Essential Training Tools Over Supplements
When it comes to training, I believe in keeping things simple. The only tools you truly need are your body, your effort, and the equipment available at the studio. No unnecessary frills, no magic pills—just hard work and smart training.
The Truth About Supplements
For most people, an armada of supplements with outrageous price tags is not only unnecessary but also a burden on your budget. If someone is aggressively trying to sell you a supplement, chances are you don’t need it. This is especially true in the fitness industry, where flashy marketing often overshadows real results.
Spending hundreds of dollars monthly on isolated peptide powders, collagen powders, fat burners, turkesterone, and the latest “game-changing” formulas won’t make up for inconsistent training, poor nutrition, or lack of progressive overload.
Unless you’re a high-level athlete, already doing 99.5% of the fundamentals right, supplements won’t be the missing piece of your puzzle.
If you’re wanting to get the best out of yourself you will be far better served investing some of your hard earned in quality coaching—it will do more for your progress than any supplement ever could.
The Training Tools That Actually Matter
While I’m skeptical of most supplements, there are three key tools that will immediately enhance your training: squat angles, weight belts and lifting straps.
What do these tools have in common? They increase training intensity, one of the most critical drivers of progress in both strength and muscle growth. The body adapts to intensity—if it never increases, neither will your results.
1. Squat Angles: Unlocking Full Range of Motion
A squat angle refers to any type of wedge placed under your heels to increase your depth in a squat. More depth = greater range of motion, which is a huge factor in increasing intensity.
A 60kg squat with partial depth is vastly different from a 60kg squat with full depth. If you struggle to hit full range due to ankle mobility limitations, a squat wedge can be a game-changer.
What counts as a squat angle?
Lifting shoes, squat bricks, or even a simple weight plate under your heels.
View this post on Instagram
2. Weight Belts: More Stability, More Strength
A weight belt helps you maintain better intra-abdominal pressure, which enhances stability in key lifts like squats and deadlifts. With greater stability, you can push for those extra reps, sets, or heavier loads—all of which drive muscle and strength adaptations.
But here’s the kicker—if you don’t already know how to brace properly without a belt, wearing one won’t do much for you. Before using a belt, master ‘The Brace’—Luke’s put together a great video on this recently: Watch Here
He followed up this one with a video on how to best use a weightlifting belt too, put this together and you’ll be golden! Watch Here.
3. Lifting Straps: Stop Letting Grip Strength Hold You Back
In most pulling exercises, grip strength is the first thing to give out. That’s not a weakness—it’s just a reality of physics. Gym equipment isn’t one-size-fits-all, and if you have smaller hands, you’ll always be limited by your grip before your back muscles fatigue.
A simple $30 pair of lifting straps can instantly solve this issue. That’s about a third of the price of a tub of OxyShred, and unlike OxyShred, straps will actually improve your training.
Use them on deadlifts, rows, pull-ups, and any other pull movement where grip failure holds you back. You’ll see and feel the difference immediately.
Luke hasn’t put together a video on this one just yet so I’ll put him to work for next week. 🙂
The Bottom Line: Train Smarter, Not Just Harder
I firmly believe that training constraints (like belts, squat angles, and straps) improve performance far more than any supplement ever will. Before jumping on the supplement hype train, ask yourself—can I get the same benefit from real food?
I would like to take a moment to address the supplements protein powder and creatine. Protein powder and creatine DO work! These are two of the mostly widely researched and scientifically back supplements out there. There are particular amino acids that our body can’t produce, and must be ingested through diet. But this is a topic for another time, and another email… So stay tuned!
Mostly importantly, if you want to train with the best tools, we’ve got you covered.
RevoPT has weight belts, squat angles, and lifting straps readily available. More importantly, we have university-educated coaches ready to help you maximise your results and utilise these tools effectively.