I appreciate the concept of innovation and risk-taking with new products as much as anyone. It’s what ultimately advances technology, our understanding, and is what helps us continue forward progress in any field. With this particular product, however, there are many aspects of the design that 1) do not align with what the product is advertised to do and that 2) are problems better solved with implements we already have access to at most gyms (normal barbells and dumbbells).
In short, this barbell does provide freedom of motion at the hands that a traditional barbell does not, but it comes at the cost of stability/being able to product high amounts of force directly into the bar. The fact that your hands are fixed on a regular barbell IS what makes it stable to begin with (and if you remove that, you remove the stability). In addition, there are also potential hazards with the bar, given the fact that each hand is free to move separately from the other and that we can effectively direct them wherever we choose (and as a consequence, the bar could easily tip to either side, roll forward/backward, or both, necessarily making us dump the bar on our head or neck). Until we’ve got a more sensible design, I’d opt for DBs, cables, machines, and free (fixed) bars instead.
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