When I was building my garage gym, I googled "what makes a great weight bench for a home gym". The only results that came back were site after site listing their "best 20xx banks". There were no good tips. There was no one to explain what to look for.
In reality, each of those sites was simply a giant list of affiliate links that contained meaningless specs and the manufacturer's ad copy. All of that has been good. None of this helped me learn how to choose the right bench for me. At best, they just regurgitated things reviewers on Amazon had said.
When shopping for a weight bench for your home gym, you should look for a few key qualities. A well-constructed, stable, comfortable, safe, and reasonably priced adjustable bench will serve you well for years.
How do we figure out which benches have those things and which don't? Read on. By the end of this article, you'll know exactly what to look for, what will work best for your needs, and how much you'll need to spend to get it.
Can't you just go to Amazon and pick up a low priced bench? Isn't one bench as good as another? I've heard this and more from people trying to get away with spending as little on the bench as possible. I see him doing it on some things, but a bench deserves a little more consideration.
Not only is a weight bench an essential piece of equipment for your home gym, but it's one of the pieces you shouldn't go cheap on. There are many places you can save money on your gym, your bench press shouldn't be one of them.
Your weight bench will be something you use almost every time you use your gym. It's right up there with your bar when ranked by amount of use. And most importantly, it involves your direct contact and supports you during the lifts. Hopefully in safety.
When you're flat on the bench, with 200-400+ lbs. suspended across your chest, the last thing you need to worry about is the stability and build quality of your bench. When you're supporting yourself in any way with additional weight, it's crucial that your bench press is bulletproof.
Not only must it be safe, but it must also be comfortable. Pressing down on a bench with a 0.25-inch pad made of cheap foam is a world apart from a pad over an inch thick and made with quality material.
And speaking of quality material, a good bench should last for years. Saving money on your bench but collapsing it quickly didn't save you any money in the long run. Your bench will take a hit. Make sure you buy one that can handle it!
As you can see, a quality weight bench is an important piece of equipment for your gym. And that piece of equipment will come with a price. You simply shouldn't go cheap when it comes to buying a bench.
That said, that doesn't mean your bench needs to cost a fortune. There are also a lot of overpriced options out there (cough, cough, thief, cough, cough). They are overbuilt, overpriced, and a complete waste of money for most home gym owners.
Strokes are the key factor you should focus on when choosing your best weight bench:
- CHASSIS
- LEGS
- THE CARPET
- BEWARE OF THE GAP
