specs I was looking for and the quality is excellent. I was looking at the Rogue Monster Utility bench but some of the reviews said it wobbles when you sit down on the edge with heavy dumbbells, that was a deal breaker for me.

Assuming you’re using it on the carpeted floor you took those pictures on, wouldn’t all benches have some play due to the padding underneath?

[urbanlifter]

Wow, that's a pricey flat bench.

First thing I thought when I saw the Precor, man it kinda looks like a re-braded TKO ($350)....

https://www.ironcompany.com/flat-weight-bench-tko

[McBrody]

First thing I thought when I saw the Precor, man it kinda looks like a re-braded TKO ($350)....

https://www.ironcompany.com/flat-weight-bench-tko

Good eye Urban but the Precor is 20 lbs heavier, plus the TKO is 18" high, the Precor is 15" high and it actually measures 14 1/2" high. The TKO would be useless to me, maybe not to someone else.

[McBrody]

Assuming you’re using it on the carpeted floor you took those pictures on, wouldn’t all benches have some play due to the padding underneath?

No, the Precor bench and my adjustable bench have no play, they don't move at all.

My guess with the Rogue Monster bench is that the front foot may be a little too narrow, perhaps that's why some people complain about it wobbling when they sit down with heavy dumbbells. One guy even welded a plate to it, to modify it.

★★★★★
★★★★★5 out of 5 stars.
mbaker1020
· a year ago
Solid Bench - - Added foot plate
Monster Utility w/ T - Fat Pad is an excellent bench.

To resolve the tilt issue when sitting on the single post end and rocking up a heavy dumbbell I replaced the small plastic cover with a 8x12 inch steel plate. Retained the low profile and absolutely no tilt. This (or similar) plate should come standard or sold an option. It completed the bench for me.

[Duplicitous]

Picked up another vintage Nautilus piece. Not really sure where to put it, but I suppose I’ll make room somewhere.

[urbanlifter]

Good eye Urban but the Precor is 20 lbs heavier, plus the TKO is 18" high, the Precor is 15" high and it actually measures 14 1/2" high. The TKO would be useless to me, maybe not to someone else.

18" is very doable for me at 5'9", I actually think the Precor would be too low for me to comfortably get leg drive.

[thedickus]

Finally got my bar storage set up. Just bought the Rogue gun rack, SSB, and Multi-Grip bar. The Multi-Grip bar came the day after my chest workout and the SSB in the afternoon after I had already finished my leg workout. I'll give them a full try out next week. Still waiting on the Rogue HG collars. Hoping they'll be here before the weekend.

[Oxidated]

Is anyone familiar with TechnoGym Spazio Forma treadmill?

(random picture)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar7BcwCIsEs

I'm not at all a runner, but I would like a decent treadmill.
I can't find much about this one. I assume it's a base model from around 2015.
Specs say: 2kW / 2.75Hp motor, 16km/h max speed, 12% max gradient.
Max speed seems low.

I think the reverse-Covid equipment sell off is beginning to happen.

[Duplicitous]

Is anyone familiar with TechnoGym Spazio Forma treadmill?

(random picture)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar7BcwCIsEs

I'm not at all a runner, but I would like a decent treadmill.
I can't find much about this one. I assume it's a base model from around 2015.
Specs say: 2kW / 2.75Hp motor, 16km/h max speed, 12% max gradient.
Max speed seems low.

I think the reverse-Covid equipment sell off is beginning to happen.

It's a residential unit with only a 2.75 HP motor, a top speed just under 10 mph, a 19" W belt and a max user weight of 286 lbs. By comparison, the Life Fitness 95T (arguably, one of the best treadmills ever built) has a 4.0 HP motor, 15 mph top speed, 21.5" W belt and max user weight of 400 lbs. If funds permit, I always recommend commercial units over residential (Life Fitness gets my #1 vote for treadmills). Commercial units will perform better and last longer.

[Oxidated]

It's a residential unit with only a 2.75 HP motor, a top speed just under 10 mph, a 19" W belt and a max user weight of 286 lbs. By comparison, the Life Fitness 95T (arguably, one of the best treadmills ever built) has a 4.0 HP motor, 15 mph top speed, 21.5" W belt and max user weight of 400 lbs. If funds permit, I always recommend commercial units over residential (Life Fitness gets my #1 vote for treadmills). Commercial units will perform better and last longer.

Fair point.
Price on the one above isn't good enough to tempt for now.
The folding feature isn't necessary for me, and it's likely a weak point. I do like the smaller footprint of these units. The commercial ones are behemoths without exception, and ugly to boot.

If it were this newer model by TechnoGym, I'd probably get it.
https://www.technogym.com/int/home-treadmill-myrun.html

Appreciate the tip regarding Life Fitness treadmills. I've scorned treadmills for so long that I'm completely out of current trends.

[hockeyplayer45]

I picked a pair of 25's recently and am not familiar with this brand. Anything special about "American Worldclass Barbells" Made in the USA weight plates? Are they worth any extra money?

[Duplicitous]

I picked a pair of 25's recently and am not familiar with this brand. Anything special about "American Worldclass Barbells" Made in the USA weight plates? Are they worth any extra money?

I believe that company is/was based in Long Beach, CA. I don't know anything about the plates and have never seen them in person.

[Lifts4longevity]

So I finally got my Jack Lalanne plates finished and put into use, as well as the brand new Cap OB-86PBCK black oxide bar that I bought on sale for $100 in 2017 and stashed in the closet. I knew from the start that I was going to mutilate a new Olympic bar by stripping the sleeves off and cutting the bar to a specific length so I could use my 1" standard plates with it.

Not surprisingly, there really aren't any options for 1" bars as far as coatings and knurling goes, so I opted to get an entry level (quality) olympic bar that was readily available, and hack it up. I sliced the collars from the Cap sleeves in half, tapped them for 8mm bolts, and used them as inner collars.

My generic 1" chrome bar with spinlock collars was getting pretty bad. Chrome would flake while bench pressing and end up on your face, or worse, in your eyes. The cheap rough knurling on that bar was like gripping a bar wrapped in rusty barbed wire. The new 28.5mm Cap power bar is more like wrapping your hands around Cindy Crawford's ass.

To finish it off, I treated myself last week to a new pair of Ivanko C-3 (1-1/16") compression collars, but I have to finish grinding them so they fit the bigger bar.

[Asjogren]

So I finally got my Jack Lalanne plates finished and put into use, as well as the brand new Cap OB-86PBCK black oxide bar that I bought on sale for $100 in 2017 and stashed in the closet. I knew from the start that I was going to mutilate a new Olympic bar by stripping the sleeves off and cutting the bar to a specific length so I could use my 1" standard plates with it.

Not surprisingly, there really aren't any options for 1" bars as far as coatings and knurling goes, so I opted to get an entry level (quality) olympic bar that was readily available, and hack it up. I sliced the collars from the Cap sleeves in half, tapped them for 8mm bolts, and used them as inner collars.

My generic 1" chrome bar with spinlock collars was getting pretty bad. Chrome would flake while bench pressing and end up on your face, or worse, in your eyes. The cheap rough knurling on that bar was like gripping a bar wrapped in rusty barbed wire. The new 28.5mm Cap power bar is more like wrapping your hands around Cindy Crawford's ass.

To finish it off, I treated myself last week to a new pair of Ivanko C-3 (1-1/16") compression collars, but I have to finish grinding them so they fit the bigger bar.

Wow. That’s a pretty cool setup

[Lifts4longevity]

Wow. That’s a pretty cool setup

I appreciate the encouragement! I have so much more work to do to get this setup closer to what I think is ideal, but I'm still plugging away at it as time permits.

[urbanlifter]

Had no intention on buying another pulldown, but I've never seen one of these in the wild so curiosity killed the cat. I've always regarded the York FTS Power Cage lat pulldown attachment as the best in the biz so I rolled the dice to see what the standalone was like. Wow! This thing feels 10x heavier than the Body Solid Pro units I have owned in the past, and very smooth.York knows their pulldowns! Now I can say I've owned both the STS and FTS series, the STS was also smooth as butter.

[murphyreedus]

Had no intention on buying another pulldown, but I've never seen one of these in the wild so curiosity killed the cat. I've always regarded the York FTS Power Cage lat pulldown attachment as the best in the biz so I rolled the dice to see what the standalone was like. Wow! This thing feels 10x heavier than the Body Solid Pro units I have owned in the past, and very smooth.York knows their pulldowns! Now I can say I've owned both the STS and FTS series, the STS was also smooth as butter.

Looks good, similar design to my old Keys Fitness lat pulldown (which was extremely smooth). What made you get rid of your previous pulldowns? I don't think I'll ever again willingly have a gym without a pulldown, it's one of the accessory pieces I use regularly. My local PIAS just got in a commercial stack unit with mid-row, and I'm tempted, but it's only a 250 stack and the footprint is quite a bit bigger than my current plate-loaded unit.

[matrix563]

I added some good dumbbells! Lol

[EricAtl]

I added some good dumbbells! Lol

Very nice!

[matrix563]

Very nice!

Lol thanks. Very expensive too😬

[urbanlifter]

Looks good, similar design to my old Keys Fitness lat pulldown (which was extremely smooth). What made you get rid of your previous pulldowns? I don't think I'll ever again willingly have a gym without a pulldown, it's one of the accessory pieces I use regularly. My local PIAS just got in a commercial stack unit with mid-row, and I'm tempted, but it's only a 250 stack and the footprint is quite a bit bigger than my current plate-loaded unit.

It was a strange progression over the past couple years. The best last pulldown I've ever owned was the York STS with stack, but I like to move things around frequently and a 500lb+ machine wasn't an easy move. So I decided to sell it for profit and grab a plate loaded machine, think I ended up finding that older Bombproof looking one. But that ended up getting sold for the Bodysolid machine, which also got flipped for profit during the pandemic (see a pattern? LOL). But I can never do without a high pulley either, so I've been using my cheap rack attached version until something better surfaced.

[murphyreedus]

Picked up a few things recently. Basement gym turned into a garage gym, so everything is a little cramped and messy as I figure out where things are going. Adding more things definitely helps that, haha.

Body Power dip/chin:


Yukon calf raise:


Titan Tibia Dorsi calf machine:


I also picked up a nice garage screen door off eBay, but haven't put it up yet. Been sealing up the garage and am probably going to insulate and add more lighting soon. Looking hard at standing up a detached garage for the gym so I don't know if I'm going to get set up for a mini split or anything too crazy in the attached garage yet.

[tytw00]

How do you like the calf raise? I believe that is the model where the base plate (where the balls of your foot rest) pivot as you go through the range of motion. I always thought that was a good idea but never found one to try. Thanks.

Picked up a few things recently. Basement gym turned into a garage gym, so everything is a little cramped and messy as I figure out where things are going. Adding more things definitely helps that, haha.


Yukon calf raise:

[urbanlifter]

First MAG now Prime, $147 on Amazon + rewards points vs $193 + shipping through Prime.

https://www.amazon.com/Attachment-Ma...goods&sr=1-125

Also, this appears to be the first legitimate MAG knockoff set and you certainly pay the price for it.

https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Down-Acc...8DM3VDSJ&psc=1

[murphyreedus]

Biggins "Play It Again Sports" edition iron. Picked up a pair to try out. Haven't decided if I'll grab any more. They aren't perfect, but I do like the grips and this pair is right on for accuracy.

[murphyreedus]

How do you like the calf raise? I believe that is the model where the base plate (where the balls of your foot rest) pivot as you go through the range of motion. I always thought that was a good idea but never found one to try. Thanks.

I think it's a good idea too based on the 2 times I've used it now. Very comfortable but definitely blasting the soleus. Like most Yukon stuff it's not ultra heavy duty, but more than adequate for a home gym.

[Skidmarx]

I also picked up a nice garage screen door off eBay, but haven't put it up yet.

Can you post a link to that please? I need one. I'm sick of nosy people in my subdivision slowing down to check out my gym every time I have the garage door open and working out. It's weird.