Due to the limitation of space, I recently sold off my full deadlift jack from Titan Fitness and replaced it with two mini jacks: this one, and the one from Ritfit (a review of that one forthcoming). Though extremely light weight (baby!), this jack is very tough. I jacked up five 45lb plates per side with ease. After the test, there was hardly an indent left on the"hook" portion of the jack from the knurling of my deadlift bar. Whatever the "specialized molded composite material" happens to be, it is very strong, and I suspect it will last a long time (though that remains to be confirmed over time). Also, the jack simply looks beautiful, being one seamlessly molded piece. The only issue I had with the jack is that, due to the narrow footprint, it tended to move laterally as I loaded more plates. As such, I would be careful when loading the plates so as not to topple it sideways. (This is a feature that full deadlift jacks have over these mini jacks!)

Spud Inc solidifies their justly famous reputation for me with this strap. I have Titan economy "reverse hyper" (economy H-PND) and it comes with a strap that makes the experience of using it less pleasant. It tends to dig into one's ankles during use and I've sort of learned to associate that as part of doing the exercise. However, after replacing that default strap with Spud Inc's, I can say that the quality of the strap makes a huge difference in the quality of the movement. As a result, the machine functions less as a table these days and more for its intended purpose. If you have a Titan "reverse hyper," ditch its strap and upgrade to Spud's!

This is another purchase I made based on glowing Gym Radar reviews. I've had it for two weeks now and it has become my "daily driver" in terms of collars. There's very little I can fault it for in terms of design and function. It has a wicked "snap back" effect when unlocking, so be careful that you don't have fingers in the way of the clamp. I've seen reviews that its magnet is too weak, but I find mine to be pretty strong (maybe it's been upgraded since those reviews?). I do wish that the magnets were placed inside the collars rather than at the edge, so that it can stick snugly to my iron plates - but this is a very minor complaint. It clamps tight enough so that it can be used on specialty bars (e.g. with 1.9" diameter), which was a nice bonus. Highly recommended!

I tried to add this piece of equipment that I got from Amazon, but I didn't remember what it was called. And I didn't want to search through my purchase history just to find it. Then I see it flash before me as I scrolled through Gym Radar's feed! This goes to show how extensive the equipment listing on the site has become. Now for the review of this product, which can be brief. Its build quality is excellent for how much (or how little) you'll spend on it. I like to use it "upside down" with swivel shackles for extra ROM. With apologies to BWTG, this is a useful "lat bar with holes."

I just picked up a 25 lb pair of these plates secondhand and made sure to weigh them first before buying (yes, I am that guy). They both weighed 24.6 lbs, which is good enough for me, and I appreciate them both weighing the same. I'm firmly in the "weight is weight" camp and don't really care about aesthetics. (There's one exception: 45 lb plates that are not the standard diameter, which can mess up one's deadlift prep.) Simply put, those who need their plates to look more like Henry Cavill than Will Farrell should look elsewhere. These are hunks of iron that have mass, are close to their stated weight, and can be loaded onto a barbell to help me get strong - and that's good enough for me and my house. And they were cheap - I negotiated them down to about 60 cents per pound. Lift hard, live easy!

Apparently there are (at least) two different versions of the "four spoke design" BFCO plates, and I own a pair of each. As you can see, they differ in diameter and branding. The weight tolerance is what you'd expect from old-school plates - they can be a hit or miss. The larger plate shown weighs 43.7 lbs (its pair weighs 45.2 lbs) and the smaller one weighs 44.8 lbs (its pair weighs 43.6 lbs). When loading them, I alternate between the heavier and lighter pair so as to get a more equal distribution of the weights on either side. Also, once I load the bigger pair, I can load the smaller one without the use of a deadlift jack, which I consider to be a benefit of owning two different types of these plates. Yes, they have more slop than contemporary deep dish plates, which can cause problems for some, but doesn't bother me too much, given that I use good collars during deadlifts, for example. I don't know the going price of these on the secondhand market, but I got mine for about 50 cents per pound, which is a steal. But truth be told, the biggest reason I have these is for the nostalgic factor of their having been used at muscle beach during the golden era of bodybuilding.

I don't know much about this brand and I only acquired this pad because it was severely discounted on FBMP. I wanted a way to do chest-supported rows and I didn't have space in my gym for a dedicated machine. This rack-mounted pad fulfills that need. However, if I had to pay full price, I probably would have went with a different brand whose reputation I am more familiar with.

My old Planet Fitness had one of these infamous "good girl/bad girl" machine (which is which depends on the boy judging - whether he's a good boy or a bad boy). Having arrived early one morning, when the gym was mostly empty, I decided to try it out ("for science"). The movement felt horrible! I thought I was going to tear something very personal to me. Maybe I lack the requisite mobility or whatever - but it felt like a Medieval torture device. Never again will I use this machine! I'd rather pull sumo to build more adductors.