In class #2 of the 101 program, we pull you aside to show you the differences in the barbells, their characteristics and how to easily spot one bar from another in a sea of 30 bars that float around at Iron Tribe. I wanted to take a quick moment to blog about these differences so that you can use this blog as a reference if you ever need it.

Weight: 20kilos, 15 kilos, 15lbs
The sport of Weightlifting consists of your combined weight on two lifts: The Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.  The mandatory barbell weight requirement by International Weightlifting Federation rules are 20 kilograms for the men (44.0924 lbs) and 15 kilograms for women bars (33.0693 lbs). From the local state level all the way to the Olympic level, the weight that the athletes compete under are always measured in kilos.

The American sport of Powerlifting is much like Weightlifting but the movements you are judged on are the max combined loads of the Bench press, Deadlift and the Squat. Since the sport is becoming popular in the UK and other countries, it too now has evolved to a kilo measurement system for its weights and bars.

The three bars that we use are Iron Tribe reflect the same three weights mentioned above. For easy math, we do refer to each bar as weighing 45lbs, 35lbs, or 15lbs.

Each barbell has a smooth center in the middle portion of the bar to ensure that you will not scrape your shoulders and chest while catching the clean in the front rack position. The rare black bar at ITF Homewood is actually a Powerlifting bar. There is a 3″ patch of knurling directly centered on the bar that is quite helpful to stop the bar from sliding down your shoulders while doing a back squat. However, its quite painful hitting your collar bone in a clean. If you are stuck with this bar on a squat clean day, don’t say that I didn’t warn you! But, you’ll have to fight me over it on a back squat day as this knurling definitely comes handy especially to us low bar back squatters.

Knurling:
The knurling, the diamond shaped grip pattern, allows for a rougher surface to ensure the best grip when cleaning or snatching. A high quality Olympic Weight Lifting Barbell will have knurling pattern that cover almost all of the way to the sleeve portion of the bar, have well tuned sleeves and ball bearings that allows for a quicker spin of the bar thus minimizing your chances slightly of missing the lift, and have a C-Clamp design the very end of the sleeve that will prevent the sleeve from sliding back and forth down the barbell. Lower quality bars will have a bolt design on the very end that often will work its way loose after multiple drops.

Diameter (picture above):

In competition, the Olympic Weightlifting bars used are 28mm in diameter. The bars that we have at Iron Tribe are a hybrid barbell with a 28.5mm diameter. Its a hybrid in the sense that its a step in between the Powerlifting bars which can be 29-31 mm in diameter and the Olympic Lifting bars. The thicker diameter gives the added strength to the bar to withstand the heavier loads of Powerlifter that only Deadlifts, Squats and Bench Presses. Also, the steel used in the Powerlifting bars can be a lower grade steel due to its thicker diameter which gives its strength. The thicker grade steel also gives less feedback to the lifter offering less flex and ‘pop’ that you will see in an Olympic lifting bars and lifts. The women’s bars that we use are smaller in diameter at 25mm which is the regulation diameter for all competions. The short aluminum training bars still have the thicker 28.5mm diameter to match the mens bar.

Sleeve (pictured above):
The sleeve portion is the larger portion of the bar the actually holds the plate weights. The sleeve is actually made up of two parts that I call the collar and the barrel.  The barrel is the portion that slides into the plate while the collar is the larger diameter portion of the sleeve that acts as a stopper, opposite of the clamp. The heavier men’s bars have a longer barrel at 16.5″ while the women’s barrel length is 13″.  The training bar has the shortest barrel length at 9″. This is the best way that you can identify which bar you are grabbing.

Collar (picture above):
It use to be that the collar of the sleeves are a sure fire way to identify which bar was which. In the picture above, the Wright Equipment men’s bars has a much larger 1.75″ collar versus their women’s bars with a 0.75″ collar. But now that we have incorporated the newer bars made by Rogue Fitness, you unfortunately cannot simply go by this rule. All of the Rogue bars have the same collar size BUT have no fear….just refer back to the length of the sleeve as mentioned above.

Finish: Bare steel, Bright/Black Zinc, Aluminum
The bare steel finish is considered an “old school” bar that has the raw metal feel that some lifters love. Because there is no finish coating on the bare steel, these type bars will oxidize the fastest. However, many old school lifters still prefer the feel of the deep knurl pattern that bare steel can hold giving them that bite that they are comfortable with.

The men’s and women’s bars that we use at Iron Tribe are all Zinc plated. Its basically a bare steel bar that has sat in a zinc bath. This is the most common choice of coating for all bar manufactures in both price and functionality. The choice between the bright zinc and black zinc is simply an aesthetics one. Personally, I love what Rogue has done with their bars offering a black zinc centered bar with a bright zinc sleeve/collar/barrel.  The zinc bath provides  a coating that will help protect the bar from the elements, humidity and sweat for a lifetime.

To shave down on weight, the training bars are all aluminum. Aluminum is softer than steel since its a pure metal versus steel which is iron plus carbon material. Bottom line, its a very cool bar that is a great tool for someone training technique or someone scaling the weight for the days workout!

Length:
Finally you have the overall length of the barbell to refer to. The women’s bar is 6’8″ long while the men’s bar is 7’3″ in length. The aluminum training bar is the shortest of the three at 6′ even.

Hope that help Tribe! See you soon!

-Luan