Barbells

If you can't decide which barbell is for you. Please read below guide.

A Comprehensive Guide to Find the Right Barbell for Your Gym

We offer a few different options in standard straight bars with grips for both men and women. Some of our Olympic weight bars come with weights, but most are solo bars. For targeted training, we suggest triceps bars, squat bars, trap bars, or a combination of bars are range from 4, 5, 6, or 7 feet.

Once you find the perfect bar, you’ll need weight plates, a weight bench, or wall-mounted rack. Finally, you’ll need fitness mats for both comfort and shock absorption. This could be a mat that you fold up and store or roll-out mats that you can connect to create a large surface area.  

If your workout becomes monotonous, or to continually challenge your clients, periodically add new Olympic weight bars, resistance workout tools, and fitness accessories.

Learn More About Our Barbells

Depending on your level of training we have some options to consider:

• Our 20kg Remarkables Bar is a great bar at a great price and is considered best for an entry-level athlete. The best box bar.
• The Remarkables Bar, come in a 20kg for men and 15kg for women. Women's hands tend to be smaller than a man’s, so the "women's" bar features a 25mm shaft diameter vs. the "men's" 20kg and 28-32mm shaft.
• Our Hakuba Training Barbell is a great training bar for those beginner lifters and younger athletes that are still working on perfecting their technique and form. Hakuba Training Bars comes in 4/5/6/7FT in sizes.
• To work on your deadlift form, we have our Hex Bar or "Trap Bar".
• Designed for those with limited shoulder, elbow, and wrist mobility but beloved by powerlifters and garage gym champions everywhere, ATTIVO Safety Squat Bar is the perfect implement for developing the posterior chain and the quadriceps.

What to Look For in a Barbell?

While shopping for your new bar there are a few things you’ll want to consider when purchasing your barbell.

• Style:Are you a powerlifter, Olympic lifter, or general mix of both (CrossFitters!). Depending on the lifts you’ll be performing, you’ll want a bar that will perform with you.
• Knurl Depth/Aggressiveness:The crisscross hash-marks in the bar that act as a grip rather than just the bare steel. Powerlifters prefer a deep “cheese grater” style knurl while Olympic lifters prefer something a bit softer and crossfitters or functional fitness enthusiasts even less. For most lifters, look for a moderate depth knurl. For a competition bar for high level Olympic or power lifters, look for an aggressive knurl. For WODers, look for a soft to moderate knurl.
• Knurl Marking/Centre/Width:For dedicated Olympic weightlifters. look for single knurl marks at IWF spec. For dedicated powerlifters, look for single knurl marks at IPF spec. For everyone else, don't worry about this so much.
• Shaft Diameter:You’ll want a bar that fit’s in your hands and that you can hang on to. For female lifters, look for a 25mm shaft diameter. For dedicated Olympic weightlifting (men), look for a 28mm shaft diameter. For everyone else, go with 28mm-29mm shaft diameter. True Olympic lifting barbells have a 28mm diameter while multi-purpose bars are usually around 28.5mm and powerlifting bars are thicker still.
• Tensile Strength:The amount of force (load) a bar can take, resulting in bending, and return to straight again. For barbells to be used by strong lifters, look for a tensile strength above 180k PSI. Generally, you want to see a yield strength 10-20% below that, to ensure good "whip" on the bar.
• Whip:If you train Olympic weightlifting at a fairly high proficiency level, look for a "whippy" bar. If not, don't worry about whip.
• Weight:For female lifters, look for a 15kg barbell. For ultra-beginner or teenage lifters, look for a training bar around 10kg. For everyone else, look for a 20kg bar.
• Collar Spin:For dedicated Olympic weightlifters, look for fast-spinning collars. For dedicated powerlifters, look for slow-to-moderate-spinning collars. For everyone else, look for a smooth spin, but speed is not so important.
• Collar Loading Space:In general, look for a lot of "loading space" on the collar. Realistically though, this is not an issue (being able to lift more weight than you can put on the bar) for 95% of lifters.
• Aesthetics:Find a barbell that you like the looks of. Keep in mind that zinc black finished barbells tend to tarnish a bit more than chrome/silver barbells.
• Best Use:Most lifters will never outgrow a good, all-around barbell. If you are specialising in a certain style of lifting (e.g., Oly), you might want to get a specialised barbell.
• Place of Manufacture:Many people want a barbell made in Australia. That's great.  However, don't overlook imported barbells. Taiwan turns out some really great steel, and China is FAST upping its barbell production technology and designs.
• Price:Often a hugely overlooked measure. Make sure to look at the total cost including shipping of any barbells. We offer free shipping to Australia metros.
  

Olympic Weightlifting vs Other Weightlifting

Olympic Weightlifting Barbell: An Olympic weightlifter needs an Olympic Barbell. Period. When it comes down to deciding the right type of Oly bar however there are a couple things to think about. Knurling is one of the first things to look at before you make your purchase. Most Olympic barbells have a fairly aggressive knurling for improved grip, however some more than others and depending on the amount of training you plan on doing, you want to choose a bar that won’t tear up your hands but will provide a solid grip for you to hang on to.

You also want to look at rotation of the barbell collars as well as the amount of “whip” the bar has the ability to create. More rotation adds for smoother transitions after the second pull of the clean or snatch and more whip provides easier and more transfer of energy into the bar when standing up from a clean or dipping into a jerk.

Other Weightlifting Barbell: Much like an Olympic weightlifting bar, knurling and whip are important factors to take into account when looking for a good functional fitness style training bar. However just as importantly is the durability of the barbell itself as well as the price range.

You’ll want to find a bar that has good tensile strength, is rust resistant, and is made in a fashion that can repeatedly withstand the volume of drops.

There are several bars that vary slightly but are all excellent training bars that can be found here.

Why do women lift on 15kg barbells?

Most Olympic weightlifting barbells weigh 20kg, which is considered standard or a men’s bar. Women typically use a 15kg barbell. The most significant difference between the men and women's bars is the shaft diameter. The men’s bars are 28-32mm diameter, whereas women’s bars are standard at 25mm diameter. Why is this? Women typically have smaller hands than men. When women do a snatch, clean, thruster or overhead movement she will want to have proper grip on the bar, a thinner bar is going to help because of her smaller hands.

The two main differences you are going to see with a men and women's Olympic barbells is going to be the weight and the shaft diameter. Some other minor differences you may see are length of the bar, knurl, plate loading length, and the weight capacity.

Bushing vs Bearing

ATTIVO 20kg Remarkables Bar comes in a bronze bushing and needle bearing cartridges. Both bars are excellent for lifting and provide spin.

• Needle bearing cartridges in the collars provide a little more spin than a bushing barbell.
• Bearing barbells have a slightly smoother rotation and cost a little more than a bushing.
• Bearing barbells are typically used for faster lifts, such as Olympic lifts.
• Bushing barbells are typically used for heavy or slower lifts, such as power lifting movements.