PRODUCT REVIEW: The Aluma-Lite Bar
Review of the BFS Aluma-Lite Training Bar. It weighs only 15 pounds!
By Chuck Farr
Published: Fall 1999
When I received the BFS Aluma-Lite Bar, I was immediately impressed with the way it looked. It was clean, and looked sturdy. The knurling felt good in my hands and the sleeves rotated smoothly; it has everything you would want in an Olympic bar. It also had features found on a regular bar like the 2” Olympic rotating sleeves and a regular diameter, solid aluminum shaft.
The only real differences between the Aluma-Lite Bar and a full-size Olympic bar is the weight, of course, and length. The Aluma-Lite Bar weighs only 15 pounds and is only 6-feet long as apposed to the regular bar’s 7 feet. The 6-foot length I actually felt was better for training purposes because it brings the weight in closer to the body making it easy to keep under control. I found that the 6-foot length still fit on all of the benches and squat racks I tested it on.
To test the Aluma-Lite Bar further, I took a 7th grader who had never lifted before and taught him the Power Clean. I have taught quite a few jr. high kids over the years with normal 45 lb. bars and always found that the bar got too heavy for their hands to hold for more than 5 practice reps. Even if their leg and arm muscles weren’t tired, once their hands get tired, just going through the technique motions become very difficult. The 15-pound Aluma-Lite bar made this problem nonexistent. The light weight significantly reduced the time it took to train this 7th grader to Clean. Within 10 minutes he looked like he had been doing it for years.
The 5 lb. BFS Training plates and 10 lb. Bumpers are excellent supplements to the Aluma-Lite Bar for training as well. Both have the same diameter as a 45 lb. plate making it easy to learn to clean from the ground.
I tried some Cleans using the Aluma-Lite Bar with a 45 loaded on each side. It seemed to handle the weight all right however, it is made for training purposes only and heavy weights are not recommended. I would recommend using the Aluma-Lite Bar for just training and once a kid can do more than 65 lbs., move him/her up to a regular 45 lb. Olympic Bar.
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