You know what really bugs me?

All of the crazies who fight to cash in on the “next big thing.” There are some who do it right – they have great products for fair prices and are truly meeting a market need. Usually they also have a founded passion for whatever it is they’re selling, and they have years of experience to back the quality of their product or service.

On the other hand, there are those who fire out t-shirts as fast as possible (WOD-killa!), some of which don’t even make sense, but because they are categorized and branded as “crossfit” or whatever, they still sell.

Sometimes it is really easy to know good from bad, accredited from noob; but sometimes it is not. SOMETIMES I even wonder if these products are a total spam. Do you ever doubt your sanity when purchasing a $40 jump rope to perfect your double-unders, or a $300 pair of powerlifting shoes you wear for maybe 15 minutes at a time?

Now, I’m using these as examples because as a matter of fact these are 2 items that I’ve recently had in my “shopping cart” but never quite purchased. OF COURSE I do believe that there are specialized products for those needing that extra 2-5% of efficiency (this is especially true in cycling… My attire for training rides alone probably equates to about $600 of gear… And that’s just clothing/shoes). However, for the rest of us who aren’t going to the Crossfit games (and those guys/gals get their gear for free anyway through sponsors), how much of an improvement do we see when jumping (pun not intended) from a $10 to $20 rope, or $20 to $40 rope? In most things, there is a high ratio of quality/price difference when you are moving from a really cheap product to a decent product. But the percentage increase in quality usually diminishes compared to the jump in price when you get into really high end products. Example:

Jump Rope A
Quality: 2 out of 10
Price: $10

Jump Rope B
Quality: 6 out of 10
Price: $20

Jump Rope C
Quality: 10 out of 10
Price: $40

Going from A to B, you get an increase of 4 quality points for $10. Going from B to C, you gain 4 quality points increase for $20. Obviously the first increase is the better “deal.” The next increase should be for those who need that extra efficiency, but it seems like those companies sell these high end products to just about everyone !

I’m going to end my rant for now, but I’m really going to dive into my own research on this subject through thorough product reviews from the perspective of someone who seeks great quality products but doesn’t want to spend my life savings on something when I’m really paying for a brand or name.

Look for these soon in my Product Reviews tab!!!!