Massenomics Podcast - Ep.173: Coop of Garage Gym Reviews

Episode Date: July 29, 2019

Cooper Mitchell (Coop) of Garage Gym Reviews traveled to Aberdeen, South Dakota to visit us... if you can believe that.  He and his videogropher did a full tour of Massenomics Gym, which you will be able to see on the Garage Gym Reviews YouTube channel, and then we set down with Coop to pick his brain on everything Garage Gym Reviews related.  We even allowed him the privilege of playing overrated/underrated.

Welcome to Massanomics, the world's strongest podcast. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Massanomics. Make sure you go visit massanomics.com. There you'll find the rest of our powerful content. While you're there, check out our store and buy yourself some of that sweet Massanomics gear. Welcome everyone to episode 173 of the Massanomics podcast. You all know us as the lifting podcast about nothing. Unfortunately today that's going to change a little bit because we have something.

We do have something. Is that what you're saying, Terry? Not only do we have something, we have someone. And that's not normal. Just another person on our illustrious guest list. Your dog was here last week. Wow. And this week we have Coop.

And if maybe they don't know you by name, they're definitely going to. Well, I'm sure most of our listeners know Coop. But yeah, maybe you should introduce him though, just in case. Yeah. You run, you're the proprietor of Garage Gym Reviews. Correct. And we'll get into this in more detail, but what about, is there another name that you also go by other than Garage Gym Reviews? Yeah. So we're in the middle of like rebranding right now.

So we're going from Garage Gym Reviews to Garage Gym Built. Reason being, Garage Gym Reviews, like when I started it, it was just like informational and I'd like to like build more of the community, talk more about that sort of thing. Um, and so like the phrase is I am garage gym built and we're building content around that, um, plan to have apparel. And that's why I was asking you about what you guys do. Yep. Um, and that sort of thing. So it's kind of like a shift. It's kind of a slow shift because people know us as garage gym reviews, but you know, yeah, it's just. So it's kind of like a shift. It's kind of a slow shift because people notice it's Garage Gym Reviews. Right.

But, you know, yeah, it's just a change. Yeah. And I know this because prior to you coming, you had a form to fill out to if you really wanted to get in on the Garage Gym Reviews tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was on your website, and I was looking around, and I like huh this looks like garage gym build what's what's yeah what is that and i you know then i saw all your reviews and your face all over the place and i was like well it must be the same thing yeah same thing so you are in that process like right now as we speak exactly yeah so within the next few so we've been working on that site for the past like nine months or so um and there's still a lot of work to be

done um but it's just a complete shift and kind of like what we offer from the site we're content focused uh-huh so it's a big change but the site looked pretty visually appealing too like is it an upgrade from uh oh I've been on your old one before but I just the previous was a standard WordPress theme this is custom coded so yeah really really jumping it up a level yeah so it's a big deal yeah you guys are getting into things that don't make any sense to me yeah it didn't make a lot of sense to me either yeah yeah tommy knows but i don't okay yeah uh so will you the instagram page will that change the name the instagram page will change too yeah so change your garage are you like afraid of that

yeah yeah you know a little bit um yeah i mean anytime you make a change it's like you're a little bit weary of it however at the same time it's like garage gym reviews just isn't that cool of a name you know it's just like i've never been that big fan of it i like garage gym built i think it's more descriptive um you know and i'll keep garage gym reviews as like a secondary page if for some reason everybody just freaks out but you know you expect people to be upset in the beginning but yeah i don't think that people are that tied to the burnout yeah i don't think people are that tight so why don't we jump the gun maybe a little bit why don't you tell maybe i think there's a good safe to say we have listeners that have maybe never heard of

garage reviews why don't you kind of explain uh who you are and what you got going on yeah yeah so we review everything garage gym related so anything my goal is basically i see all these people in tech um like doing reviews on phones and all this different stuff and i want to like do the same thing but apply it towards fitness equipment gym equipment and then also help people like experience how awesome it is to have a garage gym you guys don't know that because you don't have a garage gym which is kind of of sad. You have a little bit of garage gym. It's like a community garage. Listen, you can call it a garage gym. It's not a garage. No, I'm just kidding. I like to hashtag garage gym and things. I like to pseudo be a part of the club.

Yeah, no, I get it. You're kind of there, kind of not. It's okay. But yeah, no, having a garage gym has been really impactful in my life. It's been awesome. I think it's, you know, helped me in many different areas. And I think it helps other people. So I want to help other people experience what it is to have a gym in your garage and to use it and, you know, how to find the equipment. And I'm just a gearhead. Like, I'm like that with everything. So anything I buy, I'm just like super, I don't know, particular. I'm very critical of everything. It's just natural to me. And like into the specs and all that. Everything. Yeah. I'm like really, yeah, I'm just like super I don't know particular um I'm very critical of everything it's just

natural to me specs and all that everything yeah I'm like really yeah I'm nerdy dude I just am so like everything like I'll look around I know exactly the brands that you guys have and you know like your computer and everything like that Tanner and I both fit that of we'll be the type of person that Tanner even more than me where like we buy something and it's like well I got there's probably something more I should look into yeah dude we don't rush into things like that so true dude yeah it annoys my wife like crazy yeah you know my wife does the same like just make up your mind just pick one it doesn't matter yeah yeah no it does matter you know it does matter what can't open our buy yeah exactly this one's got serrated blades.

That one's flat, you know? Yeah, exactly. So I'm like that particular about gym equipment. Yeah. And I think it's helpful to, you know, there's so much marketing BS out there. Yeah. I think it's helpful to cut through that and just give an honest take. It is.

I've used, you know, personally, we have the gym. We buy a lot of equipment and here and there. I've used your stuff before. Great know and i remember too many times so when when did you first start like what year did the website launch probably 2014 2015 so that would have been a few years more massonomics even but i do remember when we first kind of started looking at stuff running across you because yeah i've followed yours for a very long time like in the earlier stages of massonomics we had some blog posts and like we reviewed the kabuki bar and like the bow tie and yeah or the sorry the shoulder rock and some other things and i remember coming across some of your stuff like

seeing that out there when we were probably you like when we you came over and we walked through the gym here a little bit and a lot of the stuff we talk about i mentioned how we we pull things from here and there yeah we did some how we we pull things from here and there yeah reviews we certainly pulled ideas from what you were doing no that's cool everything's built on something else yeah yeah no I have no problem with competition and we really haven't we've kind of yeah that's why I came here to basically handcuff you until you never do it again yeah that's my yeah that's my area of expertise you You had a conclusion. I'm not cool with that. I'm the only one with conclusions.

I use the conclusion subheading. Yeah. No, you can write all the reviews you want. They're just not going to be as good as mine. But that is a question I want to get into, not talking about us, but. Yeah. So I've been following you probably since 2015. Your following has got grown exponentially since

then i i can't remember at what you know maybe your instagram following was at 10 or 20 000 or something at the point in time that i remember and now it's up close to 100 000 is that very close 95 i think so there are other pages out there that have very similar names to what you yeah and better and maybe even more so in recent years, maybe. What are your take on that? Do you have any experience with it? I'm thinking of maybe two or three off the top of my head. But do you have any experience dealing with it?

Yeah, so there's a lot of them. You know, it's like, what's proprietary about what I'm doing? Nothing. You know, it's like, anybody can do what I'm doing. I have no problem doing it, or with them doing it. Like like basically every time one starts they'll email me or text me or something like hey can we like collaborate or hey can we like you know it's like dude like you know like maybe you're just like taking my idea and then you're asking me for to help you like get bigger it's like like i don't have a problem with like you doing it but like no i'm not gonna yeah i'm not gonna help you yeah maybe put in some time before you just

rely on someone else yeah exactly so but at the same time it's like you know if i truly say that i want to help other people get garage gyms built and i say i don't want anybody else in the space then that's not me being true to what i say so i want other people to start garage gyms and so if other people making content to help them start garage gyms makes more people create garage gyms, then good. You know, I mean, I mean, there's enough fish in the sea and it forces competition forces you to be better. So I wouldn't have done this new site if I didn't have competition. Yeah. And I think that's the right attitude because Cause we kind of talk about the same thing too. If you know, like a, a rising tide raises all ships.

It's like, there's enough there. There's not this belief. Are you, it's wrong to have this belief that only one person can be successful. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

We do that with the other apparel companies that are, yeah, we've even worked with other companies. Like, and it's, you find that if one person can be successful, a lot of times that's contagious and helpful to you too. Definitely.

I think getting away from this win-lose attitude, like it's either me or no one else. That's right. That's the wrong way to come at things. Yes, there's so many people out there. And I just try to focus on what I'm doing and do the best I can in it, and the rest will take care of it. So you're saying on every Instagram post they put out, you report them? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

With all that being said, I keep very close eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do report a lot of content. Yeah, I spam their comment section on their site. What has been key, you know, and you've made really impressive growth over that period of time. What are some of the things? We talked about one thing I know is just being consistent.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure that's part of time, what are some of the things we talked about? One thing I know is just being consistent and I'm sure that's part of it, but anything else that's, uh, led you to have as much success as you have had? Yeah. I'm just, I'm really passionate about it. So anything I have passion in, like I'm going to do, like I'm going to do a lot of, I'm going to try and do well. So having a passionate, obviously, um, like being enduring, you know, like we talked about that, just not quitting, just being consistent. That is probably at least half of it. Oh, dude, yeah. But that's the work part of it, really. Everybody wants to talk about it if you want to do it.

When it comes to Instagram or YouTube or podcasts, it's easy to do something when you have content readily available or something exciting. Anyone can do that. The hard part is doing it when you're not sure if you have anything to work with. Oh, anyone can do that. The hard part is doing it when you're not sure if you have anything to work with. Oh yeah. Yeah. And you don't know if you listen to this podcast, you know, first hand what I'm talking about. Yeah. But then, um, you know, finding what works and then just drilling into what works. You guys do that with

the versus or the rookie cards. It's like, I'm constantly testing to figure out what works and then like just going after it. So yeah. Yeah. So then what came first? What was it? Was it an Instagram page or YouTube or website? Like what one was first? No, it's the website. So I we've only been doing YouTube maybe a year and a half or so. So not a really long time. Um, I really don't like doing YouTube. It's so timely. It takes so much time. It's like, it's's a big investment i don't really make any money off of it like it's it's just not but can you out of the youtube i don't know how many subscribers you have on youtube but can you make money off of a video just by monetizing it like do you make is it worth your while i know youtube has changed so much over the years and yeah uh maybe made monetizing less valuable for so we definitely we definitely monetize um through advertising

but it's not really enough for the amount of time and effort i put into it and i hire a videographer to do a lot of work now so it's like i do it more just for awareness um you know and it gives us different opportunities we've never like you know nobody's ever paid us to do a review you know it's like company sent us equipment and we'll write the review and we'll do the video on it yeah but nobody's ever like hey you know we'll pay you $500, $1,000. But you've got a lot of cool equipment out of it. Oh, my gosh, yeah, dude. I've got more equipment than anybody in the world.

I've used more. And that's a funny thing. I'll go to these gym equipment manufacturers, and they're like, you have more variety of equipment than probably anybody in the world. You have more experience with everything. So it's helpful to do those reviews reviews but i started with a blog i just started with a simple wordpress blog wordpress blog i think my first review was on a laco barbell the weightlifting training bar and my thought was this is my whole thought i i want to get free equipment so i'm going to write a review on this and maybe a couple other things i have and then i'm going to to send my portfolio to these companies and say, Hey, I'll do this for you. All you got

to do is send me that get rich quick scheme. Yeah. All you got to do is yeah, exactly. Pyramid. You just climb up. Yeah. Yeah. So I'd love to say, you know, like I was a architect and I saw this far out and I knew it was going to be successful. I had no idea. I just wanted to fill my garage with stuff. Um, and so I'd like ask for a jump rope or I'd ask for something really small and just over time it built and grew and grew and grew. And so now we just review whatever comes out. Yeah. So reviews is, is, is there anything, you know, I, I know like bar bend is out there and they do reviews and they also are a big into you know just reporting yeah yeah what about on the website if you looked at the tabs is it reviews and subcategories of reviews or is there anything else in the yeah no so we focus on reviews but

there's also like you know helping people start their home gyms like different guides and things like that but my like there's so many better people to go to for training advice. Like, I'm not trying to be the, you know, the fitness model. I'm not trying to be the training guru. That's not my goal. My goal is to help people. I know equipment better than anybody. That's what I know.

And so that's what I stick to. Did you always know that? Or in the beginning, did you, were you trying out some more different? Oh, yeah. I was trying. No, no. I always knew I was going to do reviews on equipment. I knew that was like, that's, you know, I'm not that big.

I don't really, you know, I'm not crazy strong. Like nobody's coming to me for training advice. You know, they come to me for gym equipment advice. You call everyone big in mass economics though, so you are big coop. I don't know if I said that. I appreciate that. No, dude. I appreciate that.

It doesn't matter what size you are. You're always big to us. That's right. I appreciate that, man. It's a form of respect around you. Blow it up, dude. That's awesome, dude. Yeah. Call me big to us that's right i appreciate that man form of respect around yeah blow it up dude that's awesome yeah call me big coop yeah that's awesome but uh yeah so no in the beginning i was like i want to do reviews reviews is what i'm going to focus on um but you learn over time like i just got experience with more equipment um and through and through that, you know, I'm able to compare things better. Yeah, definitely. Right on. Um, I was curious, this is kind of a off the cuff question. What is, could you say, what is the coolest piece of equipment that you've reviewed over the years?

That's tough. Uh, maybe you can't even pick one, but if you have a couple that you really, really, really enjoyed, dude, one of my favorite pieces of equipment that I've ever used, ever been created is the Rogue Rhino, the belt squat. So it's their belt squat. Yeah, dude, that piece of equipment, everybody I've talked to that has it loves it. It's just they did so well with the engineering on it. You put it together, it doesn't feel like a piece of gym equipment. It feels like an automotive piece.

The way everything fits the fit and finish all the different small parts on it the stainless steel they use like everything is just like i mean this is this there was a lot of time spent on this yeah and i love that kind of stuff so i mean even the cable column you know it's not like a traditional like lat pull down column it's a special column they designed the trolley to fit on this three by four, like slab of steel. And like, there's nothing else in the world like it. And there's all these different like parts that I'm just like, Oh, it just feels premium. Um, and so I really like that piece of equipment. Um, I always like barbells. So anytime there's a new barbell out,

you know, I always try to get my hands on it. Uh, so the Kabuki bar was a really special one when that came out. Because there's just a lot of hype around it. There's a lot of controversy. We made a post, and Bill Henniger, the owner of Rogue, and Chris Duffin were like, I remember that. If you've ever talked to Bill. Yeah, yeah.

So they flew us up to Rogue HQ a while ago. And he's a super nice guy, really down to earth. He's an engineer, you know, so he's thinking technical a lot of times. But he sat us in his, you know, boardroom and he's like, you know, I'll give you as much time as you want. He like put his phone away. You know, there's a guy, this 600,000 square foot facility 600 employees like he was willing to give that time to me it was like so what was it just to just talk things yeah there wasn't any like particular order of affairs I think they just wanted to like deepen a relationship you know like you know they didn't they like you know I'd love to say they're like wine and dine me so they were

like want me to like say good things about them but they're like no we we just like what you do yeah um we want you to keep doing honest stuff and so anytime a new product comes out a lot of times like we'll buy it and then we'll do a review on it and uh they make changes based upon that so talk about that that bill at rogue versus chris at kabuki there was a little bit of an exchange back yeah i remember that actually was on your that was on your page yeah yeah it's on our instagram page yeah those two were i screenshot of that i think which i was yeah we discussed it yeah we did yeah okay i was so surprised like these two guys would be like in my my yeah you know like talking about this you know it's pretty fun to see but they were going back and forth, you know, like Chris was like, I don't remember what he said,

but it was basically like the Kabuki bar is stronger than the Roga High Power bar. And then Bill comes in and, you know, says like, you know. Let's test it out. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. If you actually, so if you go to Rogue's F scale, have you guys heard of the F scale?

I am not familiar at all. See, the F scale is basically determining how durable a bar is. They came up with like a scientific method to determine the durability of a bar. Is this Rogue Developers? No, this is done through SEA Limited. They paid for it, but it's done through a third-party company that tests automotive crashes. So it's legit. It's not like, yeah, this isn't pseudo marketing.

It's legit. so it's legit okay it's not like yeah this isn't pseudo like marketing it's legit yeah so basically if you go on their calculator they don't put like the name of the bar they tested they just put like the tensile strength the finish color everything like that your blind study basically exactly exactly but if you go in and put 250 plus you put like all the technical specs of the kabuki bar they put the f rating there and it's below the rogue bar because they actually tested it so basically they're saying that the the the steel it's so strong it's actually like brittle it's more brittle than a normal bar which is more likely to break i'm familiar with that idea but too yeah but with a power lifting bar you know people

aren't dropping these from overhead oftentimes just so unless you're like got the one in your gym. Yeah. Proved it can be bent. Yes, exactly. Yeah. It is possible. Yeah. Yeah.

Which also can demoralize me when I find out that it happens. Oh my gosh. That's an expensive bar. Yeah, dude. That would make me upset as well. Demoralizing emotionally and not the pocketbook. Yes, definitely. Do you ever feel conflicted when you're doing a review?

Do you struggle? Because we've reviewed some things as Massonomics, and we struggle if we develop a friendly relationship with the owner of the company, and they send us stuff. And we haven't done very many. We made a rule kind of we're only going to review stuff that we really like because we don't want to do bad. It's more fun just to do reviews that are going to be good for everyone.

We're going to have the product. But do you struggle with saying negative things about someone that sent you something for free? Can you do like, do you ever have to hold back on that? Yeah. So I always try to keep like the same standard of like, I try to keep a relationship out of it.

You know, it'd be really easy for me to say like there's no bias involved i'm completely unbiased but i'm a human so there's bias in everything right so i'm not gonna lie and say there's no bias involved however at the same time like i try on every single review to put in a suggested improvements or like shortcomings or things i didn't like because every product out there, we live in an imperfect, perfect world. Yeah. Everything has problems, right? So everything I'll try to say things I dislike that, that said, I don't dog on companies. My goal is not to be like, you know, if something is so bad that it's dangerous, I'll say it and we'll post about it. We've done that with Titan, you know, J hooks. However, at the same time, we've said there's stuff that Titan makes. That's great. So I just try to be objective and honest um and do my best job there uh but i you know

does it play in i don't like think about it but that's not to say it has no like play that's not to say like for instance we went prx performance and they like took us out on their boat and they we went surfing yeah i've never done that before. They call it surfing. You're like behind the boat. Super fun. Took us out to dinner. It was really nice. I really enjoyed it. But at the same time, I'm not going to start saying PRX Performance is making the best gym equipment of all time.

They have good stuff, and they also have stuff that they need to improve. And they've been on Shark Tank, though. That's a big deal. Oh, yeah, exactly. They met Mark Cuban. The Cubes. dark tank though like that's a big deal oh yeah exactly they meant more cubans so yeah yeah yeah yeah so so you know it doesn't like it probably plays a factor but it's not like anything i think about yeah i haven't i like this isn't to be pompous but like i don't need money from somebody

else to make me like like them yeah have you ever said something bad about a product yeah or maybe just constructive criticism criticism yeah we don't have to label it as bad but have you ever then gotten feedback back from the company that you feel like uh oh yeah they're not they're not cool about it yeah yeah there's been a couple times where like uh oftentimes it happens with imported equipment like a chinese supplier something will send us something and like i'll write the the review or i'll get the equipment i won't even do the review yet and i'll email back like this is an awful product like you don't want us to review this like i'm not going to write anything good on it um and they'll just be like okay just don't write a review or something like that okay um

but then there's been other times embarrassment a little bit yeah yeah and it's like yeah if it's if it's a safety hazard then i have no problem saying like don't buy this but if it's just like not a good product like there's something better out there then maybe i'll say talking about it in a different way maybe a guide or something yeah um but then there has been products like for instance rep fitness came out with the power speed bar and it's basically like this uh uh power lifting bar that they cut the neural short so basically there's no knurling on the j cups but my issue wasn't with like that design the design's fine the issue was they're charging more for it than their stainless steel bar

that has knurling that goes across the whole thing it is a better bar and it's like you're selling you're charging more for a gimmick that costs you less right so i said that and they didn't like that they weren't happy about that but it's a pretty you can you can stand behind that exactly yeah yeah and people like these companies know like if it's a bad product they don't send it like they just won't so if you see us not reviewing something typically that's a good sign that it's not don't buy it because yeah they won't send us the bad stuff. Right. So there's some products out there, and I won't name them, but we haven't reviewed them, not because I don't want to review them, but because the company doesn't want us to review them.

Right. Yeah. So if I get them on my hands, like if I buy them or something, I'll review it. I don't have any problem with that. Yeah. But a lot of this is through companies sending it to us. So, you know, because this stuff's expensive, man. Right. It's a lot of this is through companies sending it to us. So, you know, because this stuff's expensive, man.

It's a lot of equipment. So are you developing like a massive just stockpile of fitness equipment at this point? Do you get rid of anything? No, I don't sell anything. I don't sell anything. Do you have to say that or do you? No, I literally don't sell anything. Why are you winking so much?

What can we buy from you? I've sold a Bowflex piece of equipment one time. That's about it. But no. You didn't get a Bowflex body? Well, you tell me. What does it look like? I like it.

I don't have a Bowflex body? Dude, seriously? I'm leaving this thing. I was kind of thinking more of a NordicTrack guy. Oh, okay. I don't know if that's compliment or negative, dude. I'll take it, though, dude. NordicTrack makes awesome stuff.

Well, that's coming from the horses. Nautilus boys. Okay. But, yeah, what were you saying? Bowflex. Oh, yeah, what you do with your gym. Oh, yeah, yeah, what I do with all the extra stuff. So I have a personal training gym in Springfield.

It's, like, right up the street from my house. So I put all the equipment in there. And then I also have – So you own that gym that you, like how many square feet are we talking here? I don't train people. No, I have, I have a partner who does all the training. Gotcha. Yeah. But like how many square feet are we talking here? Uh, it's close to 3000, but then I also have, uh, there's about seven to 10 other garage gyms in spring field that are built based upon my equipment. And then I also have my three car garage. So there's like,

I've got, I've got probably over, you know, 15, 20 squat racks. I've got over like 50, 60, 70 bars.

I hope one day, like I can just like have a warehouse and like that be where I work. And that's like the place, you know, jealous of people that have a lot of money. I'm jealous of equipment, dude. It's awesome. Yeah. It's a great a great currency man i can get more money but my wife will just spend it all on yeah yeah yeah definitely yeah but it's you know i like keeping

it people ask like why don't you just get rid of it but i like keeping it because i like to compare things yeah you know and something is updated i like to see like in person like what's updated or like compare neural you know i've been able to find out a lot of things because i have a lot on hand about companies using similar manufacturers yeah um you know there's a lot of stuff out today that's made from the same manufacturer in china and it's got a new brand on it do you ever worry uh what you'll do with all that equipment someday when you're old? Like, are you just going to make your family deal with all that stuff when you die? Like, what are you going to do with it? No, I'm actually training my son right now to review family equipment,

so he'll take over the family business. He takes care of himself then. No, I don't think about that because it's like I can always sell it, you know, I mean, if I really want to. Right. But, no, I do think, like, if I move someday, like, this is going to be awful. Like, if I move away from. Right. But no, I do think like if I move someday, like this is going to be awful. Yeah.

If I move away from the area. Moving gym equipment sucks. Oh, it's awful, dude. We've had a crew of like 15 helpers and it's still miserable. Yeah, it's awful. Like you're,

it's, you pick that up, that stuff up when you're training purposely. You want, you pick it up and set it down and it's,

it's for fun. It's designed to be heavy though. But yeah, and then when you have to move it, like because you have to move it up and set it down and it's yeah it's for fun yeah but yeah and then when you have to move it like because you have to move it to a different location yeah it honestly weighs like it triples in weight oh yeah 45 plate you grab it when you're just there to move it you're like my god this is heavy i never noticed that why would somebody buy this yeah i noticed how heavy this handles that exactly yeah where's the comfort grip yeah yeah uh i was curious you did talk about it but like why are you in aberdeen south dakota you didn't really talk specifically about this okay road trip your trip and yeah yeah so the holy weird that you're in aberdeen south no it is really

weird i never thought i'd be here and i never yeah i said this in like the intro i was like the place i'd never thought i'd be and the place I never planned to come back. That's fair. But, no, so we're doing a garage gym tour. Like, basically, I'm hitting as many garage gyms as I can in the Midwest on, like, this road trip because we're doing walkthroughs of them. So, for YouTube, we're doing walkthroughs of their setups and talking, like, telling their story. Like, the goal is, like, I want to, like, inspire people to start garage gyms. So, I want to tell the, like, normal person've got firefighters we've got cops yeah we've got you know desk workers i want to tell their story of why they started garage gyms what what equipment they picked that sort of thing um kind of like a cribs type of thing um but just their garage gyms so

that's what we're doing and we're just traveling around and so we were in far north dakota to visit prx performance that's where they're based they're the sponsor for the trip yep and so we met them and then like toured their facility we actually dropped so i talked them into this they really didn't want to like i like argued with them for a while but i dropped we dropped a 500 pound barbell from like head height onto their spotter arms to see if their rack would stay in the wall and it stayed in. Really? So they were so pumped. Yeah. Cause I did that with the Titan straps and we got like 600,000 views on that or something. Um, I was like, dude, if we do this with your, your rack, we're going to get a lot of views. Like this is going to be a popular video. The only problem is if it breaks, I'm still going to show it. Yeah. So you have to decide, do you want to take the

risk or not? And they kept whole back and forth there they were calling like people like should we do this like you know and we just I'm like and it's got to be just a standard rack it can't be like especially yeah yeah exactly it's just got to go into like studs the consumer would buy exactly a consumer buy so we walked into their showroom I said I want that one we put it on that one we pulled it off and it did i bet they were i bet they were excited oh they had the whole team in there their whole team and they were all cheering after like yes we did yeah yeah it was a good team building their big product is the stuff that folds into the wall folding rack yeah yeah so they have a folding rack um you know

for like power lifters it's not really designed for you uh-huh you know it's not like a power rack it's not a cage right um but for like the standard person that wants a home gym and just like wants to park their car in the garage still, it's great. Yeah. It's great for that. And so were they like the first ones to offer that design? Because there's a few that exist now, isn't there? Yeah. So they own the patent. Yeah. So they were the first to come up with it. They actually, they say the waters are a little muddy here, but they also think they own the patent for the fold away which is like the one Rogue has but a patent is only as good as the person

suing and they're just like if somebody tries and steals the fold up rack with the hydraulic jacks we'll go after them, we'll fight that tooth and nail but the fold away one it's not worth it

that is something that gets encountered in the lifting products world is this issue of patent and people battling each other. Donnie and Sorenix. Yeah, that one was fairly famous. Definitely, dude. You know, they don't talk about it anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The man who must not be named. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's a whole like, you know, there's two sides to every story. What I'll say on that. There's two sides to every story. I've heard both side and it's probably somewhere in the middle. Yeah. You know,

I mean, both of them. I'm sure you're right. That's probably the case. Yeah. We're talking some decent money here too. Definitely. People are definitely going to be passionate about it.

You know, definitely when livelihoods are at stake. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the issue was sore necks. Like that was their design, and that wasn't their design. It was Donnie Thompson's design. But Sorenex, they put a lot of R&D into that product.

Yeah. What is theirs called? The CMB, center mass bell. And it's actually better than the fat bell because it's ductile iron. So it's actually harder steel. It's harder to break. There's this cast iron. Yeah, cast, yeah.

As far as like from a technical perspective, the CMB is a better design. It also has holes on both sides. Don't some of the lighter fat bells? The really light ones. Yeah, that's it though. Yeah, yeah. But the reason you should buy fat bells is because they're cheaper. Yeah, I was going to say the price difference would be better. And there isn't a big enough difference.

Yeah, the price difference. Exactly. There isn't a big enough difference. The price difference returns there for sure. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So, it's a cool product, though. Okay, so you have to, you know, in all of your experience, all the things you've seen,

you had to have come across some pretty unusual stuff. Yeah, yeah. Like, what are some of the ones that, really stand out over the years okay uh whether they were good or bad or had some novelty okay yeah well one one thing that was unique uh there's this thing called the vamp hammer okay and it looks like a thor's hammer yeah i think so yeah i think that's the name behind it this was like yeah it's just like it's made in this guy's garage it's like this square like ballistic block and then he attaches like this uh metal um like flange to it he just screws it in and then he attaches a handle to it and then wraps it in bar or wraps it in like um road bike tape

okay and then it's like looks like a thor's hammer yeah i don't know what you do with it though like that was gonna be my next question like i think you slam it maybe like a Thor's hammer. Yeah. I don't know what you do with it, though. Oh, that was going to be my next question. I think you slam it, maybe. Oh, okay. Yeah, maybe static holds out or something. How big is the head on it? Like 40 pounds. Oh, that's super heavy.

So it's so awkward, you know? It's like your average person isn't going to get crazy with this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I liked it because it's cool and novelty. Yeah, right. But as far as useful, there's also this thing called uh acme triads and they're like basically these triangles with like ball weights on them um yeah it's like a triangle and it like uses rebar basically for the handle and then they use like balls that are

weight balls but like i have them in our personal training gym we have all this seen that before yeah we have all this weird stuff in there and people walk in and they always just look at it like drawn to this what is that yeah yeah like we don't know you figure it out yeah so that's a couple weird ones i'm sure there's other ones that like you know i'm not thinking of but those are two that come to mind yeah yeah what about like along the lines of like rare or collectible at all cool tanner actually here's something that's really cool um so uh you guys ever seen the arnold plates yeah yeah yeah okay very up close yeah yeah i have two of those really wait you mean the you mean the elephant deadlift elephant deadlift plates so the stainless steel yes yes really these cost two thousand dollars a piece to make oh yeah you can't buy them no

no you can't buy them you can't buy them. You can't buy them. And I don't know how much of this story I can tell, but I'll tell a little bit of it. That is really cool. Have you ever posted that you have those? No, no. We're going to do a video on them. Okay.

Wow. Yeah. So there's, I think there's 30- Who's guarding them right now? Is there any- Yeah, don't try. Sick my golden doodle. It's really tough.

Yeah. So there's, I think 30 or so in the world. There's, like, the ones that they use for the event. Yeah. And then when they made them, they gifted them to some people. So I think I saw them at, like, Arnold had a pair, I think. Jan Todd, I think they have a pair at Stark Center. Which that makes sense.

And then I think there may be, like, one other pair. So the pair I have was the pair that they actually, they were the first off the line. So they're imperfect. Like they're very close, but there's like maybe like Arnold's bicep is like partly cut off on one. Like he's got a torn bicep.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. But these are the first ones that ever came off the line, which to me makes them even more rare. I'd say so because these are the ones that are actually the anomaly. Exactly. They're not the uniform. They tested them on these. These were the first ones off the line.

Yeah, so I got them from a guy who – It doesn't work at Rogue anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not – yeah, I don't know. I don't want to get him in trouble or say anything about Rogue.

But I got them basically through Instagram, and it was – I don't want to get him in trouble or say anything about Rogue. But I got them basically through Instagram. And I never thought I'd get them. And he told me a price. And I was like, nobody else in the world has these. That might be the coolest thing. That might be the coolest thing. I don't know what you could have said differently. I was not expecting anything in that book.

Okay. What are the plates? The Zubers. Yeah, that those are inspired by. They're super, super rare and collectible. The Zubers are incredible. that those are inspired by that they're super super rare and collectibles are incredible because those are more of a classical one aren't they they've got a bunch sornex burt and uh pops they've got they've got a whole museum over there it's awesome he collects equipment like i do um but he's way ahead of me in terms of like classic

stuff yeah um but they have the zovers plates and the zoovers plates were actually like cast in the gym like at this guy's location yeah so they would basically like cast the plates and he made molds and he made all their gym equipment at this place in california and like that's why they're so special they're very cool looking but at the same time for us oh they're insane like they're insane even make doesn't even make sense. Yeah, yeah. But there's more of those, I think, than there are of Rogue Blades. Yeah. Wow. I've got some Deep Dish York that I've got on the hook right now. What do you think those are worth?

Oh, I don't know. Like, I'm battling back and forth. Are they milled or are they cast? They're prior to milled. They're not milled. They're older than. Oh, really? Yeah.

Okay. So they're cast. What is he saying they're worth? He's got 500 pounds not milled. They're older than. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. So they're cast. What is he saying? Their worth. He's got 500 pounds. It's two sets of 45s, two sets of 35s. The 35s are more, you've seen them before. Like really the money is in these two sets of 45s.

Yeah. They're bad condition. Okay. But they still are what they are. And he wants like $2,000 for everything. It's almost like $4 or $5 a pound. Yeah. I'm not even close to that.

I wouldn't do that. No. I'm uh about a third of that is what i'm willing to you know jimmy kubman i don't think is like that like it's collectible in the sense that it means something to me yeah i really like york's i like york yeah but i don't like it like for two thousand dollars for a few 45 pound plates well he's gonna have a hard time selling them for that much so and this is in this town. I'm the only person that's going to buy those for... Oh, yeah. Without a doubt. Yeah, tell them to donate them to the gym. Give them a lifetime membership

to the Massanomics gym, the greatest gym in everything South Dakota. Not even a stretch. Yeah, that's awesome. But I wouldn't pay that much for them. Just getting your expert opinion on them. Yeah, no, no. I concur. See, Tanner, last week we said we've got to bring in our guy.

Yeah, we brought in our guy. We're the Palm Stars. We didn't know. We're the guy down the road. That'd be an awesome episode, dude. Some sort of spoof. Tanner told us the story last week, and I was like, oh, Tanner, did you tell him I've got to bring in my guy?

Now we actually brought in my guy. Yeah, let's go, dude yeah now these are okay you know but you know by the time i said yeah yeah exactly we're finished i'm worth about you know five cents uh something i was wondering you kind of made a joke asking about us which is it is true you kind of say like you know and multiple people make this joke about us like what does massonomics do like how do you guys make money what do you do yeah yeah like how do you guys make money yeah and you don't have to go into your you know in-depth business strategy and stuff but like what do you have a job outside of this uh so i'm an entrepreneur i have a few different

jobs okay i was a financial planner before okay since like stepped out of that gotcha um so the way that you're asking like how does it monetize yeah so it's monetized a few different ways one is through um like youtube ads that sort of thing which is a small part of it and then the main one is through affiliate income so pretty much every e-commerce company in the world um has affiliate codes which is basically like if somebody goes on our site, buys or clicks on a link on our site, goes through like, let's say, Amazon, buys through Amazon, then Amazon pays us a small commission that doesn't affect the price. Yeah. So that's how we monetize. Yeah. So we're affiliates with, you know, basically anybody that you can think of. Rogue. Yeah. All of them. Yeah. It runs the gamut. So they all have affiliate programs

and that's how we're able to run the site. So, you know, if you like what we do, you know, we get asked all the time, like, how can we support you? If you like what we do, then like if you see a review and you want to buy the piece of equipment, go through the link on our site.

Yeah, yeah. If you don't, then don't. Yeah, yeah. Who has the most lucrative affiliate program? Well, you know, Rogue probably sells the most gym equipment in the world. So if you're looking at volume, probably Rogue because they sell the most. However, they're not like they don't have the highest commission rate. You know, like every company has different commission.

So I don't know. Actually, Amazon's probably the most lucrative because you get paid through like anything. Everything they buy. So like I'll go on there and it'll be like a lot different. I mean the, the, the checkout. Oh yeah. On a rogue purchase versus an Amazon.

Definitely. Probably. Yeah, definitely. But then you get like, I get people like somebody to buy a barbell, but in addition to that, they'll buy like 24 pack of toilet paper,

you know, it's like, yeah. So you get those little add on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's, you know, it's, it's fun. I really like what we do. And people buy a lot of gym equipment, and they buy a lot through us. So, yeah, it's great.

I can just keep asking. Keep going, Tanner. So for your money, we have a lot of powerlifting listeners. Yeah. What is the best power lifting bar in your opinion? Because you've seen them all. Yeah, yeah. There's so many categories of bars.

Can you give me some like, is it like the best price doesn't matter or best value? Both ways. Let's do best value and price is no option. Okay. Price is no option. It's got to be like the Alico or kabuki personally i'd say what is what is the price on the alico oh it's near a thousand one okay 10 50 maybe okay maybe maybe a little bit less than that it's more than the kabuki that's the one with the red label on

it right yeah and it's called what the alico power bar there's more to it maybe than that yeah i don't remember the exact name it's like ip IPF, you know, power bar. It's a good bar, but, you know, a lot with a Laco, it's like that history there. Like I've got one of their weightlifting training bars, and it's just like there's just something about it. It just feels, yeah, and your hands feel powerful. However, the Kabuki bar, for somebody who's got a lot of money to spend and they just want a really good bar, that bar is incredible, dude. I love that bar.

They did such a good job with it. The knurling is incredible. It's so stiff. I love the size of it. I really like what Chris is doing with Kabuki Strength. What finish do you have on the one you have? Electroless nickel, which is their – It's a little bronzeless looking.

Yeah, a little bit. I got it because I've never seen a bar in that. I think it's their most expensive option, but it's just unique. I like unique things. So it's held up really well. It's held up really well. And then the best value bar is by far the Rogo High Power Bar. That bar is, dude, anybody that asks me what bar should I get?

It's like $300. You can get a. Well, you can get the raw steel one for $250. Yeah, it is. It's like, what the freak? Ten years ago, nobody would have had any idea that you could buy that good of a bar for that price. Like, people would be saying, there's no way. Like, you can't get the price down that much.

That would be my opinion for bang for your buck. Like, it doesn't really get better than that. Yeah, we would have said that, too. And right in there, too, we would probably put the Texas Power Bar, power yeah the texas power bar used to be the one and it's still incredible yeah you know it's it's kind of like what's your preference yeah do you like the feel of the texas power bar do you like that there and there's a lot of history behind the texas power bar so really just get both is what you're saying exactly i have both yes and what you you've toured massonomics gym earlier yeah two. Yeah. Two questions, I guess.

What bar should we get that we don't have? Yeah. If you could think of something there. And then what other piece of equipment should we get that we don't have right now? Yeah. So the bar that you should get is an open trap bar. And I would say. Everyone's making those now.

They are, dude. Yeah, that kind of is the hot. Yeah. Dude, this is how it happens every year. Now, it's like tech. Yeah. People are coming out with these new releases, and I freaking love it.

It's awesome. It gives me stuff to talk about. Last year was the year of the belt squat. This year is the year of the open trap bar. The Aleko and the Kabuki are both incredible bars for different reasons. The Aleko is rackable which is really nice i like to do overhead press with it yeah and also it's like it's just really refined you know aleko's like getting into this market of like i don't know more refined products like they're

they do things it's like art almost i know it sounds stupid but like it is it's how it feels it's like there's something about it that's just different from strength equipment and then the kabuki is just like features out the wazoo like the swappable handles the knurling that's on it you know i've been saying this for years like this is a this is a big point of contention with me is these companies don't put any effort into their their specialty bars it's like, dude, I've been telling Rogue this for years. Get rid of the powder coat on the sleeves. Like, there's no reason to do it. Chips off.

You're charging a lot for it. Nobody likes it. You know, like, you need to revamp your entire specialty bar. And, you know, I could see him doing it. But Kabuki, Chris, he's like, we're going to make the best one we can make. And it is incredible, dude. It's awesome. Swappable grips.

I do wish it was rackable, but it's an awesome bar. How much are each of those two? So, yeah, the Aleko is like near $850. The Kabuki is $550 or so. Which the Kabuki, at that price point, that's great, dude. That is a great price point. I did not think they'd be able to get it that low. It's that good of a bar.

The knurling on it is the exact same as on the power bar. Oh, yeah. So that would be your recommendation on the bar we want to look at. Definitely. Yeah, definitely the Kabuki Open Trap Bar. I mean, yeah. I like everything that they're doing. They're like an underground team, and they're just refining products,

and they're coming out with stuff they want to come out with. It's just cool. And then the piece of equipment now is the other one. Say it again. Not a bar. Rogue Rhino would be cool. I know you guys have a belt squat, but these are a lot more versatile.

I'm trying to think of something else. You guys don't have a lot of cardio equipment? No. I like those treadmills that are curved, though. Those look really cool. Those are awesome, dude. Like five grand. Yeah, they're more than that.

Those do look really cool. I've never been on one before. If money was no object, I would buy one of those. They're awesome. Yeah, I've got one in my garage and then one at the gym. Oh, they're sweet. Those are great. I like the Rogue Echo bike a lot.

That's a really cool bike. And that's only been around like a year or so. Is that like an Airdyne? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My guess, you know, like this is conjecture. I don't really know. But my guess would be that it's one of their best-selling products. And the reason I say that is because they talk about it so often.

They talk about it all the time. And also boxes are probably buying like tons of them, right? they're great bikes dude they are great bikes um but then anything made up by concept 2 is yeah oh dude they're like the concept 2 products are the most simple but like well executed products out there concept 2 rower in my basement yeah what year is it like an older one no i bought it like a couple years ago okay i also wanted to tell you starting a basement gym review yeah let's collab dude let's collaborate dude could you get that all the time oh i'd love to help you out dude yeah just start your channel yeah you send you 10 000 followers yeah i'd love to create a competitor it'd be awesome but but concept two man they just do it right and they stick to what they know they don't come out

with a ton of products. They stick to the rower. They've got their biker, the skier, and every one of those is amazing. They're bomb-proof. They just work. Yeah, if more products were made like that, I'd be really happy. Yeah. As far as content, whether it's YouTube, Instagram, blogs,

who do you like to follow or check out in the fitness industry yeah so i'm not like i'm i guess i'm not that into the fitness industry because it's it just doesn't appeal to me that much that's we were talking about earlier is the longer you pay attention to it the more you realize how it's all just sift through all the crap smoking so much crap dude yeah to be honest, I really like Brandon Campbell. I don't know if he goes by Brandon Diamond or Brandon Campbell Diamond now. Or Baseball Bell. Come on, get it together, Brandon.

I'm just kidding. I really like his stuff. I think he does a great job. He's a guy that's been consistent. He does. Yeah, he's old. He's just like me, dude. He's just like a dad.

I feel the same way.'s just like me dude he's just like a dad yeah i just i feel the same way i just like it dude yeah he's not like trying to ride the wave of whatever hype is exactly yeah he just stays in his lane he does a great job i really like him um yeah and then uh i read some of ben greenfield stuff i don't know if you ever heard of him yeah yeah he's not like he does more like body, body hacking stuff. So he's on, like, the bleeding edge of, like, trying all this goofy stuff.

I'm more like, I'm not really into that, but I like reading about it and I'm interested in it. But when it comes to, like, consuming content, I, like, consume a lot of finance content.

I'm just really into, like, there's this movement called the FIRE movement, Financial Independence, Retire Early. So my goal is to retire by the time I'm, like, 40. Yeah. We might have to cut this podcast short so you and Tanner can talk. Yeah. I saw you in your moped, dude. I was like, dude, that's, I get around on my one wheel

everywhere or my bike. I, I frugality is if that's a word is something that's right. Oh, dude, I'm the same way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't see, I don't want to spend money on it, which is weird because I'm also a gearhead. I also like equipment. So I have to figure out ways to get stuff, like without spending money. My other vehicle that I drive around is a 2003 Buick LeSabre. That's what he said.

Those are incredible. Yeah, those are great cars, man. Bomb proof. Bulletproof engine. Yeah, those feel like they've got lazy boys in them, dude. You just sink into it. A lazy boy. Like I've turned it into this thing where it's it's cool yeah yeah exactly it's a joke and people yeah dude yeah yeah then you don't have to buy something nice isn't that stupid beautiful saber

that yeah yeah so i just bought a new car it's a nissan leaf okay uh I bought it new, though, because you get a $7,500 tax credit. It's completely electric. So a tax credit, so money in your, not a deduction. Well, I'm self-employed, so it just comes off the top. But yeah, it's way better than a deduction. It's credit. So if I was paying $5,000, I'd get $2,500 back, something like that. So yeah, it's awesome.

But I just bought that car. It's fully electric, and that's why I that yeah so yeah it's awesome but um i just bought that car it's fully electric and that's why i drive around because it's cheap last week uh electric cars were in our underrated overrated segment oh what did you i said they were underrated they're very underrated dude so they're so underrated every episode we uh i asked tommy the questions okay has his druthers on the answers. You'll find out about druthers. It's a great word. I love it. It is a great word. It sounds like some white truth.

After the episode comes out, we do an Instagram poll of everything to see how our audience answers in comparison to Tommy. Awesome. What was our followers' answer on electric cars? I think they also said underrated, but not by that wide of a margin. It was fairly close. Okay, yeah.

Electric cars are going to take over, dude. Everybody's going to be driving an electric car. As soon as they get battery technology to the level that you can drive 500 miles and charge it quick, there's no reason to drive a combustion engine. Yeah, why even mess with it? Anything that I can put a battery in and not deal with. That's right, dude. Like mowers. I try to. That's right, dude. Like mowers.

Like I try to do everything electric now, dude. I don't like, you know, there's some people that are like, you know, I'm trying to protect the environment. Like I'm not about, I don't, like that's not a big concern of mine. Screw the environment. Yeah, yeah. No, no. Like I want to like. More the tech and the.

Yeah. I don't try to make myself feel better because I'm driving an electric car. It's emission free. No, it takes emissions to produce electricity. That was kind of my – I was like, you know, if you're making the power by coal, that you're charging it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

You know, what's the – For real. Yeah, it just makes people feel good. But, yeah, I like it because I save cash money. Yes. That's a pretty solid reason. Right in the beginning where you talked about how you kind of like

reviewers and tech reviewers. Do you have certain YouTube channels or blogs that you follow? Because I'm, I like that scene too. Yeah. Yeah.

So I really like MKBHD. I was going to say that. Marcus Brownlee, dude. So I try to like, that is my favorite. Yeah. So I try to like, you know,

hobble together as close to him as I can without a, it's been amazing to see like the growth of his studio over time and the budgets they have behind things. Yeah, dude. They do such a good job, man. And he's just like, I would love to be viewed as that in the equipment space.

That's what you're doing, yeah. Yeah, and I feel like for the equipment space, I'm kind of that guy. But at the same time, there's just so many more people buying phones than there are barbells. So there's definitely a ceiling there. But he's at the point where Google uses his reviews in their ads. Definitely. His lines get used in Google ads.

That's pretty cool. Oh, it's incredible, dude. To be able to say, if Rogue came out with the next level of their price and used your review in their marketing that's not unreasonable yeah you know that's a no companies do that companies do that but i've never had like rogue yeah rogue so big yeah i don't know if they'd ever do that i don't know if they'd ever want to be so tied to us um you know they're they're very independent exactly they're extremely independent which good for them you know i, I'm floored by what they've done.

One thing that a lot of people don't know is Bill Henninger cashed in his 401K to start that company. Oh, really? He owns the company 100%, and they have no debt. What a mistake that was. Yeah, exactly. What an idiot. Think about that. Think about how much risk is involved there, dude.

I mean, to me, that's inspirational. As far as you know, he owns the company. Well, I think it may be him and his wife. Him and his wife. there, dude. I mean, to me, that's inspirational. As far as you know, he owns the company. Well, I think it may be him and his wife. Him and his wife own the company. Yeah, but it's not like outside investors. It's not like they have any debt. That's pretty sweet. With 600 employees, 600,000 square foot facility,

that should be impressive to everybody. It's crazy. And just the way that they, to me, what I really like or what I think is so cool too is they took an industry that's, the marketing behind it has always kind of been this fitness mumbo jumbo and they've managed to one. Come out with movies. To one.

Yeah, yeah. Make it cool. And then like make like movies and things that aren't even like directly related to them, but like invest back into the sport and no one else is really doing that. Well, I asked him about that. I was like, this isn't making you money. index and like full sterker and that stuff it's like yeah i'm like that makes you no money but they're like this is what this is why we do it one we love the sport but two it does benefit us because if more people are into strength training more people

will buy rogue equipment and i don't think it's a stretch to say someone watched that and it was inspired and was like wow definitely it was really cool and maybe they just bought a t-shirt but somewhere down the line they're probably buying a bar definitely or at least aspiring to buy one definitely yeah and it's been on netflix yeah it's just made it's made it's helped everybody dude it's helped everybody that's where i always have a hard time when people like well rogue is just overpriced it's just titan make just go with titan it's like well but they did it first they did all the r&d they're yeah i don't see titan sponsoring strongman events oh yeah powerlifting meets yeah and you don't have to buy it dude if you don't like it don't buy it you you vote with your

dollar and there's always going to be a spot for both like i do like the titan exists yeah oh me too like yeah some for the consumer it's great it is but i think sometimes people just like to shit on rogue for being expensive yeah and not actually look at the bigger picture and what they're doing. Yeah, and it's also incredible quality. You don't get a Rogue product and are dissatisfied with it. If you get a Rogue product and you're dissatisfied with it, they're going to give you a new one. It's just how it is.

Tanner, we are at about 55 minutes here. Should we do the listeners? We have several segments, but we had uh the listeners this we have several segments but we are uh we had a lot of questions we wanted to talk to you about great yeah limiting our segment uh portion of the podcast to the our listeners favorite segment which is okay okay and you do have the honor of being the first person to participate in overrated underrated that i do feel special their name isn't tommy so i would love everybody to see the studio we're in, the seat I'm sitting in. I mean, you guys really went to the nines.

Give me a Pamplemousse LaCroix. You know, like you guys are just really, you know. Only the finest. That's right. This is incredible. And maybe this is controversial, but maybe the most important part of underrated overrated is the rules of underrated overrated.

Okay. You're going to want to listen here. Okay. Well, I listen to your podcast every time. Oh, of course. I already know.

I mean, everyone does. The rules do change. We assume everyone listens. Of course. Yeah. Okay. So the rules.

Underrated overrated consists of lightning round questions asked by myself to coop. Okay. The questions come from a variety of topics included, but not limited to pop culture, current events, food, and technology. Great.

They're also lifting-related topics sprinkled in. Okay. It's important to remember that the questions are, in fact, lightning round, but the answers are not necessarily. Coop passes druthers when it comes to the length of his answers. Okay. What are druthers, you ask? No, I don't.

Well, in that case, Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines druthers as a person's preferences in a matter. All that being said, there does have to be a final answer. This initial issue of overrated or underrated must be clearly resolved in the end. Okay, great. Those are your rules.

That's incredible. Who's this segment brought to us by? This is by PRX Performance. Yeah, PRX Performance. Hey, dude, it's awesome. They got a new sponsor. You're welcome, PRX Performance. Yeah, PRX Performance. Great, dude. It's awesome. They got a new sponsor. You're welcome, PRX.

We have one of the pulled-down racks. That's great stuff, dude. Your topics, you'll notice, are – there is normally a wider variety of topics, but by the end of it, you'll say, oh, I see what they did. They kind of catered those topics to me. Okay. You'll get a taste of that so overrated or underrated okay yeah and remember i the questions are lightning round but you have

your druthers on the length of the answer it could be one word yeah i'd advise not one word because it makes it not that fun of us no entertainment yeah it really goes down you can elaborate a little okay yeah but one somewhat serious also still kind of a joke point here would be sometimes our listeners maybe get confused that overrated or underrated just means do you like it? That's not the question. Okay. You have to think about how the public is rating this thing.

There's been polarizing topics like The Rock. Okay. The Rock. He's universally loved, but is he overrated or underrated? So there's things like that to consider here. It's not just do you like him? Is The Rock cool? Does he do cool stuff? So there's things like that to consider here. It's not just do you like him? Is the rock cool? Does he do cool stuff?

So I'm viewing this from everybody's perspective, not from just personal. It's a very objective. That takes a lot of intelligence. I think I brought it today. People have even called us out on not applying those rules correctly before. So remember that. People are going to be looking at this.

Oh, man, these comment sections are for me, dude. How you perform here will dictate the popularity of the entire great okay you are on the record there are no do-overs here oh okay all right just to raise the stakes and in 173 episodes we've never edited a second of content so whatever you say it goes on that's high quality stuff there guys yeah i'm bragging i'm so glad you told me that after the episode. Topic number one, overrated or underrated? Automatic garage door openers. Automatic garage door openers. So those are like buttons, right?

Versus opening it by hand. Versus opening. Oh, completely overrated. Without a doubt. Oh, okay. Well, it has to be from the public's opinion. So, yeah, they're definitely. It doesn't have to be from the public.

It doesn't is this for garage gym owners let's say for garage yeah okay you could spin i can bend the rules it's my druthers so yeah okay i like having druthers you gotta make a t-shirt that says druthers on it don't put it past yeah is that a dare no i i think i think they're overrated without a doubt yeah completely overrated because i open i open mine with my hand all the time you do yeah yeah i actually would prefer there not to be a garage door opener in there because then it takes away space yeah for overhead lifts and things like that so there is a company and this is a little offshoot there's a company called lift master that makes a garage door opener that sits on the side of your wall nice and it opens your

garage so it doesn't have the track so that would be ideal and that would not be overrated that would be underrated that's a pro tip for a garage very pro tip yeah yeah buy through my link no i'm just kidding but if you uh yeah if i would say that garage automatic garage door openers my final decision is they are certainly overrated tanner i don't know if you caught what happened there but um sometimes we also have a frequently asked questions section of the rules okay one of the frequently asked questions is are you allowed to make your own topics you already applied that okay is this a drink the answer to that frequently asked question is just so we're clear it is not suggested or preferable but under special circumstances it could be to petition to be allowed okay and uh this is a special circumstance. This is as special as it gets.

So you're already testing the limits of the game. You wrote these rules out very deep. For me being the only guest for a year, spend your time on the right things. Just so you know, can the rules change is another frequently asked question. Yeah, I wouldn't ask that. The rules are fluid.

They're a living, breathing organism. You can evolve with time. So if we have you back on next week when you're through again yes naturally naturally yeah we see each other every week yeah topic number two overrated or underrated okay talked about it a bit on the podcast but you have to view it through the overrated or underrated lens now titan fitness titan fitness oh this is a hard one that's that's what we do wow this is very difficult it's a very easy answer yep that line has got to be right oh man oh you know they're so they're so polarizing yeah there's so many camps dude it's awful dude it's like why are people so dogmatic about freaking steel

you know it's like who cares yeah, I deal with this every day, and it's like, relax, dude. Yeah. You put out a random post, and it doesn't have to do with Rogue or Titan Fitness, and we're like, oh, Titan Fitness products suck. But, like, if I didn't know any better, I'd say, like, it's affordable for me.

I don't care. Yeah, Q and Titan Fitness, 3-2-1. Like, the average Instagram viewer, I would say, like, their family grew up with the Rogue factory paying for grew up with the rogue factory exactly like their dad went and punched the time clock at the rogue and that's what put me through college and they're the best company oh it's so true other people like titan exploits children from i don't know where and they're the scum of the year yeah so i i think i think from the general view titan fitness would probably be a bit overrated. And the reason I would say that is because they're not the only ones creating affordable imported equipment. So there's a lot of people selling the exact same thing that Titan is.

But Titan's done a good job of making themselves mimic Rogue, which is why the lawsuit's going on. That's allowed them to basically sell off the backs of Rogue. So I think they're overrated in that you can go to Rep Fitness, Fringe Sport, you know, hundreds of other companies that offer similar products at similar prices. So, yeah, they're overrated. That's why we bring in the expert for these topics. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Overrated or underrated? Basement gyms. Oh, Brandon Campbell, dude. These are completely overrated, dude. Basement, yeah, it's like moldy, musty down there. We're in your basement right now. It stinks. You're super uncomfortable as it is.

Yeah. It's up in the garage. Yeah, exactly. I don't even know you guys. You brought me to your basement. You drove me over here by myself. You have no way of leaving. Who knows what's going to happen? Yeah, exactly. I don't even know you guys. You brought me to your basement. You drove me over here by myself. You have no way of leaving. Who knows what's going to happen?

Yeah, exactly. But, yeah, I think basement. Yeah, because the ceilings are short. You know, using chalk gets dirty. It's like, no, lifting is for salamanders. Yeah, salamanders. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know where salamanders came from, but I've never seen those in my basement. Yeah. You should get that looked at. But, uh, yeah, I think they're completely overrated. I think, I think a gym should be in your garage. Um, if you don't have a garage, you can create a home gym, but the basement, no, it's, it's not ideal at all. Yeah. It's not ideal at all. But if you have a basement gym, you're still considered a garage gym. You are. You are. There's a lot of controversy around that. That might be the hot take from the setup. Here's the thing. This is what I say.

Any home gym owner, any type is a garage gym owner. Garage gym is synonymous with training at home. What do you think about the people that throw it up like in their kitchen in their bedroom and stuff like that those people are those are dedicated dude yeah well his first one was in his kitchen dude who's the only lift uh girth brooks he hasn't like dude dude yeah evan rutledge yeah there you go yeah dude yeah i mean if that's what you're into, like, get it on, you know? Yeah.

I prefer to, you know, have sex in my bed, you know, and lift in the garage. Exactly, yeah. Yeah. And sometimes I mix them, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So just be aware. Why is there a little barbell in here? What the freak is going on?

Yeah. I like to have my favorite things in one place. So you did say like george costanza when he has the sandwich yeah yeah yeah i like to combine my two favorite passions in life that's right uh so you did settle on overrated for basement gyms yes yes brandon you can you can remember that that thing is overrated i cut this sound clip, so we'll pop that on Instagram. Great. Well, you know, you've noticed he has a garage gym now. He does.

And he keeps saying, I think I'm going to go back to the basement. Listen, we all get it, Brandon. You like the garage gym. You're here to stay. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, he is doing that now. Kind of a traitor.

Yeah, he really is. Yeah, he was all about the basement gym. Yeah. Funny what happens when you get a garage. Overrated or underrated? North Dakota. North Dakota. You're in South Dakota right now.

Yeah. In case you've forgotten. Okay. Are you going to ask me about South Dakota? We don't jump ahead. Okay. Okay. Well, North Dakota, I will say it stays really light.

It stays light out very late. And I don't know if that's because there's not much change in elevation because we're farther north the tilt of the earth is okay well i think the earth's flat so underrated overrated flat earth theory but no uh um uh north dakota this is what i'll say i was not expecting to surf in north dakota They texted me. They're like, hey, dude, prepare to shred some waves. I'm like, what are these idiots? I started looking. I was like, there's no waves, no beach. So we get out on the wake boat, and it's like, okay, this is surfing,

but it's not surfing. This is something different. This is wake skating or something. But North Dakota, I'd say it's underrated. Yeah, I'd say it's underrated. It's pretty, dude, and there's not a lot of people here. That's kind of nice. It is a little isolated. Yeah, which is kind of nice, you know? Yeah, yeah. So ask me about South Dakota.

No, we're going to save that for another day. Okay, great. Yeah, because you know what's coming with that one. I stage the questions in a way that I don't ever have to hear any answers that I don't want to hear. That's great. Yeah, I did that with my wife. This is a bonus topic. Typically, there's only four. I was going to say.

Wow, this is something I feel special. This is one save for actually next week, but it's on my list, and I just want to give you the opportunity on a bonus topic. Great. Yeah, I'd like to hear myself talk. Underrated or overrated? Roombas. Roombas. So just Roombas particularly, like the brand? No. topic great yeah i'd like to hear myself talk underrated or overrated room buzz room buzz so

just room buzz particularly like the brand or are you expanding it yeah i just don't know the other brands yeah they're completely underrated yeah completely underrated we've got one at my house like self this is why they're underrated because i got it for my wife and she always complained about vacuuming and she doesn't complain about it anymore. So it's completely underrated in that I never have to hear a complaint about vacuuming. So that's why it's completely worth it. Now that we have a house that a Roomba would work in, we have had this discussion multiple times

in three weeks already that we need to get one. We haven't done it yet. What do they cost? A few hundred dollars or a few hundred dollars? Yeah, a couple hundred bucks. You can get a good one. I got a good one. I researched it. I thought it was good. A couple hundred bucks. And it works a good one. Like, you know, I got a good one. I, I mean, I researched it.

I thought it was good. A couple hundred bucks. Yeah. And it works. There's no problems. Could it work in a garage gym? Like to get the dust bunny. That's a great point.

This is, this is a pro tip for everybody out there. If you're a garage gym, the most important piece of equipment in your garage gym is your leaf blower. If you have a garage gym and you don't have a leaf blower, you're amateur. If I walk into a garage gym and there's no leaf blower, I'm like, this person just started. Do you have a bonus review here have a leaf blower you're amateur if i walk in a garage gym there's no leaf blower i'm like this person just started you have a bonus review here a leaf blower recommendation

actually i do ego ego makes electric or ego electric yeah you don't want to be doing any cords you don't want to get you're not you know you don't get a backpack blower all right get the steel backpack no you just get the quiet ego makes one it's like 150 bucks battery lasts a long time it's got like 550 cfm um which is just like how much power it's pushing out um what about like a big shot back for suction the alternative yeah yeah those take up so much space so you know you want to suck and you want to blow you want to do both you know it's important i've always been told it's important to do both in the garage gym so you know you get to the corners you suck you get in the middle you blow so yeah a little pro tip for you you didn't think you didn't think you'd get that from coop

blowing tips by that's right this got off topic more than i thought it would i'll make sure my pastor doesn't listen to this yeah that does wrap up overrated underrated i i would say you did a bang up job thank you be proud of your proud of yourself the real test will be how the uh yeah you'll have to follow along it'll be the following wednesday we'll see how the people okay thank you and how the people uh decided in comparison to what you know something you ought to do is you ought to ask your guest if the over underrated segment is over underrated no you don't you remember about that part i tell you the staging of the question so i can't ever hear anything i don't want to hear that's a great point that's a great point like don't we don't set ourselves up for opportunities

to to look yeah that'd be awful yeah we handle that well enough on our own we don't like someone else okay yeah great when it comes to ourselves we like the pats on the back even if they're not due uh usually the end of overrated underrated wraps up the podcast but i would give you the opportunity first is there anything that uh you want to talk about that you didn't get the opportunity to any any you know if we were a lifter i'd ask you any sponsors but is there any companies in particular that you want to talk about or anything like that uh i mean i'll shout out prx performance the ones who paid for this trip they sponsored it i'm really thankful for that um yeah so this wouldn't have happened without them so thank you guys i had a lot of fun in fargo never thought i'd see north dakota certainly didn't think i'd see south dakota but here i am in the massonomics basement this is

next level um but yeah, thank you guys. And you know, you can find us in all the normal places, garage gym reviews or garage gym built. It'll be changing eventually. And that's about it. Yeah. Oh, by the way, I do lift. So that's it.

We didn't really talk about your knowledge. Yeah, you didn't ask me. That's kind of hurtful, actually, dude. Well, you have so many things you do that I really personally want to know about, like even besides that. We're to the point in the lifting world where we don't even care about lifting anymore. Would you want to throw out a couple of quick numbers at all?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I'm pretty proud of my lifts. So I've got a 465 squat, and these are all at around 181. Would that be in – do you wear knee sleeves? No, no, that's just belt. Yeah, that's just belt. Wow. Yeah, I wear an SBD belt, so that thing's pretty thick. So, you know, you no no that's just belt yeah that's just belt yeah yeah i wear an sbd belt so that thing's pretty thick so you know you could count that as something but yeah so i

i'm completely raw i've got a um let's think here a 215 overhead press nice um a 335 bench and a 518 deadlift. Awesome. 315 clean and jerk. You're kind of getting into our things we don't know about. Yeah, well, I'm bragging here. I'm bragging here. Yeah, let me finish.

You had your time. I'm just kidding. Run a 5K and sub 20. So I like lifting. I love lifting. For whatever reason, I don't have the genetic potential to put on muscle. My dad was the same way. My dad was a power lifter. He held the Missouri state squat record and he still didn't look like he lifted. So it's like, dude, I don't get it. Like, I'd love some, if any of you guys, you know, you got tips

sent in my way, I'd love to get bigger biceps or something. Um, but yeah, I love training. Would you ever do a, would you ever do a power love training. Would you ever do a powerlifting meet? Would you ever do a cross... I've done CrossFit competitions. I've done quite a few CrossFit competitions. I'd like to do a powerlifting meet. I think it'd be really fun. I would never call myself a powerlifter.

I've never done a meet. But it would be fun to do it. Oh, I'd really like to do it. You're always shocked how good you actually improve. Because there's so much adrenaline. You just have that to do it. Yeah. I was shocked. Like how good you actually improve. Yeah. Cause there's so much adrenaline. There's so much. Ah, just have that to train for that. Yeah.

You're, you're, you're pumped about that. I've the best gains I've ever had in my life. We're leading up to. Yeah. The only issue is powerlifting meets look so boring. You know,

I went to him a lot when I was younger. You just sit around. I want to say that it's like, it depends on the meat, but yeah, the tip there is it depends on the meat. And also if you can go with, go with the crew. Okay. We've always is it depends on the meat. And also if you can go with a crew.

We've always had the luxury of going with like eight guys. That's cool. And so you can just shoot the shit, you know, when you're not lifted. Okay. Yeah, that would be fun. Yeah. Yeah. So I may have to make that happen. Hey, you pay my way, Mastinomic sponsor trip.

Let's do it. Your next trip up here will be the, I don't know what it is. I guess we're going to have you demo some t-shirts when you come. That'd be incredible. I could review everything you've got, baby. Seems to be a nice cotton poly blend. Yeah, see through it. Somewhere in the Far East.

Yeah. No, that does wrap us up, I think. So we appreciate you taking the time to come here, though. This was really fun. Yeah. We don't get guests in the base i guess we're set for another year on guests we'll start our intense vetting process right now viewers uh prepare strap in for another year just these two well well thank you for having me on seriously this is fun you guys are cool guys yeah right on uh otherwise you guys know the drill as far as uh subscribing on youtube

um please leave a comment on itunes okay yes rating rating review on itunes those five star reviews on apple podcast you can give them one star too if, if you want. Actually, we'd like to know, is the podcast overrated or underrated? Based upon the stars you give. Please don't. Your druthers don't extend that far. Okay, okay. This will be the first edited podcast. That will be edited out.

Go to the store. You can buy all the shirts, banners, flags, hats, flex flasks, koozies, stickers. You name it, it's there there we're pretty well in stock right now besides that it's our instagram handle so what is your instagram handle specific garage gym reviews and at tomahawk underscore d and you can follow the fish's official massonomics page at massonomics we'll catch you next time for episode 174 see ya see ya peace See ya. Peace. From your friends at Masanamics Studio, home of the world's strongest podcasts, stay strong.