I have a good Rogue bar zinc-plated bar. It’s fine in every way to me except one. It has no center knurling. I’m curious if I’m missing out on something. I do notice when I squat that the bar wants to slide down the back a bit. I have to cue myself not let the bar load onto my hands during the squat as a result.
I’m wondering if center knurling is really worth the expense at this point. I’ve been eyeballing the stainless Ohio Power Bar. My squat is only about 380x1@8 but it’s getting progressively more challenging to squat with it. I also live in the southeaster part of the US, so humidity is high in my garage gym. Stainless would help with that, but I don’t know if it’s worth the $395 right now or not. Opinions greatly appreciated!
I can only add that I’ve had a Rogue Ohio Power bar for almost two years. It’s bare steel and I live in central Texas (quite humid), and don’t have much of an issue with rust. Bar looks good, and doesn’t require much maintenance at all . Best $250 I’ve spent .
You may consider the B&R bar too, but the OPB is great for squats and pressing. I prefer a smaller diameter and a little less aggressive knurl for deadlifting (for rep work), so I use my other general purpose bar for that (Castro bar). Really hard to go wrong with the bare steel OPB.
The SS is cool, but they’re not perfect either. Eventually the zinc sleeves will wear down. All sleeves do, I think. For the money, I’d go bare steel.
If humidity and sweating are a really big issue, then a little bit of work every few months is pretty quick and easy. I’ve only done about 20-30 minutes of work since owning the bar .
I live in SE Florida and have owned a bare street Ohio power bar for about two years now. Keep the chalk cleaned out of the knurling and wipe it down with an oily rag (put the oil on the rag not the bar you don’t need it wet just enough to clean the salt from your hands off) if you aren’t going to use it for a day or two and it should be fine.
Mine has a nice patina coming and no rust. Just don’t oil it the day before you deadlifts.
Also I got it from Rogue’s scratch and dent for like $200 so look there before you drop money on one if there’s a stainless one there it’d knock off a chunk of the price.
I don’t like bars without the centre knurling. It is there for a purpose.
We only have one bar with centre knurling in the globo gym where I train (there used to be a second but I don’t know where it went). I don’t want to have to deal with a sliding bar. If you are training at home, I would definitely buy one. I am sure you could sell the old bar and offset the cost of the new one.
Center knurling will make a huge difference in a squat. I started off with just a regular Ohio Bar, and I routinely had shoulder pain because of the bar sliding down my back in the squat. I purchased an Ohio Power Bar with the Black Friday sale last year and ever since I’ve had no shoulder pain post squatting. Bar stays where it’s supposed to be. I also love the aggressive knurling for deadlifts. All in all, I love the bar. Having a bar without center knurling and without aggressive knurl is still great for things like front squats, barbell rows, RDL’s, etc, where the knurling has a tendency to be irritating. I’m glad I have both options.
The barbell’s at my YMCA has no center knurling for any of them. I wrapped athletic tape around the center knurling and it grips my back pretty good especially with a polyester hoodie.
I’m lifting on a zinc ohio bar. I don’t feel like I’m missing out. My shelf feels like I won’t ever need center knurling. I’m still probably going to add a stainless power bar in the future. I’m going to continue to use the ohio bar until it slides. I’ll post the weight here when I have to make the switch.
I disagree with this. Especially if someone takes this advice and buys a B&R 2.0 bar with it. I’m really not a happy owner. I wish I could go back in time and buy the black zinc Ohio bar. I lifted with one at Valens Strength and preferred it for every single lift. ESPECIALLY pulls. Given I was only squatting 300 so admit a center knurling might be more helpful at actual heavy weights. But even then I’d question whether you can’t just lift in cotton shirts (I do) and/or throw a little chalk on there.
FWIW, specifically, I prefer the Ohio knurling to the B&R 2.0, and the 0.5 mm decrease in diameter for the Ohio makes way more difference for pull comfort than you’d think.
I have a Rogue 10KG Junior bar in black zinc, and it is awesome. I bought it for my two sons and wife to use. Wife is only 5’1", so it works well for her small hands. The bar is 25mm so it’s very easy to grip for them. I even like using it for some things. The black zinc finish has held up beautifully compared to the bright zinc finish on the Rogue Echo Bar 2.0 I also have. I don’t have any corrosion on either bar, but the bright zinc is more of a dullish grey now. I don’t care at all about that though. The knurling on both bars is adequate for me.
I was never tempted to get a bare steel bar for my garage gym unless it was stainless. I don’t like the slight flexion with the Echo bar, even at the moderate weights I’m squatting with, but I can live with it if I can just get it to stick on my back better. I lift alone, so chalking up my back isn’t an option. I always were a cotton shirt to squat. I’m going to buy some athletic tape this weekend and see if that helps.
I’ll probably get flogged for this, but I think tape isn’t the best option for anyone training long term. I realize at some level you’re at the mercy of the gym if you don’t train at home, but that’s a good reason to either bring your own bar (and store it there) or change gyms. Training with a suboptimal bar is not only inconvenient, but potentially dangerous. If a bar doesn’t have a center knurl it is unlikely to be a quality 29mm bar. Squatting with a 28-28.5mm bar means it’ll whip at higher weights in addition to possibly slipping down your back.
To each their own, I suppose. There isn’t a right or wrong per se, but it seems like an uphill battle to squat without a decent power bar.
After all, opinions were welcomed…this is just mine.
Fevzay, I would agree with you for sure if I knew that center knurling and more rigidity would make that kind of difference. For me it’s a $395 difference. It just seems hard for me to imagine that it could but I don’t know.
I think that to try it without harming your pocketbook you could a) craigslist a bar or b) try on in a random gym and see if it makes a difference. Spend $10-30 to see then if you like it invest, if not then to heck with it.
I got lucky and picked up a SS Ohio Power Bar for a very good price on craigslist. I was surprised at how long it took to sell. Having used it for a couple weeks now, I’m a firm believer in the aggressive center knurl. To me, it really seems to hold the bar in position nicely, and overall it’s a huge improvement from what I had been using. I see that Rogue is now offering the power bar with a cerakote finish.
So I just broke down and bought the SS Ohio Power Bar which has arrived. It’s awesome in every way, and it does make a big difference. Grips the back very well. It was odd at first because instead of me fighting it from sliding like before, it griped so well it wanted to roll. LOL! But, that’s much easier to stop, and I can definitely see why folks who train with center knurling never want to train with anything else.
And that bare steel feels awesome in my hands. The knurling is much more aggressive than my zinc plated Echo bar. The only thing that scares me is pressing overhead with the center knurling. It could really take some meat off your nose if you aren’t careful!
Thanks for the advice everyone. I can tell it was money well spent already. Bar will live well past me, and maybe will become an heirloom for my kids in 40+ years.
