Standard Bar sizes

Hi guys,
I am looking at fabricating some of my own gym equipment, a
squat rack and bench press.

What is the standard barbell sizes/lengths that are used for squats and bench?
I will look at purchasing these prior to starting the build so I can get a correct fit.
Cheers

My ABC power bars is 1310 between sleeves, sleeves are 445 long.

Yep 1310mm seems to be it, even for my non olympic bars.

Make sure you start a thread about making the equipment with plenty of photos, love seeing stuff like that, I am sure it will be better than anything you can buy.

Also consider making a dip stand and a chin up bar, a plate storage rack is also a great thing to have to store your plates.

Big Mick said:

Yep 1310mm seems to be it, even for my non olympic bars.

Make sure you start a thread about making the equipment with plenty of photos, love seeing stuff like that, I am sure it will be better than anything you can buy.

Also consider making a dip stand and a chin up bar, a plate storage rack is also a great thing to have to store your plates.

Click to expand...

Will do Mick,

I will make my dip bar and incorporate the chin bar with this as well.
I probably won't start this for a couple of months as I am in the middle of renovating the house at the moment and crap is everywhere.
Time wise to fabricate this stuff wont be to bad. Fabricating 2 lots of equipment wont be that much longer as well.

So I am planning on making an extra set of equipment and donating one to a local community here in Brisbane.

Cheers

Also what is the width of the benches that most people find they like.
I guess it probably varies from person to person but would be good to get some ideas and see what the majority prefer.

Cheers

My bench is quite narrow and its annoying as if you take too much weight off one side the bar could tip up, but it's good also as the uprights don't go anywhere near your hands, but I use a shorter home made bar on my bench.

If I was making a bench I would make the arms as wide as possible and ensure they do not interfere with the grip you take on the bar.

I made my own bars for my bench and squat rack, to suit the equipment, made the bars about 20 years ago and only use them on that piece of equipment and made them to suit me.

I have a standard 28mm bar I use for dead lifts and presses and rows etc.

Here is my Samson bench with the home made bar, fits me perfectly, the bench is heaps stronger than it looks, bought it back in 1985 or 1986, has had heaps of use and is solid as:



Here is my squat rack/cage, also Samson brand with home made bar to suit.



The only thing I would love to add is to have the bars knurled, as they are smooth, and I have seriously considered just getting it done one of these days, again knurling would be custom to suit the equipment and myself.

The cage design is simple as and again solid a as rock, you should be able to make one on a Sunday arvo if you have the gear to do it

Those narrow uprights on a bench are a pain in the arse when changing plates

Agree with that, thats why a long time ago I made the short bar, I can load plates on it without it tipping up, but have to add a plate to each side at a time, with my squat bar I can load one side up with 50kg without the bar even thinking about tipping up.

When I do wide grip benches my hands are about 20mm from the plates , so the bar is not very long at all, want to get the part of the bar that falls outside the uprights knurled, and I want to get the centre knurled on my squat bar.

This is why if I was making my own gear and if I was starting from nothing I would use a full sized olympic bar and make the arms wide enough to be able to wide bench and load the bar up without having to worry about it tipping over.

Funny thing is the original Samson bars that they used to sell with the bench were quite short as well, you can see two Samson made bars standing up in the back ground, I don't really use them any more the misses uses then occasionally when she gets motivated.