MAG High Bar/Strap Bar Maintenance

[FireCaptain611]

I'm looking for a bit of advice/assistance in understanding. My son was recently injured when he peeled off of high bar on a giant. Several other athletes have shared that the bar he was using is notoriously slippery. This is the bar that is used as a strap bar.

My questions that I am trying to answer are: does using a high bar as a strap bar degrade the apparatus? What kind of maintenance is required for this equipment, other than repairing it if it breaks? I've tried looking for the information and found several old/closed posts about it, but nothing current.

Thanks!

 

[Aussie_coach]

If we use it as a strap bar, we don’t chalk it, the straps and gloves get stuck on the chalk. So if they are also using it as a regular bar it could be very slippery as it won’t have been constantly chalked.

In my gym I keep the bars seperate. I have a bar for straps only and it’s never chalked, so there is never a risk of some chalk left on the bar, for the gymnast to get stuck on.

But this won’t work in all gyms. As they may not have space for both.

 

[JBS]

I'm looking for a bit of advice/assistance in understanding. My son was recently injured when he peeled off of high bar on a giant. Several other athletes have shared that the bar he was using is notoriously slippery. This is the bar that is used as a strap bar.

My questions that I am trying to answer are: does using a high bar as a strap bar degrade the apparatus? What kind of maintenance is required for this equipment, other than repairing it if it breaks? I've tried looking for the information and found several old/closed posts about it, but nothing current.

Thanks!

Typically you would not use the same high bar that you use for straps that you use for regular high bar.

Does the strap bar have a PVC pipe on it? If it has a PVC pipe on it... then it is know to smooth / polish the bar and make it more slippery. If they just use gloves... then the chalk is just getting taken off every time and then you have to chalk it back up.

The other thing is that old bars did not have a "texture" on them. For example... if you read the AAI High Bar you will see "heat treated shot-peened stainless steel bar". The shot-peened is the texture that makes it less slippery (and potentially stronger too)...

International ELITE™ Horizontal Bar - American Athletic, Inc

Industry leading stainless steel Horizontal Bar is virtually indestructible, allowing the athlete to perform the most rigorous routines.

www.americanathletic.com

The Spieth bar also has a texture to make it hold the chalk better... not as much of a texture as the AAI though.

Many older bars were very smooth... so they were super slippery. After they got rusty... we would just sand the rust off of them and then they would be great... held chalk awesome then. However... you should absolutely never sand a bar as it is forbidden by the manufacturers now. It weakens the bar and could cause it to snap.

As far as maintenance... there isn't too much. It depends on the brand of bar... the manufacturer should be contacted for that. The most basic thing is to inspect it before each use. Typically you just have to keep the the moving areas greased up and replace the bar / worn parts every so often (before they break hopefully).