Gold's Gym XR 10.1 Olympic Weight Bench with Weight Storage

Can't beat the price for what you get...I looked at tons of benches and this is the one that caught my eye for the price. It only took a couple of hours to put together and the instructions were pretty clear during assembly...so that was a plus. I've used it on an incline, decline and flat press. The seat has multipositions which is great. You can set it to an upright position and use dumbells for curls or military press. Overall its a good deal.

My 17 year old son has gotten into a fitness phase and wanted a bench and weights. The problem I encountered when shopping around was to find something for a full size person. He is about 6' 1" and weights about 210. Most everything I found advertised runs on the small size.......seem to be actually designed to 12 -15 year olds with smaller frames. In order to get something larger size I found that I was going to have to go with the Olympic style sets. These seem to have a larger bench and the weight stand itself is designed for 6 or 7 foot bars. (Most standard sets only use 5 foot bars.) This bench is attractive and functional. The only two concerns I have at all are: 1. The weight support uses a insert and then twist down until the catch arm is secure. It works but seems to be easily twisted slightly.......and while it has not happened.......I am concerned about it getting twisted and possibly getting knocked out trying to put the weights back on the arms. We always lift with a spotter handy so we are careful and I am also looking at some way to maybe add something to secure these so they cannot accidentally get knocked off. 2. The bench itself is okay but I wonder about LONG TERM durability. The wood used is MDF mounted on twin metal rails and I don't know how it will hold up long term. I can handle this when and if it gets damaged...........just cut a replacement out of real plywood and reuse the fabric and staple it back in place, but others may not have the tools available to do this. TO NOTE...........this is common with ALL benches.......not just this one. So you are not going to be able to look around and find something otherwise. I just wanted to point it out. Then again.........it may last for years and years and never be an issue. All in all...........this is a nice bench, well worth the money and is a good value. It is comparable to anything in its price range and maybe even those above it's price range. I am pleased with the purchase and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. This fits my 6 foot son well and he is pleased.