Equipment Question...Your Opinion is Needed

[stealth_s15]

For the past 3 months I have been following Rippetoe's program at my school's gym. Now that summer is here and school is out, I have continued the program at home. Here is where my problem is...

- Bench...I have a bench with leg attatchment I bought from Sears a few months back when I had a standard weight set. Since I've been doing Rippetoe's I needed more weight so I bought a 300 Olympic weight set that came with a bar, weights, and collars. The problem here is that the bench I have now is not Olympic width, meaning the bar is uneven when I bench and makes me bench only at shoulder width and I usually go with a wider grip. I have something like this http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...cemldffidfmg.0

- Squat...I squat 3x/week and having no squat rack sucks. I have been doing hack squats for a while just so I can continue to squat. I would really like 2 adjustable racks that I can use rather than a squat rack (too much $$$). Anyone know where I can get these adjustable racks at?

What should I do?

*Note: My basement does not have a high enough ceiling to have a power rack.

A) Keep the bech I have now and just continue to bench the way I do (closer grip than usual) and just get 2 adjustable racks so I can squat.

B) Get an Olympic size bench and get the 2 adjustable racks so I can squat.

C) Get an Olympic size bench that will allow me to bench correctly that also has a squat rack on it.

My budget is around $300. What should I do?

[Riddick2112]

with so many limitations on space and equipment, you might want to think about finding a gym to train at for the summer.

[EricT]

I have everything in my basement and the ceiling is fairly low. It won't fit a power rack but it will fit a squat rack (adjustable with safety catches). How low is the ceiling? One good rack and a bench to go in it will take care of everything.

But even if you can fit in a rack you'll be limited with overhead work, etc. You'd need 7.5 feet to make it somewhat comfortable. Average rack height is around 82 inches (6.8 feet). Otherwise you should probably join a gym.

NewYork Barbell has one that's 72" high...(excellent sale price, btw):

http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/pro93120.html

This one here is only 6 feet (more expensive, and no that's not my page, haha):

http://bodybuildingequipment.ericsgy...rack/index.htm

The trick, if you can fit it in, is to get a "spotter rack" rather than any kind of "squat rack". A cage would be a spotter rack or on of these kinds I've linked. When your space is limited you want to be able to do everything in one spot but I would NOT buy anything that 1. didn't have any safety catches (spotters) or 2. limited you to only one heigh or adjustment (i.e. just squatting).

So anyway, imo, you'd be much better off saving your money until you can get something versatile and safe. It is very unsafe for a lone person to be squatting without any safety cathches. Anything can happen. It's a waste of money to spend a couple hundred bucks on nothing more than a barbell holder when you will be sacrificing safety and limiting what you can do.