Bear Komplex Hummer Speed Rope:

I own, many, many speed ropes. About 2 years ago I went on a kick where I was convinced the issue I was having with double unders was the rope, and not me. It was me. Anyway, I have tried many ropes, with many different methods used to make them move fast.

About the rope:

The Bear Komplex Hummer Speed Rope has an aluminum handle with an interesting pass through design, that essentially uses a one way valve to feed the rope out or quickly change the length. A very cool idea. The handles have a nice knurl and a good weight to them. They feel far more substantial in the hand than say an RPM or Elite SRS speed rope. The bearings have a good spin to them and that's pretty much all there is to talk about, its a jump rope.

What I like:

Personally I love the weight and girth of the handles. I mean I know it's not for everyone, but I like it a little on the thick side. For my hands it just feels better. Combined with the weight it gives me a better feel for how the rope is moving and lets me time my jumps better. (I am bad at jump rope, keep that in mind)

The pass through handles are nice for those of us who constantly believe our only issue is that we don't quite have it dialed in yet. You essentially only have the length of the handle to play with so I don't think I could hand my rope to my wife and she's be able to adjust it to her height, but honestly she gave me a Hummer so I should probably give her a Hummer as well, though she might take it the wrong way depending on what she thought I was implying, however they do have a blue one, you know what give your wife a hummer, she deserves it.

What I don't like:

This isn't so much of a don't like as a concern. The way the rope feeds out of the handles is super neat. Unfortunately, I've seen a few reviews complaining about that mechanism failing, and it's just one of those cool, but potentially overcomplicated mechanical solutions that could become a point of failure. Mine has not failed, it's been fantastic.

The other thing about the handles is with the straight out the end design, you develop a bend in the rope very quickly, which does make it a bit more prone to tangling and might eventually cause in issue with the cable itself. Again mine is holding up great.

Conclusion:

The rope is $30 bucks, comes in black and green (also blue I guess), and feels great. In this price range I think its as good as any of it's competitors I've used so far, and it's my go to, and rest assured I have many more expensive ropes on my wall. So I think it's worth the money.

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Titan Fitness Roller J cup / J Hooks

By Robert Holthouse • November 23, 2021

I purchased these J cups (Titan Refers to them as J hooks on their site) about a year ago. I really liked the idea of the roller cups for a couple reasons. First those minor adjustments you always make when setting up for a lift would be easier, and second those minor adjustments wouldn't rip the UMHW plastic off my J cups. Being that I lift primarily with a Rogue Ohio Power Bar, the removal of plastic happens pretty fast. About the J Cups: Anyone and I mean anyone whose seen the Ghost Strong Roller J Cups has desired to own a pair, but at roughly the cost of my entire rig for a single un customized pair it's not exactly something I am planning on spending that hard earned Facebook marketplace flipping money on. In steps Titan undercutting entire market segments with their take on the roller j cup. Currently at $74.99 (definitely going up currently out of stock 11/22/21 and the smaller versions have already hit $90) for my X3 rig (they make a 1" hole variant for their TITAN rig, and a 2x3 for their t3 rig), it was a no brainer for a second set of cups for my rig. The weight capacity is listed at 1000 lbs per pair in their specs, but oddly a photo on the page says 2000 lbs, I am not sure which is accurate, but as there is not a change I am putting a thousand pounds on the bar for any reason I think I'm good. All the contact point have UMHW (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) plastic which is great to prevent any wear on the bar and your uprights, which I think is honestly one of the best improvements in jcup design. They also have a screw in pin, I have never used it, but I guess someone might. What I Like: There is a lot to love about this design. Sincerely. The fact that all contact surfaces are covered in plastic is so nice. My Ohio Power Bar has so much damage to the Knurl from my Rogue Infinity J cups because they lack a piece of plastic on the lip. There is literally bare metal from where the bar has ground the powder coat off and started to eat the metal beneath. Not with these, or their non roller version, all TItans new J cups have some serious design improvements.

Rogue Ohio Power Bar : The bar that holds you the way you always wanted to be held.

By Robert Holthouse • November 3, 2021

The barbell. a staple of us home gym enthusiasts. The Rogue Ohio Bar, possibly the most well known specific model of barbell on the planet, and with good reason. This there is it's big thicc brother, The Ohio Power Bar, now there are thicker barbells out there, but, why? You're on a page of an average man, lifting average weight. If you're here wondering how this stacks of to Rogue's 32mm squat bar, you and I are not in the same class of lifter, and frankly if you're worried that the OPB is to "whippy" you and I might not be the same species. Also congrats you freaking animal, know that I am jealous of your raw power. About the bar: The Ohio Power Bar is just shy of 87" long, has just over 16" loadable sleeves, a center knurl that will fuse with you under enough weight, power lifting marks, and a 29mm diameter. It's a bushing bar, and while it spins it's not loose. Its got all of the Rogue stuff, their work hardening (whatever that actually means), a F8-R, f rating, again that's a rogue thing, and a 200k-205k PSI tensile strength depending on configuration. Speaking of those configurations, boy or boy decisions decisions. The bar comes in all kinds of finishes so you can properly accessorize your lifts. You got black zinc and chrome (what's in my gym), bar steel for all you purists, a few different colors in cerakote, a couple stainless options, and what I am actually really learning to love E-Coat. Now, I've handled each of these in my many visits to Rogue, and for a feel in the hand: 1 - Bare Steel, 2 - Stainless, 3/4 E-Coat and Zinc, 5 - Cerakote. But to be clear, the difference is pretty minimal other than Bare Steel, there's just something about being free from any protection that just feels better. What I like: I've kinda already started this section, but here we go. The knurl, oh boy that knurl. Now I've handled a lot of bars, my hands have have wrapped around steel from Ohio to California, I've touch knurling manufactured on multiple continents, and there is something about the Ohio Power Bar this is just.... soooooo gooooood. Just look at it a minute:

ANGLES90 Dynamic Training Grips Review:

By Robert Holthouse • October 30, 2021

These handles are an extremely useful for a wide variety of exercises, and for those of us with nagging shoulder, wrist, or elbow injuries they can be very handy in alleviating some of that paint. About the Handles: These handles are pretty straight forward, like the picture above they are some sort of non slip plastic material with a strap rated for 400 pounds per handle. They were originally developed from a ski handle and evolved into what you see above. From personal experience I can tell you they are extremely conformable and natural to use. There are a variety of grip options, I prefer the ERGO grip, but for some more info you can check out their page Here: https://angles90.com/pages/ergo-power