The guys who grew up in Long Beach, N.Y. in the 1950’s and ‘60’s had a reputation for being knuckleheads. Not all obviously, that would be an oversimplification and of course, broad-ranged stereotyping. Thus I will more accurately state that many of the guys I grew up with or hung out with in Long Beach, N.Y., fellows who grew up in the city, (and the politicians are very quick to point out that “Long Beach is only one of two actual, official cities on Long Island,” making it ripe for political shenanigans that have plagued it for decades), were knuckleheads. Although I was an athlete who was obsessed with my lifting and pursuit of football success, many in the crowd drank alcohol and most of us viewed street fights as adjunctive fitness training. My background has given me a compact grouping of reflexive responses when I am asked, “Can I speak to you for a minute?” that range from taking a step back and assuming a defensive body posture to the verbal jab of “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”
I began last month’s column, Part 78 in our series, with the statement, “Very few individuals awaken and begin their day with the thought that the world needs another barbell set.” I was clear that at some point in time, TITAN SUPPORT SYSTEM founder Pete Alaniz had that exact thought and over the course of approximately eighteen months, the result was TITEX. We have had a quite a bit of reaction and response to the announcement of the product release, the appearance of the set, and commentary on the performance of the new barbell and plates by some of those who utilized them in their debut at “The Arnold.”
Very few individuals awaken and begin their day with the thought that the world needs another barbell set. In our ongoing TITAN SUPPORT SYSTEMS series of articles, we have explored, discussed, and dissected the evolution of barbells as they have been utilized in our sport of powerlifting. There are a number of quality barbells on today’s market, and some perfectly suited to the needs of the powerlifter. Ivanko, Eleiko, the original Capps Texas Barbell, and others manufacture bars specifically for powerlifting. There are many “older” bars floating around the training community, used but in exceptionally functional condition. Dependent upon the year and series run, some of the York barbells can be depended upon to give continuing good service past the decades they have already been in use. Should one be fortunate enough to stumble upon one of Jim Sutherland’s Hastings Barbells manufactured in the early 1980’s, they will have an underrated model that had limited distribution, that still has every advantage of the newest barbells on today’s market. Our facility utilizes a seventeen year old Leoko bar that has seen daily service without complaint. There are companies that make Olympic weightlifting bars that are very applicable to powerlifting and while I would not own, use, or “gift” any of the junk imported bars that claim “1500 pound test” for example, almost all non-competitive trainees could spend a lifetime under one of these barbells with little risk of injury or product failure.
Our ongoing series of articles has been very much focused upon the development of the sport of powerlifting, the unfortunate growth of specialization in the distinct and different aspects of the Iron Game, and the evolution of the equipment utilized in powerlifting. There can be no complaint about the evolution of equipment. We have moved from large, cumbersome, and very heavy pieces that were in fact necessary to preserve the safety of participants both in training and in competition, to better designed, lighter, and while being lighter, stronger equipment.
In Denmark, powerlifter Erik Rasmussen gave quite a bit of thought to the equipment needs of himself and his training partners. As a steel fabricator, perhaps this was a natural progression, but his love of powerlifting and joy in his work came together to produce the next evolution in powerlifting equipment. While there is very good and very poor equipment on the powerlifting market, there is no denying the fact that there is certainly a lot of it available to the consumer. Portable squat racks, permanent squat racks, stand alone squat racks, connected squat racks, power racks, utility benches that are modular fits for power racks, competition bench presses, and of course, an almost overwhelming variety of “powerlifting barbells” makes for a confusing but consumer friendly market.