I’m browsing the selection over at eliteFTS. I’m looking to buy a weights set that I can oly lift with. Is: the “Fat Bar with Revolving Ends” the bar I’m looking for?
Also, the weights sets (both olympic and standard) come with 3 bar choices, standard, texas power bar and 1500lb power bar. Are any of these good for olympic lifting?
The reason I’m asking is I remember reading somewhere around here that rotating sleeves were essential for the oly’s, and the fb/re seems to fit that bill.
The type of training, and your long term ability should determine what your after. the following site gives a good breckdown on why the good quality bars cost so much: Articles and Reviews | GMV Bodybuilding DVDs â Male & Female Bodybuilding DVDs â GMV Productions.
In other words do you think your will crack 300kg for a deadlift, cause i know i can’t.
[quote]napalmnz wrote:
The type of training, and your long term ability should determine what your after. the following site gives a good breckdown on why the good quality bars cost so much: Articles and Reviews | GMV Bodybuilding DVDs â Male & Female Bodybuilding DVDs â GMV Productions.
In other words do you think your will crack 300kg for a deadlift, cause i know i can’t.[/quote]
I’m mostly refering to the rotating sleeves, and if they are superior for oly’s then regular bars. I have the money for a good bar that will last me a long time and thats what I’m gonna buy.
Also, since shipping from the states might prove a tad expensive, does anyone know of a good european online source for weights?
For olympic lifts you want something that has needle bearings in the sleeves so they spin freely. www.biggerfasterstronger.com
This site has some fairly cheap bars with needle bearings in.
For European sites try http://www.voimaharjoittelu.net/
Finnish and sell elite equipment and others. Good quality.
If you are a serious Olympic lifter and want to spend some money on a great bar you want an Eleiko Training bar. They are the best bars for Olympic lifts. It will run around 4 or $500 but it will be worth it. Check out Dynamic-eleiko.com
In addition to the revolving collars, a bar that’s designed for O-lifting will be a lot more flexible than your average bar. For example the gym I lift at has York and Uesaka bar/bumper sets, and if you grip an empty bar on the platform and push down it will flex. I have a Texas Power Bar at home and I can stand in the middle of that thing and it doesn’t flex at all… It’s just different styles for different worlds.
So as someone else said, if you are primarily interested in Olympic lifting, get a quality, purpose built bar like an Eleiko… I’d be reluctant to shell out for their full bumper set, as that will run into the thousands of dollars, but if I were going to O-lift at home (and someday I will) I would spend the bucks on a good bar and go for budget bumpers.
Nick
Thanks guys, some truly great advice there.
I’m willing to fork out some cash, but not as much as an eleiko bar with shipping would cost 
Currently I’m looking that those:
name/1500lb-Power-Bar/products_id/788
name/Barbell-220cm/products_id/200
and
http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/p_pDetails.asp?pID=633&category=
13&subcategory=33&size=0&search=&page=
That last one is from the states I think, but its so cheap it cant be good! but you never know.
That first link is my favourite so far, because its european and would be cheapest to ship and that way I could buy my entire set from one source.
So, what do you guys/girls think? Is there a good bar there?
Muppet,
You will not find a real olympic bar (designed for OLifting) for under $400US. I seriously doubt any of those bars would be suitable.
Their are two types of OL bars - one with bushings, and one with bearings. One with bushings is the cheapest, and is used by most clubs for training. One with bearings are used generally in competitions.
If you want to perform OLifts, you will need to fork out more than what you are willing to. Otherwise, I believe you will be very disappointed, and your wrists and shoulders etc, will pay the price.
The cheapest OL training bar I have found is from Yorkbarbell - $430US. You would need to contact them directly to obtain a catologue (as this bar is not on their website). I recently purchased a training bar with bushings in Canada for $600Cdn.
You may want to consider paying alittle extra to get an Eleiko Training Bar. Either way, if you want to save money, get the right bar the first time.
That’s my 2 cents.
Also Muppet, the standard olympic bar and/or powerlifting bars, are alot stiffer then proper Olympic Lifting bars, and there is a slight difference in weight - standard bar is 45lbs, the Olympic bar is 20kg.
Muppet
I would go for that first power bar from SSPower.
Its not an all out oly bar so is going to be much stiffer and less whippy but it does have good bearings which is very important for your wrist integrity. It has no centre knurling which is good too for olys.
Plus the price is reduced at the mo’.
It is a comprimise on a full oly bar but its alot cheaper and you can use it for power lifting too.
IF you have to have an Eleiko remember that the shipping from the states will be astronomical and be almost half the price or more of the bar itself!
In the UK http://www.pullumsports.com/
do them for a measly ?400, about $750 US dollars at current exchange rate.
And thats just the training bar, the competition would cost ?525/$990!!
Or you could try direct from Eleiko
http://www.eleikosport.com/index.asp
You will have to phone up for a price but since they are swedish they prob speak good english.
A great bar you can look at if your willing to buy from the states is the Chapman Elite bar. Heres a link to our site with info about it. It os the quality of the Eleiko or York competition bar, but at 429.00.
http://bsolympicgym.com/proddetail.asp?prod=2020
Scott
Scott, I wish I knew about this company sooner. Oh well, better late then never. I need additional bumper plates. Thanks for the link.
Neil,
Email me at shop@[email address deleted]. I have some specials on bumpers right now, ridiculously cheap.
ST
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