While chains have a relatively limited use in powerlifting, they can be a nice augmentation to help work through sticking points. Some people prefer bands to help create varying resistance with the range of motion, but I just like the rattle of metal. Whether it is increasing bench lockout strength or creating that increasing resistance as you progress through your deadlifts, chains do play a role on occasion. Get yourself a pair of barbell chain holders, then hook up some links. I picked up a couple pairs of these tow chains off Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9D11CGK?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1); they're fairly cheap and each chain weighs over 30lb. I put carabiners on selected links so the amount of free chain suspended from the barbell can be easily adjusted depending on whether doing squats, deads or bench.

These hooks came with my Major Fitness rack. They are more than twice as deep as they need to be to cradle a barbell. The tips of the Js are comparatively narrow and the points can dig right into your wrists if you have a wide barbell grip during squats. I found them bothersome, at times even painful, and ultimately bought aftermarket J hooks to hang on my rack at the squat height. These were dropped to the bench press height, where they perform adequately.

i've owned this unit for a couple years now and I've put it through its paces. With 600 pounds on it as a leg press the tracks slide fairly smoothly but the range of motion feels somewhat limited by the stop arresters at the bottom of the tracks, which are not adjustable.. it is billed as a calf raises but with full size plates loaded you cannot get good calf extension because if you put the balls of your feet at the bottom of the push plate thenyour heels hit the weight plates. I found the surfaces far too slippery for my tastes so I applied a couple rolls of gorilla grip tape to the press pads. they are covered with a diamond pattern but it really doesn't provide adequate grip, at least for the smooth soled shoes I tend to wear while lifting. In the hack squat configuration, the shoulder pads are sufficient and the load is comfortable. Again, the range of motion seems too limited... maybe that's partly due to me not being super tall (5'10"), but it would definitely be nicer if I could get a couple inches deeper on hacks and on leg presses. On the plus side, this unit is pretty cheap for a leg press and it has a relatively small footprint, which was the main consideration for me with my tiny basement space. So far I have tested the leg press up to 800 pounds and it has handled the load with no apparent difficulty. All in all, I think this is definitely a unit where you get what you pay for.... and it is not expensive.

Gorgeous, extremely accurate vintage plates, made in Germany in the 1960s. Sought after as collectibles. Berg-Hantel made some of the very first "modern" weight plates, spanning back to pre-WW2 era. Prior to that, most weight lifting was done with hollow globes attached to barbells, such as the Milo and Strongfort examples. These globes were sometimes filled with shot to increase the weight, or had removable plates that fit inside the globes. Then Berg-Hantel created flat plates that slid on and off a barbell sleeve, in the same manner we continue to use to this day. Early examples of those plates can be seen as far back as the 1920s. This later iteration fits modern barbell sleeves perfectly and really brings a cosmopolitan feel to the session. They run between $1000-1200 for a pair of 20kg, a moderate sum to hold some lifting history in the palm of your hand.

As vintage crosshub plates go, these are both desirable and accessible. Sets routinely change hands, though it can still run you upwards of $2k for a nice pair of 45s with original paint, a bit less if repainted or in need of restoration. They are very popular for hub lifting. this set is also one of the only ones that has cross hubs all the way down to the 10 pound change plates, and consistent Weider International labeling all the way down to the 2 1/2 pound plates. The story behind them is a core part of vintage iron history, so these will always be sought after and therefore will hold their value well, making it a bit easier to swallow the purchase price pill.

Thick, solid, extremely robustly built vintage iron collars. You could park a semi truck on top of these and they wouldn't bat an eye. Really quite substantially over engineered for the task they are meant to perform. Sadly, they are a very odd weight (a little over 2.5kg/~5.5lb each) and that makes adding them to your lifts a little bit of a headache, unless you are logging your workouts in kilograms; and if you're anything like me, you really abhor logging odd numbers for your weights. Adding 11.2 pounds to all of my sets really isn't something I'm going to do on a regular basis, so for the most part these sit on the vintage display wall and don't really get used. They cost between $100-$150 for a pair, so unless you're a vintage weights nerd like me, more modern clamp collars or spring collars make a lot more sense and cost a fraction of what these do.

The iconic CLANG when you press two of these together on a barbell is a more powerful stimulant than the under-the-counter 1990s pre-workout samplers you got from that shady dude at GNC. These are the real deal, scientifically proven to make your lifts doubly effective and stimulate hypertrophy at twice the rate of rubber bumper plates. Trust me, it's proven science. If you have any interest at all in vintage plates, you absolutely can't go wrong by starting with a pair of these. Be warned, however, that they are in high demand, so a pair of unmarked (no visible weight denomination) 45s is going to cost you in the range of $1000-1200 or more, even in pretty beat up rusty condition, while a pair of marked 45s (the weight of the plates is present under the YORK letters) will run in the ballpark of $2500 if in excellent condition.

They are exactly what you are paying for and they will serve you well. I have several sets of these and I think they are an excellent value. Are they calibrated? Of course not. Are you going to use them in a competition? Of course not, but you're also not paying the premium price for that level of plate. Will the girl next-door that you've been chasing for the last three years get all hot and bothered when she sees you hoisting them in your garage, veins popping and sweat dropping almost as fast as her panties? Hell yeah, if you've got enough of them on the bar (just kidding... she only cares about what kind of car you drive; but the gay couple across the street will be impressed AF and probably invite you to their next party, so you have that going for you). Look, these are as well made as bumpers that cost three times as much but just have a different name stenciled on them. I have used the lighter 10 and 15 pound plates for my littlest kids and they've dropped them many times but there's no evidence of any looseness in the hubs. Unless you are routinely dropping multi-hundred pound snatches from overhead, these are gonna hold up perfectly well for you. Stop debating it and just start lifting... the five-year-old in the picture below is already dead lifting twice her body weight. How are you matching up?