home weight equipment suggestions

[futant]

ok im looking to get back into lifting some weight and just getting into shape in general. I want to do it the right way this time , with mostly free weights / good forms and covering as much exercises as I can AT HOME.

I'm not needing a ton of weight, the most I can think of is up to 400 or so pounds for squats . I won't ever need more than this

I have :
a good treadmill to start out with
dumbbells up to 55lb each
various 1" bars
various smaller 1" plates
crappy bench - MUST GO

First guess is this looks to be a good deal and I would get nearly all I would need in 2" plates

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/spo/3592217216.html

what do you guys think of these 'leverage' kind of systems for general use ?
stay away from the stacked weight systems in general ?

[Dinger]

If you already have a good set of dumbbells I would go with something closer to the above picture. and then buy barbell and curl bar with some weights. I have one similar at my house and the bench part is separate which makes it very nice for doing dumbbell presses and other exercises that require flat bench. Then bench I have also declines and inclines. PLus you can turn it sideways and it takes up very little space.

While Im not the most fit person.. when I did do a lot of lifting I always hated machines because of the fact they do not put all your muscles to work like free weight sets do. Stabilizing the bar and keeping form is much more important to me then just throwing up weight a bunch of times. (others may disagree though). The plus side to a machine like that is you get some exercises like lat pulls and rows that are hard to get with free weights though. But you could always get a power center and do those exercises with something like that..



Just my thoughts. Hope it helps a little.

[Strychnine]

What's your budget?

[futant]

about 500 is max , need weights and a bench for the most part.