This woman in her 70s is killing it. Thought you might like to see.
Table of Contents
Updates
I would be publishing new content more often, but right now anything I’ve been inspired to write about is out of stock for the foreseeable future, and it’s pointless to recommend things you can’t even get. But I’ve been cleaning up some older guides…
A major improvement to the ever-popular Power Rack Attachments Compatibility List – The brands and models are now listed in terms of the hardware (or peg) size, not the hole size. This clarifies things tremendously. I also consolidated some tables of sizes that are very close, with some notes.
The mere 17″ deep Rogue Slim Rack looks to me like a good alternative for anyone considering a folding rack as now detailed in the Wall-Mounted Folding Squat Racks guide. I also added my thoughts on being able to do bench presses when the rack is that close to the wall, or with the 21″ deep folding racks.
Stock Status Update
Speaking of racks, I think it’s time to explain a bit about these cheap Chinese brands of racks and other gym equipment you see on Amazon and eBay. I’m talking the brands that don’t even have a website of their own. They are just about all you can find consistently right now, because all the good brands have been sold out for 4 months, or repeatedly sold out as soon as they get more in.
Here’s the issue. When you buy equipment from a fitness equipment company with a real website, and preferably US-based or at least a US presence, they have a real long-term business with an image to uphold. An anonymous Chinese factory and their Amazon sellers don’t care about quality or safety. For that matter, large stores like Walmart and Dick’s don’t know anything about racks and don’t care either.
Racks in particular enable you to lift safely alone, and they have to be engineered, constructed, tested, and revised to ensure your safety. An Amazon-only brand is tempting, but the only reason they look okay to you is because all the good ones are gone right now.
To be clear, many US-based fitness equipment companies’ equipment is made in China also. That isn’t so much the issue as it is about there being a real company who will stand behind it and make sure they’re selling you a good and safe product.
Okay, that being said, here’s the latest…
| equipment | in stock |
|---|---|
| Dumbbells | Very hard to find in complete sets. On eBay you can find some adjustable dumbbells of questionable quality. Update 9/3: Golden’s Cast Iron makes dumbbells in-house and ships in 2-3 weeks. |
| Weight Plates | Very hard to find except in limited sizes on eBay, no complete sets. |
| Barbells | Rogue frequently has bars in stock here as they produce them, but you have to check often. Synergee Fitness has a Rhino Powerlifting Bar. I don’t know much about them. Worth a shot? |
| Power Racks / Squat Racks | FringeSport Floor Mounted Power Rack. Rogue Power Racks and Squat Stands available with a 2-4 week lead time. Bells of Steel has a few Power Racks. |
| Benches | Lots of cheap, rickety weight benches are at various stores. Nothing I can recommend is in stock right now. A bench needs to be sturdy and safe. |
| Kettlebells | American Barbell Urethane Kettlebells. Expensive, but they’ve got most sizes. Other stores have a few kettlebells in limited sizes. No complete sets. You can find pretty much any single size if you look around. Update 9/3: Golden’s Cast Iron makes kettlebells in-house in Georgia and ships in 2-3 weeks. |
| Rubber Gym Flooring | Rubber Flooring, Inc has plenty of rubber mats and rolls |
Rogue makes much of their own stuff in their large facility and is continually cranking stuff out.
Unfortunately most other restocks come from China and are expected in Oct-Nov at this point, subject to change, so not worth listing.
I am on your website and looking to order a bumper plate set….are you now taking online orders for delivery?
Adamant Barbell is shut down permanently. Just the blog now!
If it is shutdown permanently, would you mind shutting down the website? Or at least removing the products within and having a banner on the main page that says “Shut down permanently”?
Based on your experience, how long after COVID passes will there be a glut of cheap second-hand equipment on the market?
Even if 60% of people don’t return to gyms, I foresee with the gyms open and people drifting back then after a while they’ll want to clean out their garage.
Your thoughts on future 2nd hand deals?
I think any used equipment will get snapped up quickly for some time to come, no matter how much people offload. The new equipment market will be like this through the rest of this year at least. I thought things would start to normalize before now, but at this rate I don’t see an end in sight.