The older BB's didn't have a revolving bar, like Olympic bar's now days, so the weight lifted didn't always go smooth and could be awkward at first. They were very stiff, or dead is another term. Some didn't have any knuckling either. The spring of the Olympic bar (a live bar) usually could produce 20 to 30 more lbs on any lift.
Those globes could be shot loaded (don't know about the coaches, in the pics..might be solid cast) and hard to balance, because both sides were not always the same weight. Going with the non revolving bar and uneven weight, they presented a challenge when first using them. Back then all bar/DB's were not always made to any common standard, so different casting could be way off in actual weight. Different bar/DB thickness also. (exercise BB/DB's from China & India are almost never true weight or made that well..though China can make excellent Olympic lifting equipment)
Any advantage to using old style equipment, would be that more focus on the lift is more important and also the technique (lifting style) use. Actually it's kind of fun to play around with this old stuff, and it certainly brings new challenges to lifting. Finding, that maybe your not a cool , or strong,as you though you.
