The newly redesigned Rogue Monster Utility Bench is finally here. That’s right; the beefiest, coolest looking utility bench to ever exist is no longer the most unwieldy bench around. The new 2.0 Monster Frame now has wheels and a handle, a tripod frame that makes setting of your feet less of an ordeal, and yes, [...]
Equipment Reviews
A few months back I was looking to pick up a new trap bar for the gym. I wanted something basic, but not something cheap. I was willing to put some money into this new hex bar, but I wasn’t trying to see how many [mostly-unnecessary] bells & whistles I could cram into it and [...]
This is a comprehensive review of the Body Solid Pro Clubline Lat & Mid Row Machine; an aggressively-priced, commercially-rated cable machine that allows one to perform both lat pulldowns and cable rows from the very same, surprisingly compact piece of equipment. The SLM300G is exactly like the machines you used back in your global gym days. This [...]
This is a comprehensive review of the Victory FT-5000, Rep Fitness’ take on one of (if not the most) versatile pieces of gym equipment available – the functional trainer. For those of you who knew this review was coming and have been waiting patiently for me to complete it, I apologize for the longer than [...]
This is a review for the Vulcan Absolute Stainless Steel Olympic Bar, easily one of the most impressive and attractive high-performance Olympic weightlifting bars on the market – and I don’t mean just among the few other stainless steel Olympic bars out there. Priced at around $700; no small sum to be sure; the Absolute [...]
This is a quick review of the Rep Fitness FB-4000; a lightweight version of Rep’s infamous FB-5000 Competition Bench. In this review I get straight to the point about the FB-4000. I’ll go over the specifications and features, discuss any of those features that warrant discussion, and then I’ll dive right into a comparison between [...]
It’s finally here! My review of the Buddy Capps Texas Deadlift Bar! This review took a little longer to finish than I had originally planned. I tend to do so many barbell reviews that when a couple of non-barbell review opportunities came up (the Body Solid Leg Curl / Leg Extension and the Rep Fitness [...]
This is a review for the Rep Fitness HR-5000; a heavy-duty, space-saving, fully-loaded and competitively priced beast of a power rack. And it’s a half rack! the perfect type of rack for a home or garage gym. Why do I think half racks are the perfect rack for a garage gym? Because half racks offer all [...]
I love leg curls. Not only do I love leg curls but my programming prescribes them on a fairly regular basis; a couple times a weeks sometimes (Hybrid Performance Powerlifting; for any of you wondering.) To put that another way, I want and need to be able to do leg curls in my garage gym. [...]
Between Rogue, Spud Inc, and all the smaller equipment manufacturers, there appears to be no shortage of tricep straps, ropes, and grips to choose from. There are products made from actual rope, leather, nylon, and even plastic. There is also no shortage of ways to add a pulley system to your garage gym these days. [...]
About the time I was wrapping up my review for the Rep Fitness AB-5000 Zero Gap Bench back in December, Rep released the ever-so-popular FB-5000 Competition Bench in all the same colors that the AB-5000 was being offered in. In addition to there now being five color choices rather than just the one, there were [...]
Vulcan Strength currently offers three different power bars; the Elite Power Bar, the Vulcan Absolute Power Bar, and the Stainless Steel Absolute Power Bar. All three of these power bars are what I would consider to be premium pieces of equipment, and while they certainly do have their share of similarities (as the majority of [...]
This is a comprehensive review of the Rogue Monster Half Rack; the bigger, beefier, more intimidating, and more expensive big brother of the Rogue HR-2 Half Rack; Rogue’s only other half rack (surprisingly). I’ve had the single-station variant of the Monster Half Rack in my gym for about two months now. I’ve had a lot [...]
There has never been a better time to be in the market for an adjustable bench. For the first time ever we, as small gym owners, actually have multiple options when it comes to finding an affordable, durable, feature-heavy adjustable bench. No longer are we forced to choose between the cheap budget benches from the [...]
This is a comprehensive review of the new Bells of Steel Open Trap Bar. In this review I will be addressing all of the specifications and dimensions of this new bar, and discussing all of its major features. I will even begin my briefly tackling a few of the reasons you may want to consider [...]
