Lever Arms Rack Attachment

There are so many movements lever arms can do, I can see why they are popular. I used to have a huge Body Solid leverage gym and wanted to be able to replicate some of those movements. I'm using these with Bells' All-in-One Trainer with both weight plates and sometimes just connected to the FT pulleys when that works out better. I've modded mine by removing the rack attachment piece and using the piece from Bells' Seal Row Pad Rack Attachment. That did mean I ended up buying three Seal Row Pads, one for its intended use and two for the rack attachment part, but I wanted the ability to set them up in pre-loaded positions. I 3D printed some TPU "donuts" that the side pin goes through (can't see the TPU part in the photo) to keep the lever arms from being metal-on-metal with the pins. It also gives it a slight cushion.

I mostly use these for shoulder press and more upright/inclined press movements, but there are quite a few different things that they do well.

I’ll start by saying these are probably the best lever arms for the price because they seem similar to the others on the market that are quite a bit more expensive. My only complaint is that it seems like a lot of torque is placed on them because the weight is loaded on one side of the lever arm and the handle is on the other side which causes a twisting force when the handle is pressed or pulled. So it’s a good thing there is a lifetime warranty. They already lean out of alignment when loaded which has caused them to be scratched up by the end of my first session and they appear to be causing a lot of wear and tear to my rack already. That coupled with the twisting force has me worried how long they will last. I feel like having a weight peg on the front side instead of the lever arm instead of out to the side would help this. Despite all this they are pretty easy to adjust and I’ve been able to do a ton of exercises with them.

These things add so much versatility to workouts. I got some 4 foot chains to add to these which are a game-changer and add way more functionality to these since you are able to change the starting position. I do think that Bells should add something like this as well as their grip lock collars out of the box because the specialty size clamps aren't the easiest to find and adding a collar to these are an absolute necessity to use these with any real weight on them. (I'm still waiting on the grip locks to come in stock before I get them.)

The only thing that makes me subtract a star is the handles. I didn't know how much I would prefer to have that neutral grip in the middle similar to REP/Rogue models. The curvature of these are just slightly too narrow for my hands to use them in the neutral grip super effectively. There was also a little side to side play that I fixed with some FATCAP grip tape. All in all though, the lever arms do everything I would want them to do and are the cheapest I know of on the market. If you have one of their racks, don't hesitate on this one.