As with any sandbag, the amount of weight you can put into it doesn’t always match the real weight within the bag, especially for Cerberus bags that are designed to hold x-number of kilos. The best option is to buy the desired weight you want in sand or, god forbid, pea gravel, and fill it to that amount. With humidity and evaporation concerns considered, your weights are probably going to be very close to what you’re looking for. As for this brand in particular, many others may have similar materials and fill styles, but with quality control, a recognizable name and reputation, Cerberus is the class leader in this category. The containment system of fillable chute, zipper seal, and Velcro overlay make the bag virtually indestructible. Always have a bag or two just out of your ability. Have a carrot to chase. Always.

I think any of the “budget” brands are even more worth it if you can get them when they are on sale. The cons that get pointed on by reviews online are less relevant and the pros they mention feel like steals. The narrow width may cause this bar to feel like it’s always wanting to bend your wrists forward or backwards. The spot meeting the J-Cups is small and may make unracking out of a 3x3 rack tricky, especially with 45s . The low start weight is a downgrade, causing you to have to load it up. But at nearly $100 it’s a good bar. The difficulty most people describe with using it as on cable machines is widely exaggerated. It works fine unless you’re on the most close neutral grip.

If Rogue, MBPC, Beast Metals, and any of the luxury/locally-manufactured brands are overbuilt, the Titan version isn’t necessarily the opposite. It’s not underbuilt. It’s adequately built. The adjustments get a little annoying trying to shift it evenly to set the pins, but if you’re the only one using it, that doesn’t become a problem. I am extra medium height, so the placement is in the weird limbo of too-high or too-low. Make the choice, too low and scrape the ground, too high and fight the wobble. But nothing beats the stimulus of a yoke. This thing will beat you up, keep it in your rotation as a weight class strongman or get wiped. The starting weight at 166 is as approachable as the max weight of 700 being accommodating for lots of good training to come out of it.

Titan, the old school Titan, and any “cheap” brand you go with are all serviceable and perfectly fine until you get the nicer, more refined version. If you go from no home gym to some home gym any addition is amazing. Like “holy moly, I can actually bench now!” It’s better than a cheap Amazon bolt-together that has a max weight capacity of 300lbs, including yourself. So, sure, my rep ab-3100 is much better, but I could have used this forever and been fine. I am getting rid of it though.

The trick is to find someone leaving tires out on their curb for free. They left 4; I took two of them. Next have some leftover rectangles of horse stall mats. This might not work for something crazy heavy, but it kills the weight when it drops. The thing that drops some of the performance and build quality are the sharp edges of a dumbbell or a rock coming down at an angle on the horse stall mat. If you ride the weight down just a little bit, that will help. This is a great value when you factor in the tires were free and the horsestall mat was more or less superfluous (I bought one too many).

Stone history probably started the exact same way it develops today; some dude saw a big stone and said, “I bet I could lift that”, and so he did. My rock came from the property of my coach at the time. It weighs roughly 165lbs, made of some kind of granite. It is sharp at points, but it has good grips. It is not quite evenly weighted, but I think that makes it a good training stone. I call it the Rugged Nugget (ruggie nuggy for short).

As with most Titan things, buy second hand or on the many Titan sales they have always. They are loud and jarring, but that’s fine in a gym. The other side that can’t be understated is getting the shock/impact in your hands of the bar coming back down on the floor. If you have bumpers/boxes or anything then it’s better. It’s not a bad tool to have that can be hid in the corner (or under your bed). But I ain’t used them in a minute.

My first specialty bar. I tend to be mostly be a middle of the road person when it comes to equipment. Where I’m ok being a little more bougie, is the important things (barbells, racks, big machines). Even then, I’m fine with one step above the basic brand (like a higher trim level of Toyota, but not quite a Lexus). I had credit card rewards burning a hole in my pocket and thought, “treat yo self”. So I did. I got #95/100 of this limited edition. Looks sweet, makes me happy every time I use it