2026 Is Off And Running

Gray Matter Lifting

We are rolling into 2026 and kicking it off with some fun stuff.

Home Gym Tour

This is my first official Home Gym Tour in 2 years. Since that time we have added full flooring for the garage, insulation, paint, a mini-slit, changed out our rack, our primary cable system, and redone the entire opposite corner for production purposes.

This is the largest change since we moved from a corner of the garage to a fully half dedicated space. And it is officially crowned V6 of the Gray Matter Lab.

The video is available below, and the full write up is right here. I went ahead and put a table together with EVERYTHING in my gym, with links and details, in case you are interested in digging into it.

Collars

I spent over $500 on collars in the past couple of weeks (a few more on the way). The plan is to go through all these different types of collars over the course of the next several months… test with deadlifts, squats, and more. I’ve got a friend who does some olympic lifting, I’ll ask them to test on their end too.

And we are going to do some drop tests likely with my Weight It Out plates, outside on some hard surfaces… as well as the standing tests to see how much weight they can handle in compromised positions.

If you have any ideas around collars I should test, or ways to test them, let me know!

Belt Squat Belts

Doubling up on collars, we cleared the $1k mark on belt squat belts in the journey to see what we think is the best one available. I’m belt squatting every week, so is my wife, and I’m going to get a few of our regulars to add it to their rotation as well for some feedback.

I snagged some off Amazon, grabbed multiple from Spud, REP, Rogue, Henny, Bullet Proof, even the old school Iron Mind. And I’ll include my squat harness in here too.

If you have any ideas around belt squats I should test, or ways to test them, let me know!

Cable Attachments

I’m also adding some more cable attachments to the gym. I know, insane. But I’ve had a few on my list and some companies that have poked me. So I’m opening up the doors for a few more for 2026. If you have seen any lately that caught your eye, let me know.

Garage Sale

We cleaned out our shed and organized our garage storage a bit over the holiday break, so I’ve got some random items up for grabs this week in the Garage Sale. We are moving to a form based system (if you reply to this email, it won’t count to hold your spot). Fill out the form, it’ll keep it in order, so we follow a first come, first serve process.

We’ve got some items that are only available for local pick-up this time too. And remember, all those belts and collars mentioned above? Once that project finishes, all but a couple will be included in the garage sale.

What Is Next?

Currently working on a video around landmines, alongside the REP x Kleva ADROIT review. And after that is the Freak Athlete ABX, which I know a lot of you have had questions about.

Behind The Scenes

I am currently in the process of changing the production corner of the garage. Yeah I know, I just dropped a full tour and write up and I’m already changing stuff.

You’ll here me say this a few times this year, my goal for 2026 is Sustainability. Trying to improve my workflow to remove wasted time, outsource items where I can, and all around make this process of producing cool videos, articles, and newsletters a smoother process. The idea isn’t to step away from anything, but to maintain the high quality I expect of myself, while remaining consistent throughout the year.

I’m a pretty hefty chunk of the way through this project. I’m waiting on a few back-ordered pieces, but the entire goal is to be able to have a more dedicated YouTube recording set-up in the garage. Lights, camera, action? Something like that. I’ll have a permanent camera, light, soft box, microphone, and more set up regularly.

I want to be able to walk out there, hit a few buttons, and record. Not spend 30 minutes setting up stuff, recording, then 30 minutes tearing it down. This is going to be the LARGE investment piece for 2026 that isn’t gym equipment.

Whats New In The Community?

FringeSport Digital Resistance This Summer

The Garage Gym Radio crew chatted with PK and Tim from Fringe Sport recently. PK is always an interesting listen because he essentially has no filter. So he says things he probably shouldn’t, but that can lead to some insightful behind the scenes stuff.

He mentioned that Fringe was aiming to launch a Digital Resistance device, similar to the VOLTRA, in summer of 2026.

In my mind, there are only two ways this happens:

1) Fringe partners with some company and slaps their name on a product to launch it. This would be them connecting with a company that was about to cross the finish line, but needed a step into the equipment space, and they saw a beneficial win.

2) They work with a company like RepOne to integrate their system into the Dane. So it isn’t really Fringe’s Digital Resistance machine, but they get the benefit.

Most companies I’ve talked to so far, are greatly misunderstanding the infrastructure needed to run a digital resistance machine as an internal product offering. If you currently sell benches and bars but want to sell racks, you just need the design and tools and metal. If you want to turn that into cable attachments, or machines, etc. It is all in a very similar realm. You are matching up parts and pieces to make gym equipment.

Digital Resistance devices require a very different type of engineer to work with the plastics, motors, magnets, and more. You need software designers, coders, and IT security professionals. You need servers, you need an App designer, and you need to hire all of them permanently to maintain frequent updates, fixes, and functionality.

To add ONE product to your company offering, would require you to add an entire business worth of employees to your payroll overnight. And I don’t think they grasp this.

PK mentions in the video that he has prior experience in designing appliances. I’m not sure if you’ve talked to anyone that has bought an appliance past the year 2000, but NO ONE is impressed with the technology and build quality of appliances. So if his ace up his sleeve is appliance tech, I don’t have high hopes.

As a huge VOLTRA fan, I’d love to see some quality competition. I think there is plenty of innovation available in terms of integration, mounts, design, and more that isn’t happening because we only have one solid option. So I want to see it.

But the reason VOLTRA has been successful and we’ve had NO copy cats in over two years is because Beyond Power is a tech company with experience from DJI and funded by venture capitalists. They knew they were making a tech device first.

Long story short, if Fringe has a viable digital resistance device by the summer I would be blown away. I’m here for it. But if I’m a betting dude, I’m putting my money on them being a solid year behind schedule before they release it. Again, unless if they go option 1 or 2 above.

GymPin Safety Squat Bar Handles

GymPin dropped an interesting one. They have new SSB Handles that be attached to any bar. Where this really makes sense to me, isn’t to turn your normal bar into a Safety Squat Bar. But to use with a Smith Machine bar to do so.

New Spiderchalk

I’ve been using SpiderChalk exclusively for a few years for my chalk. Even my daughter uses it exclusively for her Ninja Warrior pursuits. They just dropped a new liquid chalk that they claim to be their best yet. I’ve written an entire article on chalk, which you can check out here.

Can You Trust YouTube Reviewers?

My dude Tim at GymCrafter and I have been chatting behind the scenes about some of the shadier practices done in the name of “reviews”. Tim and I align on 99% of stuff in terms of how we run our business. So I think this was a good video if you are trying to figure out how to navigate the world of content creators.

Transparency. I don't care if you make money, but tell me. If I'm offered $20k to review a bench I was already going to review, assuming there are no strings attached, I'm taking it. But that dives into number 2...

Honesty. I need to make sure that this person isn't covering up stuff. It tends to be fairly obvious after you've watched enough or tried enough equipment, where people are skipping things to make sure you click their link.

Knowledge. If I can watch your video and get nothing but what the spec sheet tells me, what was the point of your video? That is my struggle with the trips. That is my struggle with channels that put out videos on brand new products the same week it releases, and its my struggle with the word "review" being attached to so much of these videos.

At the end of the day, I love this video because it gives a lot of behind the scenes information that people can digest, to help them make an informed decision on who to trust. Because that is what ultimately matters. Whether I'm reviewing a barbell, rack, massage gun, or pillow... hopefully you trust me to do the job properly.

Ultimately, you need to understand how all of this works, the pros and cons of trying to fit into this world, and hopefully find a dude or two that you feel like you can trust.

Garage Gym Competition

We are 15 weeks out of the Spring GGC. Which means you should be putting in the work and getting better RIGHT NOW. We’ve got 25 sponsors confirmed so far right now, and should be locking down more real soon.

Sponsor Highlight

JuggernautAI is coming back as our Presenting Sponsor. This is their 5th year in a row, and they have tossed up a LOT in prizes over the years.

Juggernaut being here, for the GGC, means we get to keep doing our thing. The presenting sponsor handles a LARGE portion of our expenses to run the GGC for the year. I have done a LOT to streamline and lower the costs of the GGC since the beginning, but websites, awards, planning, and more costs money. So thank you to JuggernautAI for their support here.

For you, it means we get a few awesome things. We get their Prize Package that includes a full YEAR of JuggernautAI access, full offering of their e-Books and apparel, and a 1 on 1 Call with Chad Wesley Smith himself to problem solve and plan your training.

You also get access to the exclusive Discount Code for JuggernautAI Access – Save 10% per month on the App I’ve used for over 2 years w/ Code: GGC.

If you happen to run JuggernautAI for the GGC, and you elect to get coaching feedback on your lifts, Chad is going to be your coach. You’ll get direct feedback from the main man himself to help you be a better lifter.

And of course, we get to dig into all of their awesome content. Free training tips, ideas on how to progress or program certain lifts, and more!

Thanks to JuggernautAI for their support.

GGC Coaches

We’ve got 14 coaches confirmed so far for this year. The next newslettter we’ll start poking them for more tips and tricks, and progressing towards the Spring GGC. If you want to join the group, let me know. Otherwise… HERE WE GO!

r/HomeGym

Wall Control

This post on r/HomeGym caught my eye since I’m a huge Wall Control dude. They shared some feedback that they think buying the kitchen kit is the best approach for saving some cash. I don’t personally agree, mostly because I’m not likely to use all of the included attachments. That said, glad to see another Wall Control person join the family.

Current Targeted Talk - What is the BEST Budget Barbell?

We dropped the SECOND Targeted Talk of the year on budget barbells. The first was about how to start your home gym in 2026.

The plan is to drop a new targeted talk every week, for the majority of the year. We’ll be rating equipment, finding the best approaches to certain hot topics, discussing smart tech, racks, flooring, and more. These are always insightful chats, even for me as an “expert”. So hopefully you find them helpful.

AMAs

Kensui dropped their AMA last week which was a fantastic kick off. Next week we have STEPR coming for January 28th and 29th. Similar to the Targeted Talks, we’ll have one every other week throughout the year. Giveaways and inside scoops, right here!

One Last Thing…

A bunch of you reached out after the last newsletter and dropped some awesome details, questions, and ideas for 2026. Thank you!

I said it last time, I’ll say it again. Your ideas, your interaction, your feedback, helps me find a light to follow down this crazy path of content creation. So truly, thank you. And I hope more of you check in as we go.

• Joe