I guess you could dock the leather pad a tad for being a few extra bucks, but if you are already buying the eclipse grip you are already in the black hold of home gyms and can shell out a few bucks for the leather pad. I’m not sure I would enjoy the attachment as much if I didn’t have the leather pad. It’s just more comfortable with the pad and doing the custom coloring is a fun option. There is talk that it will mold your your hand, but I don’t grab the attachment in the same spot and same way every time, but maybe it will break in more like a baseball glove. Time will tell.

The pivot pad has changed the game for home gym hip thrusts. Even at commercial gyms it was a pain unless they had a dedicated machine. It’s the worst to try to get going on hip thrusts and the bench scoots out, wobbles, and of course digs into your back. This allows for a much better experience since it pivots with you throughout the movement. It is a bit expensive for $135 but I got it on sale and layered on another 10% off with their first time buyer discount so it was like $90 which seemed like a decent deal. I did initially worry about how long it would take to set up but it’s not bad! One drawback is you do need two barbells, but it’s nice to have a nice bar and a beater bar so it’s a good excuse to get another bar.

Previously I used a Lionscool (Amazon brand) bar as my daily driver. That bar had looser tolerances and more aggressive knurling. I still use it for landmine work. I had been eyeing this bar and the Rohue Ohio Power Bar for some time and then I saw this on FB Marketplace for $200. The guy only bought it to try it out, so it’s practically new and was a good deal. I think if I had bought it new I would have been slightly underwhelmed. It has a nicer finish, tighter tolerances (less noisy on things like deadlifts), and nice end caps. It’s a great bar, but I feel like everyone hypes up how important a quality bar is. Your workout will be basically the same and it really comes down to the knurling that you prefer. This bar is passive to me, but quite a few people say it’s more aggressive than the Rogue OPB. I have mostly Rep stuff and enjoy their stuff and it’s still a great product but I think the takeaway for me is that the barbell hype is a little over the top and is more niche specific or collector specific.

I initially bought the 85lb Rep x Pepin set. I rarely get above 85lbs on dumbbells, but the extra 20lbs cover me all the way…at least for now. It seems sick to get the 125lb dumbbells, but honestly the 105lb set is plenty. It’s definitely the way to go if you want to get your dumbbells up. The coating, color, and fit all work well together. Initially there is a slight color variation just for being right out of the box but it blends once out and about for a couple months. Love these dumbbells. The biggest frustration with upgrading your weight on these is having to dial in the cradle spacing again, but once it’s set you’re good to go and it never catches.

Just a basic ab wheel tha I picked up off FB marketplace for $5. I tossed around the idea of getting a name brand option but I feel like it’s the same thing. It’s plastic and has those finger molds on the handles. It’s about as good as you would expect and gets the job done.