A Shrug Bar and a Power Rack

[Dan_Grr]

Hi all,

I was hoping if someone can point me in the right direction. I intend to buy a Shrug Bar now, and maybe a Power Rack in a year. I have recently gratuated and I got a somewhat decent job while setting up my new life in my little appartment. Life is a bit difficult at the moment, so I would kindly ask for your advice:

- Which Shrug bar/Trap Bar (I prefer the Shrug Bar) do you think has a good relation between price-quality?

- Which Power Rack, according to previous standards, you might suggest?


I live in Portugal and this automatically places me in a difficult situation. I cannot take advantage of free shipping costs like US residents do, in fact, shipping costs are usually high.

Thanks for reading

[lesterine]

Since you decided to post about all other aspects of your life on the thread I gotta ask you: why would you buy a shrug bar now? What other equipment do you have?

[Dan_Grr]

I have:

- A standard bar of about 180 cm, about 2.5 cm thick (1 inch I think)

- Two dumbbells

- Weights of about 95 kg (200 pounds)

[Biggerfoot]

I have a homemade trap bar that was welded out of a standard seven foot Olympic bar.

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/.Pictures/trapbar.jpg

If I was buying a new one, since I am tall, I would get a trap bar with the raised handles. Also, I would like to have one with a more room inside because the back of my calves hit the rear of the bar at times.

[Dan_Grr]

Can you lift big weights with that Trap Bar? Im more propelled to use a Shrug Bar though, but it's more expensive I think.

Do your knees touch the bar? Whenever I look at a Trap Bar it looks like it has so little space to fit in the legs.

[Biggerfoot]

Can you lift big weights with that Trap Bar? Im more propelled to use a Shrug Bar though, but it's more expensive I think.

Do your knees touch the bar? Whenever I look at a Trap Bar it looks like it has so little space to fit in the legs.

I have had nearly 500 pounds on my homemade bar without a problem. Most of the ones that you can buy should hold that and some go up to 1000 pounds.

Mine is a little tight...hence hitting the back of the calves but the ones you can buy, especially the hex shaped ones, seem to have plenty of room.

[Dan_Grr]

[...] especially the hex shaped ones, seem to have plenty of room.


Yes, thats whats called a "Shrug Bar".

[C Man]

Dan Grr, what's your distinction between a trap & shrug bar? I don't know if it's 100% accurate, but I've heard that the trap bar was originally designed and patented by a guy named Gerard, and that any other bar that looks similar to it is called a shrug bar.

[Dan_Grr]

what's your distinction between a trap & shrug bar?

Al Gerard is the man behind the Trap Bar as we all know it, in its rhombus shape. The Shrug Bar is, ideally, I think, as close to the original as possible, but with the hexagonal shape, for more freedom of movement. :)

[Dan_Grr]

Help please.

[Dinotrainer]

Help please.
Yes, you are correct in your distinction, pertaining to the trap/shrug bar description :). I do believe the modification from rhombus to hexagonal shape, addressed the patent that Al Gerard had on the bar, thus hexagonal shaped bars are called "shrug" bars. Production on Gerards "Trap bar" ceased as of August 2001 due to trademark and licensing disputes. Nevertheless, shrug/trap bars are one of my absolute favorite pieces of equipment, and should be part of everyones equipment "arsenal".

[Dan_Grr]

Thanks for the extra info Dino. Do you perhaps know any good place, in Europe, to buy a Trap Bar/Shrug Bar. Except Watson in UK, I already checked on them.

I was also interested in a Power Rack, but I have to make a choice here :/

[KSA]

Thanks for the extra info Dino. Do you perhaps know any good place, in Europe, to buy a Trap Bar/Shrug Bar. Except Watson in UK, I already checked on them.

I was also interested in a Power Rack, but I have to make a choice here :/

http://sport-tiedje.fr/sporttiedje/trizepsschultertrainer.htm

[Dan_Grr]

http://sport-tiedje.fr/sporttiedje/trizepsschultertrainer.htm

Thanks KSA. I've never seen that kind of bar. But theres a problem just by visualizing it: the handles don't have a space apart from the weights, which means your hands would be touching the weights all the time.

But it's an interesting variaton of the Trap Bar.

[C Man]

the handles don't have a space apart from the weights, which means your hands would be touching the weights all the time.That's easy enough to fix - just put on a spacer or collar before you put the first plate on.

[Dan_Grr]

Yes, thats right, but the designer of this bar should thought of this detail first, to save the customer the need of placing a collar there. I think I'll order it.