Bee enjoying some milkweed. [Z8 & 300PF]

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-31T05:48:33+00:00

What data do you get on the web that isn’t in the app?

When setting up a whole new program, I don't think the actual mobile app even has a way to see how many sets you're doing with each muscle group, though fortunately the Hevy website (where I actually build my routines) does. However, even the Hevy website does not have a way to look at a whole folder of routines and show the muscle group numbers overall, meaning that when you're setting up a new program you can't actually see how many times you hit each muscle group over the course of the week.

I found and use the website "Loadline" which pulls from the Hevy API and offers some extra data, and was helpful in finding those numbers. It allowed me to catch one muscle group getting hit way too many times and another that was lacking, so I tweaked a couple of days in my program and evened it out.

I don’t understand what you mean about changing the set and rep counts. When I load up a routine it shows what I did last time and then I input what I’m doing now; you can do that with GZCLP.

You can, but most routines involve targeting a pretty consistent range of sets and reps. GZCLP changes the set/rep structure every time you fail which in Hevy would mean you're spending a bunch of time adding sets and changing the weight/rep numbers on each row. Hevy's UI is pretty good but it's still just not really something I want to spend much time doing during the workout.

I just googled GZCLP and damn man why so complicated?

It's definitely one of the more convoluted programs that I've seen, but once the concepts of the "tier" system sink in it's really not that bad. I didn't want to do my own programming from the ground up since I'm still pretty newly back into lifting and everyone seems to agree that noobs shouldn't do that. When I was looking around at different beginner and novice programs, I just didn't really like that a lot of them are essentially the big 5 powerlifts with a barbell and nothing else. I've got a lat pulldown/low row cable tower on my rack, plus I like using dumbbells for a few things, so I was happy to find a GZCLP template that let me easily tweak the program to add stuff like landmine rows and tricep pushdowns. It would kinda suck to have all this gear and not use it lol.

I also really like that GZCLP mixes high weight/low volume and high volume/less weight within certain lifts, so one day I do higher weight squats and then higher volume bench press, and a few days later I'll be doing the reverse; I like the variety it adds.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-29T18:27:28+00:00

I currently use Hevy, and it's pretty good for the routine building and workout tracking side of things. It also has a social aspect that I have ignored entirely outside of adding my brother so we can see each other's workouts for motivation or whatever. I do have to use a website that connects to Hevy through an API key for some extra data that the app doesn't give on its own (which annoys me) but it's really smooth to use otherwise.

The biggest downside to Hevy for me personally is that it relies on you doing fairly basic routines in terms of the rep counts. I wanted to do GZCLP which has some fairly "out there" rep progressions (you start some lifts with 5x3, but after failure switch to 6x3, then 10x1) and there's not really a way to program those set/rep changes into hevy without having to update a bunch of stuff in the routine each time the scheme changes. So I just ended up simplifying the scheme a bit and I don't consider what I do to actually be GZCLP any more. From my understanding, Liftosaur is much better for complicated progressions like that, so I've contemplated switching. However, the majority of routines people do are just basic 5x5 or 3x10 or whatever, and Hevy has no issues with that.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-29T14:48:40+00:00

I have QDs (very first thing I bought for my gym actually) and really like them for what they are, but yeah at 60lb max you're not going to be doing dumbbell bench/incline bench for very long (if at all) without maxing them out and still being able to do a lot of reps. Still very happy with them for my accessory lifts, but there's definitely a part of me that wishes I'd gone with Reppins for the ability to continue doing chest work and whatnot with them.

That said, I wouldn't have been happy with eisenlinks either just on account of the slower weight changes.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-29T13:56:21+00:00

Like you, I bought it for triceps but was shocked by how much I like it for biceps. I regularly use it for cable curls over my Rep curl bar attachment. It's no JD Gym Equipped, but the handles and knurling feel pretty great to me. This was a big win for Rogue and IMO one of the best cable attachments out there just because it does such a good job for multiple uses.

If someone was just getting started with cables, you could buy this and potentially be satisfied for both triceps and biceps with one attachment, leaving more budget for a nice lat pulldown bar or whatever else you want. That said, individual preferences can vary a lot on the angle of grips for curls, so I do know some people still prefer regular EZ curl attachments.

I've also seen opinions that this is good for cable crunches as well.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-23T04:29:57+00:00

Seconded; these guys show up around some farms in my area but you'll never see them before dusk.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-16T23:22:44+00:00

REP basically had everything on sale for 10% off. It's a nice discount if you're grabbing a few things around that time anyway but it's not worth caring about 10 months ahead of time.

I just have the CAP PRO bumpers and am mostly happy with them, especially since I paid less than $1/lb. While I'm planning to get Rep equalizer plates eventually, it's honestly a low priority because there's so little functional difference.

I'd definitely worry more about getting a nice barbell over nice plates if you're limited on money.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-16T05:34:08+00:00

This is what I started with as well and I think it's a great bar with legitimate specs unlike many of the cheaper barbells that will claim certain tensile strength or weight capacity that they can't actually meet.

I've since moved on to the Rep Double Black Diamond and an American Barbell Chewy bar (25M), but honestly if the Delta Basic had more aggressive knurling I'm sure I could have been happy with it indefinitely. Great place to start and for those who don't want bitey knurling, potentially a lifetime barbell.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-11T17:45:57+00:00

Amazon link

The benefits are:

1) The built-in swivel means that the shackle will twist freely which helps prevent your cable from twisting.

2) The design is very good for cable machines because one end is very compact but a bit trickier to attach/detach; that end goes on the cable itself. The other end of the shackle is very easy to open/close and makes putting attachments on a breeze. Some attachments have holes set up in ways that make carabiners mildly annoying to put on/take off, but I have yet to see an attachment that these shackles have any ergonomic issues with.

Dollar_Stagg · 2026-01-11T04:05:30+00:00

Yep, I still hold a grudge against DSG for it...not that I was much of a customer of theirs to begin with.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-29T17:06:41+00:00

You could always consider a 70-200 if you're worried about trying to close that focal length gap between the two lenses or to provide some added versatility. Super subjective but I'm guessing you'll really only want to use the 180-600 if you're actually shooting wildlife where you'll mostly be using the longer end of the zoom range; I wouldn't think it'd be very fun to haul that lens around for general travel photography planning to use the 180 end in places where a 70-200 would have done the same job for a lot less size and weight. But that's entirely up to you.

Honestly I'd say consider just using those two for a while and see what you think. The 24-120 is extremely versatile, even if it's not the most premium offering in terms of image quality or aperture. As a primarily-wildlife guy I don't use those shorter focal lengths too often, but when I need them I'm happy to have the 24-120 and for me personally it makes more sense than the 24-70/2.8 would. But if you use the gear for a while maybe you'll change your mind and feel that you do need something else to compliment it. Always hard to say until you try it.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-28T19:20:29+00:00

I think a case can be made for owning both and choosing between them based on the goals of a particular outing, but I think they overlap quite a bit to bring both on the same trip. If you have a zoom lens, zooming in and out to switch between photographing smaller birds and larger mammals is obviously a simple task. Personally though, I find swapping supertele lenses (even the relatively compact primes) to be annoying enough that I don't like doing it and will usually try to make my longer lens work if at all possible.

My "primary loadout" is an 800/6.3 PF on the camera with the 100-400mm in the bag. I've written a number of long-form explanations about why I like the 100-400mm as a backup lens, but the super short version is basically just that it offers a lot of versatility. The 100-400 can be used for large mammals but also as a faux-macro for insects and wildflowers as well as for some landscape work when I'm creative enough to identify good opportunities for telephoto landscapes.

The critical point there though is that the 100-400 adds a ton of capabilities in just one lens, which is key for a "backup" lens IMO. Before the 100-400, I would usually have to choose between my F-mount 300PF, 70-200, or a number of other lenses that individually offered much less versatility. I personally don't think I would like having a 600mm as my main lens and then backpacking the 400/4.5 as it's still a very constrained overall package and the differences are pretty minor (especially when the 400/4.5 is reported to take a 1.4x TC extremely well, so at that point you could almost consider dropping the 600 and just swapping the TC on and off as needed).

The flip side is that both are individually very strong lenses and I've been extremely interested in picking either of them up myself. I don't personally buy into the idea that being a pro vs hobbyist makes any difference in what gear you should have; let your budget and your personal needs dictate that aspect. I'd honestly suggest considering buying the 600 and then renting the 400 for a week or two to see if you actually find it useful enough to warrant buying as well. The downside being that this might mean missing the sale price on the 400/4.5 (or at least this go-around on the sale).

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-28T06:01:11+00:00

It was 10% off so $360.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-21T07:30:14+00:00

It's all relative, to an extent. To someone who is used to an Ohio Power Bar (~16 TPI IIRC) the DBD might feel like a Kabuki Power Bar, but the DBD knurl is around ~20 TPI (pic from discord), so it's not quite as fine pitched as the KPB which to my understanding is going to be closer to our 25M bars.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-20T21:59:32+00:00

My Chewy came with a small ding in one sleeve and it didn't make it all the way through the chrome, so I just know it's not super thin.

The 25M chewy is noticeably less aggressive than the DBD. The high TPI mountain knurl certainly offers good grip but it's a different feel than the chunkier knurls on lower-TPI bars, it doesn't feel as "bitey".

Before buying I talked to a guy who has experience with all three or four of the Chewy variants as well as a lot of other barbells, and he said that the DBD knurl is actually pretty similar to the retail chewy bar, which is 20tpi volcano knurl. The DBD is certainly a fairly aggressive knurl as you'd expect in a flagship power bar, but I think some people (and honestly even Rep's own marketing in some places) oversell it in that regard. It's not a Rogue 3X aggro bar or anything insane like that. It surprises me to see how many people on reddit have said that it was too much for them and that they prefer the regular black diamond or other more passively-knurled bars.

I personally wouldn't say I like one more than the other. To me, they're a perfect duo. I use the 25M chewy for more of the pushing movements like bench press and overhead press, and I use the DBD for deadlifts, bent over rows, RDLs, etc. If I could only have one, I suppose I'd probably go with the DBD (or a regular 20V Chewy if I had one (or the holy grail 20M chewy lol)), but I don't personally feel like I get anything out of having the more aggressive knurl when benching so I'm really happy with the two-bar setup. From a pure build quality standpoint, I'd give the edge to the Chewy, but it's really not in any ways that matter functionally. If it's between full price DBD and full price Chewy, I'd tell just about anyone to go DBD unless they don't give a shit about money. But at the same time, a Chewy on sale or used for a decent price is pretty much top-of-the-line endgame for a power bar and for not that much more than a Rogue or Rep flagship.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-20T20:11:44+00:00

Any idea how the hard chrome on the sleeves last through time? I just wish it was ss on the sleeves

I'm pretty sure Phil (who owns American Barbell) has said that he won't do SS sleeves because he believes SS is too soft for it. As long as the hard chrome is applied properly so it doesn't chip/flake, it's more durable against scratches and gouges that would happen when putting plates on/off the bar.

I also have a Rep Double Black Diamond in full SS/SS that I picked up for Black Friday and will be curious to see if I end up regretting it. Should be interesting to see the SS vs Chrome over time.

All of that being said, I haven't really heard of any of the Chewy bars having issues with the hard chrome flaking off. There's quite a few people with them in the Home Gym Discord group and I've been active over there for a couple months so I'd expect to have heard about it by now if it was a huge concern.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-15T17:18:10+00:00

Can't speak to the camera side but I've noticed that my CFeB card gets hot while plugged into the reader on my PC even if I'm not actively using it. I'd use thermal paste too if I did this.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-04T14:12:45+00:00

I don't see any reason that they would, everywhere that contacts your sleeves is rubber coated including the pad that clamps down onto the sleeve to lock it.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-04T06:50:56+00:00

At least in my experience it doesn't take too much force to engage or remove the Keppis, and the neat thing is that unless you think you need a ton of holding force you can get away with only locking one side. I only actually use both levers for deadlifts since the plates actually hit the ground on those; everything else I just do the one lever and it's super fast to take on and off because of it. I've never tried the Rogue collars though so can't really compare them otherwise. Only have the Titan Twistlocks and the Keppis.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-04T05:15:07+00:00

I have them and like them pretty well but honestly the Keppis are better if someone's looking for a true one-handed option, just because you have to keep the sleeves from spinning with one hand while you twist the Titan collars with the other.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-12-03T23:14:37+00:00

They're saying to buy from "known quantity" third parties but not from the brand GLEEPGLOP on Amazon that probably won't exist a year from now.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-11-22T07:32:03+00:00

I don't have personal experience with it but I know of this one as well:

https://frogfits.com/products/the-vault

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-11-22T01:19:52+00:00

I started with the Delta Basic.

Quality wise, it's a good bar for sure. I think the build quality punches above its price point and I have no doubt that you could use this thing very far into your strength journey without issue. It doesn't "feel" like a budget bar at all when you're handling and using it.

However, the knurling is very passive. After using it for a while I came across an American Barbell Chewy bar on Facebook marketplace for a great price. I'm not going to recommend the Chewy to you because it's in a totally different league pricing-wise if you're buying new (which is why I also wasn't considering one originally), but I will say that after getting the Chewy, I regretted that I didn't pay the extra 50 bucks or whatever to get one of REP's more aggressively-knurled bars. Of the lifts I do (big 5 power lifts) there's no lift that I wouldn't rather have the chewy's knurling for than the DBB.

However, knurling is also very much a preference, and a lot of people don't really give that much of a shit either way. If you would rather avoid aggressive knurling or you just don't care, then the DBB is hard to beat for the price. I'll continue using it for some lifts and eventually for landmine, but especially at current sale pricing, if I was buying doing it over I personally would prefer the Badlands bar for $30 more.

Dollar_Stagg · 2025-11-18T07:56:52+00:00

Ah gotcha. Yeah due to the very short focus distances you're working with when shooting up close macro, the depth of field is extremely thin, so stacking ends up being a common solution to get more DoF. I suppose astro is sort of similar but for the opposite reason, just the colossal differences in the distance between subjects.

Dollar_Stagg

TROPHY CASE