Women's B&R Bar

[Ahmik Jones]

The first batch of Women's B&R Bars are done. They are built to the exacting standards of Mike Burgener and Mark Rippetoe and manufactured by York Barbell.

15 kg bar with 25 mm shafts with olympic and powerlifting marks. No center knurl. Same knurling texture as the men's version with the same great scintered bushings. Uncoated steel for the same great feel as the Men's bar.

[Ryan Stitt]

Originally Posted by Ahmik Jones

The first batch of Women's B&R Bars are done. They are built to the exacting standards of Mike Burgener and Mark Rippetoe and manufactured by York Barbell.

15 kg bar with 25 mm shafts with olympic and powerlifting marks. No center knurl. Same knurling texture as the men's version with the same great scintered bushings. Uncoated steel for the same great feel as the Men's bar.

Why no center knurling? Isn't center knurling present on both weightlifting bars and power lifting bars. I know it is on competition level weightlifting bars and can't imagine its not on the bars for back squats and such.

[Andrew Roden]

My Pendlay bar has no center knurling but still backsquats fine...

[Ahmik Jones]

Originally Posted by Ryan Stitt

Why no center knurling? Isn't center knurling present on both weightlifting bars and power lifting bars. I know it is on competition level weightlifting bars and can't imagine its not on the bars for back squats and such.

The IWF specifications for a women's weightlifting bar do not include a center knurl.

Men's weightlifting bars have a center knurl, so do powerlifting bars. Powerlifting bars are unisex. There is no such thing as a women's powerlifting bar.

Even though there is no women's IPF women's version of a powerlifting bar, having a lighter version of a powerlifting bar is helpful, but the bar is closer to a weightlifting bar, since that is what we had to use as a template. The steel is also the same steel used in York's competition weightlifting bar, with the sleeves from their weightlifting training bar. However, the bar is extremely capable when it comes to powerlifting due to the strength, knurl pattern, knurl texture and plain steel finish that were picked by Coach Rippetoe. The decision was made to exclude the center knurl from the B&R Women's bar by Coach Burgener to keep it closer to IWF specifications.

[Ahmik Jones]

We got our Women's B&R bars in on Friday and tried them out at our Olympic Lifting class. There were positive reviews all around. Here are some pictures:

[Ahmik Jones]

Some more pictures:

[Ahmik Jones]

Even more pictures:

[Ahmik Jones]

Another Picture:

[Ahmik Jones]

Andrea getting a 5 lb PR.

[Andrea Callahan]

I used the B&R bar for this first time this past weekend on squat cleans (got a 5 lb PR!) and again today for hang power cleans. I typically use a 44lb men's bar, which generally eats up my hands and can sometimes be difficult to hold a hook grip over multiple reps. The knurling on the women's bar is not as sharp as others I've used (love it!) and the absence of knurling in the center of this bar is a real plus since I dislike having my chest rubbed raw by the end of a workout. I'll use it more this week for snatches and any other lifts that come up in the gym and report back.