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Recommend me a multipurpose bar?

ranathari		Recommend me a multipurpose bar?	31-05-2010 @ 17:19
sumo ?? no ! no ! Member 1399, 557 posts	I'm setting up a home gym for myself at the moment because I'm getting increasingly sick of the growing tide of morons destroying what used to be a great local gym. The final straw was last week when some total retard started to unload the bar while I was setting up for a new deadlift 1RM (as in when I was just setting my hips before beginning the pull!) I'm not a very strong guy; I only squat 160kg, deadlift 230kg and bench 100kg so I don't need a monster barbell like a Texas Power Bar but I do enjoy doing simple olympic lifting (110kg power clean and 80kg power snatch) and I can't find a good multipurpose bar. I obviously need something stiff enough for squatting and benching but with good sleeve rotation and some whip for push presses and cleans/snatches. The Americans seem to love this bar but shipping to the UK would cost a fortune. Do you have any suggestions for something similar? I'd like to keep the cost under £300 if I can, given a multipurpose bar will never have the same quality as a dedicated PL or OL bar but I'm open to any suggestions. I'm keeping the s**tty bar that came with my pile of weights to use for rack pulls so I don't need warnings about the risk of bending a good bar by using it for everything.

youngy		...	31-05-2010 @ 17:22
crushed the generals chance of 6th place Member 588, 5477 posts SQ 200, BP 100, DL 200 500.0 kgs @ 84kgs UnEq	Buzz on this site sells texas power bars for under £300 (£299) might be worth a look at his site strengthshop.co.uk. Many of us on here have one.

Wayne_Cowdrey		...	31-05-2010 @ 17:32
Still got a little bit of strength Member 400, 22828 posts	Good dead lift and power clean/snatch numbers. ranathari said: The final straw was last week when some total retard started to unload the bar while I was setting up for a new deadlift 1RM (as in when I was just setting my hips before beginning the pull!) Ha ha

ranathari		...	31-05-2010 @ 17:43
sumo ?? no ! no ! Member 1399, 557 posts	youngy said:Buzz on this site sells texas power bars for under £300 (£299) might be worth a look at his site strengthshop.co.uk. Many of us on here have one. Cheers for the link. My only concern about a texas power bar is the knurling and the stiffness - I'm not sure it would rotate quickly enough during oly lifting and, from the sound of it, the knurling will shred my neck in the rack position! Have you found it okay for that? Wayne_Cowdrey said:Good dead lift and power clean/snatch numbers. Ha ha Thanks! That dude was part of a group of proper retards that evening. One of his mates fancied a pop at 220kg while I was resting after doing it for a single. He got it 3 inches off the ground while doing his best imitation of a camel's hump before quickly dropping the bar and hobbling off, saying his back hurt!

Steve		...	31-05-2010 @ 18:03
nothing to hide, please follow my life on webcam Member 255, 3732 posts	Post Edited: 31.05.2010 @ 18:04 PM by Steve I wouldn't recommend a Texas power bar for Olympic lifts. (or any power bar for that matter) An decent Olympic bar will however almost certainly be fine for all but the strongest powerlifers/strongmen. We have had a York Olympic bar for 12 years now and it's still OK and they're a pretty reasonable price. http://www.yorkfitness.com/Bars--and--Collars-item-674/Mens-In...

BigMacca		...	31-05-2010 @ 18:04
understanding of the sport, little he has. Member 798, 9948 posts SQ 260, BP 150, DL 272.5 682.5 kgs @ 82.5kgs UnEq	ranathari said: Cheers for the link. My only concern about a texas power bar is the knurling and the stiffness - I'm not sure it would rotate quickly enough during oly lifting and, from the sound of it, the knurling will shred my neck in the rack position! Have you found it okay for that? Hello mate, The version of the Texas power bar that Buzz sells is only 28mm so it's a lively as most Olympic bars. The collars rotate very freely as well, nothing like a eleiko WL bar but mine will rotate for a good 10 seconds when you give them a decent spin (I lube them up once every couple of months mind) Knurling - Yup it's aggressive a hell, but your hands get used to it eventually and you can just wear a thick T Shirt when cleaning / OH pressing Macca

ranathari		...	31-05-2010 @ 20:19
sumo ?? no ! no ! Member 1399, 557 posts	Post Edited: 31.05.2010 @ 20:22 PM by ranathari Steve said:I wouldn't recommend a Texas power bar for Olympic lifts. (or any power bar for that matter) An decent Olympic bar will however almost certainly be fine for all but the strongest powerlifers/strongmen. We have had a York Olympic bar for 12 years now and it's still OK and they're a pretty reasonable price. http://www.yorkfitness.com/Bars--and--Collars-item-674/Mens-In... I spotted that one but it's very hard to judge the quality of different York bars on the net - they use the same stock photo for every bar and their huge range means it's difficult to Google opinions. How much have you loaded them with for deadlifts and how much flex did you notice? BigMacca said: Hello mate, The version of the Texas power bar that Buzz sells is only 28mm so it's a lively as most Olympic bars. The collars rotate very freely as well, nothing like a eleiko WL bar but mine will rotate for a good 10 seconds when you give them a decent spin (I lube them up once every couple of months mind) Knurling - Yup it's aggressive a hell, but your hands get used to it eventually and you can just wear a thick T Shirt when cleaning / OH pressing Macca I really wanna give it a test but Buzz is 'oop Norf! Don't suppose you have any YouTube videos to give me an idea of the whip/spin? Cheers for all the opinions, guys, really appreciated!

BigMacca		...	31-05-2010 @ 20:49
understanding of the sport, little he has. Member 798, 9948 posts SQ 260, BP 150, DL 272.5 682.5 kgs @ 82.5kgs UnEq	ranathari said: I really wanna give it a test but Buzz is 'oop Norf! Don't suppose you have any YouTube videos to give me an idea of the whip/spin? Cheers for all the opinions, guys, really appreciated! Hello Mate, Here's a vid of a crappy 245kg deadlift, you can see the give in the bar I clean with mine and don't have any problems with the rotation (or lack of it), but I'm only cleaning 115ish..... For an all round bar I don't think that your going to do better than one of these mate. The only downside I can see for you is the centre knurling, but that will become a massive bonus if you want to squat with it. Hope this helps chief. Macca

ranathari		...	31-05-2010 @ 20:57
sumo ?? no ! no ! Member 1399, 557 posts	Post Edited: 31.05.2010 @ 20:58 PM by ranathari That's great, thanks (nice VFFs too!) If you can clean 100kg+ without feeling like the bar's getting away from you then it's probably rotating enough - my gym has an old Eleiko that's never been maintained and it's only over 100kg where the lack of rotation is noticeable and leads to failed lifts. In any event, I care more about the big 4 lifts than I do about OL so a bar biased more towards PL is tolerable. I can live with the centre knurling and just sport some battle scars to go with the callouses on my clavicles. Just to ask, how did you lube the bushings? The description on strengthshop.co.uk makes it sounds like it's a sealed unit.

buzz		...	31-05-2010 @ 21:00
Go ! go ! team strengthshop !!! Member 18, 5295 posts SQ 185, BP 130, DL 230 545.0 kgs @ 95kgs UnEq	As everyone says, get a power bar from me Nah, only joking. Best to make sure you're happy it's the right choice first. Maybe there's someone nearish to you who's bought one and who would let you go have a play with it - where are you?

ranathari		...	31-05-2010 @ 21:23
sumo ?? no ! no ! Member 1399, 557 posts	East London. I placed the order for one from you about 10 minutes ago! I'm happy with my choice: I'm never going to do competitive OLing and just use power cleans as a strength accessory and power snatches to help improve power generation for sprinting (my other sport). Looking forward to busting some new PRs with a new bar soon!

buzz		...	31-05-2010 @ 21:28
Go ! go ! team strengthshop !!! Member 18, 5295 posts SQ 185, BP 130, DL 230 545.0 kgs @ 95kgs UnEq	ranathari said:East London. I placed the order for one from you about 10 minutes ago! I'm happy with my choice: I'm never going to do competitive OLing and just use power cleans as a strength accessory and power snatches to help improve power generation for sprinting (my other sport). Looking forward to busting some new PRs with a new bar soon! Good stuff! It's booked for collection with UPS tomorrow so should be with you on Wednesday.

BigMacca		...	31-05-2010 @ 21:30
understanding of the sport, little he has. Member 798, 9948 posts SQ 260, BP 150, DL 272.5 682.5 kgs @ 82.5kgs UnEq	ranathari said:East London. I placed the order for one from you about 10 minutes ago! I'm happy with my choice: I'm never going to do competitive OLing and just use power cleans as a strength accessory and power snatches to help improve power generation for sprinting (my other sport). Looking forward to busting some new PRs with a new bar soon! Good choice mate, don't forget to order in some new skin Buzz - You owe me £30 Macca

Finch		...	01-06-2010 @ 22:10
Gonna outlive my opposition !! Member 123, 4038 posts SQ 202.5, BP 135.0, DL 232.5 570.0 kgs @ 117kgs UnEq	We have all sorts of bars at the Farm. The YORK olly bars are great for olly lifting and have taken serious abuse with no damage, however they are too "whippy" for squatting anything over 200K and too "bendy" for deadlifting over 260K. For these sort of weights we have to use the Texas or Eleiko bars. However, these bars will bend permanantly when dropped from height like the olly lifters do. My advice would be to get a YORK Olly bar for starters, then perhaps save up for a power bar in the future.

RyanH		...	02-06-2010 @ 02:44
Big fish in a small pond Member 1150, 2101 posts	I have been considering a texas power bar, but im only pulling around 230? so from the above comment it wont be much different to a normal olympic bar i have?

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