BARS 101

“Which bar should I buy?” Good question. With prices ranging from $50 to more than $900, you’ll want to choose the best bar for the money. Trouble is, there are dozens of choices and every manufacture

Published: Winter 2002

After 30 years in the business, we know what to look for. We’ll start by helping you identify your specific needs. Then we’ll show you how to decide on a bar that has the proper combination of price, strength and function. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of averaging the features out and choosing the bar with the highest score.

Beware of
False Advertising

Tom Lincir, president of Ivanko Barbell Company, warns, “Some manufacturers throw around impressive-sounding measurements of a bar’s strength that are either irrelevant or misleading. Ratings like “1,000-pound test” or “2,000-pound test” may sound impressive because the numbers are big. However, there is no such thing as “1,000-pound test”-it is all a fantasy created in an attempt to satisfy buyers.
“In reality, the measures that do count are tensile strength and yield strength. The tensile strength rating is the pounds per square inch (PSI) of force required to pull the bar apart and the yield strength is the amount of force it takes to bend the bar past the point where it will t return to its original position. Unfortunately, this is not something that can be seen so you have to rely on the integrity of the supplier.”
Bar manufacturers come and go. It is a very difficult business to succeed in. You should try to stick with companies you trust when buying bars and not get sucked in by tricky phrases. Also, as you will see in the following breakdown of different bars, there are general price ranges that correspond to how strong a ï géúvaTTõÀä\0ƒ{®AÜ÷ÀR/7Ä7«ùˆ±}‰?ò}(~tääÝ„Éì;‹ænèÄKâ–Åôé3ä™PO9ß&^½/¥"N÷_ÙÞdÙÜi›}ôÍVþKQè?†[iÿ…l»TŽjÌÚÆ1~ÖŸÏƒÑôLMEM€|Ìè::ìôˆvYHr you.  Our tigh33kô¸q˜Zere both 6'4": junior Ben Walau)o¡Î†O¹*ŸÆ†‹Ðf¯\x&ñr`xåÿu¹ü«&}/P²'|R¡ÄVN[£¦5#-˜æCéEVóî“†ýE%\EÈÁÇcO¼kèîùU¾aê;Ô¡BŽqU'›yÚ¿t~´4 ë¡ê–7 4!7¬»úƒVªaQ1Ô\