u/goatpengertie

Hello! I thought I'd pass along a tip about barbells that I learned the hard way: not all barbells are the same. Some are heavier, longer, and have a thicker shaft (I hear it).

When I started powerlifting, I did some of my workouts at an old, crusty, commercial, all-purpose gym. None of the barbells were labeled, and I also had no idea what I was doing, so I had no idea that sometimes I was using a women's bar, sometimes using a standard bar, sometimes using the ultra-heavy bars. I had no idea what the knurl was for or why I wouldn't want "stickier" knurl at times and less sticky knurl other times.

This article is a surprisingly thorough read about the bars:
https://www.majorfitness.com/blogs/wiki/how-long-is-a-barbell-understanding-sizes-types. This is also a good read: https://www.tworepcave.com/1024/olympic-bar-diameter-why-they-arent-all-the-same/ .

Here are some things I like, that you may not:

• I like "women's bars" because they are smaller in diameter and easier on my hands.
• I don't like a heavy knurl unless I'm deadlifting.
• I don't like heavy knurls on olympic weightlifting. Ouch!
• I do run my hands over a few barbells to see which one has the knurls for the type of workout I'm doing.
• I am fussy about my clips. Clips are the only equipment I will bring to a gym with me.
• I was coached to lift bare-handed and get callouses rather than lift with gloves. YMMV. I use a skin grater thing in the shower to keep my callouses in check.
• When I'm scouting gyms, I am very picky about the condition of barbells and how patrons work with them. If they're lying about, rusted, bent... it's a "no" to the whole gym for me.
• Just a tip: if you find yourself failing a bench press that you did only two days ago, check your barbell (!!). It might not be the same weight as the barbell you were using two days ago and it def make a difference.
• Kettlebells also have varied shaft diameters. If you're like, how the heck are people swinging these things?, it might just be that your hands are too small for the diameter of the shaft of the kb handle and you need to find a kb that fits your hands. I have small diameter and large diameter kbs and I am much more nimble with the small diameter kbs.
• A Smith machine's bar's diameter is closer to a women's barbell in case you need a point of reference. If a Smith machine's bar feels easier to deal with in your hands, you might want to consider getting a "woman's barbell" or asking your gym if they have any for you.