Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Don't Believe The Negative Reviews. This thing is awesome! Like most people who've purchased one, my purpose was to be able to do dead-lifts despite having a less-than-cooperative lower-back. It's kind of funny how I came to buy this. Allow me to explain... I recently worked up the courage to add the dreaded dead-lift to my workout routine. I have always had a troublesome lower-back so I made sure to watch tons of videos and read oodles of literature on proper form. So on day 1 of dead-lifts I threw out my back. What a surprise! I actually made it to my 4th set but then lost focus and my form slipped and...zing! That was the end of my dead-lifting career. No big deal. I'm in my, ahem, forties so who am I fooling - I'll just resort to doing squats like a normal schlub. And then, I came across an ad on Craigslist for a hex bar. Not even knowing what it was I clicked on the photos and noticed there was a picture of a guy doing a dead-lift but without the awful leverage that's normally associated with it. But wait - bonus! The bar was actually listed as a "Trap bar" (this is really why I delved into the ad to be honest). I love jacking my traps and, as you may already know, it's difficult to hit your overload potential with conventional weights. Enter the trap, I mean hex, bar. Now I can load up several hundred pounds and shrug to my heart’s content! So the possibilities with this thing are incredible. When it finally arrived (only 3 days later, by the way) it was wrapped pretty much as I expected, based on prior reviews. I'd say it took me 5 minutes with a kitchen knife to free it from its wrapper - no big deal (it's amazing what some people will COMPLAIN about!) Next, I loaded it up with 2 45's and 2 25's. Dead-lifted it! And that's with a bad back. I still can't believe how smart a design this is and, more importantly, why it took me so long to discover it. So glad I did. Now, as far as the paint chipping thing people are complaining about - I don't know. Mine seems pretty clean. It also looks and feels solid. So if you're on the fence about buying this - get off now and add it to your cart - you WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. Check out my photo. I included a pair of sneakers in the middle so you can get some idea of how large the "cage" is.