How Much to Bend the Bar?

Just curious, how much weight does it take to get a visible arc in a typical olympic bar?

depends on the bar. theres a really old bar at my gym that starts visibly bending with two plates (and no not the bend thats already there because yes the bar is bent) but theres other bars that handle twice that weight without even a bow!

[quote]kvstrongman wrote:
depends on the bar. theres a really old bar at my gym that starts visibly bending with two plates (and no not the bend thats already there because yes the bar is bent) but theres other bars that handle twice that weight without even a bow![/quote]

Yeah, I’ve had bars that bend at 315, and others that don’t even bend at 700.

My bar at my gym starts whipping at bit at 315, visibly bends at 405.

Grip comes into play, too.

Think of hand placement on a wide grip bench vs a sumo deadlift.

depends on where the bar is being supported

when i did rackpulls at my old gym and used a bench because there was no rack

i made the bar bend with 315 because the support was only in the center.

but when i do rackpulls now w/ the support on both ends very close to where the plate loading starts it takes much more weight to bend it.

im not sure when the bar starts bending but i use 545 so im guessing around 5 plates.

also depends on the bar: squat bar vs deadlift bar, etc…

[quote]getfast24 wrote:
also depends on the bar: squat bar vs deadlift bar, etc…[/quote]

we’re talking about a standard olympic bar that you would find at any commercial gym.

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
getfast24 wrote:
also depends on the bar: squat bar vs deadlift bar, etc…

we’re talking about a standard olympic bar that you would find at any commercial gym.[/quote]

Is there such thing as a typical bar?

An Eleiko WL bar will flex visibly with a 25kg plate on either end (in fact you can see it flex just by dropping an empty one from a foot off the ground and watching it wobble around).

[quote]ninearms wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
getfast24 wrote:
also depends on the bar: squat bar vs deadlift bar, etc…

we’re talking about a standard olympic bar that you would find at any commercial gym.

Is there such thing as a typical bar?

[/quote]

ummm yes.

read what i wrote again, thats the bar we’re talking about not some fancy $400 dollar specialty bar.

I had a standard bar, when I was squatting 430 it was getting whippy and was bending. It was also just getting beat up too from deadlifts.
Then I bought a texas power bar, thing is solid…cost me quite a bit but I’ll never look back its sweet.

My pendlay bar bends slightly at 110kg (about 240 lbs).

[quote]dcamnc wrote:
My pendlay bar bends slightly at 110kg (about 240 lbs).[/quote]

Ain’t that a great bar?

Got one myself (also have an Ivanko PL competition squat bar)

[quote]ninearms wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
getfast24 wrote:
also depends on the bar: squat bar vs deadlift bar, etc…

we’re talking about a standard olympic bar that you would find at any commercial gym.

Is there such thing as a typical bar?

An Eleiko WL bar will flex visibly with a 25kg plate on either end (in fact you can see it flex just by dropping an empty one from a foot off the ground and watching it wobble around).[/quote]

And the Eleiko PL bar hardly bends with 600lbs loaded on it. This is a silly topic, it depends on the construction of the bar, its quality, purpose, diameter. Everyones bar will be different.

I think 405 is average.

You start to see a slight dip in the bar when squatting.

There are bars made of different material or built thicker, but the average commercial gym bar is going to start bending around 400+.

Ive seen a guy ruin a bar with 600 something before, but he also dropped it off his back, so no surprise.

At the gyms I’ve been to most bars (when squatting) get whippy @ around 3plates per side… when I leave the bar on the pins for a a water break I come back & there is a visible bend in the centre…

Hmmm… does this equal cheap bars? Would not be surprised

[quote]Power GnP wrote:

And the Eleiko PL bar hardly bends with 600lbs loaded on it. This is a silly topic, it depends on the construction of the bar, its quality, purpose, diameter. Everyones bar will be different.[/quote]

An Eleiko OL bar just starts to bend (when squating) with 185kg on it.