Welcome To 2026

Gray Matter Lifting

A Few Items From 2025

I just got back from vacation on Monday. This was the first two weeks I’ve taken off social media, email, etc. since starting this whole home gym thing. Thanks for the support in getting me to a place where I can do that.

If you sent me an email, comment, DM, whatever, and I haven’t replied… poke me again. I believe I got through everything, so if I didn’t hit ya back, I missed it.

I snuck in one final video and write up before I bounced for vacation. It was on the REP Belt Squat and VOLTRA combo I have been tinkering with.

On top of that, I added three different items to the Review Pipeline, including two cardio pieces.

2026 Plans

2026 is here and I already spent $1k on belt squat belts for a project coming up. You just know that means this is going to be a good year.

If you’ve been around awhile, you probably know I’m a planner. I have an entire spreadsheet for my content planned for GML, the GGC, and r/HomeGym with 2026 almost entirely booked. So I figured, why not give you a glimpse into what I have written down, and then let you fire off with any ideas or requests. Keep in mind that these dates are tentative and can bob and weave a little based on what is going on. Not everything will get a full video review, some items will just be written.

Other items I know are coming include the TibBarGuy APEX and several unreleased items from some of my friends. If the schedule stays clear, I’d like to do a video on Rack Attached Pads… grab all of them from every company, and take a whirl.

PK from Fringe Sport claimed that I would get their new Smith Rack Attachment, but so far no update there as other reviewers have already put out full videos in a matter of days of use. My man Coach Carp even poked Fringe directly to try and make it happen. For some reason Fringe has been extremely difficult for me to work with.

Take a look at the above, and if you have any requests, ideas, or tweaks… reply back to this email and lets chat.

Do I Still Use This?

The “Do I Still Use This?” concept was inspired by Brandon Campbell doing his Sliding Bar review and saying he wanted to see me do a check in video on how it fits into my lineup now.

The idea would be not to do full reviews on these items (as I already did that), but to talk about something in my gym that got reviewed years back, and if my thoughts have changed, where I currently sit with it, and more.

NordBench Review

I got the original NordBench in 2024, and then the NordBench Pro in July of 2025. We tossed a ton of feedback to NordStick and they went to work.

I’ve had some pretty mixed experiences with the unit overall, but I’ve been told this is largely due to owning an older version. Which I think is also part of a larger problem for the NordBench overall. Written review right here, video at the button below.

Garage Sale

I’ve got a few things under my desk ready to add to the Garage Sale, so keep your eyes opened in the coming weeks. And based on the project list above, you should know I’ll have close to a dozen belt squat belts up for grabs, the Freak Athlete ABX

Behind The Scenes

I mentioned in my 2025 end of year post, that I’ve been fortunate enough to make some decisions that will help what I do become more sustainable. In theory, if you are reading this, you enjoy what I do, so this should be good for you too. It means more of what I do, on a consistent basis.

My video editor, Dan aka Dr. Tatty Waffles, has been KILLING it. Having him on board saves me a solid couple of days work editing for EVERY video and he has brought my videos to an entirely new level.

This year we are adding Christian Ernst, one of the long time GGC Athletes and Coaches, to the team. He will be handling some graphics and admin work behind the scenes. This is stuff like prepping communications for the GGC, flyers for AMAs on Reddit, and more. Items that have to get done, but keep me from doing what I do. The goal is for him to continue to take on a larger piece of the puzzle as we go.

I’m looking for someone to help me build a new homepage for the Gray Matter Lifting website, if you have the skills or know someone that does, please let me know.

Eventually I’d love to find someone local to help with B-Roll filming, pictures, and several other odds and ends. But that is down the road.

In 2025 we spent a chunk of change on insulation and updating the garage, the 2026 project is building off of that to create a more sustainable filming/production environment. I’m looking to have a more permanently set-up camera, lights, microphone, etc. space in the garage that will replace the current production corner. More on that as it evolves.

Long story short… 2026 is underway, we’ve got projects cooking, content rolling, things working, and I’m glad you are here for it.

Whats New In The Community?

There were a handful of new releases while I was gone. Porter dropped some new cable attachments, REP launched a new Belt Squat Belt (on the way to my house as we speak) and Weighted Vest, GymPin launched a new magpin, and then we had a couple big drops.

BulletProof All-Bar

Larry dropped a new barbell he is calling the All-Bar. For $400, this isn’t a terrible specialty bar price. But my main concern with this thing is my main concern with most of BulletProof’s stuff… it looks like it does too much. There is a balance between a good product that does a lot, and a crappy product that does EVERYTHING. Like with the Prime Prototype Bar, you simply can’t do 1000 things well. So this bar looks to do a lot, but I’m not sure it’ll really make any waves at the end of the day.

Torque M1s

Toque just announced their new M1s, which is a play on their original M1 but with rotating back wheels. Looks like they took a lot of the things that the Xebex XT4 did, but for some odd reason didn’t address one of the biggest issues I had with the system. Plus this thing costs $1300.

I know for a fact that another company is working on a sled in the similar realm, and it will address all of my typical sled problems. And they were aiming for closer to $750 or less. Torque seems to keep dropping sleds but missing the mark in my eyes. I’d skip this one.

Freak Athlete ABX and Exponent Edge

The other day Exponent Edge sent out a newsletter update stating that Freak Athlete and Exponent Edge were no longer in partnership for the fold down head rest design. There were a lot of questions floating around, and some of my fellow content creators took the wrong approach and stirred the pot instead of asking the questions first.

I went to the source, Benji from Freak Athlete, and got the answer as you can see above.

I was actually the person who introduced Freak Athlete to Exponent Edge originally, so it is unfortunate that this didn’t pan out entirely as the two companies wanted. But I know that things happen, and it appears that Freak Athlete did what they could to still make good on their part, as Exponent Edge works to secure his legal processes.

VOLTRA Clone

There was a post on Reddit from CES, where Speediance claims to have a new Gym Nano, which looks a LOT like the VOLTRA.

From the form factor to the overall concepts, this looks like Speediance asked their people to make a VOLTRA but a little different.

I shared in that post my thoughts on Speediance, which you can read right here.

There is no info on pricing so far, but my stance in general would be that they’d have to be able to cut the VOLTRA price significantly to make a dent. So while the VOLTRA is $2200, they’d need to come in around $1500 or less for most people to consider the knock-off.

Garage Gym Competition

We finished off 2025 with the miniGGC, picked a few winners who got gift cards, and donated $500 to some quality programs.

2026 planning is underway, I’ve already got 13 sponsors confirmed for the year, and will be doing my round 2 pokes this week. If anyone has any ideas on new sponsors, prizes you’d like to see, or any requests, fire away.

2026 Dates

We made some changes to the dates for 2026, based on feedback and some scheduling struggles.

The Spring GGC will run from May 2nd to May 10th. This is a week or two early. As of this coming Monday, you will have a full 16 weeks to prep for the competition.

The Fall GGC will run from October 3rd to October 11th. This is another couple weeks early. This again gives us a full 16 weeks of prep, AND it means the full Fall festivities will be wrapped up in October. So you’ll know if you won the prize you wanted, or not, right in time for the November sales window so you don’t miss any opportunities.

I can confirm that Juggernaut is back again for another year, and I’ll have more details coming in the next few weeks.

r/HomeGym

We dropped our first targeted talk for the year on Monday. All about how to start a home gym in 2026.

We also announced the Kensui AMA coming on January 14th and 15th. We should have a Targeted Talk almost every week going forward, and an AMA every other week into October.

One Last Thing…

Taking time off for the holidays was awesome. I had a To-Do list that was almost entirely yard work and various things, which I managed to get through. We organized the backyard shed, trimmed some trees, cleaned up all the fall leaves, cleaned the gutters, re-did my daughters room, I oiled the kitchen cabinets… there was a lot lol

But I also got to spend a lot of time with the family without having to look at my phone, which was awesome. I’m hoping to take some of that energy into 2026 and be as present as I can be. It can be difficult with how life works these days, especially as a content creator where its my job. But I’m gonna do my thing.

Basketball season started this week, so I’ve got Wednesday practices and Friday games with my daughter. And we are planning to do additional sports prep and practices most nights for my cardio and her enjoyment lol

Remember that if at any time you have questions, comments, or ideas. Fire me off an email and we can chat. Seriously, my best ideas continue to come from your inspiration. So if you have a video idea, questions on a certain topic, or think I should buy a new camera, mic, whatever… LET ME KNOW!

I truly appreciate those of you that have done this, as they are always quality chats.

Welcome to 2026 my friends, lets get after it!

Joe