How to Buy the Perfect Barbell For Your Home Gym
The Barbell's Anatomy
Barbell Components
Dimensions
The Construction of MAJOR LUTIE's Barbell
How to Care for Your Barbell
How Not to Take Care of Your Barbell
Conclusion
Buying a quality barbell is a risky investment, and you want it to last a long time and not have so-called quality problems. You also have to make sure you are buying the right barbell for the budget you have on hand. After all, the barbell is an important link between you and the weight you are lifting. When hundreds of pounds of weight are pressing down on your chest or back, you want to have barbells that are strong enough to support that weight.
In this article, you'll find out how to pick a barbell and several key factors to consider, such as the construction of the barbell, the different types of barbells, and the Ultimate Weight Guarantee. When you make your purchase, we'll also show you how to care for your barbell so that it lasts long enough. After all, you want this thing to last! Here's a detailed summary of everything we've covered in this guide.
The Barbell's Anatomy
Before we look at the various factors involved in choosing the best barbell for your goals and reasons, let's first look at the structural components of the barbell. A good understanding of the structural components of the barbell will help you better understand what follows.
Barbell Components:
Shaft: The main length of the barbell.
Sleeves: The area of the barbell where plates are loaded.
Bearings and bushings: The systems that allow the sleeves to revolve inside the barbell. Bearings produce quicker spin, but bushings, which are more frequent, produce less spin.
Collar: This device prevents the plates from slipping onto the shaft.
Knurling: A crosshatch design on the shaft that improves grip.
Knurling Marks: Smooth rings on the barbell that are 36 inches apart. They are used to assist you in determining your grip breadth.
Fastener: A structure that secures the sleeves to the shaft.
Endcap: A circular plastic or metal piece at the end of the sleeves.
Dimensions
The length of the barbell as we know it generally ranges from four to eight feet, with the seven and a half foot size being the most common and the more standard size (Olympic barbell length) that we usually use.
Barbell diameters range from 25 to 32 mm, and by choosing a different diameter it also has an effect on your grip strength, with 25 mm (for women) and 28 mm (for men) being the most common.
Olympic and weightlifting barbells have a sleeve diameter of 50mm.
Weight. The standard weight of a barbell is 20 kg/45 lbs. Power barbells will have a standard weight of 55 lbs or even higher and are designed to balance the requirements of powerlifting training.
The Construction of MAJOR LUTIE's Barbell
- MAJOR LUTIE 7ft Olympic Barbell bar built from solid cold rolled steel with hard chrome finish, ensure strength and durability.
- Diamond knurling for a secure grip; Rotating sleeves to reduce pressure on wrists and forearms.
- Get a full body workout or target specific muscle groups, great for short people to do squat, hip thrust,dead lift. Perfect fit for home gym.
- Measures 86 inches in overall length; between the sleeves length is 53 inches; 16.15 inches loadable sleeve length; 16 inches knurling on either end; 2-inch sleeve diameter to accommodate Olympic (2-inch) weights; weights approximately 45lb and can support a weight capacity of up to 1000 lbs.
- The superior design of our Olympic Weight Bar allows for a wide variety of workouts, all designed to help you gain lean body mass, lose fat, lower your overall weight and improve your general fitness level and health condition.
How to Care for Your Barbell
If you take care of your barbell, it will not fail you in your future training. If you follow the advice below, you'll find that your budget is far from the barbell as a single product.
Remove Any Excess Chalk
When you apply magnesium powder to your hands for deep squats, the residual magnesium powder can get stuck between the knurling of the barbell. Since magnesium powder absorbs moisture, any magnesium powder will collect humidity and cause a chemical reaction on the steel barbell, causing your barbell to rust. This is not desirable.
So use a stiff bristled nylon brush to dust the knurling with magnesium powder until all the powder is removed. Don't worry about the brush brushing over your barbell causing wear and tear because it is made of steel so it won't leave much wear and tear, instead you should be more concerned about the rusting of the barbell which can damage the surface coating of the barbell.
Apply Oil to the Bar
If you own a home gym or a garage gym, you only need to do this cleaning for your barbells once or twice a month. High-traffic gyms may need to oil the barbell once a week for maintenance.
Spray a rag with some 3-in-1 oil (or a professional barbell cleaner) - a standard household lubricant mixture. Wrap the cloth around the middle of the barbell and pull it down and back over the entire entire barbell shaft. There is no need to wipe down the sleeve. Allow to sit overnight, then repeat the above steps the next morning.
Clean the Sleeves
This repetitive step only applies to barbells with bearings, not Olympic bars with bushings. It is a more complicated technique that should not be done often and if done too often is also a damage to the barbell.
However, removing the bushing from the barbell and lubricating its interior is a critical step so that it spins quickly and smoothly and performs at its maximum effectiveness. Chalk and dirt can get into the barrel and block the rotation, and there are Youtube videos on how to clean the barrel.
How Not to Take Care of Your Barbell
Don't Leave Plates Loaded on Your Barbell
All plates need to be removed from the barbell after you have completed your weightlifting workout. This is because over time, the steady pressure of the plates can cause slight bending of the barbell, compromising the integrity of your barbell and thus the quality of your workout. This is especially noticeable over time with heavy barbells hanging from the rack.
If you go to the gym regularly, you'll find that people are used to leaving the barbell for the next person to use when they're done. No one wants to warm up by removing very heavy plates from each side.
Rack Pulls on Spotter Arms are not permitted
In large gyms, it is common to see people doing rack pulls on a power rack with the barbell resting on a fixed safety arm set at knee height. On the other hand, dropping a barbell loaded with hundreds of pounds on a strong fixed safety arm can lead to blunted knurling and overall bending of the barbell.
Rack pulls are a great exercise, but don't distort the finishing of the barbell; instead, this exercise needs to be performed on a wooden block or bumper plate. Your barbell (and bank account) will appreciate it.
Conclusion
Buying a new barbell can be a daunting and difficult task to choose. For a garage gym or home gym, this is an important investment and you want your money to last longer and you want to be able to have a better experience at your gym. This tutorial should provide some of our insight into the many factors to consider when shopping for a new barbell.