Cap Barbell 300-lb Cast Iron Olympic Weight Set

PERFORMANCE

It’s important to note that this isn’t the best barbell and weight set out there on the market.

The barbell is built much like a standard Olympic-size barbell with very shallow knurling. This knurling works well enough for a wide variety of lifts, but some users found that the black enamel finish made this bar a little slick in their hands.

The slick knurling isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker and can be remedied with a little bit of chalk or even grippy weight lifting gloves.

The plates that come with this set are super easy to load up on the bar, and the included clips help to hold them in place.

Overall, I would recommend this weight set for beginners, or casual weight lifters. If you are hitting the gym more than 4 times a week in an effort to increase your PR, this set falls a little flat. The weak knurling and weight capacity of this bar are only able to comfortably hold up to 500 pounds.

In fact, many users found that this bar started to bend a bit over time. For beginners on a tight budget, it’s the perfect set to get you started as you slowly start to invest in more quality weights.

I recommend getting this plate set to get you started on your weight lifting journey, and slowly incorporating higher-end equipment into the rotation. The plates will hold up for quite some time, so I suggest swapping out the bar for something like the Rogue Ohio bar.

The good news is that these plates will work well with most standard Olympic-sized barbells.

MATERIALS

Sure, this set is budget-friendly, but it’s still composed of quality materials that will hold up well over time. The plates, as well as the barbell, are composed of cast iron with a sleek enamel finish.

Many users found that the enamel finish looks great air first, but it’s prone to chipping and rusting over time. The finish of the plates is built to hold up over the long run, but the barbell is a different story.

Many users found that this bar is very prone to rust as well as bending with continued use. It gets the job done out right out of the gate, but isn’t necessarily build for the long run.

I have a very similar budget-friendly barbell that is rusty and slightly bent, and I still use it for floor lifts such as clean and presses and bent over rows. A bent bar doesn’t need to be retired, it just means that it won’t work as well on a rack.

BARBELL

The barbell included in this set gets the job done, but it isn’t magnificent. It boasts a sleek black enamel finish that many users found chips and rusts over the years of continued use. A chipped and rusted bar doesn’t mean an express trip to the dumpster, but it will affect how you lift.

Right out of the box this bar performs well enough. It has shallow knurling for adequate grip, but a quick dusting of chalk will help you maintain a firm grip on the bar.

This barbell is able to hold up to 500 pounds, which is great for beginners but a little less than ideal for powerlifters. It’s also important to note that some users found that this bar started to bend a bit as they pushed heavier weights, which can become problematic when lifting the bar off of the rack.

A bent bar still works, but you will need to spin the bar into the rack to ensure that you don’t lose the grip on the bar in your hands as you lift.

Overall, the bar is fine, but the real star of the Cap Barbell 300-lb Cast Iron Olympic Weight Set show is the plates.

This bar works well enough as you get into the swing of weight lifting, but you should probably invest in a good-quality barbell when you start pushing up into higher weights.

The good news is that once you graduate to a better bar, the plates included in this set work with most standard barbells.

WEIGHTS

This set includes a 7-foot barbell and 6 pairs of plates. It’s important to note that a standard Olympic-sized barbell weighs in at 45 pounds, and this bar falls a little short. Users found that this bar only weighed in at 40 pounds, which is important to note to ensure that you are lifting the correct amount of weight every time.

It includes a pair of 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 35, and 45-pound plates, which is more than enough to get you started. The barbell is able to comfortably hold up to 500 pounds of weight, giving you plenty of room to grow before graduating to a higher-end barbell.

What I also love about these plates is that they have a hollow handle built into the plate that makes it easier to load up onto the bar. Many plates have a grooved edge for handling, but it makes it more difficult to pick up off of the floor to load onto the barbell.

This unique design makes loading the plate much easier, but some users found that these plates have sharp edges that can cut your hands if you aren’t careful.

I think that the pairs of plates included with this set are great, and are a perfect jumping-off point for new lifters.

I also love that they include a pair of modest 2.5-pound weights, which are often omitted from similar weight sets. 2.5-pound plates may not seem essential when weight lifting, but serve as an excellent way to slowly increase your weight capacity more slowly by allowing for 5-pound jumps as opposed to 10-pound jumps in weight.

PRICE

Is the Cap Barbell 300-lb Cast Iron Olympic Weight Set the best set on the market? No. Is it the most affordable? Absolutely.

If you are just starting out on your weight lifting journey, or you just want to build a quick and effective home gym on a super tight budget, this set gets the job done.

The plates are accurate and effective and hold up over the long haul. You will likely need to replace the bar after a few years, but these plates are built to hold up quite well over the years of continued use.

To put the price tag of this set into perspective, I compared this set to a full set of Rogue plates. I jumped on the Rogue website and added all of the plates that are included in this set into my cart, and it clocked in at well over 1,000 dollars. And this isn’t even including the barbell.

Unless you have a money vault as Scrouge McDuck, you likely don’t have the available cash to invest in a full set.

The Cap Barbell 300-lb Cast Iron Olympic Weight Set is far below ⅓ of the price of higher-end weights, and they are just as heavy!

Another great CAP product we reviewed is the Hex Rubber Dumbbell, so make sure to check it out as well.

Building out a home weight lifting gym can rack up a huge price tag in the blink of an eye. Most weight lifters slowly build out their home gym over the years by slowly investing in higher-end plates, bars, and machines.

When I first started building my home gym, I initially invested in a budget-friendly bar and weight set to get started.

Over the course of about 5 years, I slowly added higher-quality gear into the rotation, while still using my budget-friendly gear for circuit training and cardio days.

Building a killer weight-lifting gym on a modest budget is a journey. Start with small and affordable gear such as the Cap Barbell 300-lb Cast Iron Olympic Weight Set, and find out what works best for your workout routine.

This set is perfect for beginners because it comes with all of the tools you need to sling heavier weights without draining your bank account. As you start to increase in strength, I suggest swapping out that barbell for something of higher quality.

The plates, on the other hand, are built great and will likely remain in your lifting rotation as you advance to higher skill levels.