York B500 Weight Bench Review

The York B500 weight bench is the entry level product in York’s range of adjustable weights benches.

With a compact frame design and options for both upper body and lower body workouts, the following product article takes a closer look at some of the main features.

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Design features

Similar to other designs in the York B5xx range, the York B500 can be folded when not in use to reduce the space it takes up.

Due to the way the back rest and frame fold to line up with the vertical supports, the frame still remains stable when folded. The bench can be folded up very quickly by simply undoing a couple of bolts and putting the bar through the back to hold it up.

To help preserve space and keep the frame as slim as possible, the vertical bar supports have been created close to the padded back support.

To prevent the barbell from becoming unbalanced when you change the weight plates due to this thin width, locking collars have been added to the vertical supports.

These can be easily rotated to lock the bar in position and allow you to change the weight plates safely.

To allow you to perform both flat and incline bench press workouts, the back rest for the York B500 can be set at 3 different positions. One of these is flat while the other two are at different angles of incline.

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Upper body workouts

When combined with even a basic barbell and dumbbell weight set, the York B500 can form part of a very effective home gym setup.

The flat bench position provides solid support for bench pressing weights of up to 200kg (bodyweight and weight loaded on the barbell combined), while the incline positions allow you to use either a barbell or dumbbells for the incline bench press.

Dumbbell flyes are also an option from both the flat and incline positions to target the inner chest, which is known to be harder to develop.

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York B500 Weight Bench – Features Summary

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• Good quality, entry level weight bench
• Perfect for use in the garage or the bedroom
• 3 position backrest, flat to incline
• Leg unit with foam rollers
• Barbell retaining hooks to keep the bar in place while you change weights
• Folds for storage.
• Types of materials used: Metal, wood and plastic

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Lower body workouts

Although there is no squat rack option such as for the York B540, the leg developer still allows you to work virtually the same range of muscle groups.

Your quadriceps (muscles on the front of your legs) can be worked using the leg extension, while your hamstrings (muscles on the back of your legs) can be worked using the hamstring curl.

With the leg extension there’s no need to worry about the additional weight of a weight tower as the resistance is created by loading weight plates onto the front weight plate peg (limited to around 35kg).

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Limitations

Although the York B500 includes many good design features, it’s also worth noting the limitations that have been found by other users of this bench on systems such as Amazon reviews.

There are really three main points that have been raised in numerous reviews:
1. The first of these is relating to the highest incline position. While this does put you in a position to work the upper chest effectively, a few people have found it difficult to get into a comfortable position to press the bar. This is caused by the low maximum height of the bar supports.

2. The second issue is with the leg developer only having a single point of contact with the floor. On many similar designs such as the York B540 the leg developer has an additional base support bar to keep this more stable when performing leg extensions.

3. The final point that may not affect your particular training is with the weight limit of the leg developer. This has a limit of between 30kg and 35kg which is considered relatively light, but goes with the design of this bench being entry level for people new to weights training.

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