This week we discuss clear coat upgrades, what people own within their home gym, the “hottest” plates out there, and the T-2 vs. PR-1100.
The episode can be watched on Spotify or YouTube. In addition, it can simply be listened to on Apple or wherever else you get your podcasts!
(0:41) Upgrade to Clear Coat?
When showing examples of the AB-5200 and PR-5000 racks, just 18% said they’d upgrade to clear coat rack posts for $120 extra, while 22% would pay the additional $80 for the bench.
(3:52) What do you Own?
We asked about 29 different products that you may see in a home gym. This is a repeat survey that we’ve done over the years.
Below are some additional highlights:
- The top 7 (in order) include: a barbell, resistance bands, squat/power rack, dumbbells, jump rope, bumper plates, and adjustable bench.
- The bottom 5 are large specialty machines. Starting with the last place item, this included the leg press machine (6.5%), reverse hyper, functional trainer, GHD, and Belt Squat (23.6%).
- Overall, more people own a larger proportion than they did last time. Only 7 were down from the last time we did this survey. This with at least 5 percent increases include specialty barbells, landmines, stationary bike, squat/power rack, and bumper plates.
- More own bumper plates (76%) vs. iron (65%), but it’s clear that many own both.
- Belt squats are up from around 16% in March 2021 to 24% nowadays, which is the largest jump from the survey done 1 year ago. This was closely followed by specialty barbells and a functional trainer.
- The stationary bike is the most owned large piece of cardio (37%) with the rower, air bike, and treadmill are also into the 30s. Jump ropes are owned by about 79% though.
- Some other notable comparisons include:
- 86% own traditional dumbbells compared to 47% adjustable dumbbells.
- 72% own an adjustable bench compared to 56% having a flat.
| Rank | Item | Yes | No | % Yes |
| 1 | Barbell | 5,351 | 321 | 94.34% |
| 2 | Resistance Bands | 4,934 | 396 | 92.57% |
| 3 | Squat Rack/Power Rack | 4,540 | 685 | 86.89% |
| 4 | Dumbbells | 4,881 | 773 | 86.33% |
| 5 | Jump Rope | 4,352 | 1,164 | 78.90% |
| 6 | Bumper Plates | 4,175 | 1,324 | 75.92% |
| 7 | Adjustable Bench | 4,027 | 1,566 | 72.00% |
| 8 | Kettlebell | 3,889 | 1,575 | 71.17% |
| 9 | Horse Stall Mat | 3,616 | 1,896 | 65.60% |
| 10 | Iron Plates | 3,588 | 1,929 | 65.04% |
| 11 | Flat Bench | 3,174 | 2,453 | 56.41% |
| 12 | Medball | 2,824 | 2,497 | 53.07% |
| 13 | Specialty Barbell | 2,725 | 2,500 | 52.15% |
| 14 | Landmine | 2,603 | 2,787 | 48.29% |
| 15 | Plyo Box | 2,548 | 2,756 | 48.04% |
| 16 | Adjustable Dumbbells | 2,627 | 2,989 | 46.78% |
| 17 | Slam Ball | 2,040 | 3,187 | 39.03% |
| 18 | Gymnastic Rings | 2,040 | 3,483 | 36.94% |
| 19 | Stationary Bike | 1,897 | 3,285 | 36.61% |
| 20 | AbMat | 1,928 | 3,432 | 35.97% |
| 21 | Rower | 1,769 | 3,496 | 33.60% |
| 22 | Air Bike | 1,866 | 3,742 | 33.27% |
| 23 | Treadmill | 1,570 | 3,561 | 30.60% |
| 24 | Steel Storage Rack | 1,521 | 3,533 | 30.09% |
| 25 | Belt Squat | 1,285 | 4,166 | 23.57% |
| 26 | GHD | 779 | 4,677 | 14.28% |
| 27 | Functional Trainer | 744 | 4,746 | 13.55% |
| 28 | Reverse Hyper | 642 | 4,624 | 12.19% |
| 29 | Leg Press Machine | 348 | 4,997 | 6.51% |
(10:22) Hot or Not Results – Plates
- In first place were Rogue Competition Plates at 90%. They were closely followed by Eleiko Weightlifting Competition Plates, Rogue Calibrated Plates, Rogue Machined Olympic Plates, and then REP Competition Plates.
- In general, the simple ones did better in this Hot or Not voting. For example, the REP Old School Iron Plates and Basic Black Bumper plates were voted in 6 and 7th place.
- Fleck plates were the highest “unique” plates in 15th place with 64% voting hot. This did beat out the Savage, Alpha Bumpers, and PRx Fleck plates.
- Concrete plates were easily in last place with just 18% voting hot.
- Some other noticeable matchups include:
- Pizza Plates (39%) beat out the Fringe Donut Plates (35%)
- American Barbell Urethane Plates (72%) win against the new Kabuki Signature Bumper Plates (58%)
- Rouge Deep Dish Plates win against Strength Co Plates, 75% vs. 69%.
- Rogue 6 shooters beat out Ivanko Revolvers, 65% vs. 56%.
(17:07) T-2 vs. PR-1100?
These are two great budget-friendly options, and with there only being a $20 difference (both offering free shipping), price should not be an issue. On one side, there is the T2 which is a sturdy 2×2″ style rack with a ton of excellent attachments that you can build out your rack with. On the other side is a great company like REP with little details (numbered uprights, sleeker look), and remember, many of those Titan attachments will work on 1100. These are two of the best-priced rack options, and you really can’t go wrong with either one.