When planning on what equipment to use to build out a personal weight training center serious weight lifters will opt to use the Olympic style weight equipment every time. There are 4 primary pieces of weight lifting equipment that you need to conduct all of the essential exercises and meet any strength training goal. You will need a Bench, Dumbbell Set Olympic Weight Set and a Power Rack. You will find these types of weight lifting equipment in all commercial fitness centers and it is really all that you need whether you are a competing world class Olympic athlete or your aim is only self improvement.

1. Power Rack - The power rack is the greatest piece of weight lifting equipment ever invented!! It is essentially a steel cage that acts as support for many weight lifting exercises. It can support the Olympic bar for certain exercises including squats, military press, bench press, dead lifts, straight bar curls and many others. There is also a self spotting mechanism that can be incorporated into it by sliding the steel rods in through the front and out the back at the height level that you desire. This self spotting mechanism can be very useful when you are doing heavy squats without a reliable spotter. Like the bench and dumbbells it has many, many other weight lifting applications that I will not be able to list here. See below for a list of features that come with a common brand of power rack.

Powerline Power Rack Main Features:

A. Heat tempered lift offs and saber style safety rods keep your workouts safe, effective and simple. Features 18 adjustment levels.

B. Wide "walk in and out" design

C. Assembled Dimensions: 82"Height X 44" Length X 46"Width.

D. 41 inch wide knurled chinning bar

E. Upright pillars are a full 24 inches apart for free movement

F. Approximate Total weight: 136 pounds

G. Warranty - Powerline 10 Years on the frame - 1 Year on all other part

2. Olympic Weight Set - A standard set of Olympic plates should come with an Olympic Bar. The standard Olympic Bar is 7ft long and weighs 45lbs and you will need it to do most of the standard weight lifting applications with your Olympic Plates. Olympic plates run in size from 100 Kg all the way down to 2.5 lbs. I am based in the USA so I will use pounds as a weight reference. Standard weight sets will include a series of 45lb, 35lb, 25lb, 10lb and 5lb plates. Which weight plates and how many of each you need will depend on your personal workout program.

3. Bench & Dumbbells - The bench is a ubiquitous workout symbol and it has many, many more uses than just the standard bench press. (Note that we are talking about an portable, adjustable bench that can be adjusted to facilitate incline, decline and flat bench press exercises. A optimal bench will also have wheels attached for mobility which makes it optimal to move in and out of a power rack cage) There are literally hundreds of different exercises that you can perform on the bench, in fact, I am acquainted with a champion body builder who uses only the bench and a set of dumbbells for her workouts. That's really all you need. Here is a short list of some core bench exercises: dumbbell flys, mid rows, abdominal crunches, bench press, incline pres, decline press, leg curls and leg extensions. (Plus many, many more) Dumbbell sets typically run from 100lbs on down to 5lbs per dumbbell. Dumbbells do run heavier in weight but it is rare that you would ever need to go over 100lbs, even though they are available in the higher weight class.

That is really all there is to it. This weight training collection can be put together in any garage or basement and it can also form the cornerstone of a professional weight lifting center if it is your intention. If you have acquired these four main components then you can consider yourself in possession of a complete set of world class weight lifting equipment. This is all that you need to train for a wide variety of sports from the Olympics on down. Get started today on your path to lifelong strength and fitness by using weight lifting equipment to help accomplish your goals!

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