? about constructing olympic platform

Shawn,

I would add an additional layer of stall mats under the
platform linked to by Craig.

In terms of bars and bumpers, it really does depend on
your budget. For bars, if budget is a consideration to
some degree, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the
basic Sorinex Bars (I like their Naked Bar in
particular). Their Six Shooter Bar is probably
excellent, but it is fairly pricey and I haven't tried
it. Don't even consider any bar with a diameter larger
than 28.5 mm (28.0 mm is the diameter of all "official"
Oly bars). For more details from an expert, check out
this thread: http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=13733&page=2:

I personally have both an Eleiko training bar and an old
York Oly bar, both of which I like a lot. I also
sometimes use both a York Olympic Training Bar and a
Sorinex Nickleblack Bar. I have heard great things about
the Chapman Bar for the money, but I am not certain if
they are still being produced.

Bumpers are less important than the bar but try not to
get the cheapest ones and I would personally stay away
from anything with a brass inserts as these seem to bend
over time. I know the Intek bumpers available from
Sorinex (http://store.sorinex.com/category_s/419.htm) are
superb, although they are relatively expensive (but good
value for the money). I can tell you that these are also
more than acceptable and a big step above cheaper
bumpers:

http://www.theg2scart.com/140KG_G2S_Bumper_Set_IWF_Colors_p/ g2s-140kgset.htm

you might check roguefitness for affordable bars

i have the burgner/rippetoe bar which is 29mm and works well for oly as well as power

fyi good luck

Well being poor like I am, I am going to try to throw one of those together on the cheap. Need to find a set of standard olympic plates as like I said...I am poor and can not afford bumper plates.

My thing is I have two 4'x6' stall mats in my garage right now. I can't find 4x8.

My home gym started with a craigslist deal of power rack, bench and 300# starter set for $200. I bent the bar so I upgraded to a better one. I've since picked up almost a ton of weight over craigslist, only because it was all a good deal.

Not sure what a wrestling mat is like, but the plywood in the middle is intended to give you a hard stable surface for your feet. My home platform uses the 4x6 horse mats from the farm store. The horse mats are pretty hard and I've considered adding another layer of mats to my platform, even over the center plywood section.