Weightlifting/home gym questions

[badasswizard]

Today while out for a walk, I found a 45 pound olympic barbell someone had left in their trash pile and brought it home. It's slightly rusted and has places where the shiny finish is coming off. I used to be a member of a Crossfit gym but couldn't justify the high monthly rate for my level of attendance. I've been missing barbells so I was excited to find one.

1. How can I fix the surface of the barbell to prevent further rusting/ me needing a tetanus shot? Or do I even need to do anything?
2. What is a reasonable price to pay for secondhand weight plates on Craigslist or at a sporting goods store? I have seen $0.40-$0.70/pound in my area on Craigslist.
3. Any suggestions for where to work out? I have a yard, a porch with a wooden floor and a shed with a wooden floor that's up on concrete blocks. If only I had a concrete slab garage! I do have a short sidewalk leading up to my house but don't want to drop the weights into my recently done landscaping. I'm thinking the yard is my best option, but is there anything I should know about lifting weights over soft surfaces?

Thanks!

[fullpampers]

For the barbell, you could just use some sandpaper to remove the rust. Then just give it a wipe down with wd40 or anything simlar once in a while to prevent the rust from coming back.

[Crazycarl]

Steel wool with some oil will do good for the metal, as long as you keep using it, it should keep the rust off for the most part, or a light oil rub of any kind is good.

Anything under $1.00 / lb is good for weight cost, especially if in Olympic size.

Do you have a basement? If you are dropping the weights, check out a local carpet store and look for large scrap pieces and stack them up. You could even tie them together to create a tighter surface that wont fall apart. I wouldn't workout on a wooden porch or floor, but would use a sheet of 3/4 plywood to place above the grass on top of the carpet, that you can easily move when you are done.

 Make sure to check there are no stress fractures in the bar, if not, great find!

Good luck and Enjoy.

[Ftao93]

I like a variety, and am roughly 2-4x stronger in some areas than my wife.

So we ended up buying some bowflex adjustable ones and a bench.  I think the total cost was under $300 (thanks Prime!).  I did it because until this weekend I was scooter-only.

https://www.amazon.com/Bowflex-SelectTech-Adjustable-Dumbbells-Pair/dp/B001ARYU58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479763091&sr=8-1&keywords=bowflex+adjustable+dumbbells

[Ftao93]

Also if you want my home workouts I'm happy to send them to you in handy spreadsheet format, you can keep them or adjust as necessary.

[badasswizard]

No basement, so I think the platform in the yard would be the best choice with some carpeting or the horse stall mats.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

[katscratch]

Today while out for a walk, I found a 45 pound olympic barbell someone had left in their trash pile and brought it home.

Okay that is awesome.  Well done!  I am picturing you doing overhead lunges the entire way :)

[badasswizard]

I wish I had done that! I decided to go back with the car and get it since I was walking the dog on the first go-round and am recovering from an injury!
 
I do plan to lunge around my yard though as part of my workouts.

[NeonPegasus]

We own a metal fab company. To restore the barbell, sand off any flaking rust with stainless steel wool, scotch brite pad or wire brush. Then paint with a rust converter primer. Then paint with top coat of your choice.

You can sand and then oil but that's not so awesome for your grip on the barbell.

[neo von retorch]

Agree with Slow2Fire

When I built my home gym, I purchased a whole gym at once for ~ $0.25 / lb and sold everything for $0.60+ / lb -- ended up selling some older rusty stuff and buying some nicer stuff. (i.e. 350lb set for $180 from Dick's with some coupons and sales.) Retail is typically $1 / lb, but that's not a good (MMM) price :) I also managed to get several hundred pounds of dumbbells from a guy for ~ $0.25 / lb. In the end, I was up several hundred dollars and have a really nice set of stuff... but I'm still tempted to get a stronger  (i.e. connects at top, not just bottom) squat rack, as I'm starting to see some slight twist in mine (not while squatting, but when unloading during bench) just due to the design.