The Frankenhyper is a great unit if you fall into its specific user category. It’s expensive, but gives the user both reverse hyper and GHD functionality in the space of only one of those machines. It’s also on par with most of its American made peers for price (compared to Power Lift, EliteFTS, Dynamic, etc. Rogue is cheaper). It’s a big, heavy machine that is made slightly more maneuverable by having handles and wheels, but you won’t be moving it often. For performance, no combo machine will be as good as its dedicated counterparts. The “strength curve” falls off on GHRs at the most extended range, since hitting the table of a the reverse hyper supports your body weight. Also, for reverse hypers, the swivel point could be a bit further from the edge of the “table” as sometimes the hip/groin area feels the arm rotating around. It’s never a pinching/snagging issue, but I’ve never run into this with dedicated reverse hyper machines. Overall a great machine, so long as you fall into its specific user case. Given infinite space, dedicated machines are better, and probably not more expensive. Luckily I got my unit used, but overall recommend it.

Great plates. Very thin for being 100lb and still relatively easy to grab. If you’re specifically looking for 100lb plates, can’t really do much better than these. Great for loading leg presses, Dinnie Stone pins, etc where you’re looking for loading a lot of weight on a short sleeve.

Overall a really great machine. Its long and narrow profile means it can be tucked away into often unused space, and add a ton of versatility to your gym. I think this piece is a great value for being a large, well built, American made piece of equipment. It’s sturdy, tall, and provides a good stimulus for its intended use. I only dock it one star for performance, as inherently plate loaded machines won’t have a perfect resistance compared to cable driven machines. However, band pegs improve this a lot and I really like that this thing has relatively unlimited weight capacity when a lot of leg extension machines are easily maxed out.

Let me start by saying I really like these plates. They’re thin, have a solid lip, and are great to train with. I also really like the design, history with the sport of powerlifting, and the fact they are made in Texas. However, their accuracy isn’t always the best, with the most extreme example I’ve seen is a 15kg plate weighing 14kg. Of the many 20kg plates I’ve seen, they typically range from 19.6-20.1kg, which is pretty solid. Also the center hole is not machined and a bit loose. They’re still great powerlifting training plates, and I use them for every deadlift session. Dimensionally, the 20kgs are 17.5” diameter and 1” thick, with the 45kgs being 18” diameter and 2” thick. Would overall recommend these plates if you’re a vintage nerd, into powerlifting, or a proud Texan, because they’re truly the only ones in their class.