With bumper plate options more than covered across the Internet (here included), I figured it was time to tackle the options for standard weight plates, coated plates, and powerlifting discs. In this guide I’ll cover multiple styles, numerous brands, and offer up enough product examples for you to be able to evaluate any brand or style of plate you happen to stumble upon in your quest for iron.
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Welcome to Garage-Gyms, your one stop resource for all things home and garage gyms. Here you’ll find tons of comprehensive, unbiased reviews including dozens of bar reviews, pricing guides for the most commonly purchased pieces of garage gym equipment, a large community taking part in productive discussion, inspiration & ideas for your gym, and so much more. With decades of training experience and five years experience managing this site, I think you’ll find lots of useful and impartial information within these pages. Feel free to contribute with a comment or ask me a question directly. If you’d like to support the site, I welcome you to visit the Garage Gyms Store. Thanks, and enjoy the site! |
This is a review for the Bridge Built Clydesdale Power Bar, a new 29 mm power bar that is designed to stand out in the crowd by being finished in an antique brass Cerakote and gold zinc.
To many, the Clydesdale is a unique and beautiful bar. Positive feedback on the sleeve and bar shaft aesthetics has been overwhelmingly positive, and a great many people paid good money to order one on the day it was released; myself included. And why not? It’s a golden power bar, and one from a manufacturer that already has a very good reputation for making some ingenious, premium strength equipment; such as the Phoenix.
This is a review of the Elite Weightlifting Bar – an Olympic training bar that’s manufactured by one of the most established and experienced bar manufacturers that you have probably never heard of; a Taiwanese company called Gymway.
This is a review of the new Thrasher Air Bike by Vulcan Strength. a heavy-duty, affordable alternative to the Schwinn Airdyne Pro and Assault Air Bikes; and a feature-rich, similarly-priced alternative to the Rogue Echo.
This is my comprehensive review of Ironmaster’s extremely popular, Quick Lock Adjustable Dumbbell Set. This review covers the standard 75-pound dumbbell pair with the stand, and Ironmaster’s Heavy Handle Plate Kit; an optional accessory that increases the weight of the handles and the maximum weight of each dumbbell by 15-pounds.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but there a ton of new bumper plates hitting the market that claim to be made in the USA. Companies like Rogue Fitness, Sorinex, Wright’s, Fringe Sport, and more now have their own branded version of the recycled, crumb rubber bumper plate. What’s the deal with that? Where are all these plates coming from suddenly?
This is an extensive review of the Texas Body Building Bar; Texas Power Bar’s newest bar, and the result of a collaboration with pro bodybuilder and Texas native, Branch Warren.
The Texas Body Building Bar has been a terribly fun bar for me to review. I have thoroughly enjoyed training with it for the last couple of months. It has some uncommon characteristics that make it very different from what we’re used to. And not just different, but better in many ways; at least that has been my experience with it.
This product is available for sale starting July 13th, 2020. I’ve had it for months though; in case you are wondering how my review predates its official release.
This is a review of the Rep Fitness Belt Squat Attachment – a $279 rack accessory that can turn a power rack into a fully-functional, plate-loaded, belt squat machine in minutes. That’s right, belt squats in your garage gym for under three bills. Not too bad, right?
Rogue recently added yet another finish option for the 45-pound version of the Ohio Power Bar. That’s right, now in addition to bare steel, stainless steel, black zinc, and Cerakote you can pick up the OPB with Rogue’s black E-Coat finish. You know, just on the off chance you thought there was a shortage of materials, finishes, and colors to choose from already.
This is a review for the Rep Fitness Deep Knurl Power Bar EX, a high-tensile strength, fully-stainless steel, aggressively-knurled powerlifting bar.
Many of you may be wondering what took me so long to get around to this review. The Rep Deep Knurl has been available for a couple of months now, and those of you who follow my Instagram would know that I have indeed had it since it was released.
Welcome to the Garage Gym’s Olympic Barbell Review and Shopping Guide. If you happen to be in the market for a quality weightlifting bar, power bar, WOD bar, or a general-purpose bar, then you’ve come to the right place. If you’re interested in learning the basics of barbell construction, then again, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re a man, woman, or youngster; newbie, intermediate, or elite athlete; in this bar guide, you’ll find information and specs for some of the best barbell options on the market for you and your home gym.
This is a review for the Fringe Sport 20 kg Hybrid Bar, a high-tensile strength, multi-purpose barbell that readers have suggested I review a surprising amount of times since its release. Well I finally snatched one up, and here is that review.
The Hybrid Bar is a 28.5 mm, dual-marked bar intended to offer a high level of performance for both the Olympic lifts and the big-3 power lifts. The idea behind multi-purpose bars such as the Hybrid is that you can take them from the Olympic platform to the power rack without needing to change equipment. You can snatch, clean & jerk, squat, bench, and deadlift with the same bar, and all without feeling like you’re sacrificing performance.
I previously reviewed the Buddy Capps Texas Deadlift Bar back June of 2019, and I gave it a very positive review with zero hesitation. It is an amazing training implement put out by an impressive company.
Texas Power Bars (Capps Welding) is a highly experienced, reputable, and knowledgeable company that’s been in the business since the 1980’s, and the Texas Deadlift Bar is a high-performance deadlift bar that has phenomenal knurling; classy dual-roll pinned sleeves with recessed end caps; premium, oil-impregnated bronze bushings; and close to a dozen finish configurations. It truly is an end-game barbell.
This is a quick review of the Vulcan Strength 1-Basic Safety Squat Bar (SSB); an affordable yet fully-functional alternative to pretty much every other safety squat bar on the market.
Being offered for the low price of $209, the Vulcan 1-Basic Safety Squat Bar sports a 700-lb max capacity, true 50 mm sleeves (no axle collars needed), single-piece [stitched] vinyl pad (meaning no rotating/sliding pads), and shipping is even included in the already low price.
This is a review of the Rep Fitness AB-5200, a commercial-grade, adjustable ladder bench with not only all the standard features you’d expect from a commercial bench, but a number of very unique characteristics as well; things like grippy vinyl, improved mobility, an optional spotter platform, and more. The 5200 is also one of the only ladder benches (if not the only) that can be stored upright. And the price! It could not be more competitive.
If you’re serious about training at home, then you’re going to want some form of power rack or squat stand in your garage gym in order to get the most out of your workouts. You’ll need somewhere to rack the bar for overhead presses and squats, and you’ll also want access to safety spotters so that you can confidently go heavy on your bench press and squats those days you find yourself training alone. You will also need a pull-up bar, and those are already built into power racks and many squat stands.
