The 7 Ft. Olympic Bar Pt. 1 (of 2)

Pt. 1’s focus: the hex bolt bar. Pt. 2 will focus on bars with bushings and bearings.

The short of it: hex bolt bars are good for lifters with lower weight requirements, but have some inconsistencies in manufacturing, and are not well suited for Olympic style listing, CrossFit movements, etc.

Let me start this off by saying barbells are one of the most widely debated/discussed topics in the fitness community! A quick Google/YouTube search will find you TONs of information that you could spend hours sifting through. My goal with this post is to give you a perspective from myself (a reseller) and the customers I have spoken with on this topic. By no means am I the only source of truth/expert here.

Ok, with that out of the way let’s get into the meat and potatoes: what is the 7 foot “hex-bolt” bar?

If you’ve ever bought a 300lbs Olympic weight set (from me or one of the big box stores), this is the bar you received in that set. It’s also the most common bar style when you’re looking at cheaper options. For example, I sell these for $40-$50, depending on the condition. It is called a hex bolt bar because of the way it is assembled. There is a main rod (the part you grip) that has the sleeves slid over it, with a hex bolt screwed into the end to secure it (as you can see in the first two pictures). This does the job, and most of my customers say it doesn’t impact them, but it is definitely not as durable, or functional, as the higher quality bars with bushings or bearings (next weeks focus).

So, what do we (myself and my customers) have to say about them?

Pros:
-Cost. As with most things that are lower quality, the main reason they sell well is because of their price. You can find these bars for $40-$100 usually, and there really isn’t much of a difference between those options. If you are on a budget, this is a big factor.
-Ease of entry into lifting. This is because of the cost, but I’m putting this separately because these types of bars help to remove any barriers there may be to someone getting into lifting. If you’ve only got $300 to spend, and this bar didn’t exist, you could easily spend all that just on a bar. But when you can pick up one of these for ~$50, you’ve still got enough left to get some plates and a bench/rack setup to get your home gym started.

Cons:
-Manufacturing tolerances appear to be quite variable with these bars. They’re usually rated for ~300lbs, yet I’ve had some customers put 350lbs on with no issues, and others put 250lbs on and they start to bend. The bar bending has been a seldom experience, but I have seen it so it is important to note
-Sleeve functionality. The sleeve is the part on each end of the bar that you load your plates on. Because these are bolted on, they do not spin much, thus, if you’re doing something like cleans, the bar may feel like it’s “pulling” you (since the weight is not able to move independently of the bar). You most likely will not notice this with your standard lifts like benching, deadlifts, etc., but it does impact some of the more compound movements
-The knurling. From my observations, the knurling is usually pretty good on these, and for most lifters they won’t notice the difference. That being said, my customers who are used to more commercial grade bars might notice that the knurling may have some inconsistencies on it. There also aren’t a lot of different knurling options to choose from with these bars.
-Appearance. If you like black or chrome bars, you’re in luck! Because those are pretty much the only two colors you’ll get these bars in, with most of them coming in chrome. If you want to get some colored bars, you’ll either have to do it yourself or go for the higher end bars.

What type of lifter usually buys these types of bars? Here’s what I’ve seen:
-Someone on a budget who may be able to lift a few hundred pounds, but wants something to just get them through while they save up for a better bar
-Someone who is newer to lifting goes for this bar 99% of the time
-Someone who is an experienced lifter but can only lift a couple hundred pounds
-Someone who can lift several hundred pounds, but is looking for a secondary bar that they can leave “setup” for a few specific exercises. For example, they’ll leave this in their landmine with a 45lbs plate on it so they can just get right into their landmine rows. They usually have a high quality bar as their bar for other exercises.

As I said, a lot to say on this topic! And this is the “short” version, lol. Tune in next week for part. 2!