#42 More on Rotating Sleeves

Sorry, there is no Santa Claus and you can efficiently and effectively squat 800 pounds with a non-rotating barbell. It came as no surprise that one of the major distributors of a well known brand of barbells communicated in an unflattering manner. One of the statements often used in our facility, and one I have uttered for perhaps thirty years to our trainees, is that “I don’t make up the facts, I’m just reporting them.” as we apply what I believe is the best and most useable information to the training programs of the athletes we are responsible for. Regarding my October Titan/Eleiko article, Tom from Ivanko himself noted, “Well… we are force-fed all this crap by a lot of marketing people that are holding themselves out as knowledgeable experts in the field. Much is only gimmicks to increase the price of the product. The price of a bar should be largely determined by the cost of using a good alloy steel and hi-tech manufacturing techniques to transform the steel into a hi-performance tool of the trade, not gimmicks and hype.“ I agree and believe that Ivanko Barbell Company has the major share of the market for the obvious reason that Tom and his staff deliver the best product for the best price and do so consistently.

The great Roger Estep was among the strongest lifters of his day and obviously demonstrated one of powerlifting’s best muscular physiques (previously unpublished photo courtesy of Mike Lambert, PLUSA Magazine)

One of our readers e mailed:

“…another great article that makes you go ‘hmm’ ……I was under the impression and led to believe, that rotating sleeves took the stiffness or torque off the wrists – making curls in the power rack smoother and more comfortable. After 40 years of lifting and thanks to you, an un-ending quest to train on the ‘best stuff’, I should`ve just kept my first barbell – a ‘DP’ vinyl set – solid bar with a cheap aluminum sleeve autographed by Bruce Randall…who knew ?”

Despite the obvious sarcasm in referencing vinyl plates and doing curls within the power rack, as per my reference in last month’s installment, this is a legitimate observation/question. I was clear that in some applications, such as Olympic lifting movements like the clean or snatch, there was an advantage to using a barbell with a rotating sleeve. There will not be so much “rotation” when doing a curl that using a barbell with a rotating sleeve becomes a necessity. There is an exercise we did as young men, never popular but seen at times in the late 1950’s to the early to mid-1960’s as a result of John Jesse’s training books. Jesse was a highly respected track and field coach who authored a number of books on strength training and conditioning. These were pioneering efforts for his day and he occasionally had an article in one of Weider’s magazines. Jesse espoused what were the “usual” basic, common sense themes of training and I purchased a few of his books. One program for football players included an exercise called “Power Curls” which was a power clean from the floor, with a curl, or reverse grip. It was perhaps as awkward to perform as it is to describe but with a bit of practice, proved to be an enjoyable, full body, hard, demanding, and productive movement. If one recalls Karl Norberg, the San Francisco longshoreman who performed incredible feats of strength and went head-to-head with the great John Grimek in an oft-cited lifting exhibition, this reverse curl type of clean was the way he elevated the barbell to his chest before pressing it.

Karl Norberg was a relatively untrained but hard working guy who had spent a lifetime doing physical labor when he had his famous lifting encounter with John Grimek in 1941. Not utilizing the best of equipment still made him one of the strongest men of his day, into his eighties.

Our group of guys, using a chrome vanadium York bar that was non-rotating, with screw-on inside collars and “small-holed” plates, adopted the “reverse curl from the floor” movement with good results. The non-rotating sleeves never proved to be a hindrance nor injury provoking factor. For those interested in obtaining one of John Jesse’s best books, go to memorabilia expert Bill Hinbern’s site. Bill has reprinted a quantity of classic training books and manuals and is “the place” to find the training courses and hard to get materials from the turn of the century through the modern era. Bill Hinbern’s Super Strength Training site can be accessed at www.superstrengthtraining.com and there, you can get John Jesse’s comprehensive book “Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia” which is considered one of the best works on both amateur style wrestling and physical training. The specific link for the book is: www.superstrengthtraining.com/john_jesse.html

Another factor to consider when choosing a barbell for the three powerlifts is bar diameter but I will have another month’s worth of commentary before getting to that.