Weight Training Equipment For Sale

I'm selling the following equipment. This decision is based on the need to make room and because of the evolution of my training. When I first started lifting weights, it was because I had a vague desire to become "strong". I did the usual health/fitness club type lifts (curls, dumbell bench presses, leg presses) with machines and dumbells because I didn't know there were better ways to train. The personal trainers that worked with me put me on the typical bodybuilding type program and tried to sell me supplements.

Results from this type of training were slow to come. I got a little stronger, but not much. I sure did not put on much muscle mass. I never really cared if I grew bulk muscle or not - absolute strength was my main concern, but I found it ironic that I followed a bodybuilding program that did not do a good job of bodybuilding.

I found a wrestling coach named Matt Furey and started taking lessons from him because I wanted to learn his style of "combat wrestling". However, he said, rightfully so, that I was too weak to take the rigors of training and sparring. He wanted me to do Hindu pushups and the wrestler's neck bridge but I was too weak to do either. So he put me on a program of regular pushups, situps, and wall walks (stand in front of a wall, bend backwards, and walk your head down the wall using your hands until your nose touches the wall). I eventually worked up to one-set rep maxes of 32 pushups, 51 Hindu squats. However, I did not note an improvement in my absolute strength. Propoents of the Furey method and similar programs may argue that I should have worked up to 200 Hindu squats and 100 Hindu pushups to realize absolute strength gains. If you are curious, feel free to try it for yourself. This was all before Furey started working with and promoting Lifeline equipment, most notably the Power Wheel, Chest Expanders, and Power Pushup.

I then discovered the methods of Pavel Tsatsouline. I bought my first kettlebell (16kg, or 36lbs) and my first Olympic barbell set for his Power To The People (PTP) program, which adopted the deadlift from the sport of powerlifting into a simplified program for developing absolute strength. Under Pavel's methods, I finally realized strength gains and fat loss. PTP was great because I only needed to do 2 exercises (deadlift and side press) and only 2 sets of each. The deadlift built up my back and lower body strength like no other exercise I tried previously.

Over time, I learned that there are several different kinds of strength and about specificity in strength training. Charles Staley wrote an article that offers a clear explanation of this specificity. When I realized that the types of strength I desired were best reflected by gymnasts and breakdancers, my training began to change. I realized I didn't need the barbell, because my goals are not the same as a powerlifter's, who want to deadlift 600lbs and above. Gymnastic/breakdancing strength does not require a 600lb deadlift. I can work the muscle groups trained by the deadlift by doing other exercises such as swings and snatches with kettlebells and hip-ups with the Power Wheel. I could get all the upper body strength training I need by using gymnastic bodyweight and ring training methods, supplemented by work with rubber bands/cables and lifting my kettlebells and clubbells. I have also been influenced by Scott Sonnon's notion of sophisticating movement rather than just "doing more" (as in more reps or with more weight).

Hopefully the reader now has a better idea of why I'm selling this stuff. I am however keeping my lighter Olympic weight plates for use with my Ironmind grip training devices.

Ironmind Olympic Bulldog II Barbell Collars

http://tinyurl.com/aos8e

Ironmind Apollon's Axle

http://tinyurl.com/aq7ct

Texas Power Bar

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7165285876

Body-Solid Olympic Plate Tree Rack

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7165291641