Freedom Strength were kind enough to donate one of their 20KG Olympic Lifting bars to a local school club, St Birinus Weightlifting Club. We have completed lots training sessions on the bar over the past few months and here’s the review below.
We have decided to rate the bar on five key areas; grip, explosion, general wear & tear, bearings & rotation and value for money.
Grip
The bar has two markings which means it can be used for Olympic Lifting and Power Lifting. The markings closest to the edge resemble that of a competition bar. When in the Clean grip position the bar is quite rough and will take a period of getting used to. The roughness of a bar is down to personal preference, we at St. Birinus prefer a sharp bar so it suits us well.
Explosion/ Hip Drive
When driving your hips into the bar there is a good amount of “spring” you get back from the bar making the hip drive more powerful. It also makes a great sound!
Value For Money
A Freedom Strength bar costs around half the price of an Eleiko training bar and, although they are not made to the same standards as Eleiko, still act as an good substitute.
General Wear & Tear
Now, we can’t say exactly how the bar will fair over a long period of time but over the past 3 months we’ve been using it, we haven’t found any problems what-so-ever.
Bearings & Rotation
When dropping into a Snatch or catching a Clean, the bar spins very nicely. There are no “hiccups” along the path of the bar.
Due to the low price of the bar and the overall great quality we would recommend this to any club looking to start out or just purchase a bar without having to pull to hard at the purse strings.
**We would rate this bar a solid 8.5/10**
Barbells can be purchased from Freedom Strength here.
