EZ Curl & Dumbbell recommendations for home gym?

[gemini929]

Looking ahead at some intermediate training programs, I see that many (like Andy Baker's Powerlifting Program) require an EZ Curl bar for tricep extensions and some dumbbells for incline press and rows. As a basement lifter still doing NLP, I haven't needed this equipment up to this point but wanted to ask for recommendations from those more experience than I am.

The EZ Curl bar seems to be pretty straight away. My main concern here is price. Can I get a decent bar for < $100 or do I need to spend more like I did on an olympic bar?

Dumbbells seems to be more complicated as there are many options. A full set of dumbbells is fairly expensive and would take up a lot of space. Has anyone had a good experience with adjustable dumbbells (ex PowerBlock, Bowflex etc.)?

[Mark Rippetoe]

A home gym is not expected to have a rack of dumbbells. Leave those out of the program unless you are training in a commercial gym.

[jfsully]

I got an EZ curl on Craigslist for about $20 and it works fine. As long as the sleeves spin OK, it should be adequate.

I got Olympic (2” sleeves) dumbbell handles for about $35 each at Dick’s, and a bunch of their cheapest change plates for about $1 per lb. I was trying to get the plates on Craigslist too, but if you want to outfit 2 dumbbells, you need twice as many weights as you think, and I got tired of waiting for a large set to show up for sale.

I think the cost of the dumbbells this way is pretty close or even a little less than a set of even the cheapest adjustable sets, and they seem less fiddly and I find the round plates more friendly to wield than the big rectangular blocks.

[bobman]

You can get a easy curl bar that handles Olympic plates off Craigslist for little money

I have a set of power block dumbbells they work great highly recommend

[Bruce Ware]

Looking ahead at some intermediate training programs, I see that many (like Andy Baker's Powerlifting Program) require an EZ Curl bar for tricep extensions and some dumbbells for incline press and rows. As a basement lifter still doing NLP, I haven't needed this equipment up to this point but wanted to ask for recommendations from those more experience than I am.

The EZ Curl bar seems to be pretty straight away. My main concern here is price. Can I get a decent bar for < $100 or do I need to spend more like I did on an olympic bar?

Dumbbells seems to be more complicated as there are many options. A full set of dumbbells is fairly expensive and would take up a lot of space. Has anyone had a good experience with adjustable dumbbells (ex PowerBlock, Bowflex etc.)?

I'm also a basement-gym lifter, and I have 2 sets of PowerBlock dumbbells. One I purchased from an athletic goods store is adjustable from 5 pounds to 50 pounds; the other I bought from a guy selling his stuff on e-bay, and they are adjustable from 5 to 90 pounds. I've had really very good results and no mechanical problems (like having the pins fall out and weights hit my feet) using them. (I have heard of customer reviews that the Bowflex/Nautilus version has experienced some mechanical issues along those lines. That was a while ago; they may have fixed things since then.)

One oddity of the PowerBlock configuration is that you can add by 2.5 pound increments, BUT only every other level. For example, the handle alone weighs 5 pounds; I can add one internal bar (2.5) to make a 7.5 pound handle, or both internal bars to make it a 10 pound handle. To go to the next level, I can remove both internal bars and put on the next size plate for a total of 15 pounds. There's no way to get to 12.5 pounds. It's 15, then 17.5, then 20, then 25, 27.5, 30, and so on.

OK, so not a problem down at this low weight; but you can imagine when you're up there doing a pair of 70 pound PBs for dumbbell chest presses and it's really heavy and you'd like to move up -- but ya gotta go to 75 for the next increment. A 5 pound jump on each arm might be a bit more than you want to challenge.

I don't use them much at this stage - I'm still working through NLP and strictly barbell - but when I did use them, I just started taking my barbell micro-load weights and tying them on to the PB dumbbell with a short length of rope for reducing the incremental jumps. Looked kinda silly, but hey, it's my basement and no one is looking anyway.

I love the flexibility that PowerBlock offers, and there are expansion kits you can buy to go beyond 90 pounds; kind of price-y, but the alternative is a wall of dumbbells like you see at commercial gyms.

[porcopedico]

I have a set of adjustable dumbbells similar to bowflex that go from 5 to 32.5 kg in 2.5 kg increments bought before I had space for bar, plates and stands . I had used them a lot and still like them for accessory work.
Main disadvantage is their big size and sometimes increments are to big so I have to vary rep numbers to progress.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Weigh each dumbbell. You might be surprised what you find.