Most commercial gyms now days will happily hand over thousands of dollars for plasma screens. Pin loaded machines or the latest group fitness licence. However, what they refuse to even put 10% of their budget aside for is a proper; well engineered Barbell.
Poor or warn Barbells will create injuries, reduce your training ability and generally cause you a world of hate and pain.
Now; from the outset, I am not an expert in Barbell construction, I am simply making a few points here;
Cheap bars are made from cheap metals, this means the bar WILL bend. I personally acquired a $50 bar that came pre-bent from the China man.
This was before my Bicep exploded
Once a bar is bent; it is rendered USELESS, What do you think will happen to your arms and wrists if you have a bent bar rolling across your back, or worse trying to rotate as you receive a clean?
Chrome bars are cost effective and aesthetically pleasing but not particularly durable. The coating will flake off over time and the bar is subject to corrosion.Furthermore; chrome is the worst substance this side of sex lube for grip. These bars are only a prospect for entry level lifters.
Sleeving; one of a few problems here; if the bearings inside the sleeve cease to rotate the bar is now USELESS. Do you really want your wrists attached to a rotating max effort load?
Also; sleeves can DISLODGE from the bar if warn, this WILL end in catastrophe!
Knurling; this is where speciality bars are required, for example and Olympic bar will have less abrasive knurling in the centre than a squat bar.Poor or worn knurling will force you to ‘over grip’ the bar and create problems with forearms and shoulders. Furthermore; shit knurling’s will cause blisters (once again speaking from my own personal experience and from that of the guys I train with)
End result of a cheap, bent Barbell
Now; in Australia there are some very cost effective options available; Australian Barbell Co. Are now manufacturing (locally ftw) the ‘Power bar’ this bar has become an ‘industry standard’ in strength and conditioning. These retail around the $500 point. Iron Edge have a number of bars available for the same price point (please be awear Rick the CEO drives an M3 so this might not be a suitble option) and I am aware Underground EliteBrisbane are looking at importing speciality bars in 2012.
Come on shitty commercial fitness industry; what is more important to your clients; a $1000 plasma TV playing the latest hit sit com to treadmillers or a $500 investment in your safety!
How awesome are people that jump on Tumblr or Blogspot (ekkk) every Monday night and tell the whole world or whoever is dumb enough to read, how they achieved a new personal record on the pub breath tester, or how fantastic their weekend was right up until Jill the now former best friend looked at John, the now former boy friend from across the bar, a clear declaration of affair.
Yeah, ok that shit is pretty mundane to say the least; yet here we all are (about 20 of you?) ready to invest the next 20 minutes of your lives in the adventures of Ben’s weekend. However, I’ll try to keep it interesting by leaving mildly controversial or political statements throughout.
We left Adelaide in our rented Commodore Omega (more on this in a later Blog) Friday morning for Little Melbourne Town to be immediately greeted by bumper to bumper highway traffic. However, due to my previous experience as The Stig we managed to make mince meat of these slow moving suckers.
So here is my first slightly controversial statement; Australian speed limits are causing deaths. The current limit induces fatigue, boredom and a tendency not to focus on the road.
We arrived in our grey nomad wonderland of sea changers and unemployable Bogans for a fun night of sitting around eating frozen nukable food.
Fast forward boring shit; the Victorian Dead Lift Nationals at PTC Frankston;
I went out and opened with 250, felt easy; normally my openers feel a bit rusty.
Took 260 on my second; got to my knees, than started having an epileptic fit, somehow I managed to get my hips through. While I was waiting quietly for my down call, I knew that was it, 260 was the all I had. I took some time to consider my third, 262.5? 265? 270?
If I made 265 I would hate myself for not taking my meet goal of 270, if I missed 270 well at least I went down fighting. And after all; I had written across my arm “There is no escape, you’re just a red mark my laser paints” (Noisia – Shellshock, 2010)
270; came off the floor, got to my knees, the epilepsy kicked in again and the next thing I know I’m in pieces, crying on the floor.
Now I am not one for making excuses, Excuses are for fat people who refuse to put the fork down, or for drink drivers that “didn’t feel drunk”
Second controversial statement; SA police current anti-drunk-driving strategy is pathetic, costing lives and not addressing the root or core of the problem.
Now leading in to this meet I took on a 6 week training camp (after my 192.5/125/250 Pro-Raw meet) starting with full equipment pulling from the floor. Then moving in to block pulls from 5 inches one day a week and then monster band reverse pulls on a second day. By 14 days out from the meet I had block pulled 250, and reverse band pulled 275. Typically; I am weaker by about 5% from block pulls, but on comp day stronger by about 15% on all my training weights.
This is where shit just gets weird; by the above training log I had every expectation to have a stronger lockout than a NBA player strike. Yet all my attempts turned to shit from the knees up.
So; it’s back to the drawing board, Ill re-engineer my training and come back next year, bigger, faster and strong(er).
On that note; I would like to thank everyone at PTC Frankston, all the lifters (especially the virgins, you guys and girls are the future of the sport). Thanks to everyone in Adelaide for putting up with my shit and generally being an amazing support. Finally thanks to everyone who wastes 20 minutes of their lives each week to read my incoherent rants.
Next week we will return to normal shouty arrogant, obnoxious statements about the commercial fitness industry.
