Last friday a friend of my broke a barbell when he was squating (325 kg) in competition. He´s now in hospital with two badly injured knees and my guess is that he will never compete again and he will be glad if he can walk properly again some time in the future.
It´s the second bar of the same brand to go bad in a lift at the gym so I wonder if it´s comon to bar to break during lifts or if it´s the manufacture who have made som bad bars ?
What is that brand of barbell? Help save the rest of us from a similar fate.
Vman: The problem is that it´s supposed to be a good brand and it´s used in a lot of competitions world wide and I think that the company must have a chance to explain/investigate before I put them before the fireing squad, but I´m pretty sure that they will never succed to sell a barbell to a anyone involved in powerlifting in europe when the word gets around.
If I get prof that it´s the companys foult then you can be sure that I will mention the name in a lot of places on the internet.
What exactly happens when a bar breaks during a lift? Does the lifter suddenly go catapulting from the legs being loaded up and abruptly being let loose?
Proof Smoof. Bars are NOT supposed to break when you squat…period. Who was the manufacturer?
I agree sudden failure of the bar shouldn’t happen. It sounds like the bar ruptured in the middle by what zumbi said in his post. I still have trouble believing a bar would snap in two. Is this is what happend? The bar should have bent once it past it’s elastic limit which means you would still have much more loading before it hit it’s yield limit. I think it’s Ivanko that does tests on it’s bars by loading them up and dropping them on a bench. Guess what the bars bend they don’t snap. That is waaayyyyy more force then someone standing up with 325 kg loaded on the bar. (F=m*a) The fact that the bar snapped(if that is what your saying) means something is dreadfully wrong with their quality control.
Keago
No way is it common for a bar to break. Especially with only 325 kg. If this is really a well-known manufacturer as you say, then they probably rate their bars up to a specific poundage. If this is true, and 325 kg is within that rating, then your friend needs a good lawyer so he can take this company to court.
Barbells = Hardened steel me thinks. For a steel barbell to break like glass, you either must have been lifting in -100 degrees celsius, or the hardening of the steel has been messed with. If the barbell is heated to like 1400 degrees celsius, then quickly cooled down you get a very hard, but ‘glassy’ structure. However the metal should be really hard so 325kg shouldn’t break still me thinks.
Update.
The barbell was of the brand Punti (Sp?).
It´s a brand from finland but I can´t find it on a quick search on google.
My friends injures is that the patella tendion has been ript from it´s attachment on both legs, the doctors think that he has a good chance to get back to a normal life but we have to wait and see if he is that lucky.
About a lawsuit: In other parts of the world you don´t get the amounts that you get in USA, but he will sue them for sure !
I’d assume brand is actually puntti. Try search with ‘punttituote’. I think bars have one year guarantee…
Hope your friend gets well!