Barbell and plates brands to purchase

[Enrico]

First off all, being my first post, I want to say hi to everyone on the forum. My name is Enrico, and I'm a 26-year-old Italian guy.

I’m writing this post to ask information on barbells brands. I would like to build my home gym and I'm looking for good quality bars to purchase.

I would need one or two bars to use them in my full body workout. I would need them for Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Skullcrusher, Curl and Military Press.

Living in Italy, makes it impossible to buy barbells made in the USA due to shipping prices. I know that here in Europe Eleiko makes high quality bars as the IPF Powerlifting competition bar of 29mm with bushing bearings, but is it worth the money? Do you think it'll be okay to use it in the exercises I mentioned above or would you recommend another barbell?

Also, do you think the Eleiko or Ivanko calibrated plates would be a good place to spend my money on? Unfortunately, I can’t find any good quality used plates around here, so I gotta buy them new.

I truly hope you can help me.

All the best,
Enrico

[Jason Rakes]

Get the cheapest plates you can and Eleiko bars aren't worth it, but I don't know what kind of options there are in Italy. Probably the Eleikos are still not worth it.

[Enrico]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for answering. Can you recommend some plates and barbell brands? I can take a look. I may find them here in Europe.

Could also tell me why the Eleiko is not worth it? Is there something wrong with it?

[Enrico]

Yes Rogue has a European site. Is it better than Eleiko?

There is a gym nearby, but it's equipped very poorly and, as far as I know, they have just one or two bars which are usually taken.

Do you know any brands that sell plates that are accurate within 2%?

[Tom Campitelli]

Eleiko calibrated plates are beautiful, but quite pricey. Consider the Rogue calibrated plates if you want the fancy stuff:

https://www.rogueeurope.eu/rogue-cal...teel-plates-eu

They have 159 kg for 751 EUR. That is fairly pricey, but probably a good deal less than Eleiko.

[Enrico]

I cleared my mind thanks to all of you. I'll buy a Rogue OPB and some calibrated plates just for the sake of it.

One last question. Would you guys recommend to buy a Multi Grip bar or another Speciality bar for skullcrushers?

[CrouchingWayne]

In Europe we have a decent brand called ATX - their RAM bar is great and generally much cheaper then Rogue.

I'm in the UK so have higher prices than mainland Europe, but in Italy you could probably get it pretty competitively priced.

(I've got the RAM bar and an ATX rack - I just use cheap plates as branded stuff here is really pricey.)

Bar:

ATX® RAM BAR - Power Lifting Bar / Hantelstange 220 cm +700 kg - Federstahl mit Drehlagerung

Plates:

125 kg - ATX® LOGO-Gripper - Hantelscheiben Vorteilspaket 50 mm

[Bill Coyne]

Leoko out of Finland makes solid calibrated plates. Not sure if they're cheaper than Rogue.

[Enrico]

Thank you all guys.

I purchased a Rogue Ohio Power Bar, an Eleiko Powerlifting Performance Bar and the Eleiko IPF Calibrated plates. The Eleiko stuff was at 20% off so I couldn't pass on the deal.

Can't wait to have everything in my hand.

[Enrico]

Well goddamn. Nice job.