The Fat Bar

by Scott Andrew Bird | June 14, 2008
Filed in DIY , featured , grip

Max Shank's customised 2" bar with spinning sections.

In the strength world there is a myriad of training tools to use; barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, clubbells… the list goes on. Many of these tools have their own unique benefits and would be a great supplement to any strength program. There is a tool that few people know about, that has some amazing advantages over the more traditional equipment. If someone told you they had a tool that would instantly make any exercise more difficult with less poundage while simultaneously taking your grip strength to levels you had only imagined what would you say? Sign me up! Enter the Fat Bar.

Most of you have probably heard of the fat bar (or thick bar). It can be anywhere from 2”-3” in diameter and it will break you. There are many advantages to the fat bar:

• Increased grip strength.Attitude. You don’t half-ass anything when you’re using a bar you can barely hold onto.
• Kinetic Linkage. Possibly the most overlooked element of any strength feat is the linkage between the muscles that are used in completing a given movement. If you plan on doing anything with the fat bar, you had better be gripping it with all your might unless you want to be pinned underneath it. By gripping the bar with extreme force your muscles will experience “irradiation” which is a fancy way of saying your forearm, bicep, tricep, deltoid, will activate (for most people their entire body will tense up, and this is a key element to strength training. Try to make a white-knuckle grip without tightening up the rest of your arm.
• Preventing Leakage: This could go with the previous point of irradiation, but the point is that by gripping the bar harder your body will have no break in your kinetic chain. By keeping your shoulder into its socket (packing your shoulder) during an overhead press, you prevent leakages and allow the stronger muscles to dictate the movement. Your tight grip will make this easier. Try shrugging your shoulders as high as you can before your next overhead press and you will see that your strength is nonexistent.

Now I’m sure you want to go get yourself a fat bar. And if you look online you’re going to find a few fat bars ranging from 219.00 + shipping to over $500. If you’ve got it, more power to you. But there is an easier way.

1. Find a local welder and tell him what you want, depending on who you get it will be just fine—and certainly cheaper.
2. Make one yourself.

When you go to home depot make sure you bring a couple of 2.5lb plates to make sure that the bar is the right size.

As far as the bar itself is concerned you have 2 options: A piece of heavy duty pipe, or a fence post. I chose the fence post—it was sturdy and it only cost me 14 bucks (so far it has held up to 250lbs). The heavy duty pipe I was told could handle a lot more.

The next step was to fix some collars- in my case this was 2 screw adjusted fence post attachments. Worked like a charm.

Although something like this could work as well.

Now it gets different.

I slipped two pieces of 8”x 3” wide heavy duty PVC pipe to create a spinning “Rolling Thunder” style bar.

The 3” spinning handles make the bar damn near impossible to get a mechanical advantage over the bar, unless you have a vice grip, that thing won’t budge. If you have a welder make your bar you can add the PVC later.

You can use your fat bar in place of any ordinary barbell routine; overhead pressing, bench pressing, snatching, clean and jerk, barbell complexes. Anytime you do a barbell exercise ask yourself, “could I be using a fat bar and really challenging myself?”

The spinning fat bar will force your body to respond efficiently, give you a vice grip, and turn every lift into a battle.

Max Shank is a personal trainer based in Encinitas, California. To see him in action - and to get yourself in great condition - check out his 6 Week Strength Course.

Discussion

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