The York fitness 1 inch barbell pad, is a protective pad which can fit standard 1 inch barbells. Usage of the pad is designed to soften the weight of a heavy barbell resting on your neck/trapezius muscles from heavy squats. I bought the product from fitness-superstore.co.uk for a price tag of £8.50

Appearance
The product was red, with the words "York fitness" in white capital font in the centre of the velcro fastener. The red velcro fastener is made from PVC and is apparently washable. It has a velcro closure system at the end which locks quite securely.The red cover looks classy and attractive rather than just a plain foam product you can buy cheaply off of eBay. The actual pad of the product is made from black foam, has a 1 inch diameter and is made so that the red velcro cover fits over the top of it. The product is available in a slightly different form, with a different style logo and a white coloured foam pad depending on where you buy the product from.

Durability
I've had the product for a few years now and It has lasted very well. I was initially scared the foam would get damaged and chunks of foam may fall out. This has not been the case and with sensible care of the foam and Velcro closure from the PVC outer sleeve, I can see this product lasting many years. The red PVC sleeve is tough, strong and made from good quality materials, the logo and paintwork has held well on it and has not flaked away. The Velcro has not frayed and worn away and is still working well and securely. For just £8.50 you get great durability, but from commercial usage in a gym, I could see the product having lower durability simply from heavy usage. For a personal gym, this product is well made and will last years.

Usability/Protection
The product is great for dampening the force exerted from a heavy barbell on your traps, neck and deltoids. You certainly feel less pain, and it offers much better comfort than just a solid steel bar. The PVC is a tough material and sticks well to me, it does not slide and fall off under heavy weights and overall has made Squatting a more comfortable experience for me. The padded black foam is quite thick and not too thin that you can feel the bar sharply down on you. The diameter of the foam is only one inch, so it will only be compatible with standard barbells. If you have an Olympic barbell then the diameter will be two inches, meaning the product will not fit upon it, so don't bother buying it if you have Olympic sized equipment. I've successfully used the product for barbell heel raises, good mornings and barbell squats brilliantly and I've also used it to train my grip. The product adds extra diameter to the standard barbell which when you just hold the barbell with the York pad attached statically for as long as you can, I developed better grip strength.

Pricing
The product was very well priced for just £8.50 on fitness-superstore.co.uk, it can also be bought on Amazon and other sports stores as well easily for a similar price. For the good quality, good sleeve artwork and design and good comfort and protection the product offers, £8.50 is very good value for money. I've saw barbell pads just made from low quality foam on eBay for £5 without any PVC sleeve, but the quality of these products was much lower than the York barbell pad. So overall the product by York offers fantastic value for money.

Drawbacks
I've not encountered any real problems with the York barbell pad, except maybe York could offer a choice of different colours for the PVC sleeve or maybe give you a choice of two foam pads, one for 1 inch barbells and the other for Olympic sized 2 inch barbells so it was applicable to everyone. Maybe if they done all this for £10 or £11 then it would be still good value for money but would offer increased versatility and maybe sell better in the UK.

Overall
To conclude, this product looks great with the PVC sleeve, is made from quality componenet, is very comfortable and makes squatting more pleasant, can be used for other barbell exercises and can be used to train grip strength on static holds and retails for a fantastic price of just £8.50 in the UK. The product is durable and will last years from personal usage, but commercial usage may result in the product wearing away or breaking from overuse. I use the York barbell pad whenever I perform the said exercises in my workout and it was a brilliant investment, I highly recommend the product if you have a standard 1 inch diameter barbell!

© Revo9 (2011)
*Note, I am both a member of Ciao and Dooyoo.co.uk under the same username of Revo9*