I’m sure that I’m not alone when it comes to the belief that jammer arms (or iso lever arms); at first glance; look like the perfect addition to a garage gym, but often times after purchase, they don’t seem to live up to the hype, so they spend most of their time simply just “hanging around,” contributing very little to your workouts. Or even worse yet, they’re not even on the rack at all! They just collect dust in a dark corner of the gym. Well, it doesn’t have to be this way!
I purchased my first set of jammer arms like six or seven years ago, and since then I’ve had the opportunity to own and try out several different takes on this attachment. As you already may be aware, jammer arms are commonly touted as one of the single-most versatile rack attachments that you can buy, as they offer up access to a great many Iso-Lateral Hammer Strength exercises like chest presses, overhead/military presses, deadlift and other various pulls, and so forth. If you own a functional trainer combo rack, you can even set up for pull-downs! That’s a lot of potential in a single accessory, right?
Well, I quickly found this was not really the case if you didn’t have some other equipment at your disposal, and also the know-how and willingness to put a good amount of time into set up and break down of all this equipment. This is in addition to making sure you purchased a jammer arm kit that would even allow you to do what it is you set out to do with them.
I’ve heard time and time again more than a bit of disappointment after someone purchases an ISO arm kit. Regret, even. I too was disappointed in them when I owned just the kit and hadn’t yet learned of the many ways that they can be improved upon, but over many years and through much trial and error (and dough), I’ve grown to truly appreciate owning jammer arms. No more will your expensive jammer arms sit in the corner of your gym!
In this article, I want to help you choose jammer arms with all of the bells and whistles that you care about for a price you are willing to pay, and I also want to give you some guidance and tips on what accessories (both related and unrelated to jammer arms) you can buy that will help you greatly expand your arsenal of jammer arm exercises. I have a lot to say about jammer arms and their use, but first one very important disclaimer…
You almost certainly do not need jammer arms to be successful in your garage gym. It’s ok to want them and it’s ok to buy them, but if you think jammer arms (or any other accessory) is the magic key to reaching your goals, you are mistaken! These will only supplement your training, not replace core, compound barbell exercises. Yes, these can be beneficial to y’all that have mobility or strength limitations, and they do make for some excellent options for a bodybuilding program, and for performing many safe, explosive exercises, but most people will get all the results they could ever dream of with a barbell, plates, rack and a bench.
Jammer Arms Discussion – Table of Contents
- Jammer Arm Features to Consider
- Jammer Arm Options (Products)
- Accessories to Expand Jammer Arm Exercise Options
- Summary
Jammer Arm Features You Should Consider
There are a number of features to consider when purchasing jammer arms for your current power rack or compatible functional trainer, and as you can imagine, the more features, the higher the price tag tends to be. You can spend a lot of money tricking out a pair of jammer arms. Each person will need to weigh the pros and cons of each upgrade to find that happy medium where you can both comfortably afford this accessory and still want to actually use them.
Removeable Arms vs Semi-Permanent [Trolley] Arms
Depending on your current rack set-up; and what other exercises you perform in your rack; you may find that you don’t want your jammer arms installed full-time. This can be because they get in the way of permanently attached cable carriages or some other like-accessory, or it can simply be because either your arms or the handles get in the way of your standard barbell training. These factors alongside how feature-rich you are financially able to go with your jammer arm purchase will dictate how much you care about whether they easily come off your uprights (or not.)
Technically all jammer arms are removeable, just some variants come off faster than others; or can be adjusted vertically quicker via a trolley vs actually removing them from the upright completely in order to change their vertical position (such as drop-ins or bolt-on arms). How much time & effort are you gonna be willing to put into setting up for jammer arm exercises? And likewise, into cleaning up after you’re done before you find the process too much work.
The classic bolt-on style require you grab a couple wrenches in order to remove them from your uprights; usually two large bolts per jammer bracket, while drop-in jammer arms tend to need you to pull only one pin then rotate the arms 90-degrees in order to get them off of the rack. Both require a decent amount of strength to hold the arms up for installation, and get them down during removal.
Drop-in Jammer Arms are arguably tougher to deal with because of how you need to rotate them upwards like a j-cup, so be prepared to get help with these if you are not super strong, or tall enough to get at them when they are attached near the top of your uprights. Having said that, drop-in’s like the Vulcans pictured below are my favorite overall due to how quick and easy they are to add and remove, because I do have cable carriages sharing the same uprights.
Vulcan’s Drop-In Jammer Arms. These attach like a j-cup. The black pin is fixed, and the largest and smallest diameter metal pins of the three lock the entire assembly to the rack.
Trolley assemblies have the ability to slide up and down the uprights with ease. Many have a trigger mechanism and a pin, others are only pins. Either way, it’s quick and easy to move the entire arm assembly out of the way for other attachments and equipment. The problem is that removing totally this style of jammer arm from the upright takes far more time. There is hardware to carefully disassemble; tools and time are needed. If you think you’ll want to have the ability to do more than just slide your jammer arms out of the way (aka completely uninstall them), you may want to avoid most trolley-style jammer arms.
Rep’s Adjustable Iso Lever Arms can be moved up and down the uprights quickly by just pulling two pins. They don’t glide as smooth as a trolley with rollers, but this option is certainly less costly than those that do.
Rogue’s LT-1 50 CAL Trolley Iso-Lever Arms (v1 showed here) is by far the easiest and smoothest carriage assembly to move up and down the uprights, but they’re not even close to the cheapest.
Vulcan’s Adjustable Trolley Jammer Arms are as simple and easy to use as Rogue’s for about half the price, and they have 180-degrees of locking arm positions without needing third-party components.
♦ ♦ ♦
Handle Style
All jammer arms I’ve owned or interreacted with outside of my garage gym have included a multigrip-style handle (see below image). These handles are fine for most uses, as they do offer a nice variety of hand positions to choose from. Most can also be flipped 180-degrees as well, though tools may be required to do so.
Vulcan’s included multi-grip handles. These can be flipped 180-degrees to change grip positioning.
Side note: for handles that require two bolts, you can eliminate the need for wrenches and seriously speed up the handle removal process by using Rogue’s Monster Knurled Knobs. I am pretty sure these only exist for 1″ rack bolts though, so you RML and other 5/8″ rack folk are sh*t out of luck. Sorry!
Rogue’s Monster Knurled Knobs – $48 per pair at time of writing
Rogue makes my favorite handles. They have really leaned into quick-install/uninstall hard-ware for attaching accessories; including those that attach to jammer arms. Their handles drop-in like a j-cup, then need only one of the aforementioned knurled knobs to completely lock the handles down to the arms. So quick and easy, and they just as locked in as bolt-on handles. A very clever idea by Rogue; assuming it was theirs.
Rogue’s Iso-Lever Arm handles are the same as all the others in terms of grip-positioning options, but they attach/detach by turning one knob by hand – no tools or time needed!
Companies like Vulcan and Titan typically use normal hardware (nuts & bolts) to secure the handles to the arms. This doesn’t take too long if you keep your wrenches at the ready, but Rogue’s system; and even Rep’s double detent pin setup; is certainly faster, though there is more play in all the detent pin handles I’ve ever used than Rogue’s handles, or bolt-on style handles.
Crandall Fitness’ Arms have handles that attach via two detent pins. Handles that attach in this manner are known to have more slop in them, but it’s not usually deal-breaking on otherwise solid arms
The reason the handle’s attachment method is even important is because while you may be able to leave your jammer arms permanently installed on your rack, it’s less likely that you’ll be okay with the handles being installed full time. Handles protrude into your working space (less so when installed outside the rack on the front uprights) so you might want to consider (again) how much time and effort you want to spend dealing with them.
The arms can have j-cups just as easily as the uprights, so that’s good! But those handles sure seem like they’re in the way. Good thing it takes only about 5 seconds to remove each one!
A pricey alternative to the default, included multigrip handles are products such as Rogue’s Articulating Jammer Arm Handle Kit. These are a two-piece (per arm) set, as seen in the pic below. Both of these components can be installed pretty much where ever you want on the length of each arm and they don’t need to be near one another. This allows for a lot of load and grip placement variety.
Rogue’s Articulating Handle Kit can offer a more natural-feeling range of motion in many lifts. This kit can be purchased separately or upgraded to when you purchase Rogue’s LT-1 Trolley.
Rogue’s Articulating handle will attach to any compatible jammer arm. That is, you can use, for instance, Rogue’s Articulating Handles on any 3×3 rack with 1″ holes whether it’s a US-made rack or a metric rack. However, the quick-release horn is only compatible on Imperial racks (Rogue and Sorinex), and not on metric racks (Rep Fitness, Vulcan, etc.)
Should you upgrade to the articulating handles or go with the default handles and add them later as an optional accessory? I think the default handles are more useful overall and I use them 80% of the time. I didn’t particularly enjoy paying for both but I believe I’d be worse off to only have the articulating rather than only having the default handles. But, that’s just my personal opinion. My feelings on this may not line up with yours. An additional $570 to own both is just… a lot.
♦ ♦ ♦
Converging Arms
Converging Jammer Arms are a niche thing, of sorts. It is not at all common to find jammer arm kits that include converging hardware, but they do exist and I will talk about a couple of them in the next section; namely kits from Crandall Fitness and PRx. Alternatively, there are kits that turn existing arms into converging arms, like those seen below from Vendetta. The number of boxes you need to check to convert your existing arms into converging arms are many, and I strongly, strongly suggest you do your homework before going this route. If you do though, I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth it. The possibilities are endless!
Vendetta Strength’s Converging Lever Arms Kit for use with Vendetta 180-degree adapters. PSA: read ALL disclaimers about compatibility if considering any Vendetta lever arm kits!
What’s the benefit of converging arms? They allow your lever arms to more naturally mimic the motion of dumbbells, which if you imagine in your head, for example, Hammer Strength chest press machines, you’ll realize that the handles start in the typical position for a bench or dumbbell press, but converge at the end of the movement. Even machines like a Techno-Gym Bench Press converge in this manner. The arcing motion of these machines provides more muscle activation.
To put it all another way, converging arms and kits allow your jammer arms to move through both planes, the same as free weights do, but in the form of a machine. This can be a safer alternative to dumbbells for those with injuries or specific muscle deficits. Converging arms also simply offer up more variety and versatility.
Of course, as nifty as this feature can be, that is not to say they are needed. Truly consider what you want to do with your jammer arms before going all out on a convergence kit, be it in the form of a complete product or an upgrade to existing arms. Folks have been getting a ton of benefit from standard jammer arms for some time. Would these actually improve your training?
♦ ♦ ♦
Short or Long Arms
Long arms are ideal, as they give you the most positioning options for your handles and/or other accessories. Short arms should probably only be considered if you want to install in-side of a power rack and short arms are all that will fit.
Most companies don’t even offer the shorter arms anyway. Unless you go with Rogue and their LT-1 50 CAL Trolley Level Arms, arm length probably won’t even come up. Additionally, many full-size power racks like the Vulcan Talos (the six-upright variant) can handle the full length of Vulcan jammer arms inside the cage. They even clear the backside of the trolleys if those are installed on the outside uprights..
Just to give an idea, Rogue’s arms are offered in the short 35″ or standard 48″ variants. The longest arms I know of are from Sorinex at 50″. Most other mainstream arms come in some where between 42″ and 46″. My opinion is that the sweet spot is around the mid-40-inches. I find Rogue to be pushing it at 48″, but the truth is that you can always attach your handles a few positions away from the ends of the arms rather than right at the ends.
♦ ♦ ♦
Locking vs Multi-Positional Locking vs Free
In this section, when I say locking, I mean can the arms be locked into a vertical position in alignment with the uprights (safety lock) so that j-cups, dip horns, safety spotters, and other accessories be safely used on the arms without having to worry about the arms moving, or the arms can be locked into various positions around the radius of the joint.
The pin in the bottom hole is currently in the safety position. The arm cannot swing away from the upright until that pin is removed.
The original Rogue LT-1 50 CAL Iso-Lever Arms were hands-down the nicest jammer arms option on the market when they dropped. The ease of adjustments, the well-designed, easy to remove handles, and even just how cool they looked made them amazing. That said, the arms did not have any form of locking mechanism. Rogue’s arms were always free to move around, and they were always in the way with no way to lock them in other positions. These arms also started at about $1000, while arms that cost half as much shipped with anywhere from several to a lot of various positions in which the arms could be locked.
This is an incredible feature to have on jammer arms – the ability to lock them into a great many positions. Not only does this eliminate many of the situations in which you’d normally want to completely remove the arms from the rack since you can just lock them up and out of the way. Even better yet, locking arms allows you to create more ideal starting positions for a lot of exercises, and this feature also offers interesting options for adding accessories and doing pull-ups, chin-ups, and muscle-ups.
You can see in the image above that the arms can be locked vertically (facing up or down), at 45-degrees, or at 15-degree intervals in-between. Please, for the love of God, make sure your rack is anchored if you intend to use your locking jammer arms as a trawler or a flying pull-up bar. Use your noodle!
So obviously Vulcan offers these multi-lock jammer arms. Rep Fitness does as well but with only three available positions, not nine. Rogue’s can only lock vertically against the upright (safety lock), and that’s only on version 2.0 of the LT-1 Trolley, not the original version. Still, this ability to lock at least into the vertical position is better than none, and Rep Fitness with their three is still better yet. For your Sorinex fans, their jammer arms are much like Rogue’s 2.0 LT-1 in both the way they function, and in that they only having the ‘safety lock’ for vert-ical (parallel) locking of the arms, though Vendetta does offer an adapter kit for both brands.
Adapter Kit Example from Vendetta Strength for Rogue’s LT-1 V1 50 CAL Trolley Iso Lever-Arms
Titan’s lever arms do not lock at all, in any position, but honestly the Titan’s wouldn’t even be on my radar unless you just seriously not interested in even a single feature I’ve talked about and just want to be able to tell your friends that you have jammer arms.
Lever Arm Products (Listed Alphabetically)
Below you will find brief summaries of the jammer arm offerings from multiple major brands who offer complete jammer arm packages. This isn’t meant to be a thorough review of each individual product, though I have owned, do currently own, or have used the vast majority of these products and I will offer any relevant thoughts I have in addition to simply pointing out specs and basic features.
Having said that, I have not used Crandall Fitness’ Swing Arms yet, and since there is a lot going on with this particular product, I have included a very thorough review by a reviewer who seems quite familiar with this product to make up for my lack of hands-on experience.
Crandall Fitness Universal Motion Swing Arms
Crandall makes about the most affordable good version of the converging jammer arms that I can find. Again, I have not ever interacted with these jammer arms but it looks like you can expect compatibility with metric 3×3 racks with either 5/8″ or 1″ accessory holes, but unless someone leaves a comment saying otherwise, I would not expect these jammer arms to be compatible with Rogue, Sorinex, or other like domestically-manufactured ‘Imperial’ racks.
As far as complete products go, these Crandall arms and the PRx HALO arms are the only converging jammer arms of the brands I’ve listed in this section. You can make most brands of jammer arms converging jammer arms via a kit and/or third-party adapters, but these are the only two products that are ready-to-go right out of the box (and I will talk about many of these after-market products in the following section.)
Overall feedback on Crandall’s Swing Arms is good. They allow for full range of motion in all planes, are cable (weight stack) ready, and fairly simple to adjust or simply remove from the uprights. Complaints mostly have to do with the weight of the arms and the handles when it comes to making height adjustments, and slop/play in the handles from being the detent pin style of removeable handles.
Here is that thorough review that I mentioned above by Hybrid Resistance. Be sure to give him a like if you found the video helpful. I sure did!
Crandall’s price: $999-$1199
♦ ♦ ♦
PRX Build Limitless HALO Arms
Please Note that this product is not currently available to purchase or preorder. It was there while researching, then during editing I found the page missing. I have my theories on why this may be, but since I do not know it for a fact I’ll not speculate. You can take in the information below about this product since I took the time to put it here, and since I am sure the product will ultimately return, but don’t get too excited about owning it.
PRx Build Limitless HALO Arms are another option when it comes to converging jammers, and there is much positive mumbling over this product. HALO Arms are the most feature-rich jammer arms right out of the box, offering you access to both converging arms, and [by my count] 17 different vertical locking positions (and about half as many lateral locking positions), all without the need for any third-party upgrade kits.
Each trolley also has knurled handles and rollers, which makes the process of adjusting the arms super easy. So basically, right out of the box, you’ll have the best of all worlds in terms of other company’s arm adjustment and locking innovations, and the ability for your arms to move freely along both planes without dealing with any aftermarket parts.
There is one major drawback to the HALO Arms, and that is the hefty price tag of $1575 to $1679 (with the price depending on handle style). With the same money you could pick up Rogue’s LT-1 50 CAL Trolley Iso Lever Arms and add Vendetta’s adapter and a converging arm kit for the same money and have a beefier pair of arms with less slop. Also, from what I can tell, they only offer these particular arms for 3×3″ 5/8″ racks (basically meant to fit PRX power racks), and not for 3×3″ 1″ racks. They do make arms for 1″ racks, but that version is really not worth mentioning here as they not competitively priced,
PRx’s price: $1575+
♦ ♦ ♦
REP Fitness ISO Arms
I’ve previously owned Rep’s Iso Arms, and from what I can tell, this product hasn’t changed much over the years. These arms are about as basic as they come – they are affixed to the uprights permanently; similar to trolley style jammer arms; only they lack rollers and can be slightly cumbersome to adjust due to the friction between the uprights and the inner UHMW lining of the arm assembly.
The good news is that while basic, they do have at least a couple of places to lock the arms into place (even the Rogue’s have none other than the basic safety lock on the 2.0’s). They are also quite affordable as iso lever arms go, and they do come in two variants for different hole configurations. Vendetta Strength does offer a conversion kit for REP arms, which may be worth taking into consideration as well as it would allow you a full 180° of lock positions.
Rep Fitness’ price: $599
♦ ♦ ♦
Rogue LT-1 50 CAL Trolley Iso-Lever Arms
Rogue Fitness offers one of my favorite sets of lever arms despite the relatively high cost of the kit, and the potential extra cost of making them perfect. Rogue’s trigger-release trolley is about as quick to adjust as they come, the carriage glides incredibly smoothly up and down the rack’s uprights, there are two lengths of swappable arms that you can choose from, and Rogue offers the most in-house accessories for their arms; namely multiple different handle and plate horn options. Sadly, the vast majority of these optional accessories are for the 1″ Monster variant of the LT-1, not the RML variant.
With Vendetta Strength, Rogue’s LT-1 ISO Lever Arms (v1 and v2) can be upgraded with a $289 adapter that will allow a multitude of arm locking options; nine to be specific. Also, you can purchase a convergence kit from GymPin for $220 to $320 depending on your version. These upgrades to Rogue’s arms make them the superior option in my opinion – better than both the PRX HALO and the Crandall Swing Arms; if you’re willing to put up that much cash for jammer arms, of course.
All that said, I must again mention the cost. Rogue’s Trolley Lever Arm Kit starts at $1025 for the RML (Monster Lite) racks, and $1230 for Monster racks. This is before shipping and tax. The articulating handle kit is $570, and Megalith handles are $300. Tack on the cost of the Vendetta adapter and/or the GymPin convergence adapter, and you can easily spend a couple grand. You’d probably never look for a replacement product, that’s for sure.
♦ ♦ ♦
Vulcan Strength Jammer Arms
Vulcan offers two different versions of jammer arms; a trolley version and a drop-in version. I have both versions of these and I find they are both really great products but with different ideal applications.
Both versions are the same length, have the same handles and loading pin hardware, and both can be locked in nine different positions ranging from being fixed to your uprights (aka safety lock), pointing directly to the ceiling, and every 15-degree position in-between. This is an amount of positions one either doesn’t typically find on jammer arms, or would require a third-party adapter to achieve this many of positions.
I find the trolley version is superior if you have no other permanently-affixed accessories on the uprights you intend to install jammer arms on; namely things like cable carriages. They are easier to adjust up and down the upright than the drop-in variant, but they are difficult to remove from the rack so the trolley version; much like Rogue’s LT-1, is not something you’d want to buy if you know you don’t want jammer arms on your rack full-time. It’s this situation you’d want to probably go with Vulcan’s drop-ins or some other brand that uninstalls without the need for tools (though I’m at a loss to think of anything that uninstalls quicker than drop-in’s.)
If all of my Rogue accessories were compatible with Vulcan’s jammer arms, they’d easily be my top pick when it comes to ‘out of the box’ jammer/lever arms. Rogue’s LT-1 Lever Arms with a Vendetta adapter is a slightly better product in the end, but that set-up will cost you at least twice as much as a pair of Vulcan jammer arms, and they are effectively the same set-up at the end of the day.
Vulcan’s price: $480-$590
♦ ♦ ♦
My Recommendation?
If you have deep pockets and a compatible rack, definitely go for Rogue’s Iso-Lever Arms – they are probably the most refined and user-friendly option on the market. They can even be made nearly perfect with a single after-market purchase from Vendetta Strength. Price-wise, it’ll sting a little; especially if you plan to accessorize with special handles and horns, but you won’t be unhappy with them unless you simply never learn how to use them, and that’s on you! Especially since I warned you about actually buying jammer arms.
If you have a metric rack, I’d recommend Vulcans in whichever variety (drop-ins or trolley) suits your situation best. The cost of Vulcan jammer arms with all their features is just too reasonable of a price to ignore; they are quick and easy to install / uninstall, they feature a safety lock with eight additional locking positions, solid overall arm length with the standard grip handles, lots of knurled chrome handles for grabbing them when moving them, and so on.
I’m reluctant to add this bit, but neither the Rogue or Vulcan jammer/lever arms converge. If this is an important feature to you then you’ll probably want to go with Crandall Fitness, but definitely check with them about rack compatibility before you actually buy anything. Now if you’re flush and you own a 3×3 rack with 5/8″ holes and you feel like going to town, the PRx Build Limitless HALO Arms may be for you (if they were even available right now).
I’d like to see Vulcan offer a convergence kit since GymPin doesn’t offer one, but for that I’ll just have to wait. In the meantime, I’m waiting on upgrade kits for my Rogue arms.
Jammer Arm Accessories and Upgrade Options
Below you will find a collection of upgrade options for jammer arms, both OEM and third-party options. Some of these I have touched on already, others I have not. Many of these are not exclusive offerings from the product I listed. You can find handles, for instance, all over the place from various manufacturers; some more questionable than others. Be sure and do your research on brand reputation and compatibility if your stray too far from main-stream companies.
Rogue Fitness Articulating Handle Kit (AH-1)
Rogue offers the AH-1 Articulating Handle Kit as a replacement/upgrade option to the multi-grip handles that come standard with Rogue’s LT-1 Trolley Iso Lever Arms. These function and feel much more like a real barbell does while executing lever arm movements because the handle is not fixed to a certain point on the arms. So rather than the handles following the natural curve of arms in motion around a pivot point, the freedom of the handles to do their own thing (for lack of better words) allows you to maintain a straight bar bath.
Rogue’s AH-1 Articulating Handle Kit attached to Rogue’s LT-1 50 CAL ISO Lever Arms – Amazing optional handle attachment, but extremely pricey kit at $570
As badass as these handles are, they are just as expensive as some manufacturers’ entire jammer arm package, so I can see these being an auto-skip for a number of people. They are really a well thought-out accessory though, and they truly do improve the overall feel & execution of a great many movements; namely pulls and presses. I don’t think they replace Rogue’s standard handles though, and if that very proud $570 price tag immediately drives you away, know that there are other articulating handles out there for far less money. There are also many other ways to replace the plate horn if you use one of these other third-party articulating handles.
It’s only fair to say, though, that if you can afford and are willing to spend this kind of money on a handle and plate horn set, they could not be any easier to use, nor could they be any better in terms of feel and construction than they are. All components use a single bolt and knurled knob to attach, meaning you can get these on and off your lever arms in seconds.
For non-Rogue, non-Sorinex rack owners, this kit is not compatible with your jammer arms. You can, however, buy other articulating handles (like the Megalith Handles) and any plate storage horn (like Rogue’s Monster Keyless Storage Pin). I’m giving examples for 1″-holes here, but the Megalith Handles are also compatible with 3×3 arms with 5/8″ holes, and you can find other plate storage options for that configuration on Rogue’s site as well.
Rogue AH-1 Articulating Handles with a Monster Keyless Storage Post and Knurled Knob. This configuration would be compatible on any 3×3″ rack 1″ holes; be it a domestic rack or imported rack.
Sidenote for metric rack owners who want the handles but not the plate horn: you might try to call Rogue and see if you can order one without the other. If they’d even do that, I have no clue what they value each half of that kit at. It’ll still be expensive though, but probably a lot more in line with the Megalith Handles. If you try this and have any success, leave all of us a comment letting us know.
♦ ♦ ♦
Rorman Strength Megalith Handles
Megalith Handles are a take on articulating handles just like the AH-1 Kit discussed above. I like this option for those who don’t need (or want) to pay for both handles and the elaborate plate horns included with the AH-1 Kit. At $299-$349; depending on finish chosen; Megalith Handles are a little over half the price of the AH-1 Kit and effectively the same thing in terms of handle function.
I would say Rogue’s articulating handles are a slightly better product overall. Rogue’s use a single bolt with knurled knobs to attach, whereas the Megalith Handles are attached with an actual bolt and nut, meaning you need tools to attach / remove them. A minor issue, but still worth mentioning.
Even more of a potential issue for some may be that the overall length of Megalith Handles is much shorter than Rogue’s handles, offering what looks like about half as much potential real estate for hand grip variation. Fortunately, it is the correct half of the bar that is present, as it’s far less likely you’ll ever be taking what a sumo grip on jammer arms. The shape and length of the handle should not impact single-arm movements at all.
One benefit of Megalith Handles is that they can be used as a cable attachment, something that the AH-1 Handles cannot do. If this is a useful benefit to you, I can see the price tag not feeling quite so bad as it may feel otherwise. Also, Megalith Handles are compatible with 1″ and 5/8″ hardware racks.
Remember, you still need a plate horn for loading weight if whatever handle type you have currently does not pair well with these handles.
♦ ♦ ♦
Vendetta Strength 1″ Knurled Handles
Vendetta’s 1″ Knurled Handles are pretty self-explanatory. They’re fixed, 13.5″ long knurled stainless steel handles that can fit racks with either 5/8″ or 1″ holes. The diameter of these handles is pretty beefy at 40mm (1.57″). These are sold in pairs for about $200. Alternatively, and for a lot less money, you can use the plate storage pins I discuss next as handles as well. They aren’t knurled, so they are definitely better for pressing than pulling, and they are just under 2″ in diameter making them pretty beefy, but I’ve used them for this purpose before and they worked great, and again, they cost way, way less than Vendetta’s knurled handles.
♦ ♦ ♦
Rogue Monster Plate Storage Pin (Keyless)
I’ve mentioned Rogue’s Monster Plate Pins a couple times already in this article because I find them to be a super simple and affordable way to add weight horns to jammer arms. If you use articulating handles or knurled post handles; anything that doesn’t combine horns and handles in a single piece; these are just the way to go. Ranging from $105 to $120 per pair depending on length of the pins (available in 6 or 12″) , and considering how easy they can be attached and removed from your arms and rack, well, I just love them. Just be sure that you purchase the keyless variant!
Keyhole 1″ Monster Plate Pins vs Keyless 1″ Monster Plate Pins. Don’t buy the keyhole variant for your jammer arms regardless of whether you use them on an actual Rogue power rack or not.
Yes, the keyless plate pins will fit into your metric 25.4mm rack and jammer arm holes. No this product is not available for racks with 5/8″ holes. Additionally, using Rogue’s Monster Knurled Knobs make these pins even quicker and easier to install and uninstall.
♦ ♦ ♦
Power Rack Horizontal Crossmembers
Some of you might have seen some YouTubers attaching horizontal crossmembers at a 90-degree angle to their jammer arms as a way to remove the ‘dead zone’ from lifts. For those of you who have not heard this term, the dead zone is that initial part of a movement during jammer arm exercises when the arms start at their normal, natural resting position of being perpendicular to the ground. It’s referred to as the dead zone because most of a movement that starts here has no resistance due to the fact that the arms (and therefore, the weights) are moving laterally for some time before they begin to move upwards; where all the actual resistance is.
This hack, of sorts, of adding a crossmember with plate horns about 18″-24″ away from the handles and closer to the axis shifts the weight (or mass) so that even when the arms hang straight down, moving the arms require you to push the weight upward against gravity right away, rather than just swinging it sideways for some time before the weight begins to move upwards. You’re basically taking a strength curve that starts at 0% and ends at 100% when the arm is perpendicular to the floor and flattening it, making the entire movement feel more natural and challenging.
If you are having a hard time visualizing this, check out this video by Matt Rosenman. Matt does an excellent job of explaining the dead zone, basically by showing you exactly what it means. Even if you’re already aware of this concept, it’s still an excellent video for learning a ton of ways to manipulate your jammer arm setup. It was something I was wondering how to relay in this article before I found this video, so thanks Matt!
Rather than using a standard 24″ crossmember; I personally prefer half rack stabilizing (or conversion) feet, as they allow more load placement manipulation relative to the handles & pivot point. The only real drawback being there is less space on the same length of metal to attach handles. Swapping the position of the handles on the jammer arms with the position of the weight horn on the crossmember/feet sometimes makes sense (which you’ll also see in the video I linked in the previous paragraph). I’ve never felt the need to do it, but perhaps you will?
I have a pair of both the Rogue Half Rack Conversion Feet and some half rack conversion feet from Rep that I don’t think they offer anymore. I cannot find them on their website any-where. The beauty of most conversion feet is that the bolt holes are elongated to allow for fine-tuning of their position so they are completely level with the other feet of the rack. This makes cross-compatibility between metric and Imperial racks more likely, as it negates the slight difference in distance between holes that exists between these two.
For standard 24″ crossmembers, if you have jammer arms with 5/8″ holes, for a low price I would check out Rep’s 5/8″ rack crossmembers if you have a metric rack, or Rogue’s XML-24 Monster Lite Crossmembers ($90/pair and $125/pair respectively). For Imperial jammer arms with 1″ holes like Rogue and Sorinex, Rogue’s XM-24 Monster Bottom Crossmember Pair are the way to go ($160/pair.)
♦ ♦ ♦
Vendetta Strength 180-degree Trolley Adapters
I’ve touched on these a couple times already, but let’s tackle them one more time before it’s time to wrap this article up.
Vendetta’s 180-degree Trolley Adapters take existing jammer arms from most major brands (like Rogue, Sorinex, Rep Fitness, and Titan) and add the ability to lock the arms in a multi-tude of positions. At just under $300 for a pair of adapters, Vendetta matches the finishes of each product they make adapters for so their adapters look like they were always there and are meant to be there – though they do not for their before-and-after product pictures so that you can clearly see what their kit adds to the carriage. 
Vendetta Strength’s 180-degree Adapter for Rogue’s Monster LT-1 50 CAL Trolley Lever Arms with a matching black gloss finish – $289
I ordered the adapter for my Rogue lever arms but the lead time is so long there wasn’t any chance of receiving my order before publishing this, so I will need to revisit this section in a month or two. I don’t expect to be able to add anything significant as this is a pretty straight forward upgrade that gives me access to a feature I already have on multiple other jammer arms that I have in the gym.
Please read all the red text on the product page of whichever adapter set you are looking to get. Vendetta Strength is going to give you the cold shoulder if you break the adapters, your carriage, or your uprights because you didn’t heed their warnings on how to install and use these properly.
♦ ♦ ♦
GymPin Jammer Arm Adapters
GymPin is where most of you who are seeking converging arms will end up, as they offer a ton of adapters for various brands, including both Rogue LT-1 variants, three different Titan variants, REP Fitness, Bells of Steel, and a couple more. These range in price from $200 or so, up to approximately $300 depending on your rack.
GymPin’s jammer arm adapters are pretty straight forward in terms of installation and what exactly they do. They basically take your existing jammer arm set up and convert it to a fully converging set up. In addition to now being able to move freely through both planes, these adapters also allow you to lock the arms in one of five different positions as well. Combo an adapter like this with Vendetta’s adapter and your jammer arms can move and be locked in just about any position you can imagine.
A little note about the pricing – GymPin is in the UK, so in addition to shipping and any taxes you pay on top of the actual price, you may have to pay import duties.
Summary
First off, I’ll reiterate my disclaimer from 6500 words ago; you probably do not need jammer arms in your garage gym. Squat at least three times a week, deadlift heavy, and bench like every day is a Monday, and you’ll grow. Having said that…
Many of y’all have Rogue Fitness racks, and there is really only one option for guaranteed compatibility with Rogue Racks, and that’s Rogue’s own LT-1 50 CAL kit. You do have the option of a Sorinex kit, but I don’t really see the point of deviating from Rogue in this case, at least for the jammer kit itself. Rogue’s arms are definitely among the best on the market, and they can be completely tricked out with numerous accessories and upgrade kits, both from Rogue, and third-party vendors who have made accessories specifically for Rogue’s lever arms. The options are limitless, really, but yes, they start pricey, and accessories just compound that cost.
Vulcan is the best bang for the buck. Drop-ins for just under $500, and they offer nine lock positions within the full 180° around the axis, great arm length, and they’re so easy to drop in or remove from the uprights. Vulcan build quality is great; almost as good as American-made and infinitely better than budget brands like Titan. You just can’t go wrong so long as you have a Vulcan rack, or some other metric 3×3 rack. Vulcan is my recommendation for most garage gym owners who have compatible racks or functional trainers.
If you have a jammer arm trick or hack that I didn’t discuss, leave a comment and let us all know what it is.
