Reply With QuoteWhat is going to make you stronger -- a super bendy, thin, DL bar that is easier to pull off the floor? Or a regular bar? You want to be strong through the whole range of motion, in addition to the regular bar being all-around more useful.
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Choosing a barbell ?
In my local gym I use the thinner bars for DL as it gives a bit of an advantage and the thicker bar for all other lifts. I don’t do cleans and definitely want the centre Knurl, which removes the option of a thinner DL bar anyway. I’m never going to put much over 300lbs on my back and DL somewhere around 400lbs. I was looking at some of the recommended bars-Rogue Ohio power and Texas power bar which are nice stiff bars. However, might it be better to choose something with slightly more whip for DLs bearing in mind my numbers aren’t ever going to be exactly record breaking ? If so, what might be the alternatives ?
I’m going to want to do a few meets and I understand I might disadvantage myself with a thinner bar, but I’m fine with that.
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What is going to make you stronger -- a super bendy, thin, DL bar that is easier to pull off the floor? Or a regular bar? You want to be strong through the whole range of motion, in addition to the regular bar being all-around more useful.
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The bars you mention are slightly whippier than real power bar options. Real power bar is 29mm (or 250 calories of soy protein and granola). TPB is 28.5. Ohio Bar (not OPB) slightly more whip yet.
Either of those work great for all lifts until you are lifting about 100# more than you are now. If you don't like super sharp knurl, do the Ohio Bar. That's what I've recommended to guys who want a bar their wife won't hate.
If down the road you want a DL bar as second bar, do it. It's good fun. What is "whole range of motion" anyway?
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I can pull more weight off the floor with the thinner DL bar and ROM is identical. It’s only a matter of pulling the slack out of the thinner bar, it isn’t lifting it from blocks. Conversely it’s very marginally more difficult to get it off the j hooks for the other lifts. I have an idea that pulling more weight probably trumps the slight advantage of the thinner bar ? Therefore that should make me stronger ? I’m probably wrong, that’s why I was asking. As it’s unlikely that I’m going to find a thin DL bar with a centre knurl, the amount of whip in a power bar will still be a lot less. The advantage of a stiff power bar is that it doesn’t bounce around under really heavy back squats-but at my age they are never going to get to a point where that will matter.Originally Posted by m s
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The OPB seems to be the one recommended by most lifters. The knurl is pretty worn on the power bars in the gym and very passive on the DL bar, so I’m thinking the knurl on the OPB would be a step up anyway. As you say, I can get a DL bar later on.
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Whippiness side, I think a thinner “DL” bar allows a stronger grip for smaller hands. So by that, you should be able to lift more. In other words, a thinner bar provides. proprioceptive advantage, which I’ve found critical to the DL.
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I (a female with small hands and short fingers) just ordered the bodybuilding bar from Texas Power Bar and am obsessed. Knurl is aggressive but the bar is only 27mm diameter - which helps with both whip and wrapping my hands around it. But it's also plenty beefy and I won't be afraid to load it fully once I get strong enough.
Of course, TPB also makes a Starting Strength bar at 28.5mm, which is the obvious choice. I ultimately went with the bodybuilding bar because of the smaller diameter, and because I wanted the cerakote.
I also have a Rogue bella bar (35 pound, 25mm) for Olympic lifts, and after a week with the TPB I find the knurling to be horrifically insufficient. I was really surprised by how much difference the aggressive knurling made in my grip strength. It mattered a lot more than shaft diameter.
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I second an OPB. My old gym was a powerlifting/strongman gym and they have OPBs and Texas Power bars. Always enjoyed squatting more with the TPB, but I prefered OPBs for the presses so I got a OPB. The knurling on it is called "volcano" because the knurl has concave indents on the top of each pointed section to increase the grip surface area and it works well.
For comparison, my old gym had Texas DL bars and my PR on that was about 15 more pounds than my home gym OPB was. Difference between 415 and 400 isn't much though. Just get a power bar or a B&R bar if you really want to try getting a compromise. Also if you aren't using chalk on your deadlifts, you need to start using it yesterday. Elite FTS has amazing chalk.
All the guys at my old gym used this and they were all competitive USPA lifters.
https://www.elitefts.com/gym-chalk-1.html
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I have the OPB, B&R 2.1, and the CAP OB-86B. I can pull heavy with all of them. OPB knurl is cheese grater, so is most unforgiving. The B&R is the recommended general purpose bar with a much milder knurl. The CAP knurl is like the B&R, but no center knurl. OPB is thickest. B&R and CAP have similar diameters. But I’ve switched recently to the CAP for pulls because it feels slightly thinner in my hand, which improves grip. Even if it’s placebo, I’ll take it.
But this thread got me thinking that I should try the OPB again on heavy pulls, since I did have a grip failure recently. Perhaps spikes would’ve helped.
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