Thurston
Winger
I got some more plates for this lockdown from an engineering company who saw the opportunity. Decent prices too.Sold my weights for buttons as I went to the gym instead. Getting a dry bag to fill with sand as a sort of kettlebell.
Surprised some clever person hasn't knocked up their own dumbells to flog; it can't be that difficult to manufacture them. Definitely money to be made.
Obviously it’s easier to churn out metal plates than full dumbbells as it’s pretty much just a case of getting a metal forging and boring a 2 inch hole in the middle. Nonetheless, if you have a bar and some plates you have everything you need.
I don’t have a squat rack so I do mostly rows, deadlifts, barbell hack squats (underrated), complexes on top of bodyweight stuff, and when I want to do shoulder press or squats I have to clean the bar into position which adds some extra intensity to the workout. I’ve seen more improvement from this than I have in the last six months of being in the gym (previous lockdown not withstanding).
It made me think that having a fully equipped gym with lots of machines and such is nice, but you can fool yourself into thinking you’re doing more, when in reality you’re doing less of the basics which really get the results and more supplemental work which is less effective. Plate loaded machines definitely have their uses but in terms of bio-mechanics they will never be as effective at engaging practically every muscle in your body in the way things like squats, deadlifts and overhead presses do.