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Weight bench

Strength training through performing resistance exercises, commonly known as "weight lifting" has long been used as a tool by bodybuilders and is now recognized clearly as being very important in developing strength for athletes and improving an individual's overall well-being and physical condition. Weight training with barbells and dumbbells is rapidly gaining popularity because leisure time and awareness of the importance of exercise is increasing, and because sports like powerlifting and body building are receiving an increasing amount of publicity in television and popular media. A weight-lifting exercise is frequently accomplished with a bench. The person reclines in a lithotomy position on the bench with his feet on the floor and his head facing upwardly. He raises and lowers a set of barbells with his arms. A widespread form of weights is that wherein weights are carried on bars, such as dumbbells and barbells. Many of the individual exercises which are performed during weight lifting are performed with the lifter seated or lying on a bench. It is considerably more comfortable and ergonomically suitable to have the seat incline during various phases of weight lifting. A weight bench which combines support for both dumbbells and barbells with a multi-positional bench would be beneficial to the individual involved in weight training. Weight lifting benches provide a raised platform seat on which the weight lifter can sit or recline during his or her weight training. Barbells used for weight training employ a bar which has connected on each end thereof one or more replaceable disc shaped weights. A sleeve, usually of plastic, is sometimes located between the weights, which serves as a handhold surface for the weightlifter; accordingly, when referring to the bar hereinafter, it is intended that the sleeve be included as an optional feature of the bar.

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