What Is a “women’s Bar” and When Should It Be Used?
The Mythical “Female Bar”: This is a real type of barbell, but unless you’re into one particular strength sport, you probably have some misconceptions about what it is and why it exists. Is that a shriveled and rosy shit bar? Or is it a necessary piece of equipment for all women? No, it’s neither. Here is the real story.
Ordinary bars are not “male” bars
The barbell you’ll most commonly find in most gyms is 20kg (44lbs, and sometimes 45lbs) and about seven feet long. It has a handle about an inch thick (the exact size varies from model to model) and the weights fit into two inch thick bushings at each end of the rod. It is commonly referred to as the “Olympic” bar, whether or not it conforms to the rules of Olympic-style weightlifting.
In powerlifting competitions and most gyms for recreational or allied training, everyone uses this type and size of bar, regardless of gender. When I competed in powerlifting , there were three different bars – the USPA uses a very thick “squat bar” and a very flexible “deadlift bar” – but they were designed for different exercises, not for people of different sexes.
So where do people use the women’s bar? in one particular sport.
The female bar is designed for Olympic weightlifting.
Remember weightlifting, snatch and clean and jerk? ( Here’s a reminder .) The sport has men’s and women’s divisions, and each uses its own bar . The only other place I’ve ever seen male and female barbells in general use is a CrossFit gym, which makes sense since CrossFit includes Olympic moves.
The male bar belongs to the same family as the universal bar we described above. It weighs 20 kg, is 2,200 millimeters (about 7 feet 3 inches) long, and has a center section of 28 millimeters, or just over an inch.
The women’s bar, which appeared in the late 1990s, is slightly smaller. It weighs 15 kilograms instead of 20, is 2,010 millimeters (6 feet 7 inches) long, and has a center section that is only 25 millimeters in diameter—almost exactly an inch. The distance between the collars is the same as for the male bar. so it can fit on a standard squat rack.
Why is there a women’s bar?
There are two reasons for the existence of a female neck: the diameter of the part you hold and the behavior of the neck under load.
Please note that the lighter weight (15 kg instead of 20 kg) is not the reason for its existence. There are lightweight training bars that beginners and kids can use if they find it difficult to lift a full size bar, but they usually weigh 5 or 10kg and once you can lift a full size bar you switch. In contrast, a woman who is clean and lifts over 300 pounds in competition will still do so with a women’s 15kg bar.
Firstly, the thinner the rod, the easier it is to wrap your hands around it. And since weightlifting uses a hook grip, where the thumb is under the fingers, it is important to be able to wrap your hands correctly. Three millimeters isn’t much of a difference and most people can handle both just fine, but if you have small hands, you’ll appreciate being able to use a thinner bar. More women than men would be at a disadvantage if the same 28mm barbell was used for everyone.
Secondly, there is the way the rod flexes when it is loaded, which is known as the “whip”. When you load the barbell with enough weight, it flexes. Sometimes you don’t want it (remember the USPA Super Hard Squat Bars?), but in weightlifting you want it. Athletes can use the way the bar flexes to help them bounce off the bottom of the clean or to get the bar moving to initiate a snatch. If women used a men’s bar, few women would get as many whips as men. So the women’s bar is more cool.
Women’s parallel bars are rare outside of Olympic weightlifting halls.
Now that you understand what a women’s bar is, let’s talk about what it isn’t .
If your gym has a bar that is shorter and lighter than a full-size bar, but the same thickness and not too flexible, it’s not a women’s bar. Most likely, it will be a straight bar for curling arms (often 25 pounds, but they vary) or a 35-pound short bar like this one .
If your gym has a very light bar, it’s not a women’s bar. It’s most likely a tech bar . If you look at the end cap and it says something like “50 lbs” it could be its load capacity , for example it’s a 15 lb rod (or whatever) that you can load up to 50 lbs on. These bars are great for kids or adults who need something light to warm up.
If your gym has a barbell that is the same size as a regular barbell, but looks a little thinner to you, it’s not a women’s bar. This is probably a deadlift bar , which is 27mm wide at the center and is actually longer than a regular bar. Or your gym’s regular barbells may come in different thicknesses; for example, there may be 28 mm and 29 mm.
Your gym may have a women’s bar in addition to some other bars, especially if weightlifters or CrossFitters work out there occasionally.
When should a women’s bar be used?
If you train in Olympic weightlifting and plan to compete in the women’s division, you should use a female bar. While you won’t have a problem using a male bar, it’s helpful to get used to the type of bar you’ll be using in competition and get used to the different pancake math that the other women in your gym will be using. For example, to load 60 kg, you would need blue 20 kg plates on a male bar or blue plus small red ones (2.5 kg each) on a female bar. (Competition collars are optional, but that’s a different math lesson.)
If you need a short bar because you don’t have much room in your home gym, try one of those short bars I mentioned; Rogue’s is only 69″ long, compared to 79″ for the women’s bar and 87 for the men’s Olympic or standard power bar. Just be aware that these smaller rods won’t fit on a standard size rack.
This is really the only reason. If you want a thin, flexible deadlift bar, use a deadlift bar. If you have small hands and find it hard to hold on to a standard bar, buy a set of straps and practice your grip ; The problem isn’t with the bar, it’s with you.
I say this as someone who “couldn’t” hook onto a male bar, but hooked onto a female bar with no problem when I started training in the weightlifting gym. Surprise: when I returned to the men’s bar, it turned out that I could hook it perfectly. It was easier to learn on the thinner fretboard, but my hands could do both once I knew how to do it. So feel free to try out the female bar, but please don’t think that the male bar isn’t suitable for recreational lifting.