Sorinex 50lb Diamond/Trap Bar Review

[darkfact]

I received my new Sorinex Diamond bar yesterday.

http://store.sorinex.com/Sorinex_50l...r_p/dbar-1.htm

I already own a Cap Mega Hex bar, but I've been seriously wanting a shrug bar that fits in a rack for quite awhile now and this bar was at the top of my list for rackable shrugs bars, so I finally pulled the trigger and ordered it. The order went very smooth from beginning to end. I emailed Sorinex once a couple days after I placed the order just to get a shipping update, and Jeff from Sorinex responded within a few hours with an answer that they were preparing the bar for shipping that day. The order and shipping was pretty fast as far as fitness stuff goes, it only took 9 days from the day I placed the order online to the day I received the bar.

The bar arrived in excellent condition, not even the normal scratches you can expect alot of equipment to come with. It was packaged well with cardboard around the body of the bar and a combo of tight bubblewrap, wrapped cardboard, and then plastic wrap all fully wrapped around each sleeve which seemed to protect it during shipping extremely well.

I've used the bar just for some basic stuff and I'm very impressed by the quality of it, the welds, the paint, and the weight of the bar are all very good quality. The knurling on the handles is pretty light, which might be nice and save my hands from some punishment, I usually lose a little skin from the aggressive knurling on my Cap mega hex bar when doing really heavy stuff with it (I don't use gloves ever). The bumpers added on each side of the hex part are a really nice touch to help protect it when not in use, especially when leaning it against the wall or something. I intend to put it through some real workouts the next two days, tomorrow it'll get some heavy dl's and shrugs, and then monday I'll try it out for some standing overhead presses inside my rack. Can't wait!!

All in all, for my first order with Sorinex I'm very pleased with their product, their communication, and the timely manner in which I received the bar. I'll definitely order from then again and already have a few of their items on my (too long) wish list lol.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to see some other pictures of the bar.

[AttyGuy]

First curling in the rack, now shrugging? With a trap bar? What next?

[fishingeek]

Very nice man. Been waiting to see the reviews on this bar...
Good stuff!

[Alchematron]

Great looking bar!

Thanx for the review

[PassinThrough]

Nice write up and a beautiful bar

[tjp15785]

I thought about getting this bar but was worried my ivanko plates wouldn't fit on it. Healthnut in his price not an issue thread had a problem with his plates not fitting on one of their items.
Thanks for the insight.

[KBKB]

That is a very solid looking bar. You're right. The paint and the welds do look very good. The rubber bumpers on the front and back are a nice touch.

Thanks for writing it up and posting the great photos!

[darkfact]

I thought about getting this bar but was worried my ivanko plates wouldn't fit on it. Healthnut in his price not an issue thread had a problem with his plates not fitting on one of their items.
Thanks for the insight.

lol interesting, I never saw that but that made me go downstairs and try every size plate to make sure.

Well, they all fit perfectly, the 1.25 - 10 lbs OMs and the 25 - 45 lbs OMEZHs fit like a glove, not loose and not tight. I'm guessing just based on the limited reading I did on Healthnuts thread that he has the rubber revolvers since most people actually think those are better (I do not), maybe the coating creates a slightly smaller diameter for the hole but I really don't know, my cast iron plates really fit really well so I'm happy.

First curling in the rack, now shrugging? With a trap bar? What next?

Power rack wrist curls.

[keyboardworkout]

Great review. What would you estimate the handle diameter to be? In the 28-30 mm range of a barbell?

Don't forget to try seated presses with it in the power rack. ;-)

[Jimbo.]

Power rack wrist curls.

One of my favorites...

Nice looking bar!

[darkfact]

Great review. What would you estimate the handle diameter to be? In the 28-30 mm range of a barbell?

Don't forget to try seated presses with it in the power rack. ;-)

Well I have this power bar:

http://www.christiansfitnessfactory....mpic-Power-Bar

and the handles on the diamond bar are a bit larger when I put the 2 side by side. I'm not sure what mm size it'd be but they're closer in size to my other shrug bar:

http://www.christiansfitnessfactory....ic-Bar-OB-91HZ

Here's a couple pics of the power bar and diamond bar grips together:

[JJ-]

Great looking bar.

[grumpytude]

oh yes, this will be mine....it will be mine. Definitely going to get one of these- thanks for the review and pics, excellent job.

[AttyGuy]

Power rack wrist curls.

The horror, the horror!

[darkfact]

Used it for heavy trap bar dl's and shrugs this afternoon. Felt great, I can't say how much just how nice it is to be able to do this inside the rack. The only problem is now I guess I need to sell my other shorter trap bar, I just don't see what I'd need it for.

I'm pretty pumped to try trap bar overhead presses tomorrow, I've never done those at all before, and not really worth trying I guess with a trap bar you can't put on a rack anyway.

[RBLOCK]

Used it for heavy trap bar dl's and shrugs this afternoon. Felt great, I can't say how much just how nice it is to be able to do this inside the rack. The only problem is now I guess I need to sell my other shorter trap bar, I just don't see what I'd need it for.

I'm pretty pumped to try trap bar overhead presses tomorrow, I've never done those at all before, and not really worth trying I guess with a trap bar you can't put on a rack anyway.

It's a really unique exercise IMO. You can get a huge range of motion standing inside the bar.

[tmonkey]

i am sold

$300 the best price i will find?

[darkfact]

i am sold

$300 the best price i will find?

I havne't seen them any cheaper. The price is the same on the sorinex site and the rogue site, not sure where else they might be sold.

[tmonkey]

I havne't seen them any cheaper. The price is the same on the sorinex site and the rogue site, not sure where else they might be sold.

rogue has it - i didn't see it on their site? I could save any shipping from then

[tjp15785]

lol interesting, I never saw that but that made me go downstairs and try every size plate to make sure.

Well, they all fit perfectly, the 1.25 - 10 lbs OMs and the 25 - 45 lbs OMEZHs fit like a glove, not loose and not tight. I'm guessing just based on the limited reading I did on Healthnuts thread that he has the rubber revolvers since most people actually think those are better (I do not), maybe the coating creates a slightly smaller diameter for the hole but I really don't know, my cast iron plates really fit really well so I'm happy.

He has the revolvers like you, I have the slotted. Both are cast. One of ivanko's tag lines are "people say our plates don't fit their bars, we think their bars don't fit our plates" I think this is to play on their exactness. Glad to hear they fit.

[darkfact]

rogue has it - i didn't see it on their site? I could save any shipping from then

2nd bar down on the list:

http://www.roguefitness.com/sorinex-strongman-bars.php

He has the revolvers like you, I have the slotted. Both are cast. One of ivanko's tag lines are "people say our plates don't fit their bars, we think their bars don't fit our plates" I think this is to play on their exactness. Glad to hear they fit.

Yeah I've heard that many times too. I dunno, I've owned revolvers for 6 years or so, I have 6 or 7 bars, I've had or have tons of plate loaded machines, and never had any issues at all with fit. I first used the revolvers in a gym with god knows how many different brands of bars there and never had any issues. At this point it's not really even on my radar when I buy something, I feel safe assuming they'll fit.

However, if someday they don't fit on something, it ain't the plates that are gonna go lol

[SDSammy]

http://www.christiansfitnessfactory....ic-Bar-OB-91HZ

Thanks for the review. Any chance of getting a pic of the two shrug bars side by side? I'm just curious as to how they compare (size wise) since I'm about to buy one. One of the bars I had been considering is the Cap shrug bar you state you also own.

[darkfact]

Thanks for the review. Any chance of getting a pic of the two shrug bars side by side? I'm just curious as to how they compare (size wise) since I'm about to buy one. One of the bars I had been considering is the Cap shrug bar you state you also own.

Yeah I'll post a side by side pic tomorrow, I have no clue how to put the pics I take from the camera onto my pc so I gotta wait for the wife to help. Lame, I know :P

I can tell you this right now though, trust me, if you have a power rack or if there's ever a chance you'll buy a power rack get the sorinex bar. The only thing the cap mega hex has that the sorinex doesn't is the raised handles, and with a power rack you can set the bar to whatever height you want obviously making the raised handles a moot point.

[gp92089]

.... Need to stop looking at equipment section! Glad you got it Darkfact! Anyways what's your opinion do you see bar bending if dropped on rack safeties with a heavy weight such as doing shrugs or failing at standing press?

[darkfact]

.... Need to stop looking at equipment section! Glad you got it Darkfact! Anyways what's your opinion do you see bar bending if dropped on rack safeties with a heavy weight such as doing shrugs or failing at standing press?

No bending that I could tell. Dropped 370lbs shrugs on the safety's today and the bar held up really well IMO.

[tjp15785]

2nd bar down on the list:
At this point it's not really even on my radar when I buy something, I feel safe assuming they'll fit.

However, if someday they don't fit on something, it ain't the plates that are gonna go lol

that makes me feel better, I just started getting equipment for home and thought I was going to be married to ivanko.

[Kodokan]

Great looking bar! This has me wanting to sell my regular trap bar and upgrade...

Did you end up trying the shoulder press? I wonder if it could be safely used for a rack bench press without knocking your teeth out.

[tombro]

hey great looking bar but if u already have a regular trap bar for deads as I do, and u were just looking for something extra to do heavy shrugs which it sounds like u are, for the 375 ud spend on that, I'd do this instead, id get the elitefts football swiss bar for 300, as that bar can be used for overhead presses plus about 10-15 other exercises. then for 250, id get the rickshaw like the one elite makes that some guy on this website (i dont remember what post it was under, but im sure it wont take more than 3 minutes to locate it because it was from last week) makes one himself and ships it for 250 bucks and claims its identical to the one elite sells for 800, and use that machine strictly for shrugging.

this reasoning makes sense because
1. in a home gym, you want to spend as little money as possible to get as many moves as possible for that money, so w my way, for 550, ud get a total of about 15 moves with the two items, and with that sorinex bar, ud get literally 3 moves for 375 dollars
2. that bar must be a pain in the butthole to move and store after each use. I know for a fact that the biggest day to day pain in the butt i have in my gym is moving my cambered squat bar between uses, and that bar just as, if not moreso on the bulky side.
just a thought

[gp92089]

To anyone interested you can get it cheaper going through the www.roguefitness.com

It came out to $341.59 compared to around $390 from sorinex.

[Kodokan]

hey great looking bar but if u already have a regular trap bar for deads as I do, and u were just looking for something extra to do heavy shrugs which it sounds like u are, for the 375 ud spend on that, I'd do this instead, id get the elitefts football swiss bar for 300, as that bar can be used for overhead presses plus about 10-15 other exercises. then for 250, id get the rickshaw like the one elite makes that some guy on this website (i dont remember what post it was under, but im sure it wont take more than 3 minutes to locate it because it was from last week) makes one himself and ships it for 250 bucks and claims its identical to the one elite sells for 800, and use that machine strictly for shrugging.

this reasoning makes sense because
1. in a home gym, you want to spend as little money as possible to get as many moves as possible for that money, so w my way, for 550, ud get a total of about 15 moves with the two items, and with that sorinex bar, ud get literally 3 moves for 375 dollars
2. that bar must be a pain in the butthole to move and store after each use. I know for a fact that the biggest day to day pain in the butt i have in my gym is moving my cambered squat bar between uses, and that bar just as, if not moreso on the bulky side.
just a thought

I hear you on the bulk/pain...I mainly squat with the EFS yoke bar these days and it is a huge pain to move in and out of the rack. I've thought about the swiss bar as well...it really does look like a great piece of equipment as well.

I'll see if I can find the rickshaw you're mentioning...it sounds interesting.