No guy who lifts weights wants to look like a "pencil-neck geek," and one of the best ways to add girth to one's neck is to train it directly. One of the best exercises to achieve that end is the good ole' lying plate curls, which is done while holding a plate on one's forehead, usually with a towel or a beanie to lessen the discomfort. But that discomfort creates friction for doing the exercise, and it easily gets skipped. That's where Kensui's ez neck comes in: it reduces the friction for doing weighted neck curls. It has an ergonomic design and a comfortable pad that makes doing neck curls a breeze. And because it has a loading pin, one can progress naturally as one gets stronger. With the "old school" way of doing the exercise, one would have to hold bigger and bigger plates, and micro-loading (e.g. going from 10 lbs to 20 lbs) becomes an issue. It's made out of the same nylon fiberglass material that their popular neutral grip pull up handles are and therefore should last a long time. Its value will be dependent on how much one prioritizes neck training, and how cumbersome one finds alternative ways of doing neck curls. I am docking a star under performance because while it is great for neck curls, I find it less so for next extensions. I find it more awkward to set up for that movement, e.g. while lying prone on a bench. For that, I find the traditional neck harness to be superior.

I got this for my wif....nah, to be honest, I got it for myself. But only because it was second hand on Craigslist for $10 - I couldn't pass it up at that price. I have used it primarily for push ups and planks (both flat side up), and also for balance training, e.g. try to balance on one leg (ball side up) - for "ankle mobility" or whatnot. I don't feel so bad about having one in my wanna be "old school/hardcore" gym after seeing Jujimufu's video about "What makes a hardcore gym?" and seeing that some bona fide hardcore gyms - including Eric Bugenhagen's Rat's Nest - had one. I don't use it much these days, and it basically just lives at the far end of my gym, behind the leg press. But it does help to keep the "functional fitness" naysayers off my back.

These collars are a hit or miss, depending on whether you care to preserve the sleeves of a barbell that you'll use them on from scratches. Because these collars WILL scratch up any sleeves on which they are tightened. I use them on my old Titan axle bar, which is my dedicated "beater" and landmine bar. I have some other bars that I don't care to preserve the pristineness of their sleeves, and these are fair game there, too. Once that caveat is out of the way, the benefit of these collars is that they hold pretty tightly. And because they're all metal, they are virtually indestructible.

Very portable and cost effective. Drink safety for the masses!

Great for making visitors to your gym think that you're pretty strong. If you actually are strong, or like to train strongman-style, this would be a good item to have in your equipment toolkit. I bought mine off of Craigslist for $20 from a dear lady who subleased an apartment to a college guy, who apparently used it to transport beer to frat parties. I've alternately filled it with water and sand and did "functional" movements with it, e.g. throw for height or distance, clean and press, loaded carries. Few sessions with the keg makes me appreciate the good ole' barbell all the more!

I survived the most rigorous certification process in my life, but it was well worth it. Get it, if you want people to know that your gym is a place where they can get strong, stay strong, and learn how to use their strength.

These give you the benefit of training with a pinch block coupled with the versatility of using a dumbbell. They really work your grip, especially the pinch grip that heavily involves the thumbs. There are two widths you can choose from, 2.5" and 4", which offers greater versatility than Titan's beam ("Saxon") barbell, which is 3" x 3". My only complaint is that the sleeves could have been designed better so that the powder coat of the inmost sections do not get scuffed when loading and unloading plates. The sleeves are also narrower than the standard olympic sleeves, so you'll need a collar adapted to specialty bars.

This BBC (Big Black Curl-bar) is a distant cousin of the legendary chrome hex-bolted ez curl bar, the one visited by the bar fairy. It also bears similarity to an axle bar in that it boasts a thicker diameter (around 2") - and every guy knows what a big difference an inch can make. As such, it stimulates forearm gains even as one is trying to grow their biceps. For anyone used to using the chrome ez curl bar, once they go big and black, they might never go back.