Bells of Steel DreadMill Review HGC After Hours

In this last episode (until next year!) of After Hours at Home Gym Con, I review the Bells of Steel Dreadmill. I waited this long to post this review as something important has changed with this unit. Make sure to watch until the end of the video to see what it is!
Bells of Steel DreadMill gymcrafter.com/recommends/bos...
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[@GymCrafter]

A lot of viewers have mentioned the SledTred by the Tib Bar Guy. It's a LOT less expensive and outside of having the arms for carries looks to be a fairly good option for treadmill based sled simulation. If anyone else has this, please let me know what you think! I'd love to spend $700 and not over $2k if possible! And if you want to go the other direction price wise, someone pointed out that the HIITmill X by StairMaster came out before the DreadMill. So if you've got an extra $6300 buck burning a hole in your pocket, there ya go! (Honestly, it looks pretty awesome and extremely well built. Maybe not for a garage gym, but I could see this getting a lot of action in a commercial setting)

[@nationaalherstel7444]

Would be great to see a side to side comparisson to the HIITmill-X by stairmaster. I believe they were the first to come up with a famer carry treadmill.

[@GymCrafter]

Wow! $6300! So I might actually get a chance to review this. I'm working on something with a major manufacturer right now and they have a sister company that owns a huge showroom in my area. They carry this item. I've been working with them to maybe be able to access their showroom after hours so I can review stuff I don't have room for and can't afford to buy (I'm not a big enough channel to get it all for free.... yet😎😂). I'll make sure and mention to them I'd like to review that if I can. Thanks for bringing it up!

[@Oli-Ravioli]

BOS is somewhat equivalent to Titan. It's a company in expansion. They still have a lot of issues with some products but hopefully they will achieve a better quality standard within the next two years. Nice review. By the way, the unit might look small because you sir are a giant!

[@GymCrafter]

Thanks, I always forget how big I am until I see someone else the same height.😂 I agree, they remind me of Titan a bit, but at least they are designing their own stuff and not ripping other people off like titan did in the early days.

[@carps_gym]

Interesting piece

[@GymCrafter]

Agree. It's on my short list for a way to do sled work inside (between the hot and humid summer and ice cold winter, I'd rather do them every day inside), but I don't think it will win. Right now I'm looking at the Xebex SledTrac5000 because of the handle design and higher levels of resistance. I can always just grab some dumbbells and don't need the attached arms.

[@bobbyhunt3009]

Tim, I have to ask, are you really serious about spending $2,350 to your door for an indoor sled machine. I can see you trying it if they send it free but to actually spend that kind of money for that piece, I don't see it. If you do buy it or have thought about buying it then I've been wrong by thinking you are an up and coming reviewer, you are wealthy and this channel is just for fun.

[@GymCrafter]

Ha! I'm pretty much the opposite of wealthy, I just prioritize certain things in my life and health/fitness is towards the top of the list. As far as that price goes, think about this... I have a $1300 treadmill and a $900 Torque sled that I can only use maybe 8 months out of the year. For the same price, I get both in a smaller footprint and can use it all year round. For me, that's a no brainer. I just sold my treadmill yesterday and will be selling the Torque soon specifically to put towards a combo sled/treadmill. I'm leaning towards the Xebex SledTrac 5000, but am not 100% sure yet. The thing I like about the DreadMill is that it's not the safest to carry heavy dumbbells on a treadmill. With those arms, it's much more stable and safer to do carries. I don't like how far out the handles are, but I think I have a workaround. GymCrafter started out and will always be what I buy for my gym with my money. If I can get something sent to me at a discount or no charge, I'll for sure go for that, but not at the expense of not having what I want in my gym. One of the reasons I expanded the gym was to create a space that is just for me to train with the gear I want. The other, bigger part of the gym is for reviewing other stuff. I don't ever want to shortcut my own training because it is fun for me. Expensive, yes, but also fun! Now, if this was 20 years ago, I wouldn't be looking at this at all. I trained completely differently back then. But in my 50's I find myself gravitating towards different modalities because they work, and work really well. Seeing them implemented with clients and watching them get results they didn't think they could is further proof of concept. I followed Jason Feruggia a long time ago and he was programming sled work 20 years ago. It was one part of his programming I always scoffed at and skipped. Looking back, I should have listened. That guy is a legend and deservedly so.

[@bobbyhunt3009]

Sled work is Great for athletes, guys who need to hit a ball harder or farther, guys who need to improve their football tackling or blocking ability or for a guy who needs to be able to play at his highest level for the whole game. I'm not saying it isn't important for superior fitness, it's just not important for muscle size and individual muscle strength. I said in one of my comments that sled work is useless for powerlifting. What I meant to say was it's useless for individual muscle strength. Sled work helps powerlifters and brings up overall strength. Farmers Carrie's I still say hurt you more than they help you and planks are for 1 and 2 year olds who are trying to walk. Don't waste your time with planks Sled work is Great even for older people for overall strength, farmers Carrie's are too dangerous, and planks are a Joke.

[@GymCrafter]

@@bobbyhunt3009 disagree again. heavy sled work directly contributes to improvement in both squats and deadlifts. No, not important for body building, but every other aspect of strength gain and hypertrophy benefit from sled work. Not to mention knee health. Backward sled work is a miracle for knee pain. Reducing knee pain means you can squat and deadlift more. And thus gain more strength and muscle.

[@123.MikeCheck]

The Dreadmill… I love the name; don’t love the price 🤙🏻

[@GymCrafter]

Yeah, if you aren't gonna use those arms for a bunch of stuff, it's a bit overpriced for the tread alone.

[@TheGhu123]

it does look interesting but I already have a treadmill hard to justify another oe. Also I only use the treadmill for incline rucking. Not sure how simulated pushing on a treadmill compares to a sled.

[@GymCrafter]

It's not quite the same, but it's close enough. I love doing it backward and it was really good for that. I don't think anyone should buy this unless they plan on using the arms for a bunch of other movements. Without that, it's kind of expensive for a manual tread.

[@TheGhu123]

@@GymCrafter Agree. Not sure how safe to do heavy farmer carry on a treadmill. I have about 25 feet of space for me to walk back a forth for farmer carry but seldomly do that anymore as rucking is my main weighted carry. We go on a 2.5 mile ruck after dinner to the lake front when the weather Is nice. The weather is always a factor in chicago but you got to enjoy the lake front bike trial as much as possible as it's the best feature in Chicago .

[@GymCrafter]

@@TheGhu123 Rucking is the best! And prob the only safe way to do a loaded walk on a treadmill. Carrying heavy dumbbells is just asking to get hurt! Enjoy the lake! I don't live anywhere close, but when I visit, it's the one part of Chicago I tend to enjoy the most (cuz it's certainly not traffic, construction, or parking!😂

[@Loppnowd]

You should check out the sledtred by tib bar guy

[@GymCrafter]

it's one of my finalists for my gym rebuild. Right now, though, the Xebex SledTrac 5000 is the front runner. I love how the handles are designed on that to simulate sled pushes. I'm selling my Torque tank sled. Right now it's 92 with 75% humidity outside and in the winter it get well below freezing. I just can't use a traditional sled much more than 8 months out of the year and I'd like to use it every day if I could.

[@Loppnowd]

@@GymCrafter I'd like to see you compare the Xebex vs the TibBar Guy because the cost of the Xebex is more than double and i dont see why it would be worth that.

[@Loppnowd]

@@GymCrafter The video on the Xebex website looks pretty legit though.

[@GymCrafter]

@@Loppnowd I wish I could. The big hesitation for me about the Sled Tred is the deck length of 53" x 14". The Xebex deck is 58" x 20". I'm a big guy and the SledTred seems like it would be too small for me. I have other reservations, but none are founded on anything but assumptions based on looking at videos. I'd love to try it in person. That said, I do agree the Xebex seems overpriced (as is a lot of their stuff), but my limited experience with them is that they make top quality stuff that will last a very long time. I may just wait a bit as this seems to be something that a lot of people are starting to make and that always drives innovation, quality, and price drops. I'll bet by this time next year, there will be a lot more options, all at lower prices.

[@Loppnowd]

@@GymCrafter Oh 100 percent I remember with KOT guy had his backwards treadmil that he's still selling and from there everyone started making them.

[@bobbyhunt3009]

Tim, $2,200 for an indoor sled, way too much money, I dont see it. I know you like farmer's carries but biomechanically they don't train any muscle. They are just like planks. Doing planks or farmer walks make you better at doing planks and farmer walks but they don't make any muscle bigger or stronger. To make a muscle bigger or stronger there HAS TO BE a contraction and a lengthening of the muscle your training. Farmers walk and planks dont do that and farmers walks are terrible for your shoulders, neck, and back. I know you don't want to hear that but I must tell you the truth just like you tell us the truth. BOS is trying it looks like but right now they are a Canadian Titan, IMO. BOS is a budget company but some of their prices, if not most of them are in line with a high quality company. I see they went up on their single cable stack. BOS and Titan are pricing themselves out of the game. You can't offer budget equipment and then charge super high prices. Best example I have is the curl bar you reviewed, the cerakote was terrible and the gold sleeves were also. I bought the Fringesport Midas bar and it has been great. I've used it for over a year and the gold sleeves look like the day I got it and the black cerakote, the same. I know Fringesport is a pricey company but they put out high quality equipment. I want to like BOS but they have not improved their quality or fit and finish but continue to increase their prices from what I've seen so I will stay with REP and Fringesport. Just my honest opinion Take Care

[@GymCrafter]

So I have to really disagree on a couple of things here... Training isn't about training a specific muscle. It's about training movement patterns and there are many muscles involved in those patterns. Squat, hinge, push, pull, lunge, carry, (and some say rotate). Those are the keys to training effectively. Carries and sled work increase overall strength significantly. They are a lot like compound movements in that they train many muscle groups at the same time. And they train them in ways specific to how you use them in real life. My 50 lb dog hurt her shoulder a year ago and I had to carry her a mile and a half back to the car. If I hadn't trained zercher carries regularly, I would have been toast 3 min into that walk. I carried her all the way back without stopping. Training for real life and capability is not always about training a specific muscle group. Adding carries and sled work has improved the performance across the board in everyone I train as well. Both are a requirement with me. Farmers walks are NOT terrible for any part of your body when done corretly with a full body brace, retracted shoulders, and contracted lats. They significantly stabilize shoulders and back. Neck shouldn't be involved in a carry at all. As far as the price of the unit, that depends on whether or not it's worth it to the person buying it. While not worth it to some, it's more than worth it to others.

[@bobbyhunt3009]

@@GymCrafter Sled work definitely helps your GPP (General Preparedness) and farmers carrie's does too, like I said those movements help your muscle endurance and will help you carry your dog and lasts longer during other strenuous activities but they will not make a muscle bigger or stronger. It helps endurance by your muscles being able to handle the load you are using and then you will be able to handle more load and then more load but at no time are muscles getting bigger or stronger. I agree those movements, (farmers carrie's, sled work, planks) will improve your GPP and condition your muscles to handle higher and higher loads for overall physical strength but for bodybuilding or powerlifting they are useless. This is not my opinion it is a proven fact. If you don't agree then we will just have to disagree on this subject. Take Care

[@buildingdadbod2.0]

​@GymCrafter 💯% agree with you on the carries, they are absolutely amazing in so many ways. Strength, work capacity, core stability. I think people just hate on them because they are hard work. I enjoyed the review, I like the concept of the dreadmill.

[@GymCrafter]

@@bobbyhunt3009 sorry, 10000% disagree here. If you go from being able to farmer's carry 100lbs for 50 yards to being able to carry 300 lbs for the same distance, you will be both bigger and stronger. and you will not get injured. There isn't a qualified trainer in the world that would disagree with that if they've actually trained people in real life.

[@GymCrafter]

@@buildingdadbod2.0 I have my clients do about 8 different carry variations once they develop the ability to (cross body carries are usually the last they gain the ability to do) and the boost to hypertrophy and strength gain across all movements is undeniable.

[@acecool72]

Price is too high for me

[@GymCrafter]

For just the tread, I agree 100%. It's on my list of finalists for a sled/treadmill, but I don't think it's gonna win. I can carry dumbbells on the treadmill and don't really need the arms. If you were to use those arms for a bunch of other stuff, it would be worth it. It's for a very specific customer for sure.

[@bobbyhunt3009]

The handles are too wide for farmer's carries. You do some heavy farmer's carries on this machine and it's not if you get hurt, it's when. The shoulders will be doing most of the work based on the wrong moment arm of this machine and you will pay for using it, maybe not tomorrow but down the line. With farmer's carries the dumbbells rest right by you side, with this machine your arms are away from your body, what muscle holds your arms out there, that's right, the shoulders and man you are gonna injure them if you use any weight at all. You have to give BOS $2,300 of your money for a very poorly enginerred machine. $2,300 would pay for the DANE People know the equipment, learn line of force, moment arms, opposite position loading, etc. of biomechanics then you can tell if a machine is poorly made or is done right. Tim, I don't know how well you know biomechanics but trust me you will regret doing farmer's carries on this machine