Time to upgrade a cheap York vinyl set of weights

Paddysniper

Hello,

I have searched through boards and found some useful tips on this topic but I'm looking for a more recent opinion on what's out there regarding barbell sets.

I have owned a York vinyl set of weights plus bench for a number of years but now I'm looking to get more weight and I think it's false economy just buying more vinyls for what I have.

I won't be doing any dead lifting or anything serious, my goal is to lose weight and tone up and if I bulk up its a bonus.
So do I need to go for Olympic bars and if so what are must haves?
Also what kind of plates are recommended? To get quality and the specs needed for this gear, at what cost?
Any decent suppliers now?
I'd appreciate any advice given.
Thanks.

Alf Veedersane

What kind of exercises do you do and what kind of weight to you use?

You don't necessarily need to go for an Olympic bar but if you want to check one out and the plates to go with it, check out D8Fitness.

Aside from that, you could look at replacing the vinyl weights with cast iron ones that take up less space on your bar and means you can put more weight on the bar than you can with the vinyl.

Paddysniper

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

What kind of exercises do you do and what kind of weight to you use?

You don't necessarily need to go for an Olympic bar but if you want to check one out and the plates to go with it, check out D8Fitness.


Aside from that, you could look at replacing the vinyl weights with cast iron ones that take up less space on your bar and means you can put more weight on the bar than you can with the vinyl.

Only using about 70lbs now as it's all I've got. As for exercises I'm doing a pretty standard setup, following the York system exercises from the book I got years ago with the weights.

Alf Veedersane

Is it a bench type set up? Maybe check what level of weight it can hold, just to be sure, but it should be fine.

70lbs is about 30kg. For about €75, you could get two 10kg plates and four 5kg plates in Argos.

You can get 2.5kg and 1.25kg plates as well.

That's just one option.

It depends on how much you train and how much you can spend really. You could get better quality and go heavier etc but that'll cost you.

Paddysniper

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Is it a bench type set up? Maybe check what level of weight it can hold, just to be sure, but it should be fine.

70lbs is about 30kg. For about €75, you could get two 10kg plates and four 5kg plates in Argos.

You can get 2.5kg and 1.25kg plates as well.

That's just one option.

It depends on how much you train and how much you can spend really. You could get better quality and go heavier etc but that'll cost you.

Well I can see myself keeping this up in the future and progress. Hoping to train 3 times a week. I could go the option you're saying but once I've the bar filled with a few more discs there won't be much room left and the bar will be under pressure I'd imagine.

Alf Veedersane

Then you might want to look at your budget and what you want now and in the future.

rubadub

YOu can get cast irons as said, they take up far less room so can fit on along with the vinyl ones.

But is the barbell hollow? some vinyl kits come with hollow bars and can bend about 60-80kg or so.

In which case it might be more cost effective to buy a 50kg barbell & dumbbell kit. As you may need a new barbell anyway and they can cost a bit more separately. -but the problem with kits is the plates you get will be small. If buying separately you could get a couple of 20kg plates.

Paddysniper

rubadub wrote: »

YOu can get cast irons as said, they take up far less room so can fit on along with the vinyl ones.

But is the barbell hollow? some vinyl kits come with hollow bars and can bend about 60-80kg or so.

In which case it might be more cost effective to buy a 50kg barbell & dumbbell kit. As you may need a new barbell anyway and they can cost a bit more separately. -but the problem with kits is the plates you get will be small. If buying separately you could get a couple of 20kg plates.

Yeah the cast ones are an option. The bar is a simple hollow bar a little over an inch in diameter I'd say. True about the sets, don't need a load of 2.5lb weights lying around. Any places ye recommend that sells them?