Joe Gray
Vintage Home Gym Archive - Entry No 2
Joe Gray has been lifting in his garage in Rocklin, California since 2013. He founded the Garage Gym Competition and moderates the Reddit r/HomeGym. Joe goes by Gray Matter Lifting on Instagram and has written extensively on both his own blog as well as other sites. His home gym is called the Gray Matter Lab.
How long have you been collecting/using vintage weights?
My first pairs of anything vintage would have been some Skinny Script plates alongside some Unmarked Ivankos. Those were in ~2015 or so. My current set came into my life in early 2016, and was finished and painted in May of 2016.
Why do you use vintage weights? Why not buy everything new?
I’m a BIG fan of the used market. We buy a lot of stuff used in an effort to reduce our footprint and save some cash. Gym equipment was the first thing I did this way, but it has grown over the years. The vintage weights kind of started in that vein, and then as I spent more time learning about gym equipment, learned more about vintage equipment, I found an interest in owning plates specifically that would be different, unique, and just badass compared to a commodity item bought new. No shame in new plates, just wasn’t my goal.
You can invite one strength sport related person and/or athlete to lift with you in your home gym for a day. Who's stopping by?
John Meadows. I’ve never had a fascination with celebrities, autographs, or any “famous” people. If I saw a celebrity walking down the street at most I’d point and say “there he goes” and move on. But John was a very influential dude in my lifting. I wrote an article a few years back about the 5 people who influenced my diet/nutrition and 5 people who influenced my lifting. The people who made up the foundation of what I know and understand. John was on BOTH lists. Walking encyclopedia of info, and he still had the absolute humble ability to include his son’s Yo-yo tricks in his YouTube videos. Just a dude I feel like would have had a blast in my garage lifting like an animal, shared a steak afterwards, and then played at the park with my daughter. After I published that article, he actually followed me on Instagram and commented on it. He is the only person I didn’t know personally, that I’ve ever written a true RIP statement about. Miss that dude.
What are the most used vintage weights in your home gym?
My American Olympian Barbell plates… my daily drivers.
What is your most frequent method for finding and buying vintage weights?
Marketplace is the easy one. For vintage I think you have to have an eye. Can you read the font on the plates when they are angled, in poor light, and dirty? Are you willing to ask for follow up pictures of an end cap?
Using search terms like gym weights, barbel, and other misspellings can work, especially if you are trying to track down something random that a non-lifter is listing. I snagged a SCHMIDT and Milled York 45 from a little person who had them listed as Dumbels.
Do you have any advice for someone interested in starting to find and buy vintage weights?
Educate yourself. I’ve helped friends find full Paramount plate sets, Kilogram DD York’s, and other odds and ends over the years because I knew what was unique and what wasn’t. Not saying I’m perfect or have all the answers, but I know enough to know I should look deeper.
How did you find your American Barbell set?
I’d been putting together a matching set of Ivankos for a little bit as I figured that was the best I was going to do. Again, my goal was a full set where every plate in my gym was the same. California doesn’t have the same plethora of York and other options that many towards the East have, so Ivanko was my target. My wife took a road trip down to her parents in Southern California to help take care of her mom after a surgery. I was messing around on Craigslist and randomly saw an ad down there that had one picture of some cellophane wrapped plates stacked in a pallet. The ad was $.65/lb and they said they had a few thousand plates. I knew what they were when I saw them, Vintage California made plates. Extra cool cause they were made in Northern California in the 80s… just like me! I mentioned it to my wife, and she said “if you want them, I’ll get them”. On the night before she left, her and her brother went to the storage facility and bought the plates. They dug through them to find as many matching as possible, and came away with the numbers I wanted. The original buy for me was 10x45s, 5x25s, 8x10s, and 10x5s. This filled up my Maxicam commercial weight tree and made me VERY happy. I originally bought a full set of pairs for a buddy to ship to, but that fell through after sending him the 25s, 10s, and 5s. So, I ended up with an extra pair of 45s and a pair of 35s to go with my set.
She drove them all the way back from Southern California for me. I spent months cleaning them up, painting them, and lettering them. They were a true labor of love from the beginning to the end. Still my favorite piece in the entire gym, because not only do I have a set of REALLY cool vintage plates that are hand painted and custom to ME. They come with a backstory proving just how much my wife loves me.
With the number of Memes floating around about husbands having to hide their newest barbell purchase from their wife… My wife bought over 800lbs of dirty plates, put them in her new car, drove them over 400 miles, and helped me unload them.
I have a few extra plates, some hundos, some Micro Gainz I bought new, some 1.25 and 2.5 Ivanko leftovers, and a few bumpers… But these are my 99% plates, every day, every set, every workout. People know my plates on the internet before they know me, and considering all of the home gym places I’ve been on the internet, that is saying something. I’ll be buried with these plates. And my dude at Glucks Gym claims he’ll be waiting lol
Why do you like them?
If someone is just starting their home gym, what items do you think should be purchased used versus new?
If possible? Everything! My GGC sponsors won’t like that answer, but most gym equipment doesn’t have an expiration point. There’s no electronics to go bad. There’s very little to be wrong with it. So, buying used is a pretty damn solid option if you can snag things for a fair price.
Lifting weights, coaching soccer, cooking, gardening…
Lifting weights, coaching soccer, cooking, gardening…
Do you have any other hobbies?
Do you have anything you're currently in search of? A dream find?
Not vintage. If something cool popped up around the corner I’d grab it, but I might hold onto it long enough to take a pic and send it to someone who will enjoy it more than I do.
Do you ever get tempted to buy more vintage weights? If so, what?
I’ve had opportunities to buy everything from Paramounts to Chrome Ivankos. Tempted is a good word, but nothing scratched the itch. I don’t like driving, and I have no room for additional plates. So, the idea of buying anything more doesn’t intrigue me. I already have exactly what I want. I’m more of an admirer than a collector at this point.
How many Garage Gym Competition competitors use vintage weights?
Ooh, I don’t know. We’ve never asked that question before. I know we have a few people with some awesome custom Ivankos, yourself, me, and I believe Efren technically kind of entered in the spring lol. I’ll have to make an effort to sort through them in the fall and see, or just ask the question lol.
Do it. So many people have the “I’ll try it next time” thought process. What I’ve been trying to convey with my athlete spotlights and stories is the idea that no matter where you are today, I can almost promise you that getting involved in some form of competition will light a fire under you. You’ll be more consistent, you’ll train harder, you’ll pay attention to your food, your sleep, your supplements. You’ll have a target to work towards twice a year, and with the MiniGGCs like the grip comp you sponsored, you’ll have some creative new ways to lift and have some fun.
So, load the bar up, go for it, and then come back in six months even better.
Do you have any advice for someone entering the Garage Gym Competition for the first time?
Is there anything else you'd like to say/include for the readers?
Vintage stuff is awesome. Most of the vintage guys get lost in the idea of “value” in plates, bars, and odds and ends. Which is totally cool, that just wasn’t ever my goal. I wanted a full set of vintage plates that meant something to me. They could be worth 6 cents, but these things are worth an unlimited amount TO ME. So, the moral here is, get into vintage equipment for whatever reason YOU want to. Whether it is to own every plate known to man, the most expensive collection ever, or just some rad plates that have stood the test of time. You do you.
See a video tour of the Gray Matter Lab here: