To maximize your training, it’s essential to understand how your body responds to different types of equipment, such as the fat barbell. The 20kg Axle “Fat” Bar (Nicknamed “El Gordazo”) is designed to target grip strength, forearms, and upper body muscles. This non-revolving axle bar is perfect for enhancing your performance in strongman training and competitions. The 2-inch diameter of the bar creates a thicker grip, challenging your muscles in a unique way. By incorporating this fat barbell into your routine, you engage stabilizing muscles that are often neglected with regular barbells, promoting overall strength. As your grip and forearm strength improve, your ability to handle heavier lifts in other exercises will also increase.
Key Features of the Fat Barbell: A Closer Look at the 20kg Axle Fat Bar
When it comes to enhancing grip strength and maximizing your workout performance, the fat barbell is an essential piece of equipment. Here’s a closer look at its standout features:
Weight: 44 lbs (20 kg)
Unlike other fat bars that typically weigh between 20-25 lbs, the 20kg Axle “Fat” Bar weighs a true 44 lbs (20 kg), providing a solid, substantial feel during your exercises. This added weight ensures that you are engaging your muscles more effectively, particularly in grip-based movements.
Full Length: 7 Feet
The fat barbell is built with a full length of 7 feet, offering ample space for a wide range of exercises. The extended length is ideal for both single and multiple grip exercises, such as deadlifts, cleans, and presses, providing versatility for various training regimens.
Diameter: 2 Inches
One of the defining features of the fat barbell is its 2-inch diameter, which is the standard for fat bars. The thicker grip challenges your hand and forearm muscles, enhancing your grip strength and targeting stabilizing muscles that are not activated with traditional barbells. This larger diameter forces your hands to work harder, making every lift more intense.
Finish: Powdercoat Matte Black
The fat barbell is coated with a matte black powder finish, offering superior durability and a textured surface that increases your grip during heavy lifts. This finish not only resists wear and tear, but it also helps maintain a secure grip, even during intense workouts.
Weight Rating: 1,000 lbs
Built for heavy-duty use, the 20kg Axle “Fat” Bar boasts an impressive weight rating of up to 1,000 lbs. Whether you’re training for strength competitions or looking to push your limits, this fat barbell can handle a significant load, allowing you to progressively increase the weight as your strength improves.
Collars: Compatible with Standard Collars
The fat barbell features non-rotating collars, which are designed to securely hold the weights in place. These collars are compatible with standard Olympic collars, making it easier to load and unload weights while keeping your workout efficient. The non-rotating design helps maintain stability during lifts, providing better control and focus on your movements.
This combination of features makes the fat barbell an invaluable tool for serious strength training, offering a challenge that enhances muscle engagement and grip power.
Design and Performance of the Fat Barbell: Durability and Versatility
The fat barbell is not just about looks; its design and performance are crafted for serious lifters. Here’s an in-depth look at how its construction supports a variety of training needs:
Axle Type: Non-Revolving Design
One of the standout features of the fat barbell is its non-revolving axle design. This feature offers greater control and stability during lifts, particularly in exercises like deadlifts and presses. Without the ability to rotate, the bar forces the user to engage more stabilizing muscles, providing a more comprehensive workout. The non-revolving design is ideal for those focused on grip strength development, as it demands greater effort from your hands and forearms.
Functionality: Designed for Multiple Exercises
The fat barbell is engineered to excel in a range of strength exercises, especially those aimed at improving grip strength. It’s most commonly used for deadlifts, presses, cleans, and other functional movements. Whether you’re training for strongman competitions or looking to increase forearm strength, the fat barbell provides a challenging, dynamic option. Its thick grip demands more from your muscles than a standard barbell, promoting faster gains in grip strength and upper body stability.
Finish: Textured, Matte Black Powder-Coated for Durability
To enhance both grip and durability, the fat barbell features a textured, matte black powder coating. This finish ensures that the bar can withstand the wear and tear of heavy lifting while offering superior traction. The rough texture prevents slippage, which is especially important when lifting maximum loads or performing high-intensity exercises. It also contributes to the long-lasting durability of the bar, ensuring it will remain functional even after years of use in commercial gyms.
Load Capacity: Handles up to 450 lbs
Despite its focus on grip and upper body strength, the fat barbells doesn’t compromise on load-bearing capacity. With sleeves capable of handling nearly 450 lbs, this bar can support a wide range of weightlifting needs. Whether you’re adding more plates for heavy deadlifts or engaging in high-volume training, the fat barbell ensures that you can continue to push your limits without worrying about the bar’s integrity.
Benefits of the Fat Barbell: Enhancing Your Strength Training
The fat barbell is not only a unique piece of equipment, but it also provides numerous benefits that can elevate your overall fitness routine. Here’s a breakdown of how this bar can help you achieve your strength and fitness goals:
Grip Improvement: Strengthen Your Forearms, Biceps, and Upper Body
One of the most significant benefits of using the fat barbell weight is the improvement in grip strength. With its 2-inch diameter, this bar challenges your hands and forearms more than a traditional barbell, forcing them to engage fully during lifts. Over time, using a fat barbell can lead to increased forearm, bicep, and upper body strength, as these muscle groups work harder to maintain a secure grip. This increased grip power translates to better performance in exercises such as deadlifts, cleans, and presses, where grip strength is essential for handling heavier loads.
Versatility: Adaptable for Various Exercises
The fat barbell is incredibly versatile, allowing it to be used just like an Olympic barbell in a wide range of exercises. Whether you’re training for strength, hypertrophy, or grip endurance, this bar can handle it all. It’s perfect for deadlifts, overhead presses, cleans, and other compound movements, making it a great addition to any workout routine. Its thicker grip increases the intensity of standard movements, enhancing the challenge for both novice and advanced lifters alike. The fat barbell adds variety and extra difficulty to your workouts, keeping your training sessions fresh and effective.
Suitability: Perfect for All Training Levels
Despite its heavy load capacity, the thick barbell weight is suitable for any training level. While it may appear intimidating due to its thick grip, it is designed with a lighter weight (44 lbs) compared to other fat bars, making it accessible for beginners and intermediate lifters. Beginners can start with lighter loads and gradually increase the weight as their grip and upper body strength improve. Advanced lifters can load up to 1,000 lbs, using the fat barbell for maximum strength training. Its adaptability ensures that this bar will continue to challenge you, regardless of where you are in your fitness journey.
Special Considerations with the Fat Barbell: Key Features to Keep in Mind
While the fat barbell offers numerous benefits, there are certain considerations you should be aware of to ensure optimal performance and safety during use. Here’s a closer look at the special features of this bar that may influence your training experience:
No Knurling: A Different Grip Challenge
One important consideration when using the fat barbell is that it does not have knurling, the textured pattern commonly found on regular barbells. While knurling enhances grip by providing additional traction, the lack of it on the fat barbell means you will need to rely more on the natural friction created by the bar’s powder-coated finish and your own grip strength. This can be both a challenge and an advantage, as it forces your hands and forearms to work harder, enhancing grip endurance. However, for those who are accustomed to knurling, this could feel less secure, especially during high-intensity lifts.
Non-Rotating Sleeves: Increased Stability but Less Rotation
Another feature to consider is that the thick barbell comes with non-rotating sleeves, unlike Olympic bars which feature rotating sleeves that spin independently from the bar. The non-rotating sleeves offer added stability, making the bar easier to control during lifts, particularly for exercises like deadlifts and presses. However, this design also means that you will not experience the natural rotation that comes with traditional Olympic lifting bars, which can be a drawback for Olympic lifts like cleans and snatches, where rotational movement is beneficial for proper technique. This makes the fat barbell better suited for grip strength exercises and strongman training, rather than dynamic Olympic movements.
FAQs about Fat Barbell
Thick barbells, often used for grip strength training, are typically referred to as fat barbells or axle bars. These bars are designed with a larger diameter than traditional Olympic bars, usually around 2 inches, making them ideal for increasing grip strength and forearm development. The larger diameter forces your hands and forearms to work harder during lifts, providing a more challenging and effective workout. Fat barbells are commonly used in strongman training and by athletes looking to enhance their grip for lifting heavy loads in exercises like deadlifts, cleans, and presses. They are also known as fat bars or thick grip bars, and are essential tools for building overall upper body strength, including the forearms, biceps, and hands.
The weight of a fat barbell can vary depending on the brand and design, but a standard 20kg Axle “Fat” Bar weighs approximately 44 lbs (20 kg). This is significantly heavier than some other fat bars, which can range from 20-25 lbs. Despite its weight, a fat barbell is generally considered lightweight compared to standard Olympic barbells, which typically weigh 45 lbs (20.4 kg). The additional weight in a fat barbell comes from its thicker shaft, which challenges your grip strength and stabilizing muscles. The fat barbell’s ability to handle heavy loads (up to 1,000 lbs in some models) makes it suitable for both beginners and advanced lifters, as it allows for gradual strength progression.
A fat bar is specifically designed to improve grip strength, forearm endurance, and overall upper body strength. Its larger diameter (typically 2 inches) makes it much harder to grip than a standard barbell, requiring your hands and forearms to engage more intensively. This added difficulty helps increase muscle activation in the forearms, biceps, and shoulders, which translates to improved strength in compound movements like deadlifts, cleans, and presses. In addition to grip training, a fat bar enhances your performance in strongman-style exercises and can be used in any workout routine where grip strength is crucial. By incorporating a fat bar into your training, you will see improved overall lifting performance as your grip strength and endurance increase.
Whether a thicker fat barbell is better depends on your fitness goals. For those looking to build grip strength, increase forearm size, or improve performance in strongman-style training, a thicker fat barbell can be highly beneficial. The larger diameter forces your muscles to work harder, engaging more stabilizing muscles and promoting overall strength. However, for Olympic lifters or individuals focusing on speed and technique in their lifts, a standard barbell may be more suitable. The thicker grip can make it harder to perform quick, explosive movements, as the hands have to work harder to maintain control. Ultimately, incorporating a fat barbell into your routine can be a valuable addition for grip-specific strength training, but it should complement, rather than replace, your use of traditional barbells in other types of workouts.
Welcome! I’m Jordan Mitchell, the dedicated editor at Leadman Fitness, where we specialize in manufacturing high-quality bumper plates, barbells, weight machines, kettlebells, and dumbbells. With a passion for fitness and a keen eye for detail, I ensure that our product information is clear, accurate, and engaging for our customers. My role involves collaborating closely with our design and production teams to highlight the innovative features and superior craftsmanship that set Leadman Fitness apart in the industry. Whether you’re a professional athlete or a fitness enthusiast, I’m here to provide you with the information you need to achieve your training goals with our top-of-the-line equipment.