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    Registered User Abeadrian2220's Avatar
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    Hi guys need help.

    Im a home gym user. Ive been using a regular bar that weighs 20lbs. All my plates are for that bar only. My question is do i need to get a olympic bar and waste all my plates? Is there really much of a difference between the bar that im using and the bar that are used in commercial gyms? Thankyou for the answers
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  2. #2
    Can't break what's broken Synthetickiller's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Abeadrian2220 View Post
    Im a home gym user. Ive been using a regular bar that weighs 20lbs. All my plates are for that bar only. My question is do i need to get a olympic bar and waste all my plates? Is there really much of a difference between the bar that im using and the bar that are used in commercial gyms? Thankyou for the answers
    The outright answer is no. You don't "need" a better bar. You may finding yourself wanting an olympic bar in the future if you are serious about lifting.

    A standard bar has a 1" diameter. It's going to have a fairly low load rating. If you're serious about training at home, you'll quickly exceed that amount of weight you can load to it before bending it. As well, the heavier the weight gets, a 1" bar is going to dig into your hands/back when benching/squatting. It's not comfortable. The quality of the knurl on these bars is typically lacking. Same with the chromed finish (assuming it's chrome). They tend to flake & not hold up.

    A crappy olympic bar (typically Chinese built) is around 31mm to 32mm, fairly passive knurling and has overall terrible build quality. This is something you'll get with a 300 weight set.
    There's actually sales going on now. Here's the cheapest I've seen $179.99: http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/st...SABEgKF5PD_BwE

    You can always upgrade to a Cap OB-86B. It's what most consider an entry level olympic bar.
    If you find the bar to be lacking, there's a lot of options up to $300, depending on your training style (Powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, pure bodybuilding, etc). Take a look at Rogue. They have a huge selection of bars.


    If you are actually serious, you'll find yourself wanting an olympic bar & plates, especially for deadlifting. Deadlifting will just destroy a normal 1" bar, unless you are extremely careful all the time. Olympic lifts fall into the same category.


    Options:
    If you decide to get an oly barbell...
    Keep in mind that you can find people flipping bars on craigslist all the time. You can find good bars for much cheaper than new in good condition.
    If you have mostly 10s for your standard plates, you can always buy standard dumbbell handles to use them as dedicated dumbbell plates. If you like the 25mm-ish handles a standard bar for dumbbells, you can buy fixed handles, find more 10s, 5s and 2.5s on craigslist & build yourself a relatively cheap, fixed dumbbell set over time. I did this for a while till I bought olympic dumbbell handles after breaking my standard ones, lol.
    Also, if you really want to go this route, basically all specialty bars are only build for olympic plates.
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  3. #3
    Registered User rlundregan's Avatar
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    Almost all standard bars on the market now will begin to bend permanently at around 200 lbs loaded on the bar. Ivanko makes one that will hold more than that, but it is expensive.

    You're really better off making the switch to Olympic bar/plates now if you are serious about lifting long-term.
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