Small apartment setup

[simplesimon]

My wife is interested in strength training so I'm thinking of getting a little set up for her. We live in a suburb and I work in the city, train at a gym near work and my wife works from home. We explored gym options near our apartment, but the cheaper places don't have what we'd need and the nice places are very expensive. We live in a small apartment on the bottom floor (so deadlifts shouldn't bother anyone) but have no room for a rack or squat stand. I was planning to hand her the loaded bar with for squats, bench, press.

I was thinking of getting the following: Rogue 10kg junior bar (lighter bar will be nice for her press, plus it's shorter and more easy to maneuver in our apartment), short set of Rogue or Vulcan bumper plates, iron plates (10s, 5s, 2.5s), microplates, Titan bench, spring collars.

We may move to a bigger place in the next year or two where I'd like to have my own gym with a rack and platform and with these purchases right now I will just need a regular bar and more iron when the time comes.

Any thoughts or advice? Am I missing anything? Thank you in advance!

[simplesimon]

If you don't have room to set up a pair of squat stands, you don't really have room to lift.

I suppose there is room for stands, it was more of a storage issue. I felt like of all the things we need we could do without the stands, especially since I'd be with her whenever she trains.

[simplesimon]

It's a safety issue. You need to have something that is holding the bar while your wife is able to get under it comfortably. I doubt many dudes can hold 40kg at arms length while someone gets set up underneath.

Titan has squat stands for a low price, if you're in the USA.

Hm...yeah, of course. You're right. I suppose with storage I'd try to squeeze them next to each other to save space. We could do that.

Would something like this work? Amazon.com : Yaheetech 2pcs Adjustable Rack Standard Solid Steel Squat Stands Barbell Free Press Bench (44"-70") : Sports & Outdoors

[Hans Bachmann]

It's a safety issue. You need to have something that is holding the bar while your wife is able to get under it comfortably. I doubt many dudes can hold 40kg at arms length while someone gets set up underneath.

Titan has squat stands for a low price, if you're in the USA.

If your getting a bar, plates and bench, stands won't make that much of a difference. I train in my living room when the garage gets too cold in winter. I've got a foldable bench, Stands with adjustable J-hooks, and made a portable DL platform out of 3 pieces of 800x600mm 18mm birch ply with 10mm sheets of rubber ontop. fits into the corner just nicely. I mean, its there and takes away some room, but your supposed to use it regularly anyways. I'd prefer stands over getting the bar handed.

[Hans Bachmann]

Hm...yeah, of course. You're right. I suppose with storage I'd try to squeeze them next to each other to save space. We could do that.

Would something like this work? Amazon.com : Yaheetech 2pcs Adjustable Rack Standard Solid Steel Squat Stands Barbell Free Press Bench (44"-70") : Sports & Outdoors

These are the exact ones i have. They are cheap because they are made of 1mm tubing. they bend if you tighten the screws too much, so i rebuild and welded the lower part. I'd buy better ones, though they used to handle 350lbs fine.

[simplesimon]

With the junior bar, she won't be able to load up too much weight on it...about 200lbs at most, which I think will be plenty until a better solution can be had.

[simplesimon]

These are the exact ones i have. They are cheap because they are made of 1mm tubing. they bend if you tighten the screws too much, so i rebuild and welded the lower part. I'd buy better ones, though they used to handle 350lbs fine.

Do you have any issues with the stands tipping when racking the bar?