27 Apr
Blog

Barbell Row : The Perfect Guide to Follow

Barbell Row is a full body exercise that primarily targets the work of the lower back, upper back, arms, and hips. They also help develop the traction muscles of the posterior posterior deltoids, trapeziuses, rhomboids, and other small muscles that play an essential role in the shoulder joint and shoulder blades. Their other main functions are to build a more muscular back, bigger biceps, and to widen the shoulders. They are also considered very effective as they can improve our efficiency in performing other exercises such as the bench press, squat, and deadlift.

The right way to perform barbell rows

In order to perform barbell rows efficiently and adequately, you need to do the following steps:

1. The setup The first step is to position your body so that the barbell is lifted off the floor.

Directions

1. Place the barbell on the floor. Please go to the barbell and place your feet so that they are a little narrower than shoulder width apart. Your toes should be sticking out a little, and you should move the barbell so that it is more or less directly under your shoulders.

2. Then stand up straight with your chest straight, inhale air into your stomach, and properly support your abdominal muscles so that it looks like someone is punching you in the stomach.

3. Now move your knees back slightly and push your hips back towards the barbell.

4. Then grasp the barbell with your palms facing down and press it firmly together. Make sure the bar is resting on your fingers, your head is out of alignment, your shoulder is flat, and your eyes are focused on a spot that is at least 3 feet in front of you.

2. The Ascension The second step is to pull the barbell up from the floor towards your torso.

Directions

1. First, pull the bar by stretching out your legs. To do this, lift your hips and pull your elbow up. Make sure your back is flat as you try to raise the bar and that your shoulders escalate with your hips.

2. Keep pulling the barbell until it comes into contact with the base of your chest.

3. You should move the barbell until it is level with your knees. Your legs should be straight so they can easily exceed the size of your knees.

Note: Your head should be aligned with your spine, your core should be tight, and your lower back should be slightly arched.

3. The descent The final step is to lower the bar back down to the starting position.

Directions

First, quickly lower the weight toward the floor until both arms are straight and bend your hips so that the weight quickly drops to the floor.

NOTE-

Your core should stay tight throughout the exercise, and your back should be in the same neutral position. It would be helpful if you lowered the bar permanently, rather than slowly, permanently.

Variations of barbell rows

1. Pendlay Line- It's considered a stricter twist on the barbell rows because your legs need to remain motionless as you attempt to lift the weight.

2. Yates Row- This variation on the barbell row requires a more upright posture.

3rd row of dumbbells This version of the barbell row involves the use of dumbbells instead of barbells.

4th row of seat cables This is practiced with a cable machine.

5. T-Bar Row- It does not require greater strength and can therefore be practiced after all training sessions have been completed.

6th row of seals In this exercise, you need to lie down on a flat surface and pull the weights up from a hanging position.

frequently asked Questions

1. How many rows of barbells should I do?

You should include at least 8-20 reps per set in your exercise routine.

2. Are Barbell Rows Really Useful?

Yes. Barbell rows are said to be excellent for building your upper body muscles and promoting back strength.

3. What muscle does a barbell row have?

The barbell row mainly acts on the back muscles. They make a significant contribution to improving your back posture.

25 Nov
Blog

The Barbell Squat and Deadlift Alternative

If we've learned anything from our time in quarantine when the gyms were closed, we've learned that we can do without a gym. We can exercise to get stronger and fit in our living rooms, backyards, or garages without machines or even dumbbells.

We can use bodyweight exercises and something simple like a medicine ball for a great workout.

The medicine ball clean and squats are powerful and athletic movements that you can use in place of single barbell movements like deadlifts and squats.

Why does the medicine ball clean and squat?

This exercise saves time by linking some basic compound lifts that you normally do separately into one smooth motion.

This is a handy way to train your general condition and develop strength and ability to exercise.

This is a result of the dexterity you develop as you move through the cleaning and squatting repeatedly.

Grabbing and moving a heavy object that is not easy to grasp can quickly stabilize your trunk. You don't always train this with traditional barbell lifts.

You can learn this pretty quickly and easily with this exercise if you understand the basics of balance, stability, and movement. And if you don't, check out my course.

Doing a similar move with a barbell takes more skill and a lot more time.

But with the clean and squat med-ball, you can build full body strength, improve endurance, and practice two basic compound movements.

Who could use this?

It's a good choice for::

  • Anyone who still can't go to the gym
  • Someone who prefers to exercise at home
  • Someone who doesn't have room for a barbell and rack like you need to do would be doing squats.
  • Anyone who doesn't want to worry about what type of surface they're training on.

Even the heaviest medicine balls won't do much damage to a floor if you drop them.

Medicine balls are sold in many sizes and weights. You can start fairly easily and buy heavier ones over time, so you can slowly but steadily progress as you would with a barbell if you added more plates.

They're also great alternatives for anyone who doesn't like the idea of ​​lifting a barbell. Dumbbells don't go well with some.

Some have an exercise practice that doesn't quite fit barbell lifts, and there's really nothing wrong with that.

You can still do resistance exercises. Resistance doesn't mean barbells or dumbbells. We need to remember what we really do with barbell lifts.

It's a charged movement and it doesn't matter where or what the load is.

You may be more comfortable with the idea of ​​pressing a heavy medicine ball close to your chest than balancing a bar on your shoulders. It may seem more intuitive to you.

And that's fine, because exercises like this can do just as much good for you, maybe even more.

Target muscles

I call this exercise neat and stocky to draw attention to the two separate movements.

This exercise actually trains three different movement patterns::

  1. Deadlift or Hip Joint Pattern – We need control and strength in our hips and hamstrings to pivot, support, and lift the ball.
  2. Fast upper body scoop or rowing – We need a strong grip and supportive back muscles to lift and pull our body close to it, an object that is difficult to hold.
  3. A squat pattern – To clear the ball off the floor at chest level, we train a quick athletic movement of the upper body.

This means that we create coordination in our body and develop the timing.

We also train our core muscles in ways that a barbell or dumbbell often cannot.

When you hug something near your body and prevent your upper back from curving forward, you need to fully engage your core and build stability and strength.

How to Clean and Squat a Med Ball

Place the medicine ball on the floor between your feet a little closer to your toes than to your heels.

Make sure your feet are wide enough to squat without your elbows touching your knees.

The alternative to barbell squats and deadlifts - fitness, endurance training, strength training, body weight exercises, squats, medicine ball, power clean, dynamic balance, hip joint, deadlift, movement patterns, stability ball, barbells, training at home, core stability

Stick to keeping your back flat like you would on a deadlift.

You need to drop your hips a little lower than a traditional barbell deadlift so that your hips don't shoot up and your chest can fall on the clean side.

The alternative to barbell squats and deadlifts - fitness, endurance training, strength training, body weight exercises, squats, medicine ball, power clean, dynamic balance, hip joint, deadlift, movement patterns, stability ball, barbells, training at home, core stability

  • Breathe, hold on, grab and walk. When you are crouching with the ball in your hands, first bend your elbows and use your upper back to pull the ball close to your hips.

  • If you continue to stand, shrug your shoulders and shoot up with your elbows. Hold the ball close enough that you can feel it lightly brush against your body.

  • Take a break at the top before you crouch to make sure your elbows are high, balance, and support.

Complete the squat and focus on keeping your elbows high and making sure they fit between your knees at the bottom of the squat. Drop the ball if you can or crouch down and lower it in a controlled manner.

Variations

There are several reasons you might want to make changes.

  1. You may not have the mobility to get into a good position and pick the ball off the floor. It's lower than a loaded barbell. If you have problems there, put the ball on a small box or something similar to increase the height of the starting position.
  2. You might want to train your hip muscles a little more. If so, you can do the exercise from the slope. With your arms straight, lift the ball up, then pivot it across the floor and float it above the floor before cleaning.

Keep it smooth

A heavy medicine ball can be difficult to move. It's oddly shaped and difficult to grasp. Hence, it is important to keep the movement fluid so that it doesn't get injured. After grabbing the ball, make sure you keep your back in a good position and drive it up with your legs.

The closer you hold the ball to your body, the more efficient the exercise will be.

Too much space between your body and the ball and you will catch it in a poor position, putting unnecessary strain on your back.

For the more experienced lifter

If you've done quick dynamic exercises like this before, try doing a full cleanse instead of separating the movement.

You may want to do the exercise this way at first, but really should consider this to be progress if you have never practiced any other load-bearing movements like this.

We want to separate the two movements on the first practice, as it is important that we are balanced and tense before crouching with the ball at chest level.

It's not easy to release the tension in your body first, just enough to jerk a ball up explosively and then immediately stiffen under its weight to return to the crouch.

But when you're ready, try the heaviest medicine ball you can find.

23 Nov
Blog

The Barbell Squat and Deadlift Alternative

If we've learned anything from our time in quarantine when the gyms were closed, we've learned that we can do without a gym. We can exercise to get stronger and fit in our living rooms, backyards, or garages without machines or even dumbbells.

We can use bodyweight exercises and something simple like a medicine ball for a great workout.

The medicine ball clean and squats are powerful and athletic movements that you can use in place of single barbell movements like deadlifts and squats.

Why does the medicine ball clean and squat?

This exercise saves time by linking some basic compound lifts that you normally do separately into one smooth motion.

This is a handy way to train your general condition and develop strength and ability to exercise.

This is a result of the dexterity you develop as you move through the cleaning and squatting repeatedly.

Grabbing and moving a heavy object that is not easy to grasp can quickly stabilize your trunk. You don't always train this with traditional barbell lifts.

You can learn this pretty quickly and easily with this exercise if you understand the basics of balance, stability, and movement. And if you don't, check out my course.

Doing a similar move with a barbell takes more skill and a lot more time.

But with the clean and squat med-ball, you can build full body strength, improve endurance, and practice two basic compound movements.

Who could use this?

It's a good choice for::

  • Anyone who still can't go to the gym
  • Someone who prefers to exercise at home
  • Someone who doesn't have room for a barbell and rack like you need to do would be doing squats.
  • Anyone who doesn't want to worry about what type of surface they're training on.

Even the heaviest medicine balls won't do much damage to a floor if you drop them.

Medicine balls are sold in many sizes and weights. You can start fairly easily and buy heavier ones over time, so you can slowly but steadily progress as you would with a barbell if you added more plates.

They're also great alternatives for anyone who doesn't like the idea of ​​lifting a barbell. Dumbbells don't go well with some.

Some have an exercise practice that doesn't quite fit barbell lifts, and there's really nothing wrong with that.

You can still do resistance exercises. Resistance doesn't mean barbells or dumbbells. We need to remember what we really do with barbell lifts.

It's a charged movement and it doesn't matter where or what the load is.

You may be more comfortable with the idea of ​​pressing a heavy medicine ball close to your chest than balancing a bar on your shoulders. It may seem more intuitive to you.

And that's fine, because exercises like this can do just as much good for you, maybe even more.

Target muscles

I call this exercise neat and stocky to draw attention to the two separate movements.

This exercise actually trains three different movement patterns::

  1. Deadlift or Hip Joint Pattern – We need control and strength in our hips and hamstrings to pivot, support, and lift the ball.
  2. Fast upper body scoop or rowing – We need a strong grip and supportive back muscles to lift and pull our body close to it, an object that is difficult to hold.
  3. A squat pattern – To clear the ball off the floor at chest level, we train a quick athletic movement of the upper body.

This means that we create coordination in our body and develop the timing.

We also train our core muscles in ways that a barbell or dumbbell often cannot.

When you hug something near your body and prevent your upper back from curving forward, you need to fully engage your core and build stability and strength.

How to Clean and Squat a Med Ball

Place the medicine ball on the floor between your feet a little closer to your toes than to your heels.

Make sure your feet are wide enough to squat without your elbows touching your knees.

The alternative to barbell squats and deadlifts - fitness, endurance training, strength training, body weight exercises, squats, medicine ball, power clean, dynamic balance, hip joint, deadlift, movement patterns, stability ball, barbells, training at home, core stability

Stick to keeping your back flat like you would on a deadlift.

You need to drop your hips a little lower than a traditional barbell deadlift so that your hips don't shoot up and your chest can fall on the clean side.

The alternative to barbell squats and deadlifts - fitness, endurance training, strength training, body weight exercises, squats, medicine ball, power clean, dynamic balance, hip joint, deadlift, movement patterns, stability ball, barbells, training at home, core stability

  • Breathe, hold on, grab and walk. When you are crouching with the ball in your hands, first bend your elbows and use your upper back to pull the ball close to your hips.

  • If you continue to stand, shrug your shoulders and shoot up with your elbows. Hold the ball close enough that you can feel it lightly brush against your body.

  • Take a break at the top before you crouch to make sure your elbows are high, balance, and support.

Complete the squat and focus on keeping your elbows high and making sure they fit between your knees at the bottom of the squat. Drop the ball if you can or crouch down and lower it in a controlled manner.

Variations

There are several reasons you might want to make changes.

  1. You may not have the mobility to get into a good position and pick the ball off the floor. It's lower than a loaded barbell. If you have problems there, put the ball on a small box or something similar to increase the height of the starting position.
  2. You might want to train your hip muscles a little more. If so, you can do the exercise from the slope. With your arms straight, lift the ball up, then pivot it across the floor and float it above the floor before cleaning.

Keep it smooth

A heavy medicine ball can be difficult to move. It's oddly shaped and difficult to grasp. Hence, it is important to keep the movement fluid so that it doesn't get injured. After grabbing the ball, make sure you keep your back in a good position and drive it up with your legs.

The closer you hold the ball to your body, the more efficient the exercise will be.

Too much space between your body and the ball and you will catch it in a poor position, putting unnecessary strain on your back.

For the more experienced lifter

If you've done quick dynamic exercises like this before, try doing a full cleanse instead of separating the movement.

You may want to do the exercise this way at first, but really should consider this to be progress if you have never practiced any other load-bearing movements like this.

We want to separate the two movements on the first practice, as it is important that we are balanced and tense before crouching with the ball at chest level.

It's not easy to release the tension in your body first, just enough to jerk a ball up explosively and then immediately stiffen under its weight to return to the crouch.

But when you're ready, try the heaviest medicine ball you can find.

18 Nov
Blog

Target your trapezius by performing the barbell shrugs daily

While we focus on exercising all parts of our body, we often forget to pay attention to those who need it most. The trapezoid is one such weak muscle in the body that needs enough focus. Potential exercises that can help improve muscle strength are in great demand. That's why shoulder exercises are an essential choice for many fitness freaks these days.

Barbell shrugs are best for targeting the traps and improving their function in a number of ways. If you are dying to try the exercise, follow these steps to ensure the highest level of safety and care.

Barbell shrug exercises for a better morning

The trapezoid is a flat muscle that sits between the upper back and part of the neck. It not only helps in stabilizing the shoulder blade, but also in raising the arms above the head and in pulling the shoulder blade back. Since this muscle is weak, it is important to exercise daily to strengthen it. Barbell shrugs are the best exercise for this purpose that can solve your problem right away. Barbell shrug exercises promise to eliminate poor shoulder and arm mobility, back pain, and good posture forever. It also helps avoid poor compound movements for a hassle-free experience.

How do I do the barbell shrug workout?

Lots of people think so a barbell shrug workout is not easy to do, but it is not true. The barbell shrug is an isolation exercise that has simple steps to practice on. All you have to do is consider each step as you practice the exercise. Once you do, you will be ready to look like your dream person.

Procedure – Position the barbell on a rack. Make sure it is below your waist. Now stand in front of the barbell. Before you start exercising, tighten your abs and hold the barbell with an overhand grip. Draw your traps together and bring your shoulder up. When you have finished the step, bring the barbell to the starting position. Repeat that Barbell shrug exercise as requested.

How can you step behind the barbell shrug?

For those who don't know, there is also something called behind the shrug. This barbell shrug variation focuses on your traps and helps improve them in no time. For those who practice this exercise consistently, they know how effective it is.

Execution – Load the weight to perform the exercise. Stand away from the bar. Your feet should be shoulder width apart at this point. Now bend down on your knees and take the barbell off the floor. If you have a trainer to guide you for this step, it is better. Hold the bar with an overhand grip. Your hands should be shoulder width apart. Now hold the barbell close to your body and let your shoulders hang as much as possible. Now shrug your shoulders up as far as you can. Pause and return to the starting position. To repeat behind the shrug a couple of times for the best experience.

Barbell shrug exercise alternatives for you

If for some reason you don't feel like doing the barbell shrug, we have alternatives for that too. Such barbell shrug alternatives for workout will help you immensely in getting the same benefits without practicing the same exercise.

1. Resistance Band side shrugs

All you have to do is hold a resistance band properly to avoid injury. Shrug up the resistance band with the same shape as the barbell shrug. Repeat the exercise a few times for the best experience.

2. Close the upright rows

For this exercise, hold a resistance band properly with your palms facing in. Make sure you follow each step well to avoid complications. Now activate your traps to raise your hand inward. Make sure your elbow is above your wrist.

3. Lying Superman raised

Place your forehand on the floor and activate your traps to lift your upper body off the floor. Make sure that your abs remain tight while doing this workout. Repeat the exercise to get the benefits in no time.

Take that away

If you're looking for the best Barbell shrugs Trying exercises at home you cannot miss these. Follow our article to upgrade your harness and make it stronger like never before. It works, we promise!

frequently asked Questions

1 what Barbell shrug exercise Should I avoid mistakes in performing the exercise?

While you do that Barbell shrug exerciseAvoid swinging your back, rolling your shoulders, and positioning your neck to avoid complications.

2. Can you say anything else? Barbell shrug workout Trying alternatives at home?

You can try the backhand front shrug, the dumbbell shrug, and the back barbell shrug. These are your best tips for sure.

If you're looking for the best Barbell shrugs Trying exercises at home you cannot miss these. Follow our article to upgrade your harness and make it stronger like never before. It works, we promise!

Related articles

The best barbell lunges to take your lower body to the next level

07 Apr
Blog

DIY Beast Mode Gear: How to Build Your Own Barbell

There have been many challenges as an American in Japan in the past six years. First of all, finding my size shoes is a challenge at best, and almost impossible at worst. Finding T-shirts that don't suffocate me while not being treated in nonsensical (or at least grammatically wrong) English is another. And let's not even try to find a decent steak.

But I digress, this article is about DIY crafting equipment. Almost a year ago, I opened my own gym in my city and am the proud owner of one of the few Olympic-style weight sets in the whole city (including the three largest commercial gyms).

However, when shopping, prices have raised their ugly heads. Weight sets that would have cost about $ 600 in the U.S. cost 100,000 yen (about $ 1,000) here in Japan – before shipping! I spent most of what I could afford and got the best set I could. Hey, heavy lifters are rare in Japan and rarer in the country. Almost everything has to be imported and the prices are high.

Fast forward to last month and I've worked on my squats. I was very happy to achieve a personal best (after the ACL operation) of 210 kilograms (about 463 pounds) when I noticed that my bar, though not failing, contained what I considered to be an excessive amount of “Flex Would designate.

Since this was my only bar for the gym, it wouldn't be a good idea to shred the damn thing in half. So I went back to my weight set documentation and checked my bar capacity.

Open the correct page and read "Recommended maximum weight: 200 kilograms". Ooooops. What do I do now? I want to get even heavier, but if I do that, I can just shear off the ends of my bar. It seemed time to buy a new bar.

Here the prices have raised their ugly heads again. When I checked the prices for a high-capacity bar, the cheapest one I could find was over 50,000 yen ($ 500). A good quality bar like an Ivanko bar would cost over 100,000 yen (USD 1,000).

To be perfectly honest, I just couldn't afford the damn things. As a former military officer who did his fair share of “MSU Ops” (Making Sh ** Up Operations), I decided to build my new bar myself.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

The most important part is of course the heart of the bar, the core bar itself. After reading a number of very informative (and often fun) articles by Dr. Ken Leistner (no stranger to the DIY iron game itself), I knew I wanted to get cold rolled steel. The helpful employees of the Osaka Stainless Steel Company in Osaka, Japan entered.

In cooperation with their representatives, we finally decided on a cold-rolled hardened steel bar with a diameter of 38 mm and a length of 250 cm (about 8 feet, which is longer than your normal bar – it is the one in the photo above). And it was really a good price too, just about a hundred dollars including delivery.

I chose the rod with a larger diameter (38 mm in contrast to the standard rod with 28 mm) for several reasons. Although I knew that the bar I got was cold rolled, it was not a guarantee that it was as strong as the steel used in a high quality commercial bar.

These extra millimeters of steel could be useful. Second, the additional diameter could also be useful as a grip aid. While it's not a real fat bar in the 2 inch or higher category, this extra almost half inch will still challenge grip on deadlifts and other trains.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

So I had my "heart", now I needed the finishing touch. A quick trip to a local hardware store made me run the pipes over the ends of my bar, a set of 50 cm long water pipes with a diameter of 1.5 inches.

With an inside diameter of 39mm and an outside diameter of 49mm, I couldn't ask for a better fit if I had ordered the damn things made to measure.

Since this rod is intended for power lifts and not for Olympic lifts, I did not need bushings or bearings or the like. I was able to attach the tubes directly to the pole without the need for twisting.

Using a series of high strength epoxy resins, I was able to easily attach the tubes to the ends of the bar (although I would have liked to weld them on, I have neither the ability nor access to a welding set). Use an old set of screw collars to work as my inner collars and TA-DA! The animal is unleashed!

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

I can tell you so far this thing is a stone on my back. Taking out on squats was like having a dead straight laser line over my shoulders, even when I was fully loaded, and even trying to hop the top of some squats just to see if I could bend the bar at all could. As an added bonus, the extra bar width felt a little more comfortable on my shoulders and spread the weight a bit wider over the back muscles.

So don't despair if you find yourself in a similar situation. Although I doubt that few readers will be in a non-English speaking foreign country where there is no large heavy lifting community, you may find yourself in a situation where your finances are not quite up to the commercial price of the equipment available or shipping and other costs make DIY work useful and worthwhile.

If you choose to go DIY, here are some tips I want to share with you:

  1. Shopping spree. I checked over a dozen different sources (online and over the phone) before choosing the bar that I bought.
  2. Research. Check the dimensions, thickness, and other information about the commercially available products that you are emulating or that you want to create a template from. Even if your build is unique due to your circumstances, you will find out as much information as possible.
  3. Build over. If you're not a master metalworker or fabricator, or know someone who is, your welds and materials may not be as foolproof as the commercial ones. Let's face it, York, Ivanko and the others stayed in business and did what they do because they build good things and know how to put them together. You're not (yet?) So good. So build over if you can. If the desired commercial rack has box walls with a thickness of 2 mm, get a thickness of 3 mm if you can. If you need something that can handle £ 500, build something that can handle £ 750. It could be a little more expensive (hey, I could have built the BEAST for about three quarters of the price I would have done if I had exactly copied commercial measurements), but the added safety factor helps me sleep better at night.
  4. Try it. Put it through its paces, but do it slowly. Just because you might want to build something that can hold up to 1000 pounds, don't just hit 1000 pounds on the thing the first time. Take it in slowly and see what it can do.

In any case, I hope that this also encourages you to make your own homemade equipment in beast mode for your own needs.

06 Apr
Blog

DIY Beast Mode Gear: How to Build Your Own Barbell

There have been many challenges as an American in Japan in the past six years. First of all, finding my size shoes is a challenge at best, and almost impossible at worst. Finding T-shirts that don't suffocate me while not being treated in nonsensical (or at least grammatically wrong) English is another. And let's not even try to find a decent steak.

But I digress, this article is about DIY crafting equipment. Almost a year ago, I opened my own gym in my city and am the proud owner of one of the few Olympic-style weight sets in the whole city (including the three largest commercial gyms). However, when shopping, prices have raised their ugly heads. Weight sets that would have cost about $ 600 in the U.S. cost 100,000 yen (about $ 1,000) here in Japan – before shipping! I spent most of what I could afford and got the best set I could. Hey, heavy lifters are rare in Japan and rarer in the country. Almost everything has to be imported and the prices are high.

Fast forward to last month and I've worked on my squats. I was very happy to achieve a personal best (after the ACL operation) of 210 kilograms (about 463 pounds) when I noticed that my bar, though not failing, contained what I considered to be an excessive amount of “Flex Would designate. Since this was my only bar for the gym, it wouldn't be a good idea to shred the damn thing in half. So I went back to my weight set documentation and checked my bar capacity. Open the correct page and read "Recommended maximum weight: 200 kilograms". Ooooops. What do I do now? I want to get even heavier, but if I do that, I can just shear off the ends of my bar. It seemed time to buy a new bar.

Here the prices have raised their ugly heads again. When I checked the prices for a high-capacity bar, the cheapest one I could find was over 50,000 yen ($ 500). A good quality bar like an Ivanko bar would cost over 100,000 yen (USD 1,000). To be perfectly honest, I just couldn't afford the damn things. As a former military officer who did his fair share of “MSU Ops” (Making Sh ** Up Operations), I decided to build my new bar myself.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

The most important part is of course the heart of the bar, the core bar itself. After reading a number of very informative (and often fun) articles by Dr. Ken Leistner (no stranger to the DIY iron game itself), I knew I wanted to get cold rolled steel. The helpful employees of the Osaka Stainless Steel Company in Osaka, Japan entered. In cooperation with their representatives, we finally decided on a cold-rolled hardened steel bar with a diameter of 38 mm and a length of 250 cm (about 8 feet, which is longer than your normal bar – it is the one in the photo above). And it was really a good price too, just about a hundred dollars including delivery.

I chose the rod with a larger diameter (38 mm in contrast to the standard rod with 28 mm) for several reasons. Although I knew that the bar I got was cold rolled, it was not a guarantee that it was as strong as the steel used in a high quality commercial bar. These extra millimeters of steel could be useful. Second, the additional diameter could also be useful as a grip aid. While it's not a real fat bar in the 2 inch or higher category, this extra almost half inch will still challenge grip on deadlifts and other trains.

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

So I had my "heart", now I needed the finishing touch. A quick trip to a local hardware store made me run the pipes over the ends of my bar, a set of 50 cm long water pipes with a diameter of 1.5 inches. With an inside diameter of 39mm and an outside diameter of 49mm, I couldn't ask for a better fit if I had ordered the damn things made to measure. Since this rod is intended for power lifts and not for Olympic lifts, I did not need bushings or bearings or the like. I was able to attach the tubes directly to the pole without the need for twisting.

Using a series of high strength epoxy resins, I was able to easily attach the tubes to the ends of the bar (although I would have liked to weld them on, I have neither the ability nor access to a welding set). Use an old set of screw collars to work as my inner collars and TA-DA! The animal is unleashed!

DIY barbell, build your own barbell, do it yourself barbell, build a barbell

I can tell you so far this thing is a stone on my back. Taking out on squats was like having a dead straight laser line over my shoulders, even when I was fully loaded, and even trying to hop the top of some squats just to see if I could bend the bar at all could. As an added bonus, the extra bar width felt a little more comfortable on my shoulders and spread the weight a bit wider over the back muscles.

So don't despair if you find yourself in a similar situation. Although I doubt that few readers will be in a non-English speaking foreign country where there is no large heavy lifting community, you may find yourself in a situation where your finances are not quite up to the commercial price of the equipment available or shipping and other costs make DIY work useful and worthwhile. If you choose the DIY jump, here are some tips I want to share with you.

  1. Shopping spree. I checked over a dozen different sources (online and over the phone) before choosing the bar that I bought.
  2. Research. Check the dimensions, thickness, and other information about the commercially available products that you are emulating or that you want to create a template from. Even if your build is unique due to your circumstances, you will find out as much information as possible.
  3. Build over. If you're not a master metalworker or fabricator, or know someone who is, your welds and materials may not be as foolproof as the commercial ones. Let's face it, York, Ivanko and the others stayed in business and did what they do because they build good things and know how to put them together. You're not (yet?) So good. So build over if you can. If the desired commercial rack has box walls with a thickness of 2 mm, get a thickness of 3 mm if you can. If you need something that can handle £ 500, build something that can handle £ 750. It could be a little more expensive (hey, I could have built the BEAST for about three quarters of the price I would have done if I had exactly copied commercial measurements), but the added safety factor helps me sleep better at night.
  4. Try it. Put it through its paces, but do it slowly. Just because you might want to build something that can hold up to 1000 pounds, don't just hit 1000 pounds on the thing the first time. Take it in slowly and see what it can do.

In any case, I hope that this also encourages you to make your own beast mode gear for your own needs. Did you build your own equipment? What did you build and what did you learn? Please share in the comments below.