Bar Talk

There’s a growing variety of specialized strength training bars on the market to supplement your workouts with. Maybe you’ve already seen some weird looking bar at one of the gyms and wondered what it was called, what it was for, or where you could get one. I’m going to give you a brief tour of [...]

Welcome to the Women’s Olympic Barbell Guide. This article is more or less an extension of my original Barbell Guide, only the focus here is on women’s 15 kg bars instead of what is mostly men’s 20 kg bars in the original. The original guide has a very thorough opening section that explains the basics of barbell [...]

The Vulcan Elite is a 28 mm bushing bar designed specifically for Olympic weightlifting. It is the more affordable “training” version of the $600 Vulcan Professional Bearing Bar, with the biggest differences being the use of bushings instead of bearings, and of course, the price. In terms of classification, the Vulcan Elite 3 is much [...]

This is a review for the newest adaptation of the Again Faster Team Bar, the new 2.0. Just a heads up, I have no hands-on experience with the previous Team Bars, so there won’t be any comparisons between the original bar or version 1.2. Just consider this a stand alone review for the 2.0. Update 2016-2017: I highly recommend avoiding this [...]

This is a review for what is now the fourth Vulcan bar that I’ll review here at Garage Gyms; the Vulcan Standard 28.5 mm Olympic Bar; or what I think of as the Box Bar. Previously I reviewed the Vulcan Elite, the One Basic, and the Bearing Training Bar, and I think that it’s safe to say [...]

This is a review for the Vulcan 28.5 mm Training Bearing Bar – which is practically identical to the previous Vulcan bar that I reviewed, the Vulcan One. The primary difference between these two bars is that the Vulcan One Basic is a bushing bar, and the 28.5 mm Training Bar is a needle bearing bar. I strongly [...]

There are a lot of different barbells out there. There are bars intended for the Olympic lifts; bars for powerlifting; and even bars simply for learning and practicing technique. But what about CrossFit barbells? Since CrossFit utilizes the Olympic lifts, it should come as no surprise that the Olympic bar has been the best match. [...]

This is a review of what is now officially the most magnificent and functional Olympic bar in my garage gym, the American Barbell Stainless Steel Olympic Bar. In addition to taking an awfully close look at this stainless steel beast over the last 45-days, I have asked American Barbell a lot of technical questions regarding construction as well. [...]

Before I start this review for the Matt Chan Bar let me start off by saying that I am extremely excited about this particular bar review. I am excited because it looks like this will be one of those rare articles in which I do not need to have a section for listing the negatives; or cons. [...]

I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to test the new Klokov Olympic Barbell before it launches. In the last four weeks I’ve made it a point to use the Klokov any chance I could to get a really good feel for the bar, and a good feel for it I believe I have! In case [...]

Are you looking for a little help figuring out what the difference between all the Rogue bars is without needing to make a spreadsheet and have 15 browser tabs open? If so, you have come to the right place! Rogue Fitness has one of the most extensive collections of branded barbells around. It can be daunting trying to figure out which bar is [...]

Welcome! This is a review for the new Vulcan One Basic 28.5 mm Olympic Barbell; my very first Vulcan bar. I’m pretty excited about finally having a Vulcan bar to play around with; I’ve been researching them for some time now, and have heard many good things. I’ve wanted to do a Vulcan review because I think that there is [...]

This bar has been updated and has been much improved over this older version. See an updated review here. In this review I’ll be taking a look at the OFW Wonder Bar, an entry-level, import WOD bar. This is version two of the Wonder Bar (W2), and while it is much improved over the 1st gen Wonder, it still screams [...]

Are you looking for a way to add some variation to your lifts? Are you hitting some plateaus and needing to break up the routine? For an inexpensive way to mix up your bench press, overhead press, rows, deadlifts, and even arm workouts, consider a Swiss bar like Rogue’s MG-1 Multi-Grip Bar. The MG-1 Bar [...]