Lifemaxx strength accessories

Why choose Lifemaxx strength accessories?

Most brands in this category cover one corner: either the cable handles for your strength station, or the loose gear for the free weight floor. Lifemaxx does both, and with sixty-two items it is also the widest range you will find here. If you do pushdowns on the cable today and heavy squats with a barbell tomorrow, your handle, your rope, your belt and your chalk all come from the same line. That sounds like a detail, but in practice it saves you two orders, two deliveries and two rounds of working out what actually fits.

The second reason lies in how the handles are built up. For the pieces you grab most often, the rowing handle and the tricep bar first among them, three versions sit side by side. At the bottom the standard version with a PU grip: plain steel with a grip where your hand lands, sharply priced. Above that the ergo line, with a grip moulded to the shape of your hand so it shifts less during high repetitions. And at the top the Black Series, with a heavier finish and a firmer grip, meant for handles that get pulled on daily. You therefore decide per handle how much you spend, instead of the brand deciding for you.

Beyond that, the same dividing line applies here as everywhere in this category, and it pays to know it. Loose handles, bars and ropes are universal: they clip onto the cable of a strength station, a cable crossover or a lat pulley with an eye or a snap hook, no matter which brand is on that machine. Weight stacks, leg press and curl attachments and replacement cables are not: you buy those per machine series from the manufacturer of your own machine. Also take a look at the other fitness equipment from Lifemaxx.

The Lifemaxx strength accessories range

Sixty-two items sounds unmanageable, but they fall into six recognisable groups. This is how the range is put together.

• Cable handles: rowing handles for rows and close grip pulldowns, available with a PU grip, in an ergo version, as a wide variant with a foam grip and in the Black Series. Alongside those, separate cable handles, aluminium strap handles for anyone who prefers pulling on a soft loop, and revolving handles that turn with your wrists and spare your wrist and elbow tendons.
• Bars: straight tricep bars, a V-bar, angled bars for triceps and biceps and a lat bar. Here too the series runs from PU grip through the ergo line to the Black Series, so you can equip the same exercise in three price brackets.
• Tricep ropes: two lengths, thirty-seven and seventy centimetres. The short one keeps your hands close together and steers tightly, the long one gives you far more room at the end of the pushdown to rotate your hands apart.
• Belts and straps: an ankle strap for leg work on the low pulley, a hanging ab strap that lets you hang from a pull-up bar for your abs, a lifting belt that supports your torso on heavy squats and deadlifts, and a belt squat belt that hangs the weight from your hips instead.
• Functional and small gear: core sliders, core trainer handles, a double wallball target for the wall, gym chalk by the box, separate snap hooks and collars for thirty millimetre bars. This is exactly the part that is missing from brands that only serve the cable.
• Storage: a gun rack that holds six barbell bars upright side by side. A bar leaning against the wall or lying on the floor gets damaged, and you reach for it less readily too.

Which Lifemaxx strength accessories suit you?

What you need depends on where you train and how often you pick up the same piece.

You train on the cable and with free weights: this is the brand that lets you settle both in one order. You complete your strength station with a lat bar, a rowing handle and a rope, and add chalk, a lifting belt and a set of sliders straight away.

You reach for the same handle every session: then step up to the ergo line or the Black Series. A grip moulded to your hand shifts less during high repetitions, and you notice that in your hands long before you notice it in your back.

You want to push down heavier: add a bar next to your rope. A straight or angled bar keeps your hands at a fixed distance and carries heavy sets better, while the rope gives you more freedom at the end of the movement.

You squat and deadlift with real weight: the lifting belt does the most for you here. It gives your abs something to push against, so your torso collapses less on your heaviest sets. Note that this is a different thing from a belt that carries weight.

You train your core without a machine: core sliders and a hanging ab strap together make a complete abdominal session. The sliders work on any smooth floor or mat, and the strap hangs from the pull-up bar of your power rack.

You throw wallballs against the wall: a double target gives you two fixed heights to aim at. That keeps your throw consistent and saves your wall from a pattern of marks.

What to look out for when buying Lifemaxx strength accessories

Which of the three levels you need

Standard, ergo or Black Series: the difference is in the grip and the finish, not in the fit. All three hang from the same snap hook. The standard version with a PU grip is the logical choice for a handle you use once a week. The ergo line has a moulded grip that keeps your hand in place and pays for itself during high repetitions. The Black Series is finished more heavily and meant for pieces that pass through several pairs of hands daily, so choose per item rather than per order.

Cable side or floor side

This brand serves two worlds and they ask for different things. Everything that hangs from the cable needs an eye or a hook and is otherwise universal, so all you have to check is how your own cable ends. Everything that happens on the floor, from sliders to targets to belts, has nothing to do with your machine but everything to do with your flooring, your wall and your barbell. Work out where you spend most of your time before you split your budget.

The length of your tricep rope

Thirty-seven centimetres is the common size and works perfectly well for pushdowns. Seventy centimetres gives you much more play at the end of the movement, which is pleasant if you have long arms or if you also want to use the rope for face pulls and overhead extensions. The long rope does need more clear height under your pulley. If you are in doubt and mostly do pushdowns, take the short one.

A belt that supports or a belt that carries weight

Two belts in this line look similar and do something completely different. The lifting belt goes around your waist and supports your torso on heavy squats and deadlifts; nothing hangs from it. The belt squat belt hangs the weight from your hips instead, so your legs get loaded without anything pressing on your shoulders or your spine. A dip belt, which hangs weight from your waist for dips and pull-ups, is a third thing again. Buy on what you want to do, not on what the belt looks like.

Collars are size specific, handles are not

The collars in this line belong to thirty millimetre bars, the size you know from group classes; they will not go onto a fifty millimetre olympic bar. The separate snap hook is the opposite case and genuinely universal: it solves the problem when your cable ends in a bare loop without a hook, or when the hook that was on it has worn out. Feel free to add a spare, because the snap hook is the part that wears first.

Our advice: start on the side where you stand most often. If you train mainly on the cable, put four pieces in place first, a lat bar, a rowing handle, a rope and an ankle strap, and choose your level per handle within that. If you train mainly with free weights, a lifting belt, a box of chalk and a set of sliders will do the most for you straight away. After that, give everything a fixed place on the wall or in a rack from the storage systems, because handles that end up on the floor lose their snap hook first.

Who are Lifemaxx strength accessories suitable for?

• The home trainer with a mixed set-up: you have a strength station as well as a rack of barbell bars. One line that serves both saves you orders and separate deliveries.
• Anyone with a machine from another brand: your cable ends in an ordinary snap hook, and then everything from the cable side simply fits. You do not have to look up a part number from your own machine brand.
• The buyer who wants to choose per handle: you want your lat bar in the cheapest version and your rowing handle in the dearest, because you pick that one up four times a week. Three levels side by side make that possible.
• Small studios and personal trainers: your handles pass through many different hands and have to last years. The Black Series is the version for that, and you fill in the rest more cheaply.
• Anyone training functionally: sliders, wallball targets, core trainer handles and chalk belong to a completely different kind of training than cable work, yet they come from the same house here.
• Anyone who wants to clear the floor: barbell bars lying around get damaged and get in the way. A gun rack for six bars solves that in one move.

Less suitable if you are looking for a part that is fixed to the frame of your machine. An extra weight stack, a leg press or curl attachment, a replacement cable or a pulley wheel is genuinely brand specific and is ordered by series and year of manufacture from the maker of your own machine. And if you deliberately want one handle in the highest version and nothing else, the breadth here is more than you need; it only pays off once you want to equip more than one corner of your training.

Need help choosing?

Would you like to buy Lifemaxx strength accessories but are you not quite sure which handle, which attachment or which upgrade fits your machine? We are happy to help. You can reach our fitness specialists by phone on +31 85 773 00 57, send an email or visit our fitness store in Volkel, the Netherlands.

Frequently asked questions about Lifemaxx strength accessories

What is the difference between the standard version, the ergo line and the Black Series?

The difference lies in the grip and the finish, not in the dimensions or the attachment. The standard version has a PU grip and simply does its job. The ergo line has a grip moulded to the shape of your hand, so it shifts less during high repetitions and you have to squeeze less hard. The Black Series has the heaviest finish and is meant for handles used daily or by several people. All three fit the same cable system, so you can mix them as you please.

Do these cable handles fit my strength station from another brand?

Yes, in almost every case. Cable accessories hang from the cable on a snap hook or carabiner, and the handles, bars and ropes in this line have an eye or a hook for exactly that. It makes no difference whether another brand is on your strength station, cable crossover or lat pulley. Only if your cable ends in a bare loop do you need a separate snap hook, and that is in the range as well.

Is a lifting belt the same as a dip belt?

No, and this confusion often leads to the wrong order. A lifting belt sits tightly around your waist and supports your torso on heavy squats and deadlifts; no weight hangs from it. A dip belt has a chain or strap from which you hang plates, so you can do dips and pull-ups with extra load. This line carries the lifting belt plus a belt squat belt, where the weight hangs from your hips for leg work. So decide first whether you want support or extra load.

Which tricep rope should I choose, thirty-seven or seventy centimetres?

For ordinary pushdowns the short version is enough, and it also steers more tightly because your hands stay close together. The long version gives far more play at the end of the movement to rotate your hands apart, which produces a fuller contraction in your triceps and works better if you have long arms. The long rope is also more versatile: face pulls and overhead extensions go better with it. Do bear in mind that you need a little more clear height under your pulley.

What is the difference between Lifemaxx and Crossmaxx?

Crossmaxx is the line within this brand aimed at functional training and the free weight floor. The belts, the core trainer handles and the wallball target sit under it, gear you use without a cable machine. The classic cable handles, bars and ropes carry the brand name itself. For you as a buyer it changes nothing about ordering or delivery, it is one range; it only tells you what kind of training an item is intended for.