Almost Done With Benches

Gray Matter Lifting

Last week I finished the final bench review for the Showdown. So we have the following:

• Wide Body Bench - Complete

• Prime Shorty Bench - Complete

• Inspire SCS - Complete (part of the Inspire FT2 review)

• REP NightHawk - Complete

• Ironmaster Super Bench Pro V2 - Complete

• Bells of Steel Buzzsaw - Complete

• Freak Athlete ABX - Pending

The Freak Athlete ABX that I have is currently the pre-release. So I’ll mention it in the video, but won’t get a full review till later this year.

As newsletter subscribers, if you want to read any of these EARLY before they get released to the world, simply hit me back with a reply to this email and I’ll get you links.

Survey - Win $50 Amazon Gift Card and Swag

A buddy of mine connected me with a guy that is going through Grad School. He is doing a survey to collect information for a project, and I wanted to give him a hand. So we are running a quick survey.

If you fill it out and share your thoughts, you are helping him out, and might win $50. One person will be selected on 10/8.

Behind The Scenes

I’ve been doing a lot of work on organizing my pipeline to keep me on track. I’ve got the rest of the year booked out, and I am hoping I can meet the timelines I’ve put in place for myself. The Review Pipeline has been updated to reflect that.

I’ve also got 2026 started, and it is actually booked into June. Now some of those projects aren’t firm commitments. I always like to have some items that I can move in case something comes along that I need to fit in there.

Good examples… I know for a fact that I’ll be getting the Freak Athlete ATOM, REP Leg Developer, Dialed Motion Leg Developer, and several pieces from a few companies that haven’t been announced yet. I’ve got a phone call with ForceUSA in a couple weeks to chat about their new product releases and I’m hoping to make some movements in the gym to welcome a piece in. And I have a chat with Quantum Free Trainer in October as well. I was told I would see the new TibBarGuy NBE V3 shortly as well.

I want my next Showdown to be about Adjustable Dumbbells. So that would be another handful of items as well.

So that is half a dozen pieces that I am counting on (and a few maybes), that will need to find room in the pipeline and gently bump others down the road.

The good news is, I should be caught up before the end of the year on a lot of projects that have been hanging around. 2026 will be a nice fresh start!

Whats New In The Community?

Darko just sent out a note on his 3 year anniversary of making cool stuff. And he noted that in early 2026 they are moving to a warehouse to expand. FANTASTIC. Congrats dude!

REP Calibrated Steel Plates

REP just dropped new calibrated steel plates. These are an item that I have been interested in, but not willing to pull the trigger due to space. If I had room a more dedicated powerlifting layout with a Combo, and then some bodybuilder space for my regular plates, this would be dope. But not today.

Force USA Tandem Tower

I mentioned above, that I’m talking to ForceUSA soon. The item I’m most intrigued by is the Tandem Tower. This is a unique play on the corner cable tower, that has TWO fully pivoting arms running off one stack. This might be one of the more unique options I’ve seen for the home gym in a long time.

Garage Gym Competition

4 Weeks left, means it is time for Peaking! If you are running JuggernautA (or not) you should be entering the point of your training where you are dropping volume, lowering intensity on your accessories, and fine tuning last minute adjustments on the Big 3 to bring your best on game day.

I will be performing a Safety Squat Bar 1 Rep Max, typical straight bar Bench, and

Sponsor Highlight

When people walk into my gym, one of the first things they comment about is the organization. I give a lot of credit to my friends at Wall Control, because I have a total of 9 boards in my garage. And honestly, if I had the space, I’d probably have more.

Their boards are American Made, from a small family run company, with exceptional customer service, and they just freaking work. I’ve had over 100lbs on one board for years now, and absolutely no issues.

I like them so much I wrote an entire comprehensive guide on how to get the most out of your wall control set-up.

Prize Announcement

Wall Control is tossing up a $200 gift card with swag bag. You’ll be able to organize your gym like the pros!

Balancing Sports and Weight Training For Kids

Jeff Kimpel from Primal Armor is back with another addition to the Kids Lifting series. This time we dive into balancing weight training and kids activities like sports. How to program in-season vs off-season, talk about recovery, and how to keep an eye on your kiddos to make sure it is all working.

r/HomeGym

We have two more AMAs for the year… Freak Athlete on 10/15 and 10/16, and Freedom Fitness on 10/29 and 10/30.

I just confirmed the 2026 AMA List, and I am sharing it here with you today because I think it should be a fun year.

One Last Thing…

Getting into content creation is like getting into home gyms. You continually finds toys that intrigue you that you must buy. I’m going to get a new one before the end of the year, that I think is going to be really cool for upcoming videos.

The DJI OSMO Nano is an action camera, similar to a GoPro. But it is tiny, magnetic, and has a removable screen. For those with some video knowledge, it also records in 4k 60fps and 10bit Log format, which means it’ll fit in nicely with my current camera.

I’m looking to use this in a number of ways, mostly from a fun B-Cam perspective for shots… hooking it onto barbells, dumbbells, cable attachments, the rack, and more… As well as give Audrey an easy to use camera to take some BTS clips. Should be fun.

I’ve said it before, none of the fancy stuff is necessary, but I truly enjoy the creative process of photography and videography, so investing in a toy here and there that keeps that alive is what keeps me going through this journey.

Thanks for helping me buy crazy stuff to give you some slightly more exciting videos to watch 🙂

• Joe