Ease of Grip: Standard Bars vs. Olympic Bars -- Your votes please!

[[Focus]]

As a relative beginner to training I use standard bars because they allow for more versatility (in terms of weight allotments). As I struggle with my grip lasting long enough for the rest of me to get a workout, though, I wonder...would an Olympic Bar be easier to grip?


Votes and comments please.

 

[just_josh]

MY home gym has standard and my college gym has olympic...I must say I like standard more. I like the feel of my entire hand around the bar, so I say standard.

 

[Proteinboy]

wats the difference??? iv lifted with both kinds of bars but i dont really notice a difference

 

[NBS 4life]

MY home gym has standard and my college gym has olympic...I must say I like standard more. I like the feel of my entire hand around the bar, so I say standard.

You must have little hands

 

[LeiYunFat]

Yeah, I was under the impression that a standard bar was an olympic one. Either way, thicker bars are generally harder to grip.

 

[ShaftedTwice]

Yeah, I was under the impression that a standard bar was an olympic one. Either way, thicker bars are generally harder to grip.

That's what I thought too

I personally like the feeling of a thicker bar over a skinny arsed one.

 

[(Silent)]

Olympic is what i use, and i like the large grip area on it

 

[just_josh]

You must have little hands

Actually I have very large hands for my size. Ive only met a couple people that have bigger hands than me and im only 5'9".

 

[davidjr74]

I use the bar that is 45 Pounds. Is that olympic or standard?

 

[[Focus]]

That'd be Olympic, jman.

I've since done some research, and the scientific consensus is that thicker (Olympic) bars make it more difficult to perform pulling exercises. Which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. In my case, where my grip strength nearly fails me most weight training sessions, I think it will be best to stick to my standard bar for now..with the understanding that once I've developed my grip strength sufficiently I'll switch to Olympic. That was the plan anyway.

On the other hand, if you find you're having an extremely difficult time with your grip lasting long enough to get a proper workout in, then you might consider switching to a Standard bar from your Olympic. I use a 7' Standard bar which weighs just under 20 lbs [shorter bars of the same type are a couple lbs lighter] and [having just measured its diameter and width] its almost exactly 1 inch in diameter. Just for anyone who was wondering. As far as I can find out from google, it appears Olympic bars vary from slightly thicker (in the gripping area) to 2, 3 or more inches in diameter.

If someone who owns an Olympic bar could do a quick tape measure of length and diameter and we would have a better idea. I'm reasonably sure no one else cares, but if someone would humor me it would be much appreciated.

And for anyone who's curious, here's a post I found to be informative:

 

[ShaftedTwice]

If olympic bars are 45lbs, then that's the only kind that I use except for some iso I guess.

 

[newf]

I use both but mostly my oly bar. For the big lifts oly all the way.

 

[malkore]

I use the bar that is 45 Pounds. Is that olympic or standard?

That'd be an olympic bar.

standard bars are skinnier, and usually have narrower ends, so they don't accept olympic plates.
no decent gym will have them.

I still consider shorter bars for curling to be oly bars even though they usually weigh 25lbs. They're still teh same grip diameter and ends.

 

[[Focus]]

It's looking like the consensus is that I'm a girly-man..I hope my pride can survive until my grip strength improves. I'm going to try isolating my grip at the end of each workout.

..it's weird, though, 'cause whenever I did those little 25 cent grip strength tests at the movie theatre, I'd get the Gorilla score. Apparently I'm more limp noodle..I'll never go to a Famous Players theatre again! *runs off sobbing*

 

[[Focus]]

Update: I made some pretty serious improvements since my last session. I guess it's just a beginner thing. Soon I will make applesauce with my bare hands..muahahaha.

It was interesting learning about the advantages of thicker bars for pulling though. I'm definitely going to do something with that in the future. Thanks to everyone who voted/commented.