Olympic Barbell

The Olympic barbell is the central tool of any serious gym. It's distinguished from the standard bar by three traits: greater length (220 cm vs. the 150-180 cm of a traditional bar), rotating sleeves thanks to ball bearings or bushings, and load capacity that reaches up to 680 kg in competition models.

What is it for? Anything that calls for a bar that can be loaded with serious weight. Squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, barbell row: the fundamental exercises almost all run through the Olympic barbell. Sleeve rotation is essential in the Olympic lifts (snatch and clean and jerk), where the bar rotates in the lifter's hands during the catch.

Knurling varies based on use. Weightlifting bars don't have center knurling, to protect the neck during cleans. Powerlifting bars have a more aggressive center knurl to keep the bar from sliding on the back during squats. Shaft diameter is 28 mm for Olympic weightlifting, 29 mm for powerlifting, and 25 mm for the women's version, a difference that affects grip and bar whip.

There are also specialty Olympic bars: the squat bar (stiffer and with aggressive knurling), the deadlift bar (more flexible and thinner) and the safety squat bar (with handles and a neck pad). If you train at a commercial gym, the bar you find is almost certainly a standard 20 kg Olympic barbell.