Body Solid equipment?

What do you guys think of Body Solid equipment for a home gym? I have a friend with a ton of equipment in his garage (which I’ve been using lately), most of which is Body Solid. He wants to sell all of it. He said I could have everything for $2000…here is a basic list:

power rack
adjustable bench/rack combination
adjustable bench 1 (nice)
adjustable bench 2 (fair, not sure of brand)
standing rack (not sure what to call it)
dip/pullup stand
leg press machine
seated calf raise
leg ext machine
leg ext/leg curl machine
incline situp
hyperext bench
wide row machine
curl machine
curl bench
cable machine w/attachments
a few straight bars, and a cambered bar
ez curl bar (maybe two)
plates (Body Solid and “Standard”), at least 1000 lbs. worth
hex dumbells(5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,50,60,70 pairs)
db racks (two)
plate trees (three)
more stuff I may be forgetting

Obviously, I don’t need all of this. Although I know the Body Solid stuff isn’t the best, it seems to be working out ok for me when I’ve been using it in his garage. I figure I could sell or trade in some of the things I don’t want (Play It Again Sports). Then, I could get the few additional things I need, like more dumbells, some PlateMates for the db’s, a reverse hyper machine, maybe even some chains and/or bands eventually. Any opinions or feedback? I plan to put together a gym in my basement either way, it just happens that my friend has decided to get rid of this equipment. Should I do it, or would the money be better spent on some better equipment?

Gary

Body Solid is not bad. I’m pretty sure they offer a lifetime garantee on all their weight stuff. For the amount of stuff you’re talking about $2000 isn’t a bad deal.

I just ordered some of their new equipment, and yes it does offer a lifetime warranty.

I think for an at-home gym like mine, the stuff they produce is just fine. If you were looking to start a commercial gym, you may wish to look at other companies as well, but that’ll be much more $$$.

T.E. Young

foobar I just checked their site and it says In Home-One Year Warranty on all of their Powerline Equipment.

The rack looks like a really good deal.

I own a couple of pieces of body solid stuff and they are alright quality.

My power rack holes are 3" spacing though and this is a pain plus the holes don’t go down that low (prob for floor presses and rack pulls) I just got round the problem using 1/4" chain to support stuff not as convienient but does the job.

The guage of metal used is pretty thin compared to other racks i have used but its ok.

For that money though its a bargin. I be tempted to buy the whole lot and then flog the bits i didn’t want on E-bay. Or sell the lot and buy some Elite equipment!

I am a big fan of parabody equipment. their gyms are awesome.

I can’t really answer your question without knowing what type of training you’re into, but seeing how you spoke of bands and a reverse hyper, I would tend to think you train for more strength? If this is so a lot of the stuff you mentioned wouldn’t exactly be useful to you, but if you just want a cool full gym in the basement then go for it. It’s not the best equipment, but it sure is a hell of a deal.

If in your shoes, I’d just get a elite power rack with bench and dip attachment, a power bar, and some weights for roughly the same price. I guess it’s just all what you’re after.

Thanks for the input everyone!

I honestly have been spinning my wheels for a while going to weaknut commercial gyms. The one I actually kind of liked closed down, and the only remotely acceptable alternative doesn’t even have a power rack. Hence, my desire to set up a home gym.

In the past, I’ve done mostly bodybuilding type training, but even those routines were somewhat misguided. I’ve been doing a lot more reading and research lately, and I think I might want to try some strength oriented routines. I feel like I’m kinda weak for my size, and I’d like to do something about that so my interest is starting to shift. That’s why I mentioned even geting some chains or bands to try out. That won’t be for a while though. Hell, I just started doing deadlifts recently. So I have some work to do, and a lot to learn yet.

I had decided to look into the basics…a good quality power rack, bench, etc from someone like Elite. But with this stuff local, I have to consider it.

I bought a great home gym (power rack, roman chair, lat pulldown tower, bars, 300 lbs of weights, some other stuff)from a Phys Ed teacher for like $500. But, what I realized was I have zero motivation when working out at home and by myself and b) it wasn’t smart for the long run as I had to move a year later to a place I couldn’t set the gym up in. And now its going on 3yrs the stuff is in storage.

Make sure that a and b don’t apply to you

Also: it sounds like there;s a lot of stuff you don’t need. Instead of taking on the burden of trying to get rid of all the xtra equipment, have your buddy sell it. You take what you need and let him deal with Play it Again or ebay or whatever.

You don’t want to complicate your life unnecessarily.