The Best Collars For Your Garage Gym – 2024
Last updated on April 5th, 2024 at 10:05 am
Collars are bizarre. Go to a commercial gym and you likely don’t spend more than two seconds thinking about them. Buy your first barbell for your home gym and you might not even flinch at collars. But spend some time in the home gym community and you’ll begin to find that some people are VERY picky about their collars. And there are SO MANY CHOICES! Rogue alone has 29 collars as of me updating this article. At the end of the day, collars keep the plates on your bar with the typical goal to keep you safe. They should also keep your bar safe, since you are probably going to buy a good bar.
Through new purchases and Craigslist acquisitions, I’ve managed to handle a pretty decent amount of collars. I’m not saying I’ve held them all, but I’ve probably used each type at least once. I also know what I’ve read over the years from competitive powerlifters, beginners, and more.
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So I figured I’d take a stab at my experience and recommendation for the average garage gym athlete.
Before We Dig In
You are going to see a bunch of different options of collars. Before proceeding, think about the following.
- What is your budget?
- Are you a competitive lifter in either olympic lifting or powerlifting?
- Do you use multiple bars at once (yourself or with multiple athletes)?
- Do you (or will you) own any specialty bars that don’t have full sized sleeves?
What Collars Should I Buy?
If you have an unlimited budget, then you should be looking at collars such as Eleiko Oppen Collars or Rogue USA Aluminum Collars.
Do you have aspirations to compete in weightlifting or powerlifting? Then you should be looking at collars such as Ivanko CO-2.5KG, Rogue KG Competition Collars, or Eleiko IWF and Eleiko IPF collars.
If you simply want collars that work, you should be looking at Ivanko COT 1.25s or grab a pair of some highly rated pairs on Amazon.
If you need specific specialty bar collars, I recommend either some Pressure Ring collars or a pair of dedicated axle collars.
The Bad Collars
Let’s start off and clear a few options off the table. First are your typical spring collars. Hated by many that are forced to use them in a commercial setting. They often wear out quick, are a pain to use and adjust, and typically provide next to no grip. Or such a tight grip that they either scratch the bar or never come off. If you buy a barbell and it comes with these, feel free to use them until they do not work anymore. Otherwise, please do NOT spend any money on them. Even at roughly 1/3 the price of other options, they are just not worth it.
Second we have the imitation vintage ship wheels, competition style collars, and compression collars. These often come with some very poorly cast weights on the used market, or with plate packages from companies like Dick’s Sporting Goods or other mass retailers. They have weight to them, but often have awkward screw style pins that compress into your bar leaving scratches and dents. They are also horribly inaccurate compared to their stated weight. Not to mention they are often poorly painted and just plain ugly. No thanks! They often don’t fit well either. Avoid all of these at pretty much every turn.
Clamp Collars
These are likely the most common style of collars. At this point they are kind of a catch all as well. They predominantly slide over the bar and you press down a tab or lever to “close” the collar onto your bar. Different companies will add rubber on the inside to hold tight and protect the bar. Some will have a push tab to open the collar. Some might even employ magnets to keep them near bye on your rack. They can be made of aluminum, plastic, 3d printed, and more.
You can find them in various fashions from the top companies like Rogue and a plethora of Amazon options. These are a very affordable and user friendly style of collars (though the top of the line options compete for price with others). For reference, these are my wife’s favorite style (or at least they were until I sold them… sorry). They slide on easy, often unlock and relock easy, and provide a decent grip. They often lack in a few departments though.
Cons
First, is their weight. Most weight in at a very paltry half pound or so. This is nice because you can essentially NOT count them in your weights. The downside is that you can’t make jumps with them like you can some of the heavier collars. With that weight, comes a typical lack of grip on drops. If you only bench or squat, these are likely doing the job. But with Olympic lifting, you’ll be adjusting, and readjusting, over and over.
The plastic style also lends itself to damage compared to our metal friends. And, due to their locking and unlocking mechanisms, plus the typical rubber type grip for the bar, they have the ability to weaken over time. For the price, these aren’t a bad option especially for an initial water testing of an upgraded set of collars.
If you want a budget option here, grab the Clout Fitness pair on Amazon. Almost 24k people can’t possibly be wrong. If you want the BEST option here, touted by many as the single best collars made, grab a pair of these – Rogue USA Aluminum Collars – Magnetic. The Clout come in at $14 with FREE shipping. Absolutely insane. The Rogue are over 5X the price.
Keep in mind that these will NOT fit an axle style bar. You’ll need something like these OSO Red Axle Collars.
Competition Collars
Competition collars are normally large, heavy, accurate, and expensive. They are the competitive lifters ideal solution for collars. Not only do they provide a lock-tight grip and exceptional bar protection, but their accuracy goes well with competition and calibrated plates for the sake of pin-point weight accuracy. They do, however, cost a fortune compared to your more “normal” collars.
Ivankos, Uesekas, and Eleikos that are in the hundred plus dollar range make for a sticker shock that just won’t quit. They also take up an insane amount of bar space, so without calibrated plates you are eating 2+ inches of sleeve length. These are likely overkill for anyone not competing in either powerlifting or Olympic lifting at a decent level and paring them with calibrated, highly accurate plates.
You’ll see that these bare a similar aesthetic to the cheaper collars I mentioned earlier. The difference is in the presence of the compression ring. As you twist the collar clamp, it presses down on a ring that clamps down on your bar. This means no issues with the bar getting dinged up, and the collars will hold tight.
Axle Collars
Second, is axle collars. Typically used for specialty bars of all kinds as schedule 80 pipe is just a tad smaller than traditional Olympic lifting sleeves. Axle collars can come in many forms (Lockjaws amongst others), but they won’t fit your traditional straight bars. So you have to own two sets of collars once you dive into the specialty bar territory. I owned a pair of OSO Axle Collars and they were a VERY tight fit. They are also fairly thin, which can be very helpful with bigger plates on specialty bars.
Specialty Collars
There are a bunch of unique offerings for collars as well.
First, are the Proloc 2s that have a carabiner on them for chains. I have a pair and love them for just that reason. They make connecting and adjusting chain set-ups a breeze, and you know your chains aren’t slipping and sliding around on the bar. They can be used for band work too. These do NOT fit axle type bars.
Proloc makes a NON chain style collar as well that gets really good reviews. I have heard that these WILL fit specialty bars with the smaller schedule 80 pipe. They also make a version that has TWO eyelets, so you can get really creative with your accommodating resistance. You might remember that I use my Proloc 2s on my Levergym for a modified Dip Machine, and use them with a landmine to hook up my MAG grip handles for T-Bar Rows. You could use them for a belt squat option with a landmine, and I’ve also used them to hook onto a sled to drag it with a harness/belt.
The Proloc 2s get a lot of use in my gym for more than just their “typical use”.
Vintage Collars
You know I like me some vintage weights. My favorite bar is a bar from the 80s, and I have the matching collars as well. But there are some REALLY cool vintage collars out there. As mentioned above, there are a lot of knock offs that imitate them, so you need a trained eye.
But the cool thing with collars, is that the old ones likely still function well. They have some weight to them, hold tight, and add some cool vibes to your lifts. I wouldn’t go around using them for Olympic lifts, but otherwise good to go. You’ll find these through the used market, either through a trusted source or by hard work on Marketplace.
My dude Rob at VintageWeightsPGH provided the below pictures of some old York collars.
One Collar to Rule Them All!
There are TONS of variations of collars. If you read through a list of comments you aren’t likely to land on anything concrete. You can see with the above that I personally own a handful of options, and have OWNED about a dozen over the years.
If I was buying one pair of collars as a first and final investment, assuming I plan to do anything from use specialty bars, to deadlift, to bench press, to cleans, to curls. I’d grab a pair of Ivanko COT-1.25. These collars will do the following:
- Provide a TIGHT grip on every single bar you own
- Yes, compression collars will clamp down tight and replace the need for dedicated axle collars
- The compression ring protects your bars
- They are highly accurate
- They are easy to use
- They are much thinner than typical competition collars
- And last, they are actually fairly affordable
The other added benefit, the mechanism for tightening is so simple, it’s almost guaranteed to never wear out or break. Zero rubber to wear down over time, you are certain that these are doing the job for years to come.
I own a pair of COT 2.5s that I got off Craigslist. I LOVE them, but they are overkill and I can’t use them for everything due to their size. The COT 1.25s are the perfect balance and multi-functional collar.
Second & Third Options
If I’m grabbing two sets of collars, I’m adding the Proloc 2s to the list. Their ability to easily add chains, bands, use on landmines and much more, makes them a HUGE bang for the buck.
If I’m looking for the BEST collars for only one use, to go on a normal bar, it is hard to argue with the voice of thousands with the stamp of approval for the Rogue USA Aluminum Collars. I’ve debated grabbing a pair myself just because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Closing
I certainly didn’t list them all. There are an endless supply of options, and not every one is right for every person. But I hope I painted enough of a picture of the options, use cases, and overall feedback to help you make a decision.
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Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
