The Nine Pound Pole
Written: Apr 27 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: portable, easy to use, versatile
Cons: The color and weight label peels off- won't bring rating down.
The Bottom Line: The Body Bar is a nice way to work all your muscles. It is portable and easy to use.
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| jo.com's Full Review: SPRI Products Body Bar Nine Pounds SPR0246 |
Once I discovered Body Bars by Spri I bought them to use them with clients. I find myself using them when I am home and have not gone to the gym as well (I am a personal trainer) and find them useful. This is a review of the 9 pound bar.
What is this?
The Body Bar is a solid steel weighted bar. In the gym I use different weights depending on what I am doing. I think the Body Bar is a good addition to your home gym especially if you have a couple of sets of dumbbells. If you lift light weights then the 9 pound Body Bar is a good choice. I recommend the 9 pound Spri Body Bar for women primarily. I feel that a man may be able to handle the 15 pound bar even if he is recovering from an injury.
The Body Bar has thick foam rubber padding around it. This makes the bar comfortable to use and gives me a secure grip. You will not need gloves when using the Body Bar.
I do not recommend the Body Bar for children. I also would suggest that you not allow them to play with your weights. Even light weights can hurt someone, even kill someone if thrown.
The bar is less than 2 inches in diameter. The 9 pound bar is 4 feet long. Each bar is color coded at the ends with smooth rubber caps to make it easy to know what weight you are using. The 9 pound bar is color coded in pink. All the bars are black. However the Spri Body Bar has the weight written right on it so it is pretty hard not to know how much the bar weighs. Having said that, I have found that the areas on each end where the color and weight can be found peels off. So you may only know what it weighs if there is some of the paper left on it. This is the one negative to the bar. Other than the fact they have put the color and weight on paper that peels, the bar is indestructible.
A plus for those working out at home or the beginner is the fact the body bar gives you even weight distribution for stability. In plain English this is what I mean by that statement. When you use dumbbells each hand has to do its own work. That is fantastic and one of the reasons we love dumbbells. However if you find that one arm is weak using a bar alleviates that weakness.
What happens is the other arm will compensate for the weak arm. If your goal is to get into fantastic shape and gain strength, at some point you will want to add dumbbells to your routine to make that weak arm work. So there are pros and cons to the Body Bar. Certainly for many, the bar is the better choice or combined with dumbbells an excellent choice.
The Spri Body Bar is portable and takes up little room. You can just stand it up or lie it down in a corner. Since it is encased in rubber with no metal on it at all, you don’t have to worry about it scratching your floor or catching on your carpeting.
An instruction sheet comes with the Body Bar depending on where you buy it.
Ok personal trainer, what should I do with this bar?
I am going to start with what I do not want you do to. You may be surprised to hear me say this. I do not want you to put the bar behind you and bend from side to side. You may naturally do this because we used to. You may think it will whittle away your waist. First of all you cannot spot reduce. Second of all some of us think that using weights when bending side to side may thicken your waist. You can stretch from side to side. You will do that in Yoga or Pilates or just to stretch out your muscles. It is only when you add weight to it that I have a concern. You can put the bar behind you and twist from right to left. That is fine. That works your oblique muscles (the muscles at the sides of your waist.) It is quite tempting to use it behind your back. Many of us grew up using wooden bars to whittle away our waists! Try not to be tempted.
When I work my shoulders I use a lighter weight than for any other body part. At 9 pounds this Body Bar is the next to the lightest. The 6 pound bar is the lightest made by Spri. Since a lighter weight is ideal for shoulders I believe because they can be prone to injury more than other muscles, we will do an upright row with the Spri 9 pound Body Bar. An upright row works the front deltoids (shoulders) as well as the back. You will stand and hold the Body Bar with an overhand grip. Your hands should be about 8 to 10 inches apart. The bar will be hanging in front of you. You will lift it straight up keeping it as close to your body as possible until it touches your chin. You do not want your body swinging in the movement. Make sure it is your shoulders and back that are lifting the Body Bar and not momentum.
After you do 3 sets of 12 repetitions of the upright row you can now use the Spri Body Bar to stretch out your back and shoulders. You will stand the Bar up and hold onto the top. Put the bar out in front of you and lean over so that your back is straight. When in this position move the bar away from you and you will feel a really nice stretch. You can do this in between each set.
You can also be creative with the Spri Body Bar. If you have Spri Resistance Tubes you can put each handle on the ends of the bar, step on the tube and do squats. This will give you more resistance, in effect, adding weight to the bar without having to own plates for a dumbbell.
My Final Thoughts:
The 9 pound Body Bar is perfect for the newcomer to resistance training and those with injuries or disabilities who cannot lift more.
I highly recommend this if you are looking for a piece of equipment that will work more than one body part safely.
Please talk with your doctor before starting any exercise routine and make sure you know how to use the Body Bar so you do not get hurt.
The 9 pound Spri Body Bar will run you about $30.00.
Please feel free to leave me a comment or question. Thanks for reading. jo
Other reviews of products by Spri which you may be interested in:
Spri Products Xerball Medicine Balls • Spri Xerdisc • Spri 12 pound Body Bar • Spri 15 pound Body Bar • Spri Very Light Tubes • Spri Light Tubes • Spri Foam Rollers • Spri Medium Tubes • Spri Ultra Heavy Bands • Spri Ultra Toner
Recommended:
Yes
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