I did not mention rust. Most bars are chrome plated and will not rust unless the chrome starts to flake off. I did mention about chrome plating flaking off and rust would make it easier to notice that the chrome plating had flaked off. However, rust itself is usually not a problem. Rust becomes a problem when it is so severe that it starts to cause “blistering of the surface” which indicates chemical attack. Severe rust should not happen unless equipment is kept in very humid environment, or worse, moist salty environment.

One of the sure signs that a place isn’t take care of their equipment is if you see broken equipment. In general, equipment doesn’t spontaneously fail. There was likely something wearing away long before it failed, the equipment broke because no-one was looking for the wear.

Mehdi had pointed me to that article. I do very similar work (I work with automotive coil springs instead of barbells) and could have written a similar article. I did not want this one to be too technical. The key is to make sure your equipment is tight and not broken.

on page two it tells the story of a Russian olympic lifter in the ’60s who performed a clean and jerk with a bar that cracked in the middle during the second pull…the jagged edge punched through his adam’s apple and severed his arteries, killing him right there on the platform…I guess the moral of the story is don’t buy cheap bars….