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2025 Is Almost Over
New Gym Equipment, New Review, Last Newsletter For A Bit
Joseph Gray
December 11, 2025
GML - Prime, ForceUSA, Other
Community - APEX
GGC - miniGGC is live
r/HomeGym - Post Black Friday Chat
Links throughout may include Affiliate Links. These help fund the Newsletter, Website, Garage Gym Competition, Videos and more at no expense to you.
Big Note First
Hey, this will be the final newsletter of 2025. My daughter has Winter Break starting December 20th, and it runs into December 4th and I’m going to do the same.
I will be off social media, YouTube, email, everything. Goal is to basically disappear for two weeks, get some projects around the house done, and spend time with my family.
So enjoy this newsletter, enjoy your time with friends and family, and I’ll see you in 2026.
Gray Matter Lifting
A lot of moves are happening in the gym. And I’ve got a few more on the way. Plan is to do a full walk through video in January, which will be THREE years since the last update. We’ll consider this a full V6. Wowzers!
Prime Prototype Bar
I dropped the video on Saturday, and it has been a big hit. This bar showed up in April, and I put a LOT of miles on it in that time. The goal was to provide Prime with a lot of feedback on how they can improve, and hopefully drop the coolest bar on the planet.
ForceUSA Tandem Tower
It arrived… but we had some delivery hiccups. The first delivery was ONLY the weight stacks. Then a week later we got the rest of the machine… Nothing was scheduled so I just came home in the evening and it was sitting in my front driveway.
The next day I unpacked everything, started assembly, and once I got to the weight stacks found out I was missing one. On top of that, a number of them are labeled wrong (I have two 20s for instance). I’m pretty positive the plate fell out of the cardboard box for the weight stack upgrade kit, since I found one randomly on the pallet before the driver took off.
So in the shipping and packaging department, I think we have some immediate tweaks needed.
The only note on assembly so far, is that the instructions don’t mention the weight stack upgrade kit. Luckily I have put machines together before, so I knew to remove the extra pieces and add in plates, otherwise you could be in trouble here.
Garage Sale
Hot damn! We sold almost everything that first morning. Clearly something that is going to be beneficial to you and me. So I’m glad that worked out. I figured out how to ship from USPS from my house, so that is rolling as well, and most items came in around $10 for shipping. Not too shabby!
Coming up soon will be some collars, calf blocks, and a few bigger items once I finish reviews. The ABX, ANCORE Pro, and more misc. items.
What Is Up Next?
Before I take off for the holidays, I’m hoping to tackle a couple of reviews. The REP Belt Squat is next, and I’m tinkering with what will come after that. I need to finish the NordBench Pro, ANCORE Pro, and Freak ABX Speaking of, I just got the Biceps Attachment for the ABX!
Behind The Scenes
REP sent out a care package to their affiliates this past week. Not something most companies do, but pretty cool.
We got this 1kg Kettlebell, which is just hilariously adorable.
We got samples of their protein powder (I have stated before, it is very meh and not recommended). Samples of their creatine and electrolytes, which I probably wouldn’t recommend either simply because there is no way they won’t be more expensive than what we already take.
And we got this Ice Shaker. I’ve been using the same metal protein shaker for several years now without any real hesitation. This Ice Shaker is NOICE! Nice enough that my wife immediately looked up how much they cost to see about upgrading our others.
So… thanks to REP for the goodies, and for making me spend more money on upgrading an item I was perfectly comfortable with.
Whats New In The Community?
The TibBarGuy dropped the APEX bench and ecosystem last week, and it went pretty crazy. Let’s dig into a few items real quick.
I’ve Kind of Used It- Long time readers might remember that I was testing TWO pre-release benches awhile back. One was the ABX, and the other was the APEX. I got their full bench and original ecosystem design, and it was a LOT. I gave them a solid months worth of feedback, and they went back to work to put together what we see here.
I’m Getting It Soon - I’ve been told that one of the first production models will be sent to me for testing. So hopefully that happens relatively soon and I can get some good info out there. The first version I used compared to the current version, is quite a bit different. So definitely going to need several months of tinkering and testing with everything they’ve got going on here.
I Didn’t Go To Cincinnati - You probably saw a number of YouTuber’s and such showing up to their facility and doing videos. I was offered, but declined for a couple reasons.
One, my personal stance has always been that you need time in your own environment with something to truly understand what is going on with it. You needs reps, sets, and the ability to use it, store it, pull it back out, before you get a true idea of how this is going to work in a typical garage gym. It is why my videos and reviews take months, not days. Flying out and handling products in a studio is far from that.
And second, when companies bring half a dozen or more people at one time to do the same video on the same product from the same space, I get that icky feeling on my skin. It quickly becomes everything I hate about most of the “influencer” life, where this stuff becomes an Ad-Campaign instead of actually passing along helpful information. Every guy who went out there used their affiliate link for pre-order while handling the bench for an extremely limited amount of time.
Add in that the company pays for your flight, hotel accommodations, etc. And it starts to get a little weird on my end in terms of bias. I don’t hate on anyone that takes those offers, but you aren’t going to find me at one anytime soon.
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Garage Gym Competition
Second… We launch the Winter miniGGC - Winter Cleaning
The miniGGC … where we take what you love about the Garage Gym Competition, and apply it to something else random and fun.
We spend months focused on the main event… Powerlifting! In the Winter we deload, check out some stats, and do some fun lifting events. We’ve done grip events, slam dunk events, turkish get-up events, strongman events…
The name of the game is inclusivity… The rules are light, the fun is heavy, and of course some prizes up for grabs and Non-Profit Donations!
What are we doing this time?
Cleans!
Pick your favorite bar, sandbag, log, or dog, and pull it from the ground and toss it overhead. Olympic style, strongman style, break dance style… all good!
Get it done between NOW and December 19th!
What Is Next?
I am taking the end of December and early part of January off for vacation. So finish off the year with some Cleans, take a break, and then we’ll get rolling with 2026 Garage Gym Competition prep in early January.
Non-Profits
With the news from the past couple weeks, the miniGGC will be donating $1 per participant to BOTH the GoFundMe for E. Divine as well as RAINN. So your entry will be worth $2 of donations.
You can also donate and find more details on the website.
Training Tip
With the Fall GGC done, I asked our coaches What to do After a Competition, but before prep for the next?
I think the biggest thing that I see newer lifters make is getting right back to squatting benching and dead lifting with a straight bar straight away after a contest, even trying to max out again. I think that is a really poor choice in my opinion.
One of the things I’ve been on my high horse about as of late with the next generation of Powerlifting is a potential problem with early specialization and only doing the specific competition Squat competition Bench Press and competition Deadlift.
If you do have access to some fancy gadgets like a VOLTRA or just some cable or band resistance, actually getting away from the big three for even as little as one to two weeks can be really good to give your joints rest as well as provide some novelty to your training and in particular if you go from really low rep training to high rep training.
It’s a good opportunity to get some blood flow and create a different stimulus for muscle growth, conditioning and overall hypertrophy. And if you’re really itching to get back to the Barbell, I suggest trying some new variations maybe instead of Barbell squatting you are doing a front squat or using a specialty bar.
For bench maybe try floor pressing or even trying incline overhead pressing for a period of time.
Then for deadlifts maybe you try your opposite stance so if you’re a conventional lifter, maybe try sumo. Using things like a trap bar or a deadlift variation like a Romanian dead lift for example after meet.
The big thing is to get away from the competition lifts, train more general, increase your rep ranges and change your stimulus so you don’t develop overuse injuries and boredom overtime.
Best advice is to do something different! Most people feel beat up or burnt out after a meet. Take this down time to start doing things you wouldn't normally do. This could be completely new exercises or variations of the compound lifts (bars, bands, chains, tempo, stance, grip, etc). Give yourself a few weeks of fun before heading back into your next prep. Your body will thank you and you either might find some new favorite movements you may have never tried, or you'll be itching so bad to get back to powerlifting that your next training cycle will be that much better!
I refer to the weeks after competition as the post-season. The idea is to bring the body back to balance with a focus on rest, nutrition, mobility work, and active recovery before stepping back into a strength-building phase. This phase looks different for every athlete in length and structure.
That's the neat part, you're always prepping for the next GGC! Just kidding... kind of...
Usually, for myself and my athletes, I'm first letting my body recover. Usually the week after the competition it's just light movement. After that, it's a bridge block consisting of movements I haven't done in a while. After that, I like switching gears and doing more hypertrophy focus, higher rep schemes, lower weight. It allows me to focus on weaknesses and work on building those.
Specifically during the holidays, I try to set expectations. It might be too cold to lift or you'll be so busy you can't get your whole workout in. Do what you can and enjoy the time. Your strength and fitness gains aren't going to crumble if you miss a couple training days or eat a plate of cookies. Be especially good so Santa and Brodulf the Red Nosed Gainsdeer bring you all the new toys for your home gym.
Need help, motivation, training, or a banging Playlist? DM me at Mr._adorable on IG.
Take a modified approach to the big three lifts for 6-8 weeks. Instead of a straight bar squat, use a duffalo bar, SSB, or belt squat. Find different variations of benching such as neutral grip pressing, duffalo bar benching, or dumbbell work. For deadlifts, pull with your opposite stance for a while or use a trap bar. The reps and weights should be hypertrophy focused for a couple of months via a powerbuilding or bodybuilding phase.
I’ll add one more thing. I think with how much is going on during the holidays, with New Years, and the entire months of November and December, it is totally cool to pull back. If you normally run a 5 day a week schedule, maybe try 3 or 4. If you normally hit 5 exercises a workout, maybe try 3. Normally do 3 sets? Try 2!
What I’ve found in times where I have given myself some breathing room, is that the gym didn’t suffer, my time outside of the gym was improved, and I was ready to rock when it all evened out again.
This isn’t advice I would give to people who struggle with consistency. But for those of us that are crushing it 48 weeks out of the year, those 4 where we drop it back into first gear are probably good for us.
I’m going down to 4 days a week for the rest of December, and cutting my program down to the bare essentials. For Leg Day that means dropping about 6 sets of accessories as an example where I’ll hit a circuit of Leg Curls, Squats, and Leg Extensions and be done!
When I come back in January, I’ll be refreshed, hungry, and feeling good. Time to work!
r/HomeGym
Current Targeted Talk / AMA
Now that the Black Friday window is done, we posted a quick targeted talk about what you would like to see next year. Should be a fun chat.
Upcoming AMA
Our first AMA is coming up in January. You can check the full schedule here.
One Last Thing…
I am working hard to make my way through a couple of reviews before I dip for vacation. So keep your eyes open. But when I come back, we’ll get caught up before jumping into 2026 plans.
If you have any requests for videos, articles, things I should review, and more. Fire away. I love hearing what you think I should work on. Some of the most successful pieces I’ve ever done, were based on YOUR feedback and requests. So keep em coming.
Thanks so much for being here, for supporting me and what I do. 2025 has been a banger of a year.
I hope you have a fantastic holiday and new year, and I’ll see you in a couple weeks! 2026 is going to be fun on a bun.
Joe