If you are confused between a standard weight lifting bar and an Olympic bar, you are at the right place because here today, we are going to tell you, which bar is better to use. Standard weight lifting bars are generally seen at the home-gyms. These are 1” in diameter on the end and the middle shafts. These bars come cheaper and start bending around when you load them with around 200 pounds. If you load them with heavier loads, these can bend permanently.
On the other hand, Olympic bars are made of using better material even the cheaper version of Olympic Bar can handle much heavier loads. If you load them with a much heavier weight, they might flax but will return to their original straight position. Now let’s discuss a few qualities of Olympic bars that overshadow traditional weight lifting bars.
1. Good Quality Material: Olympic bars are made of good quality steel that helps them to maintain shape even when you load them with heavier weights. These bars are 50mm in diameter, and you can only load them with Olympic weight plates that come with 2”(inches) diameter holes. An Olympic bar is 28mm to 30mm in the middle and 2”(inches) in diameter in the ends.
2. Provide a Variety of Options: Olympic bars offer a wide range of options in terms of quality, pattern, and sizes. They come in various weight lifting and knurling patterns to perform different exercises, like - Olympic bars that are meant for bench press are smooth in the middle so that it doesn’t grab your shirt while performing the bench press. On the other hand, the traditional Olympic bars for the squat come with the knurling pattern in the middle so that they can hold the shirt, which prevents you from slipping down during your squatting exercise.
3. Accuracy: Olympic weights and bars are made with great accuracy compared to standard weights. You may think, little inaccuracies make no difference, but that is not true. Because an uneven weight on the bar invites potential injury so it is better to choose an Olympic bar for balanced lifts and efficient workouts.
4. Make Lesser Noise: As discussed, one can only lift Olympic plates in Olympic bars, and these Olympic plates come in a variety of options. These plates come with the coating of rubber and urethane that prevents them from making noise, getting rusted, and chipping. Olympic bumper plates are so solid that you can throw them from the distance without causing any damage to these plates or flooring.
5. Revolving Ends: One of the greatest attributes of Olympic bars is that they come with revolving ends that diminish or eliminate the torque on the bar. This movement is very important for fast and explosive exercises, such as – snatches, clean and jerks, etc. these bars are the best when you need the bars to rotate quickly. The Olympic bar is also very helpful to perform exercises, like squats and deadlights. Olympic bars are heavier and thicker on the ends, and because of that, they provide more stability compared to standard bars.
