History of Powerlifting, Weightlifting and Strength Training – Number 20

Most beginning lifters have no concept of “a good bar” when they begin their lifting careers. Most of us who began training in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s had a similar attitude: any bar that could serve as a safe and useable barbell was considered to be a “good barbell.” We all viewed the Olympic barbell to be the ultimate tool and beyond the financial reach of almost everyone I was acquainted with. As I noted numerous times within this series, not every commercial gym and certainly few home gyms offered an Olympic bar and the accompanying large-holed plates. In these storefront establishments and in the big city YMCA’s that almost always had their lifting equipment stashed in the basement, it was made clear by the individual in charge that the Olympic bar was for special use. The three Olympic lifts and their variations, any type of squat, and deadlifts were “acceptable” on the bar but for many years, even bench pressing with the Olympic bar was discouraged. When the bench press became a competitive powerlifting event, it then became “okay” to see what one could do “officially” while training and the Olympic barbell set was seen as the only true measure while in the gym. Of course, the plates, if not the milled York Barbell Company plates, could be six or seven pounds lighter or heavier than their stated 45 pounds but this was still the official barometer for lifters, both in the gym and on the competitive platform. For most of us however, any bar that did not bend, was not bent, and approximated the feel of the real Olympic bar was quite acceptable for training.

Fortunately, as the sport evolved, so did the barbell, allowing for safe training. In a famous quote made to me in 1978 by York Barbell Company President John Terpak regarding the York power bar, he made very clear the “state of the art” of barbell manufacturing. We were both spectators at George Turner’s Heart Of America Powerlifting Championships in St. Louis, held in December of that year. We were discussing the rather tremendous weights used in the squat by numerous highly ranked lifters who were competing that day, some among the best in the world. With Kaz, Mike Bridges, and Marvin Phillips on the platform, that trio alone would test the quality of any bar and I said something along the lines of “I hope these new York powerlifting bars hold all of that weight.” In a display of candor that reflected the relationship I had with him, Mr. Terpak looked at me and said, “Well, manufacturing bars is a lot like baking cookies. Some batches are really good, some aren’t.” He went on to explain that he too hoped that “the ends don’t fall off of any of the bars” and if I choked a bit, it was out of surprise to hear “York’s guy” make this statement. He told me that they had been informed of an incident where a sleeve had broken off of a York power bar recently and came to this contest in part to observe the performance of the York equipment as well as the top level lifters. Up to this point in time, despite almost twenty years of training, I had not given a lot of consideration to the quality of my bars and certainly never thought one could literally break. Despite living very modestly due to family responsibilities, my personal collection had through my years of training to this point, included a York Olympic bar, the York Swedish steel bar noted in the January 2010 column, and a Mav-Rik Olympic barbell. The Mav-Rik bar was manufactured in the Los Angeles area by long time Olympic lifter and official Bob Hise Senior and my relationship with him led me to purchase his bar. As a metallurgist, Bob was as expected, well versed on the various technical specifications of every bar on the market and I learned a great deal listening to him when we conversed. I also had a few pairs of his bumper plates whose composition later had to be altered because, for those who remember, when dropped to the platform, they would at times bounce as high as chest or neck level.