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

Pt. 1 focused on the hex bolt bar. This week we are focusing on bars with bushings and bearings.

The short of it: if you’re doing any Olympic/CrossFit style lifting, or are planning to lift over 300lbs, these types of bars are the bar for you!

Similar disclaimer as last time: what I am sharing is mine and my customers experience that has been garnered from 2 years of doing this as a side business. There is definitely a ton more to learn about barbells; something which a search on google/YouTube can help with.

I also want to stress that, while these bars are 100% better than the hex bolt bars, for a majority of my customers, these bars aren’t really needed as the hex bolt bars serve their purposes. Now, into the details.

Part of the reason these bars are “better” is because they’re almost assuredly made of higher quality steel that has a higher tinsel strength (a way of measuring strength of steel). The other reason is because instead of the sleeves (the part on the end that you load your plates onto) being hex bolted on, these sleeves are attached to the main beam of the bar with bushings or bearings. Not only does this make it a sturdier joining, it also enables the sleeves to spin.

Now, why does that matter? Having the sleeves spin independently of the bar means that when you are doing very compound/explosive moments, e.g., a clean, the weights are spinning freely as you maintain a firm grip on the bar. If the sleeves did not spin, the weights would feel like they’re jerking you around a bit/pulling you forward.

Another key difference between this and the hex bolt bar is that this has quite a bit more forgiveness if you drop it. Actually, that is part of what this bars is designed for. So if you like to drop the bar when deadlifting, or maybe lift solo and use spotter arms, this bar can take more a beating.

If you start seriously looking into these kind of bars, you’ll see there are a plethora of options. Power bars, deadlift bars, chewy bars, earthquake bars, the list goes on and on. For the purpose of this post, we won’t get into the differences of those. Just know that there are many to choose from, with each one serving a specific purpose in your lifting.

No pros and cons this week as you can take the pros and cons from pt. 1, invert them, and you’d have the answer here. So, if you haven’t checked our pt. 1, here’s your reminder to do so 🙂

Thank you #JEV_Nation for all the love and support!