Question on assembling a weight bench

[Shadowknight]

Today I went by Target and used a GF on buying a Champion weight bench. First of all, the instructions suck. You have to look at extremely tiny schematics for assembling it, and it doesn't tell you which washers to use for which part (normal, curved to go against a bar, and a couple of different sizes in addition to that). Anyway, I assembled it and the nuts and bolts are EXTREMELY loose. Granted, to get the "final" tightening you want to use a tool of some sort, but I can't even get the nuts to get flush with the metal surface it's supposed to be tight against. These nuts have a little ring of plastic on part of the inner portion, so it keeps me from going "all the way." I'm not very experienced hardware guy (obviously), but is there something funky about using those type of nuts that I have to do to get them to work right?

 

[cheesehead]

I can't say. You may be missing a lock washer- they're like washers with little tiny bits poking off of them that prevent turning.

Alternately, go to your local hardware store and get some better-quality nuts and bolts. Or, just weld the stupid thing together.

Finally, make sure that you've got some tabs on the "arms" of the weight bench aside from those at the top - these are used to catch the bar if you can't support it, and can't get it back up to the top. It's not a replacement for a spot, but better safe than sorry, eh?

Also, for maximum benifit, there's a thin margin between to little and too much. I would find the amount of weight that you're unable to do 3 reps of 10 at, and then decrease it by about 10 lbs - this has worked well for me so far, doing 3 sets of 10 reps 3 times a week (every other day). You should be able to do 3 sets of 10 (what my teacher/trainer reccomends), but only barely - you should not be able to do a 4th set. If you can, you need to add more weight.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead

Finally, make sure that you've got some tabs on the "arms" of the weight bench aside from those at the top - these are used to catch the bar if you can't support it, and can't get it back up to the top. It's not a replacement for a spot, but better safe than sorry, eh?

Eh, it's a cheap bench that only has the top thing. Then again, it was only $100 and I have some dumb bells but not a barbell. When I do get a barbell I don't plan on getting a set more than in the 100-150lb range. I'm not looking to go Mr. Universe, just build up a little strength.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Today I went by Target and used a GF on buying a Champion weight bench. First of all, the instructions suck. You have to look at extremely tiny schematics for assembling it, and it doesn't tell you which washers to use for which part (normal, curved to go against a bar, and a couple of different sizes in addition to that). Anyway, I assembled it and the nuts and bolts are EXTREMELY loose. Granted, to get the "final" tightening you want to use a tool of some sort, but I can't even get the nuts to get flush with the metal surface it's supposed to be tight against. These nuts have a little ring of plastic on part of the inner portion, so it keeps me from going "all the way." I'm not very experienced hardware guy (obviously), but is there something funky about using those type of nuts that I have to do to get them to work right?

That's just a nylock nut. You need to tighten it until the bolt goes through the nut, it shouldn't stop there. It's tough to tighten without a wrench, but they resist loosening up on their own.

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
That's just a nylock nut. You need to tighten it until the bolt goes through the nut, it shouldn't stop there. It's tough to tighten without a wrench, but they resist loosening up on their own.

Yeah, after digging around the old tool box, I found a wrench and a pair of pliers did the trick nicely. Should be fine now, I think, though I found a couple of pieces of metal started bending in a bit when I kept tightening, so I didn't "tighten it till it stopped" I just tightened it until it was nice and "solid."