Slightly Thicker Bars and Losing Reps

I typically use a 28mm bar . A 30mm bar was already on the bench today so I settled with that.
I was little surprised that my performance was reduced by two reps.
Have any of you found anything similar when forced to use the slightly thicker, usually cheaper bars.

Do you use suicide grip or do you wrap your thumbs?

Bar diameter is a much bigger deal than we give credence to. I always try to use thicker bars for bench because it feels a little friendlier on the hands/wrists IMO.

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I was positively humbled by my homemade axle.
I went from a bellar bar to a 30mm. You will adjust, it just takes a while.

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No I use a normal grip. I am not concerned just forgot that it is slightly harder. I don’t use wrist supports as only 110kg.

I use supports for 1 rep maxes though or singles. No I don’t tape my thumbs.

If you use suicide grip, you probably won’t notice a difference.

Some bars are springy too, though you don’t notice much difference at 2 plates. The springy action can hurt or help, depending on your timing though. Some people use it to help off the bottom, but this causes a lot of issues for heavyweight deadlifters (it rebounds right at knee height so RIP), but this is getting off track…

Try giving suicidr grip a shot, just don’t use bar collars or you run the risk of having a Gym Fail cameo.

As someone that’s been using that grip for over a decade, I can’t fathom NOT using collars. I would find that far more worrisome.

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Using collars without a spotter on bench can be the difference between a sore neck and a collapsed trachea.

Of course, this could be avoided simply by not using more weight than you can handle :slight_smile:

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Or just setting up safeties/pins/straps at a reasonable height

e.g.

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I’m genuinely not understanding.

But I’m also a nutty guy

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I understand your point, and I too will use collars if I’m not near-max - but using collars at 1RM or close to it is a great way to self-guillotine.

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I haven’t used clamps since highschool for bench, and I haven’t lost a plate yet. Bench is an exercise where I think unless you have an imbalance (where the bar gets angled), or something you should be fine.

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I was missing the 1rm context of your post: that’s the issue.

In general, I think 1rms in training are silly, so that’s probably why it didn’t register, haha.

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to be fair: so was I :slightly_smiling_face: I should have specified

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The only exercise I currently use collars on is when doing ezbar curls, and that’s because of the shorter length of the bar and the likelihood that smaller plates can bounce around

I feel that on the compounds if the plates move I am not stabilizing as I should, and tbh, it’s rarely a problem, if ever. On occasions that it is, it’s because I haven’t done an exercise for a long time (like incline bench) - but I see it as a good signal to cue for it and it sorts itself out. With clamps on I feel I could be making mistakes I’m not aware of. Probably not a problem for the more advanced lifter though.

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I don’t find myself thinking that shifting plates is a sign of any sort of issue at this point: it means I’m pushing hard enough that form deviation is occurring…which is a goal of mine.

This was this morning’s deadlift workout

Without collars, those plates would have been all over the place.

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I would guess that the difference in thickness between 4 bumper plates and 2 regular plates is a significant factor here. If you’ve got 2 regular plates on a bar, they’ve got a long way to travel before they risk causing any major issues. The only time i used collars when training in my home gym was when i was having to stack small plates because i ran out of big plates.

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Eh, at the same time, if you’re lifting something that has 2 plates on the bar and 2 plates is your limit, you’ll notice it.

I don’t press above 1 big plate. If that plate moves: I can tell.

This is completely off topic, but what type of gym is that? Such an odd combination of “hotel gym” size and color scheme but quality equipment.

That’s my garage, haha.

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Huh. I would have never expected you to own an assisted pull up machine.

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