I pulled in to my driveway yesterday afternoon, straining my eyes for the hoped for package on the porch, and THERE IT WAS!!! Please pardon my gushing, but I'm so excited! This barbell is gorgeous! Okay, who woulda' thought there was beauty in weights equipment, but there it is! 
The only bummer is that they forgot my easy release collars. I called the company, but the person who needs to deal with it left for the weekend. Ah well. But I put my regular collars on, and they work just fine, so I can hold out until we get this straightened out. I immediately loaded it up with 35 lbs and did a few experimental squats. It felt great! It's about the same cushiness as my 15 lb bodybar, a little cushier than my 18 lb champion pro bar. It's about the same diameter as the bodybar ( about 1.5" ) as well.
If anyone has been awaiting a hands on report, wait no more! This bar is fantastic! I can't compare it to the Firm bar, having never laid hands on one, but the pics look identical. And I really don't see how the Firm one could be much better. Yes, I'm in LOVE!
I did a modified total body workout with CTX, so I could get a full range of barbell exercises with my new Ivanko. I didn't do all sets of every exercise and I FFed through a somethings I just didn't want to do ( like pushups ), but was able to put together a workout similar to MIS pretty easily. MIS was sold a couple of weeks ago to pay for its DVD replacement.
This bar is pure heaven on the shoulders during lower body work. I have a bar pad for my easy curl bar, but this is much better. It's easier to get a straight bar into a comfy position. I can shift the bar around without causing my bar pad to skooch around and cause the velcro part to end up on my shoulders, scratching them up and slowly coming undone until I have metal on my back, making the pad pretty useless. ( This has happened on MANY occasions with my other bar. )
A few random thoughts: When doing dead lifts and other overhand grip exercises, it was more comfortable to hold it with my thumb next to my fingers than wrapped around the bar. Underhand grip exerises I held the bar my usual way, and it felt fine. Like Nancy C. mentioned with the Firm barbell, when my hands are at their widest grip, right up against the plates, they are in the perfect goalpost position you're looking for with chest presses. By the end my "gripper" was pretty fatigued, so the biceps curls were less comfortable than they were in my practice curls earlier. I don't think this will be an issue in either split workouts or if biceps are done a little earlier on.
All in all I couldn't be happier with this barbell! It's everything I was hoping it would be. The workmanship is high quality. It's very comfortable to use, and it looks great with my black plates. ( Just a minor, but fun, point! )
Here's the ordering info, for anyone who is interested:
Orthotech Sports
1-800-266-4967
Todd Mork is the guy I spoke to. It's a padded aerobic bar. The price was $18.75 plus shipping, which was something like $9.50. They said it would take 2 weeks to arrive, and it was exactly that. The bar gets shipped directly from Ivanko in CA, even though you're ordering from Orthotech in IL.
For anyone who missed the original thread, here is a link to the bar on Ivanko's home page:
http://www.ivanko.com/products/prd_text/Aerobicbar.html
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Erin
The only bummer is that they forgot my easy release collars. I called the company, but the person who needs to deal with it left for the weekend. Ah well. But I put my regular collars on, and they work just fine, so I can hold out until we get this straightened out. I immediately loaded it up with 35 lbs and did a few experimental squats. It felt great! It's about the same cushiness as my 15 lb bodybar, a little cushier than my 18 lb champion pro bar. It's about the same diameter as the bodybar ( about 1.5" ) as well.If anyone has been awaiting a hands on report, wait no more! This bar is fantastic! I can't compare it to the Firm bar, having never laid hands on one, but the pics look identical. And I really don't see how the Firm one could be much better. Yes, I'm in LOVE!
I did a modified total body workout with CTX, so I could get a full range of barbell exercises with my new Ivanko. I didn't do all sets of every exercise and I FFed through a somethings I just didn't want to do ( like pushups ), but was able to put together a workout similar to MIS pretty easily. MIS was sold a couple of weeks ago to pay for its DVD replacement.
This bar is pure heaven on the shoulders during lower body work. I have a bar pad for my easy curl bar, but this is much better. It's easier to get a straight bar into a comfy position. I can shift the bar around without causing my bar pad to skooch around and cause the velcro part to end up on my shoulders, scratching them up and slowly coming undone until I have metal on my back, making the pad pretty useless. ( This has happened on MANY occasions with my other bar. )
A few random thoughts: When doing dead lifts and other overhand grip exercises, it was more comfortable to hold it with my thumb next to my fingers than wrapped around the bar. Underhand grip exerises I held the bar my usual way, and it felt fine. Like Nancy C. mentioned with the Firm barbell, when my hands are at their widest grip, right up against the plates, they are in the perfect goalpost position you're looking for with chest presses. By the end my "gripper" was pretty fatigued, so the biceps curls were less comfortable than they were in my practice curls earlier. I don't think this will be an issue in either split workouts or if biceps are done a little earlier on.
All in all I couldn't be happier with this barbell! It's everything I was hoping it would be. The workmanship is high quality. It's very comfortable to use, and it looks great with my black plates. ( Just a minor, but fun, point!
)Here's the ordering info, for anyone who is interested:
Orthotech Sports
1-800-266-4967
Todd Mork is the guy I spoke to. It's a padded aerobic bar. The price was $18.75 plus shipping, which was something like $9.50. They said it would take 2 weeks to arrive, and it was exactly that. The bar gets shipped directly from Ivanko in CA, even though you're ordering from Orthotech in IL.
For anyone who missed the original thread, here is a link to the bar on Ivanko's home page:
http://www.ivanko.com/products/prd_text/Aerobicbar.html
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Erin
