thick bar training

[the block]

am gonna get a thick bar soon.

was wondering what with the lower arm being generally weak on most people coupled with having to deal with a thick bar and thereby limiting the amount of weight lifted on 'X' exercise - how would that effect the development of the particular muscle(s) being trained?

cos in short - you'd be lifting less weight but it would be harder :017:

[Robert]

I tried this recently. Some facts:

1. Most of my lifts (both push and pull) had the lbages reduced by approx 5-10kg (with the exception of deadlifts where 1RM is reduced by about 35kg).
2. Its much much more draining. You feel absolutely shatterd all the time for the 1st few weeks. The neural feedabck is far greater than with and oly bar, even with more weight.
3. Your forarms take a proper beating. So introduce the thick bar 1 exercise at a time. I went all out and darn near injured myself.
4. You will get awesome results.
5. I beleive that if you are after STRENGTH and not just PL strength, then thick bars are the way to go.

I currently only use the thick bar for curling and OHP, I will introduce more exercises in due course.

HAVE FUN!

[Stubob]

I'd like to hear grippdawgs opinion on this.. I'm interested in thick bar training..

[Alex (Big-AL)]

BOOK EXCERPT

Lost Secrets of Strength & Development
By Brooks Kubik
CHAPTER TWELVE: THICK BARS
Pages 89-92
Advanced dinosaurs train with thick handled barbells and dumbbells. A regular barbell or dumbbell is 1" or 1 1/16" in diameter. Dinosaurs use barbells and dumbbells that are 2", 2 ½" or even 3" in diameter. Why? Because using a thick handled bar is one of the very best things you can do to develop maximum muscular size and strength. The turn of the century strongmen-may of whom were enormously stronger than the vast majority of our modern "champions"-were well acquainted with the incredible effect of thick bar work. They thrived on it. The thick bar work allowed them to develop levels of upper body power virtually incomprehensible to those who train only with regular bars.
WHY THICK BARS WORK
Thick bars develop levels of muscular size and strength that cannot be duplicated with any other equipment. Thick bars are very difficult to control. Compared to an Olympic barbell, a bar with a 2" or 3" diameter seems like a log. Can you imagine bench pressing, pressing or curling a telephone pole? That's what it feels like when you use a thick handled barbbell. You cannot rely on style, form, timing or technique to complete a lift. You have to do it with sheer strength. To paraphrase Dr. Ken Leistner, "all you can do is lie back and push" when you bench with a thick handled bar. That's one reason why thick bar work is so effective. It imposes a tremendous burden on the muscles, tendons and ligaments-a far, far greater burden than a regular bar imposes.
THE MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION
A second reason why thick bar work is so beneficial is that the bar forces you to involve your forearms, hands, wrists and fingers to a far greater degree than does a conventional bar. This in turn causes a stronger mind-muscle link, which inevitably leads to greater gains in muscular size and strength. Have I lost you? Stay with me, I will explain everything.
What do I mean when I talk about a "mind-muscle link"? I mean the connection between your brain and your nervous system. Whenever you lift a weight, the lift begins with the brain consciously directing the muscles to push or pull in a particular direction. The message from the brain is carried to the muscles via the nervous system. When the muscles receive the message, they respond by pushing or pulling in the manner directed by the brain. That's the mind-muscle link: the connection between the brain, the nervous system and the muscles.
Messages from the brain to the muscles are transmitted by nerve impulses. The strength of each individual nerve impulse, the total number of nerve impulses, and the frequency with which nerve impulses are transmitted from brain to muscle is one of the most crucial factors in the amount of force you can exert in any given lift. I have no research studies to cite and no way to prove that my opinion is correct, but I firmly believe that using thick bars in your training causes an increase in the strength of individual nerve impulses, the total number of nerve impulses and the frequency of transmission of nerve impulses.
As I noted above, thick bars are terribly awkward and extremely difficult to handle. You have to adjust the bar's path constantly as you lift it or else you will get hopelessly out of the groove almost immediately. There has to be constant feedback between the brain and the muscles. I believe that the necessity of constant feedback causes a stronger mind-muscle link and I believe that this is one very important reason why thick bar work is so incredibly productive.
GREAT FOR THE GRIP
Thick bars are terrific for strengthening the forearms, wrists, thumbs and fingers. Any exercise you do with a thick bar automatically becomes a test of hand and finger strength. Pulling movements are almost impossible with a thick bar, curling movements are incredibly rugged and even pressing exercises are downright nasty when you do them with a thick bar. As a dinosaur, you will be doing plenty of specialized grip work, but be aware that you will work your grip savagely by simply using a thick bar instead of a regular bar for your upper body movements.
THICK BARS AND SPINELESS WIMPS
There is yet another important thing about thick bars. Wimps, yups and wannabe's won't go near them. Muscle pumpers and drug babies wouldn't touch a thick bar on a bet. The chrome and fern crowd would rather give up their Evian water and celery sticks than try to lift a thick handled bar. You may think I'm kidding but I'm deadly serious about this. Before I started training in the sanity of my basement gym, I took my 3" bar to the gym where I trained and I was always amused by the reaction.
Some guys literally ran away whenever they say the thing. They were very obviously intimated by the large, thick mass of iron. They always went over and found solace in the chrome plated dumbbells the gym owner had purchased from a women's spa that went out of business. The only guys who ever wanted to use the thing were Ted Solinger and Bruce Bullock, who later became my training partners in my home gym. In other words, the thick handled bar was a great way to tell who was serious about training and who was content to "sculpt" and "shape" and do meaningless movements with chrome-plated baby weights.
If I ever open a gym I will stock it with thick handled barbells and dumbbells. Doing so would be a great way to discourage the wimps and yups and talkers from joining the gym. One look at the thick handled bars and the twinkie crowd would run for cover. So would the muscle pumpers-they would immediately realize that lifting a bar like that required STRENGTH and pumpers as a group are about as strong as undernourished kittens. The only guys who would go to a gym that featured lots and lots of thick bars would be the kind of guys who were interested in strength, power and physical challenges. Come to think of it, the gym would cater to dinosaurs and nobody else. Not a bad idea!
HOW TO USE THICK BARS
Use thick bars for all of your upper body exercises. Always use a power rack for thick bar bench presses and set the bottom pins to catch the weight in case the bar slips. NEVER do thick bar benches outside the power rack!
Use your head when you begin to incorporate thick bar work. Drop the poundage at first. You will NOT be able to handle your regular poundage when you first begin thick bar movements. The first time I tried thick bar benches, all I could handle was 365 pounds-and it almost killed me. With a regular bar I was handling 405-410 at the time.
A three-inch bar is too thick for some lifters to curl. If the bar is too thick for you, your elbows will let you know! Be alert to this and do not hesitate to drop from a 3" to a 2" bar if your elbows protest.

[BengDogg]

I'd like to hear grippdawgs opinion on this.. I'm interested in thick bar training..

Im not an expert, i will post laer cos im just off out on my thoughts

[the block]

cheers for that excerpt! i hope u didnt have to type it out!

[Stubob]

Im not an expert, i will post laer cos im just off out on my thoughts

Why did I think you were called gripdawg..?

[GoldenArrow]

Used to be...

[BengDogg]

Why did I think you were called gripdawg..?
I was, I do a bit of grip training and stuff, im not world class by a long shot but i do enjoy what i do and i am ok at nail bending, ive done a 180kg bar no messing a 190 with a few problems.

I have a mate who makes bars and stuff and i sell them

Oh yeah Rob + Mike this week i will send them Honest! Workload is massive atm! Sorry

[help]

thick bars are a great way of trtaining the forearms and hand musculature

i wouldnt mess about with a thick bar for more importnat things like OHP as i want to lift heavy weights first and foremost

[the block]

cheers help

[Stubob]

thick bars are a great way of trtaining the forearms and hand musculature

i wouldnt mess about with a thick bar for more importnat things like OHP as i want to lift heavy weights first and foremost

Do you think they're worth getting..?

I had some RB grippers and sold them on ebay in the end as I'd got bored of them and didn't really notice any carryover to lifting..

Stu

[PikeKing]

Do you think they're worth getting..?

I had some RB grippers and sold them on ebay in the end as I'd got bored of them and didn't really notice any carryover to lifting..

Stu
depends

If you are training for PLing then I dont think they are that worth getting unless your wrists and forearms are weak.

If you train for fun then introducing thick bar training can be a laugh.

[DelBoy]

Are you still selling them Benddogg? If you are I'm interested.

What exercises are they best for? Obviously deadlifting as one.

Cheers

[BengDogg]

Are you still selling them Benddogg? If you are I'm interested.

What exercises are they best for? Obviously deadlifting as one.

Cheers
Yep i still sell em, I am having trouble finding time to fetch them once they are made atm but if your bear with me i can get you pretty much whatever you want made

[help]

stubob:

find a scaffold bar, thats the best way to get em if your not gonna use em "seriously" ie massive weights

i like using it for the odd curls, reverse curl and grip work

[DelBoy]

How would I get it from you? Can you do one that takes 1" disks? How much would it be?

[BengDogg]

I dont make em to take standard disks sorry

[DelBoy]

Thats ****ing annoying, sure you couldn't be persuaded with money???

[PikeKing]

knighty did something to adapt his standard bar for thick grip training, not sure what though

[BengDogg]

Thats ****ing annoying, sure you couldn't be persuaded with money???

My mate makes em not me ya see, A 1" bar to 2" will weight loads and carriage will cost a fortune and it is hard for him to get the inner bar welded perfectly central to the outer so the balance of the bar would be wrong and it would squew in your hands

[help]

i took all the collars and stuff off a standard bar and slippedd a scaffold bar over it leaving the edges bare so i could put plates on

[DelBoy]

So you got a scaffold pole and slipped it over the standard bar? A good idea, does it work ok?

[help]

it rotates a bit but works fine

[Fred]

good idea help, gonna try and find a scaffold bar... aswell as some boarding for my floor LOl

[DelBoy]

Right, gunna have to go down a building site tonight to get one! Need to cut it though won't I?

[help]

yup

its aluminium so its easy to cut

[Robert]

Thay are not easy to steal in my area Del. All the sites have round the clock security and CCTV. Its not impossible to get around that by any stretch of the imagination, but its a lot of effort/risk for a bit o' pipe.