Average Dave's Upgrades - Weight Bench

I've mentioned my first weight bench here before.  A couple years after I got that bench, I had outgrown it.  The weight I was lifting plus my body weight was approaching the weight limit for the bench.  I went on the eBay and found a dude selling a weight bench in my area.  For $125, I bought a torn up piece of crap weight bench; but it came with approximately 400lbs of Olympic size weights and a bar.  At $0.03/lbs, the weight alone was an awesome deal.  This bench took me to a whole new level of weight lifting, now I was using equipment like the stuff in a real gym.

Since the Misses and I doing Body for Life together, this bench proved to be a real drawback.  First of all, it was bulky and hard to move around.  Average Dave's is in a small room in my basement with the furnace.  We do a variety of exercises, and the bench needs to get out of the way if we do squats or any standing exercises.  Also, the incline on the bench wasn't that sturdy and wasn't easy to set up.  You have to hold up the bench while trying to get a pin through a little hole in the bench.  So, I asked the finance committee (The Misses, and only the Misses) if I could buy a new bench.

I got a Bowflex SelectTech 5.1 Series bench a couple weeks ago.  First of all, it looks bad ass.  The black and red leather is a real upgrade from the ripped plastic like material.  Second, it has wheels and a handle. Compared to my old bench, it is super easy to pick up and move to a new second.  Third, it has 6 positions from 90 degrees to decline, and it is really easy to move between positions.  You just pick the bench up and let the arm fall into the slot you want it.  It feels much more secure than my old bench.  I love it.

One drawback I think this bench has is that it is pretty long, so it takes up a lot of room.  It is hard to transition from a exercise on the bench to another standing exercise because it is so big.  Really, this is more a drawback of Average Dave's limited square footage than the bench.  Also, I now use my squat rack to hold the bar when I am doing bench press.  It's taking me a little while to get used to racking the bar and not hitting the pins when exercising, but I'll get there.

Oh, and according to Play to Again Sports, my old weight bench was worth $12, $15 in store credit.