Broke down and did it. Ordered a Swiss Bar

[induced_drag]

After using the one in my gym for a while (and realizing the guy may never get around to making me one) I broke down today and ordered a swiss bar.

I found a company called Black Widow.

http://www.blackwidowtg.com/Swiss_Ba.../bar-swiss.htm

It was only 200 and 40 to ship. I shot the guy an email to see if he had in stock. (it said 3 to 4 week lead time). He had a few in stock and said he would ship TODAY! I should have it by the end of the week.

They have some pics and vids of them loading the bar with over 900lbs and also lifting a dumpster with it (with a forklift in between).

I really think this will be an invaluable thing for me.





Will update for sure. THIS is really for any person with shoulder issues!

[ajdahlheimer]

That's awesome. I'm thinking of getting one to help PREVENT shoulder issues before they come into play.

[Overload]

Nice. They are very cool bars. I got a custom one made from a guy named David from the Pain Factory. Below is a video of one of his bars. If you ever need one or a custom one made, email him and he'll draw a mock up for you. I wanted one for closer grip presses so he made me one about 5' long and tested to 800lbs. More weight then I'll ever come close to putting on there.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=741IvXajGnk

Best of luck with your bar.

[TheIronAsylum]

why didnt you go for the one with the angled handles just curious

[induced_drag]

why didnt you go for the one with the angled handles just curious

I have been using one and find the parallel hand position to be perfect for me. It takes all the stress and pain off my shoulders. I have seen the angled (football) bars, but I believe the swiss bar is the right one for me.

[silverlightning]

how do you use the bar?

[CaptnC]

Nice. I used one for the first time while in Colombia last week.

I see you guys keep mentioning the shoulders, but I felt the most relief in my wrists. Trying to do BB curls with the straight bar kills my wrists. The one like you ordered is just like the one they had in Colombia. No pain at all doing curls with this bar.

[induced_drag]

WOW...talk about service! I got the bar today already!!! Well packed and protected in shipping.

Unboxing, it looks well constructed. Very straight. Weld quality is nice and consistent. They look like they have good penetration. Finish is a nice textured black one.

I will be reviewing and updating when I have an actual chance to use it! I dont see how you could go wrong with this!

[ajdahlheimer]

Dang ID, for $240 it looks like a steal. She's a beauty!

[JOHN GARGANI]

parallel grip bars have been around for a long time....this particular one is heavy duty and has Olympic plate diameter....

looks like a quality piece of equipment!!

I have an old one, 1/3 the size of that, which I like to use for front raises......

[TouaregV8]

That does look like it would be easy on the shoulders. Nice bar. What does it weigh?

EDIT: Disregard…found answer in link above.

[Mdenatale]

WOW...talk about service! I got the bar today already!!! Well packed and protected in shipping.

Unboxing, it looks well constructed. Very straight. Weld quality is nice and consistent. They look like they have good penetration. Finish is a nice textured black one.

I will be reviewing and updating when I have an actual chance to use it! I dont see how you could go wrong with this!

Those pics answered my question, so it does fit on a standard bench or power cage. What the is weight of the empty bar?

[ajdahlheimer]

Those pics answered my question, so it does fit on a standard bench or power cage. What the is weight of the empty bar?

It's 80" long--so should fit either (Oly bench or power cage). Weighs 33 pounds per the link.

[DuracellBunny]

I saw the thread title and thought it said Swiss ball, I was about to neg you

[induced_drag]

Update:

Kids back to school so working out at home today. Got to put the bar to good use.

First off. The coating on the bar is NOT paint as I might have mentioned earlier. It is definitely a powder coat. Despite some heavy racking and unracking and sliding weights on and off, no 'paint' came off. Even at the pinch points of the rack, just flattens the 'texture' of the bar and coating is intact. I am sure over time this will have to wear, but it is a very durable coating none the less.

This may be different for different people, but for me the weight I use is WAY less. EG, on flat bench I normally will do 10-12 rep work with 315. With the swiss bar, I am only using 215 for same rep range. (2 45's on each side and the bar is 10lbs less).

It seems to take my shoulders out of the lift quite a bit and (for me transfers a lot more to the chest). It feels like weighted dips in a way with the chest activation. The grip retracts your elbows inward and takes the stress on the shoulders out. Even with a "wide" grip, your elbows track your torso. That is why I say it feels like dips in a way.

If I go over 215, the weight gets a little shaky as your pressing on a handle that may or may not be directly through the center of mass of the barbell. ANY wrist movement will cause a large weight shift. This is tough at the bottom of the press as it seems my wrists want to rotate slightly. (when the 'cage' of the bar comes down and the front hits my ribs before the back). If you rotate, you can begin a series of over corrections as the weight drifts back and fourth across the center of mass. I am sure over time, I will get better at controlling that. Regardless, 215 is all I need for now.

I did flat work and then went to inclines (which are AWESOME!). I only used 125 (45 on each side). It is amazing how well these hit me. Normally inclines tend to not feel good on my shoulders but these felt great! The angle of the 'cage' of the bar works perfect on an incline as you lower to your chest. It basically lays flat, where I was describing earlier how on flat bench, it is slightly angled.

FOR ME, I can feel this much better in my chest and less in the shoulders. Really a GREAT workout. Since my shoulders are kinda overdeveloped anyway, I am sure this wont hurt. If any it may overtime even me out a little.
Needless to say....this is a keeper. I will of course still bench heavy but this will rotate in. I may even take a few months off here and there with flat bench just to really let my shoulders get a break.

[drudixon]

Good write up id. Will have to look into one.

[Iceman1800]

I love my swiss bar. There are so many different exercises you can use it for. Try overhead presses using the widest grips, very humbling. You'll discover new ways to use it every workout.

[JRT6]

Very triceps oriented. My next bar will have the combo handles. A great thing about the bar is it's really hard to drop on your neck when benching alone although I still use a rack.

[ajdahlheimer]

Good write up id. Will have to look into one.

This. I saved the link ID put in this thread for the manufacturer. It's on my Christmas list.

ID--maybe once you get a little more comfortable with the bar, I would love to see of vids of it in action.

[induced_drag]

ID--maybe once you get a little more comfortable with the bar, I would love to see of vids of it in action.

Today was shoulder day at home so it is easy for me to shoot some vids!

First is OHP. I used the wide grip. You will see you have to lean back pretty far. I guess it is a lot like a 'log' press. Total weight is 10lbs then a standard bar (or 125 for this set). This is not a ton of weight but 4 sets of these @ 10 reps was a great way to start my workout. ZERO shoulder stress or pain. ZERO.




Next were front raises. I used a med grip here. (just slightly wider than when you use a 45lb plate). This is 55lbs. Man, you can squeeze the hell out of yourself with these. You can see the shoulder activation pretty clear. Again ZERO pain, and had to describe the squeeze you can get, but it feels REALLY good. Sometimes I even go up higher, but that brings in some traps and I am hitting deads tomorrow so I dont like to over-do them. I love this!




I did some other dumbbell work and then I finished off with some tris. Here is a CGBP with 125lbs (narrow grip). The weight is light but I am pretty fatigued at this point. If you look at my hands close you can see the overcorrections (wobble) as I drift in and out of center of mass of the bar. That is why I did not go heavier. On 'normal' flat bench, this oscillation starts happening to me around 225lbs. One thing that helps greatly is to slow the rep down and be more deliberate.

You can see the track of my elbows and how shoulder friendly this is. This feel almost like burning out with an EZ curl bar after doing skull crushers, but the hand position is nicer on the wrists and path of your arms isolates the triceps even greater. Again.....I LOVE these.

[Iceman1800]

You can put it over the top of a power rack and do neutral grip chins also

[BAVE]

I own the swiss bar and have ordered from Dean many times over the past couple years. He makes quality stuff and absolutely takes pride in his craftsmanship. Only once did I encounter an issue and dean called me and resolved it the same day.

I did inclines with the swiss bar last night and sets of 10 with a 45 on each side were enough to give me some nice DOMS today. Doesnt sound like much but take the delts out of the movement and its tougher than it sounds. BTW, definitely consider the BWTG military press bar. Its like using a trap bar with angled grips added. Great feel to standing shoulder presses.

[DirtyD79]

Sweet, a buddy of mine has one and I liked using it. I'll have to pick one up sometime.

[ajdahlheimer]

Today was shoulder day at home so it is easy for me to shoot some vids!

Really appreciate putting up the vids, ID. I am going to buy one this fall. Perhaps off the same website you used unless I can find one in a store (doubtful).

[Jtbny]

I own the swiss bar and have ordered from Dean many times over the past couple years. He makes quality stuff and absolutely takes pride in his craftsmanship. Only once did I encounter an issue and dean called me and resolved it the same day.

I did inclines with the swiss bar last night and sets of 10 with a 45 on each side were enough to give me some nice DOMS today. Doesnt sound like much but take the delts out of the movement and its tougher than it sounds. BTW, definitely consider the BWTG military press bar. Its like using a trap bar with angled grips added. Great feel to standing shoulder presses.

I've known about Dean for a while. He custom made a pull up bar to attach to my buddy's cage. He does quality work and actually lifts too . I've been eyeing one of these bars and will most likely pull the trigger when I get a rack. I'm thinking of ordering a rack from Dean as well because his craftsmanship is very very good and his customer service is top notch.

Nice write up ID.

[Jbizzlechizzle]

This looks like an excellent piece of equipment. I'll keep this in mind if I ever decide to build a home gym.

[anonymous]

I noticed the wobble suddenly becomes an issue about 200ish too, nice bar ID! I have a shug bar that I can use as a ghetto substitute but real thing is much better

[swimmer32]

Great review! Black Widow (Dean) makes some great stuff. I'm leaning towards a football bar as opposed to the swiss bar.....but it would be great to have both!

[HILMAN76]

This thread made my wallet weigh a bit less, thanks ID!


I ordered the "Multi Grip Press Bar" from Dean, this bar looks like it would make the OHP a bit easier to maneuver.

I plan on doing all my benching and OHP with this bar hopefully, I'm pretty excited, I cant wait for it to get done and arrive!

[ajdahlheimer]

This thread made my wallet weigh a bit less, thanks ID!


I ordered the "Multi Grip Press Bar" from Dean, this bar looks like it would make the OHP a bit easier to maneuver.

I plan on doing all my benching and OHP with this bar hopefully, I'm pretty excited, I cant wait for it to get done and arrive!

You got a pic of that Multi Grip Press Bar, brah? What's it look like?