The EliteFTS American Camber Bar review

[Roidmonster55]

It’s been a while since I bought a piece of equipment, I’ve had my eyes on this bar for a while and decided to snap it up when I saw it on sale for $260 + free shipping (normally around $300 plus shipping).

Those of you who know me in here, I am a self professed equipment whore and I will buy almost any contraption even if I use it once and it sits in a corner forever after. I have a few Rogue grip bars already but this one is a bit more exciting and IMO a tad more applicable.

This bar has a 2-inch camber in the center and all the grips are angled.










Paint: Excellent. Seems to be thicker than Rogue’s. Perhaps sturdier. But time will tell.

Welding/construction: Excellent. Again, seems a bit better than Rogue’s. A few of my Rogue bars have sloppy “blobs” of welding. This EliteFTS is consistent and clean. Mind you, I am not knocking Rogue, these are just objective observations.

Performance. Absolutely outstanding. The outermost grips are positioned perfectly for pec activation. The cambering forces an additional 2 inches of stretch on your pecs that you definitely can’t ignore. The added ROM reduced my poundages and my rep range. Nothing too extreme but it is still worth noting.

The second set of grips is roughly shoulder width, giving an even distribution of pec/tri activation. Not so sure how often I will use these.

The innermost V-grip is very shortly spaced. Think of doing diamond push ups. Very intense, put since it is inside the cambering you do not get the added ROM.

The second grips (out from center) is absolutely brutal. They are angled slightly different, and you get the benefit of the added ROM. This puts a stretch on the triceps that you can really feel. This will be a new staple in my tricep routine.

Another great feature of the camber is bent over rows. The Rogue bars are clunky and awkward for rowing, but this bar excels.

Overall, this bar is going to be my new go-to for many, many workouts to come. I absolutely love it!

[jdboyd78]

I have this bar with the neutral grip and I love it. It can destroy your triceps.

[Roidmonster55]

I have this bar with the neutral grip and I love it. It can destroy your triceps.

I considered getting it when it debuted but I’m glad I waited for the angle grips. A lot of tension off the shoulders. And spot on about the triceps. There is nothing that compares when it comes to tricep work.

[jdboyd78]

My innermost grips are V shaped, I personally can't use it, it just kills my wrists. Maybe I just don't setup right to use them. The majority of the time, I use the grips that are about shoulder width and bring it all the way down, the tricep pump is insane with moderate reps.

[Roidmonster55]

My innermost grips are V shaped, I personally can't use it, it just kills my wrists. Maybe I just don't setup right to use them. The majority of the time, I use the grips that are about shoulder width and bring it all the way down, the tricep pump is insane with moderate reps.

The innermost grips are hard on the wrist, the exact same problem is with the Rogue MG-3. Try pressing in decline. This helps tremendously for me

[Garage Rat]

I have this bar also,love it!
Ill add that basically with the angled handles your doing a semi supinated grip or turn the bar around semi pronated grip.
The camber can also be used like a board press for decreased range of motion.
The only other thing is for someone new to this type of bar is the sleeves don't revolve like a standard oly bar so balancing it when you take it off the J hooks must be precise or your wrists will go forward or back.
Once you get use to it though it's nice and saves the shoulders IMO.

[Roidmonster55]

I have this bar also,love it!
Ill add that basically with the angled handles your doing a semi supinated grip or turn the bar around semi pronated grip.
The camber can also be used like a board press for decreased range of motion.
The only other thing is for someone new to this type of bar is the sleeves don't revolve like a standard oly bar so balancing it when you take it off the J hooks must be precise or your wrists will go forward or back.
Once you get use to it though it's nice and saves the shoulders IMO.

Lol, stabilizing a grip bar for the first time is scary! My first grip bar was Rogue’s original MG-1 (the 65-pound monster with the olympic collar supporting sleeves) and I nearly dropped the b!tch on myself

[jdboyd78]

I have this bar also,love it!
Ill add that basically with the angled handles your doing a semi supinated grip or turn the bar around semi pronated grip.
The camber can also be used like a board press for decreased range of motion.
The only other thing is for someone new to this type of bar is the sleeves don't revolve like a standard oly bar so balancing it when you take it off the J hooks must be precise or your wrists will go forward or back.
Once you get use to it though it's nice and saves the shoulders IMO.

yea, flipping it over for board presses works very well, especially when working out alone.

[Synthetickiller]

The angled grip version was on my short list of bars & having other lifters confirm how good of a bar either version is, but it's not even listed on EliteFTS's site anymore.
The only related item are the pulldown attachments.

[Roidmonster55]

The angled grip version was on my short list of bars & having other lifters confirm how good of a bar either version is, but it's not even listed on EliteFTS's site anymore.
The only related item are the pulldown attachments.

That’s absolutely insane, I just bought this thing 5 weeks ago. It’s completely gone, I can’t even find it in a google search. Maybe I got it so cheap because they were having clearance. I seriously must have bought the last one o_o

[Sboarder1964]

Yes, it looks like this bar was removed from the line up: https://www.elitefts.com/cambered-swiss-bar.html

Perhaps they'll add it back if they restock. However, it looks like the Titan Multi-Grip Camber Bar (does not have the angled grips) is running it out of the market.

[radrd]

Yes, it looks like this bar was removed from the line up: https://www.elitefts.com/cambered-swiss-bar.html

Perhaps they'll add it back if they restock. However, it looks like the Titan Multi-Grip Camber Bar (does not have the angled grips) is running it out of the market.

Maybe if EliteFTS figured out how to charge reasonable shipping rates this wouldn't happen.

[gidik60630]

I followed the subject.

[Deep-Voiced-One]

Maybe if EliteFTS figured out how to charge reasonable shipping rates this wouldn't happen.

Agreed, sometimes I think EliteFTS just wings their shipping prices just to pocket some insincere commission off of people and all of their cryptic deals that aren't really direct promotional offers are always a real treat as well lol...the only thing that saves them sometimes is that they do have some nice select products here and there...

[radrd]

Agreed, sometimes I think EliteFTS just wings their shipping prices just to pocket some insincere commission off of people and all of their cryptic deals that aren't really direct promotional offers are always a real treat as well lol...the only thing that saves them sometimes is that they do have some nice select products here and there...

To be fair, one time I was curious and tried to calculate how much it costs to ship a barbell from their location, and fully insured UPS Ground was in the ballpark of what Elite charges. However, I'd think they do enough volume to get a better rate than I would. And even if they don't, they should know shipping fees aren't something consumers take lightly and adjust their margins to eat some of it. There's a very good chance I'd own some of their gear if they did. Instead, they have $0 from me.

[Deep-Voiced-One]

To be fair, one time I was curious and tried to calculate how much it costs to ship a barbell from their location, and fully insured UPS Ground was in the ballpark of what Elite charges. However, I'd think they do enough volume to get a better rate than I would. And even if they don't, they should know shipping fees aren't something consumers take lightly and adjust their margins to eat some of it. There's a very good chance I'd own some of their gear if they did. Instead, they have $0 from me.

They must have it out for New Englanders then lol, because both EliteFTS and Rogue are in Ohio and when I was in the market and looking at both the EliteFTS 0-90 Collegiate bench and the Rogue Adjustable 2.0 bench (which I caught a deal on the latter second hand a few years back) the Rogue was around $300 cheaper to ship while the EliteFTS capped off at about a grand to be shipped to my door if I went that route (I even talked to the sales rep at EliteFTS just to receive that above quote).

Another strange one was when the shipping from EliteFTS in Ohio was more expensive to ship something to me than a piece of custom equipment shipped by freight to me from Idaho at the time and while both those states are far from me, Idaho is a farther travel distance than Ohio.

I didn't really dig deep into the technical aspects those times, but they seem shady with their shipping and quotes compared to other companies which have comparable, or even better versions of some items than what they have to offer (example the Rogue Adjustable 2.0 has an extra adjustment angle at way less than the EliteFTS 0-90 Collegiate bench...although I will give credit to EliteFTS on having different variety colored frames, but who cares if it's at an unreasonable premium and I heard their seat pad adjustment angle would sometimes have a bit of play locking into it due to their ladder design being a bit more basic than the more well thought out Rogue version).

Just my rant and right on that they could do better with their shipping prices based on volume of sales.

[Duplicitous]

The angled grip version was on my short list of bars & having other lifters confirm how good of a bar either version is, but it's not even listed on EliteFTS's site anymore.
The only related item are the pulldown attachments.

They ditched the Reps Direct football bar also. Maybe they're slimming down their offerings or perhaps manufacturing has stalled.

[MGM711]

They ditched the Reps Direct football bar also. Maybe they're slimming down their offerings or perhaps manufacturing has stalled.

I can't remember where I saw or heard this, but I remember seeing or hearing that Rep Direct went out of business, could be a reason why it was pulled from the site.

At any rate, it's a well known fact that EliteFTS and Sorinex are the kings of terribly high shipping rates, couple that with their various camber and swiss bars are direct competitors with the KS Kadillac Bar, and on the lower side, the Titan bars are nearly the same at half the price, they probably aren't a very good selling item, especially the way shipping prices have escalated, I'm sure their shipping rates are even worse now!

[Cleveland33]

They must have it out for New Englanders then lol, because both EliteFTS and Rogue are in Ohio and when I was in the market and looking at both the EliteFTS 0-90 Collegiate bench and the Rogue Adjustable 2.0 bench (which I caught a deal on the latter second hand a few years back) the Rogue was around $300 cheaper to ship while the EliteFTS capped off at about a grand to be shipped to my door if I went that route (I even talked to the sales rep at EliteFTS just to receive that above quote).

Another strange one was when the shipping from EliteFTS in Ohio was more expensive to ship something to me than a piece of custom equipment shipped by freight to me from Idaho at the time and while both those states are far from me, Idaho is a farther travel distance than Ohio.

I didn't really dig deep into the technical aspects those times, but they seem shady with their shipping and quotes compared to other companies which have comparable, or even better versions of some items than what they have to offer (example the Rogue Adjustable 2.0 has an extra adjustment angle at way less than the EliteFTS 0-90 Collegiate bench...although I will give credit to EliteFTS on having different variety colored frames, but who cares if it's at an unreasonable premium and I heard their seat pad adjustment angle would sometimes have a bit of play locking into it due to their ladder design being a bit more basic than the more well thought out Rogue version).

Just my rant and right on that they could do better with their shipping prices based on volume of sales.

I don't know how much difference it makes but Elite's benches and racks are made by Williams and shipping from SC - I don't think Elite actually warehouses anything they sell except maybe the accessories and apparel.