My own bar is 29mm and it’s always felt a lot tougher to DL using it. Even on switch grip, at the final reps of multiple reps, or on single heavy reps I’ve noticed it is twisting out of my hands despite chalk. I was back in the commercial gym this week and deadlifted on the 27mm bar without an issue, despite having very passive knurling. I’m now wondering once again whether I should invest in a dedicated DL bar at home, having decided against it previously. Should I keep working my grip with the 29mm or give in to my infatuation for something thinner ?
When I started the program I was using my 28.5 mm bar. Holding on to the bar became the biggest challenge upon reaching 135 lbs on the DL. My BW was around 115 lbs.
At that point I decided to buy a 25 mm lady barbell; I know they are intended for Olympic lifts rather than for the DL, but this has enabled me to keep progressing on my DL while also improving my grip. My DL is now at 185 lbs at a BW of 117 lbs and holding the bar is hard but not distractingly so. This allows me to focus on the pull and on my form.
I am sure my grip fail again sooner or later, but using the smaller bar has prevented this from happening way too early into my NLP.
Here’s a conundrum. More weight thinner bar, or less weight thicker bar ? If that’s a thing ? Lifting with the thicker bar has made it possible to lift more weight than previously with the thinner bar. I haven’t tried a max lift as the program doesn’t call for it, but I reckon I could get 400lbs with that thinner bar, compared to my previous RM of 380.
Straps are cheap and take up a lot less space than a deadlift bar.
More weight. Notice how this is starting to sound a little like the debate whether to belt-up or not. And is that cheating? Nay, says Starting Strength. You are simply not making things anymore hard for yourself anymore than they already are.
As you no doubt recall, this is not a grip exercise. Grip strength will increase as a secondary effect of greater weight on the bar. So eventually you’ll be pulling 400+ with a 29mm bar, and more with your new 27mm bar.
It’s so easy to spend other people’s money.
Have you tried Kroc rows?