Specialty Bars

Alright, I’m looking at stuff for putting together a christmas list for my family that they’ve been asking for. I’m looking at deffinetely putting on the texas power bar from eliteFTS and I see that they have two options for the SS bars. A regular SS Yoke bar and a Yoke Bar with Handles. Now, judging on the pictures, they look to be relatively the same except for the longer handles on the Yoke bar with handles. So my question is, which would be considered the better to go with? And are both of the bars the same length as a 7’ olympic bar and therefore rackable?

http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=212&pid=1156 --Handles
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=212&pid=4636 – Regular

Oh and just found the rackable cambered spider bar as well. Same questions apply except for rackable, obviously.

Although I have never used the regular SS yoke (new one), the long handles on the other one are extremely nice. I think both will be pretty much the same except shipping is supposed to be cheaper on the regular SS yoke, and manufacturers have said that those ones are stronger because the camber is made by bending one long piece of steel, not by welding two pieces onto each end like the long handles model. But, for what its worth, I’ve seen videos of guys with their SS yokes with long handles loaded up with 900+ and they haven’t had the weld break.

[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:
Although I have never used the regular SS yoke (new one), the long handles on the other one are extremely nice. I think both will be pretty much the same except shipping is supposed to be cheaper on the regular SS yoke, and manufacturers have said that those ones are stronger because the camber is made by bending one long piece of steel, not by welding two pieces onto each end like the long handles model. But, for what its worth, I’ve seen videos of guys with their SS yokes with long handles loaded up with 900+ and they haven’t had the weld break.[/quote]

Yeah I’ve seen videos with that as well and being at my strength level now I don’t believe 900 will come for quite some time. Are both rackable? And do you think that the long handles would get in the way at all if I decided at one point to flip the bar and do front squats with it?

Both of them are rackable, and I don’t think the handles would get in the way of front squatting.

[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:
Both of them are rackable, and I don’t think the handles would get in the way of front squatting.
[/quote]

Ok thanks for the help man, probably gonna go with the long handles, seems like more convenience.

Long handle yoke bar is awesome. Totally worth it.

[quote]PlainPat wrote:

[quote]Ty Carlson wrote:
Both of them are rackable, and I don’t think the handles would get in the way of front squatting.
[/quote]

Ok thanks for the help man, probably gonna go with the long handles, seems like more convenience.[/quote]

You won’t regret it. I feel like you can probably get your upper back way tighter with the long handles because there is a lot of variation in hand placement.

For the record you can remove the handles if you want to on the yoke (not the new one).

I have used the regular Safety squat bar and it’s a good bar. I OWN the YOKE bar and hands down it’s a much better bar. BOTH will hold more weight than you’ll probably ever use so don’t worry bout that. Like Liquid said above the handles on the Yoke bar are removable so you can take them off and hold onto the little stub. The beauty of the safety squat / Yoke bar is due to the camber of the bar the weights make the bar more or less lock onto your shoulders / neck. You dont even really have to hold onto the bar. Yes you would want to take the handles off to do front squats.

On the Spider bar, that is modeled after Ano Turtanian’s “KILL BAR” I asked Wendler about it and he said “it has ‘issues’, to get the Yoke bar and that I wouldn’t be disappointed” Well he was right.

The Yoke bar weighs 80 pounds by itself with the handles, 75 with out handles.

Lastly expect to get fucking OWNED by the bar the first few times you use it. If you put too much weight on the bar it will fold your ass up like a lawn chair. The handles allow you the leverage needed to push the weights out in front of you efectively increasing the effect of the bars camber. This will make the movement even harder. An example. When I got the bar I was able to rep 405 8 times for 2 sets. ‘Just’ 315 on the Yoke bar OWNED my ass…yeah. Prepared to leave any ego you have on the shelf man. Dave Tate wrote an article about the Safety Squat bar and he had a similar experiance. But you build up quickly and are able to do well in short order if you train smart.

If you take a break from using the bar, it will remind you how bad it will kick your ass. But it’s a good asswhipping and a very effective tool to have.

Jesup power bars are also a very good and tough bar that’s about half the cost of a TPB if money is an issue.

Hope this helps dude,

Mike

Thanks for the input everyone, from everyone’s talk it seems like the long handles is the more versatile bar and probably the one worth going with. I’ll also check out the Jesup power bars, as having one of the bars cost less would make it easier to buy the yoke w/ handles.

One more thing, anyone order from irondawg before? I see that they offer a TPB for 245 or so, and was wondering about the quality of the site. Its down to either them, eliteFTS, or westside.

Just bumping this up. Thinking of getting the yoke bar from Elite instead of the safety squat, and now I can’t decide between the yoke or the yoke with handles

YOKE
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=114&pid=1156

YOKE W/ HANDLES
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=114&pid=4636

Wondering if anyone had bought one or the other since this thread originated and had an opinion on which to go with. Is it easy to remove the handles if one desires?

I’ve got the first one and I love it. The handles are easy enough to remove on it. I just keep a socket wrench in my bag but I’ve honestly never really felt the need to remove them, rarely do they get in the way.

Just realized I flip flopped the links. Thanks for you input. I’ll probably just go with the handles if I can remove them if I ever need/want to.

I should probably update this that I went with the Westside TPB and I love it. Use it for everything.

And I got the Yoke w/ Handles, love it as well. haven’t taken the handles off but I’ll admit they can be a little bit annoying during GM’s.

Thanks for the update man. So if I get this right, you can remove the handles on the bar to make it like the regular yoke bar?

[quote]METAL VIPER wrote:
Thanks for the update man. So if I get this right, you can remove the handles on the bar to make it like the regular yoke bar?[/quote]

Yes, but like Liquid said you need a wrench or whatever to remove it