Landmines & Leg Developers

Gray Matter Lifting

New stuff has been poring into the garage, and I am stoked. Lets take a look at what has gone on in the last two weeks.

Landmine 101

This video is more geared towards those that haven’t bought a landmine yet, even newbies in the home gym space, opposed to probably the majority of you… my well seasoned Home Gym Vets!

That said, there might be some tips and tricks here for everyone, and if you have been considering a landmine for your home gym, I got you! You can check out the written article here and the video below.

I also finished the REP x KLEVA Adroit Landmine review. You can read that right here.

REP Leg Developer

The new REP Leg Extension & Leg Curl Bench Attachment has arrived in the garage, it is assembled, we’ve snapped some pics, and it is officially on the Review Pipeline.

This is one of REP’s biggest launches in years, as it finally brings their benches outside of the realm of “just a bench”. We’ve handled half a dozen leg developers over the past year, so we are ready for this one.

Speed Run

This is only for Newsletter peeps, but here is some VERY early feedback. REP is normally fantastic at packaging. The REP Pegasus, Nigthhawk and ADROIT I received had that awesome black foam cut exactly to the product. Everything was tight, nothing was going anywhere, and all parts and instructions were just extremely well done.

This was not that. This was in line with what I’ve seen from every other company. Ok, not terrible, but just not on their level.

You can see in the picture above, one of my band peg posts is bent. We also had one of the weight posts covered in soot, similar to how the Wide Body Bench was delivered. This wiped off, but was very odd. We also had an issue with the upper leg roller adjustment for leg curls. There was a lot of “stuff” inside the piece that was dragging on the metal frame. So much so, that I had to take it off entirely, and shake it until it all came out into the box. I recorded the sound for the upcoming video.

According to REP’s email:

Extra interesting to me that REP QC checks their stuff sent to us “special” people, and we had all of this happen.

So far, we’ve only had some light tinkering with it, no working sets yet. But the Leg Extension in plate loaded mode has a HUGE drop-off in resistance at the top. More so than almost any leg developer I’ve used. You are definitely going to want some sets of bands here. In theory, that drop-off should be beneficial for lying leg curls as I often use inverse chains on my VOLTRA for leg curls.

I was VERY excited about this piece, and the initial impressions have been pretty bad. Hopefully it is all uphill from here, but this is not what I expect from REP and a $550 leg developer.

Tandem Tower Plate Snacks & Other Goodies

Been working with my dude Mark at PlateSnacks on a custom design for the ForceUSA Tandem Tower weight stack. We got it 99% of the way done, just need a small correction on the top 10lb plate. We also just received the new ForceUSA collars, AbMat Belt Squat Belt Cover, and multiple VOLTRA accessories from EVE Company. We’ve got a lot cooking, and I’m really excited.

Garage Sale

Quick update… EVERYTHING sold. I sold about ¾ of it on Marketplace, and a few things through the Garage Sale. Met a local dude to me on Marketplace that bought the IPR Straps. He recognized me from YouTube and we chatted for over an hour. He used to lift with Ronnie Coleman and other professional bodybuilders back in the day. Pretty cool stories, and he got to test out some cable attachments, check out the ABX, and other goodies.

I’ve got a handful of items under my desk that will go up probably in the next newsletter.

Behind The Scenes

I started reaching out to companies to collect some products for an Adjustable Dumbbell Showdown later this year. I’ve got Powerblock locked in, NuoBells coming from Bells of Steel, REP is in for Peppins, and I’m going to borrow my neighbors Ironmasters (I’ve used them in the past).

The other adjustable dumbbells on my list are:

• TruLap

• MX Select

• CORE Home Fitness

• Unreleased version from a special company

If there are any sets of adjustables that should be included in this roundup, let me know. I won’t likely start working on this project until around June. Hopefully we’ll be mostly done with the belt squat belts by then.

Whats New In The Community?

Porter PhysEd

Porter dropped some notes that his Eclipse Grips are back in stock, and will ship out in February. And that the REVBars are being produced and shipped in order of who bought them first. AND he has a new cable attachment… The V-Wing… on the way. I’ve seen it, think Star Wars meets Cable Attachments. (Save 5% on Eclipse w/ Code: GML)

Barbell Hanger

I mentioned in my home gym tour video, that I am using a custom designed 3d Printed Barbell Hanger from Aperture Engineering. They are finally available on the website. These solved a lot of problems I had with different storage solutions over the years. And Greg has made a few tweaks to make them even better as I had the very first test products. We managed to break ONE of them, which ended up resulting in some reinforced designs. So far the other have held bars on the wall for over a year. (Save 5% on 3D printed storage and accessories w/ Code: GGC)

Freak Athlete Adjustable Kettlebell

I get the inside scoop from Freak pretty often. Sometimes WAY before it makes sense. Yogi has had a passion project of creating an adjustable kettlebell that doesn’t suck, for quite awhile. In his own training from my understanding, he almost exclusively uses the Hyper Pro and a Kettlebell. So it makes sense that he would want to design something perfect for his own needs.

I’m not a kettlebell dude, but this looks pretty legit. And that price looks fantastic.

Garage Gym Competition

13 Weeks to go for the Spring GGC. Hopefully you have your calendars marked and ready! Goal is to have all the details, sponsors, prizes, website updates, everything locked in by end of February.

Sponsor Highlight

Prime Fitness is BACK. Every time I say that I get some fancy tingles because I’m so excited to have them on board. Prime has given out, without a doubt, the most bonkers prizes over the years. From Single Stacks to specialty bars, full power racks, and more. A couple years back they started doing their “Mystery Prize”, which has been a huge hit every single time.

We’ve gotten early access to products that aren’t available yet. Even getting stuff a full YEAR before anyone else. Regardless of what the Mystery Prize is, we know it is going to be American Made, creative, and awesome.

Prime Fitness focuses their efforts primarily in the hypertrophy world, with a heavy dose of trying to purposefully build pieces that produce more muscle. Better strength curves, more stretch, better starting positions, and more work where it counts… on the MUSCLES!

After using a decent chunk of Prime equipment, I can safely say that if I had a full warehouse, I’d probably have one of everything they make. Machines, bars, racks, cable attachments, and more.

Love me some Prime Fitness. If you want the best for your home gym, Prime should absolutely be on that list. Make sure to use code GGC to save on your next Prime purchase.

Training Tip - What are some signs that I might need to reassess my programming?

We are 3 weeks into our 16 week block for the Spring GGC. But what if things aren’t going great? How do we know we should jump ship and start a different program? Are there any times where we might be TOO far into it, to jump ship? Here is what our GGC Coaches think:

I’ll add in my notes as well. I think beyond injury and downright getting destroyed so hard that it impacts your daily life, sleep, work, etc. I think you would ideally work through at least one block of a program.

A good example… JuggernautAI is a fantastic program. But I HATED the Bridge Block. Low intensity sets for high reps with timed rest periods is the furthest thing from what I want to do in the gym. If I am going to do cardio, I’m just going to do cardio. I’ve never enjoyed CrossFit style workouts where we are loading a barbell and doing circuits till we can’t breathe.

After 4 weeks of it, I almost gave up on Juggernaut entirely. I was struggling to sleep. I was tired all the time. It was miserable.

Luckily I finished, moved into a Hypertrophy Block, and it was fantastic. What I learned from that bridge block, was that I probably needed more cardio in my life. And that I also still hated it and never wanted to do it again. In two years of JuggernautAI, I did one bridge block.

So if you can, make your way through a block, learn from it (good and bad), and then move on if things aren’t clicking.

r/HomeGym

Last week we had STEPR No-Show on us, which is a VERY rare place to be. I had some excuses fired my way via email, but I’m not about to play that game. STEPR also turned me down for their affiliate program, and when I mentioned we had issues with them on Instagram I had a handful of people DM me to complain about their customer service.

I tend to try and give companies the benefit of the doubt, like people, and allow an accident here and there. But that is three strikes in a VERY short amount of time with them, as I only connected in October. Not a company I will be looking to work with in the future.

Current Targeted Talk

We talked about budget barbells last time, now we are looking at budget benches.

Upcoming AMA

HomeGrown Lifting is joining us on 2/11 and 2/12 for an AMA. They’ve done one before, and since then have added a lot to their lineup. Looking forward to this one. They are planning multiple giveaways, so don’t miss this one.

One Last Thing…

If you are local to me, feel free to drop me a line and come bye and check out the gym. I had a buddy from IG stop bye this Saturday. He got to test some Mag Pins, take a look at the VOLTRAs, you name it.

The guy I mentioned from Marketplace got to take a look at the ABX, test some cable attachments, and more. If I’ve got something you want to see, try out, or just want to chat. Let me know!

See ya in the next one…

• Joe