Equipment Reviews

This is the long-awaited review for Vulcan Strength’s new Stainless Steel Absolute Power Bar; the ridiculously strong, pleasantly aggressive, oxidation resistant beast that is literally 100% stainless steel – so long as you don’t count the end caps. One only has to look at the images of this bar to see that it’s a beautiful [...]

This is a comprehensive review for the Strength Shop Bastard Power Bar, a mid-range bar that can be purchased both in the USA and in most of Europe from one of Strength Shop’s many domains. The Bastard Power Bar retails for US$275 but it can be found on sale fairly regularly (at least that is [...]

This is a review of Rep Fitness’ new rubber-coated Kilogram Change Plates. While not the most complicated of products to review, the lower pricing and high level of interest in these plates made them worth checking out more thoroughly. In this review I will cover the basic specifications of these plates, design features, and plate [...]

I want to take a look at the Arm Blaster, a strength training accessory that has made quite a comeback as of late. The Arm Blaster is a piece of curved aluminum about 24″ long and 4″ high that is designed to be worn around the neck when performing bicep curls. The Blaster keeps your [...]

I bought something like 230 kilograms of the Rogue Calibrated Steel Plates back during the 2017 Black Friday sale, and aside from realizing almost immediately that I didn’t order quite enough weight I have been completely happy with this purchase. I wanted to take a couple minutes and write a short review on these plates [...]

It was recommended to me that I keep a running list of all my barbell reviews, and even go so far as to perhaps comment on which bars were kept in the gym and which weren’t. Well I thought that was a fantastic idea, so here is a list of all the barbell reviews found [...]

This is a full review of SABO’s newest lifting kicks; the GoodLift Powerlifting Shoes. The GoodLifts are designed primary for the deadlift but are also perfectly good shoes to wear when bench pressing, and for squats if you prefer to squat in shoes without a raised heel. These are flat, offered in two different colors, [...]

I’ve been a big fan of the Thompson Fat Pad since the very first time I benched on one. It’s wider, longer, thicker, denser, and more supportive than any other bench pad I’ve ever seen or used. In addition to all that it has a unique, heavy-duty “grabber” vinyl cover that prevents any slipping or [...]

I recently ordered and received a fancy 10 mm powerlifting belt from Pioneer (aka General Leathercraft). I’ve been wanting to do more with the Garage Gyms branding for a while now and I figured putting the site name across my favorite power belt was a great place to start. Now that I have it in my hands, [...]

I absolutely love the Ohio Powerlifting line; both the Ohio Power Bars and the Ohio Deadlift Bar. I have both of these beasts in raw, unfinished steel, and both of them are on my ‘never sell these bars’ list. The natural feeling of the raw steel combined with the deep, aggressive knurl makes for two incredible training [...]

A month or two ago on Craigslist I stumbled upon somebody selling the Infinity/Monster Lite Rogue Monolift Attachment; the version that’s compatible with my rack. I wasn’t really in the market for a Monolift and I wouldn’t go so far as to say I needed a Monolift, but they were in perfect condition and being [...]

This is a full review of the Elite Power Bar by American Barbell. This bar is one of only two semi-affordable, IPF-spec, stainless steel power bars currently on the market. In this review I will not only cover the specifications and features of the Elite, I will also compare it to that other semi-affordable, IPF-spec, [...]

This is an in-depth review of the new Eleiko NxG Performance Weightlifting Bar. This bar is offered as premium, less expensive alternative to the Eleiko IWF Training and Competition weightlifting bars for the sole purpose of training the Olympic lifts. The Performance WL Bar is functionally no different than its more expensive big brothers. It [...]

I get asked fairly often whether or not I still like a particular piece of equipment reviewed in the past, or whether or not that piece of equipment is still a good buy. Well I thought it might be fun to go back and revisit some of my old reviews and see exactly where these [...]