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George Dekle

Submitted by: George Dekle bobdekle@alltel.net

Big Bars for Small Bucks

So you'd like to have a thick bar but don't want to shell out the money necessary to get one? Here's a quick and easy way to make yourself a thick bar. Did I mention that it's cheap, too? Start with one of those bargain basement Olympic bars that come with a discount house weight set. You know what I'm talking about----one of those bars whose rotating endsleeves are held on with Allen screws. Next, you need some five foot sections of thick-walled PVC. You'll need two 1.25" diameter PVC pipes and one each of 1.5" and 2.0" diameters. You'll probably spend less than $10.00 acquiring them. A tape measure, a hacksaw, a miter box, an Allen wrench, and a marking pen are your final ingredients.

Measure the distance between the inside collars of the rotating endsleeves on your Olympic bar. Cut the 1.25" PVC to the length of the bar between the endsleeves. Take one endsleeve off and slide the PVC onto the bar. Replace the endsleeve and you now have a bar with a diameter of a little over 1.5". This is because the 1.25" measurement refers to the interior diameter of the PVC. You'll have some play between the PVC and the bar, but not enough to make it worth your while to spend over $100.00 on a store-bought bar. If your cheapo bar happens to be slightly bent from hard use, so much the better. You won't have as much play between the bar and the PVC. Your biggest problem will be measuring and cutting the PVC to the precise length. Too short a cut will result in the PVC sliding back and forth between the collars, making it difficult to evenly distribute the weight. A little patience will go a long way towards insuring that the cut is right. I used to work for a jackleg carpenter whose motto was "measure twice, cut once". I'd advise that you measure three times and err on the side of making the PVC slightly too long. You can always trim some more off, but you'll have trouble putting some back on.

For a 2" diameter bar, you'll need a second 1.25" PVC section and a 1.5" section. The 1.25" PVC will not readily fit inside the 1.5" PVC. You'll need to remove a longitudinal segment down the full length of the 1.25" PVC. You'll make two cuts and take out a segment about .5" wide. A power saw comes in handy here, but with determination you can make the cut with a handsaw. The removal of this segment will give you space to compress the 1.25" PVC so that it will fit inside the 1.5" PVC. Drive the 1.25" PVC into the 1.5" PVC. The 1.25" PVC won't want to go in, but you can force it. Once you get the smaller pipe driven into the larger, cut the PVC to the desired length, and put it on the bar as described above. There will be less play in this second bar than in the first one you made. For a 2.5" diameter bar, simply cut a 2" PVC pipe to the desired length and slide it over your 1.5" pipe. Mark the PVC with electrical tape or an indelible marking pen so that you can properly place your hands for lifting.

I have all three PVC sections described above, and in a matter of minutes I can change my conventional bar to a 1.5" bar, a 2" bar, or a 2.5" bar. I have used these varying thickness' for curls, benchpresses, one hand deadlifts, and deadlifts. It ain't fancy, but it gets the job done.

This same methodology will work for standard barbells or dumbbells. It's even easier to work with standard barbells than with Olympic barbells. You don't need an Allen wrench, and you don't have to be so careful cutting your PVC to precisely the right length. If you're going to use the 1.25" PVC for conventional barbells or dumbbell handles, you can slip 1" PVC inside it to eliminate the play. 1" PVC won't fit over the handle of an Olympic bar, but it will slide quite handily over a standard bar. If you have star-lock dumbbells, you can simply cut 1.5" PVC long enough to fit over the inside collars of the dumbbells. The collars will be just big enough to fit relatively snugly inside 1.5" PVC.

There you have it. Cheap, simple, easy to convert back to a conventional setup. You'll probably never again get as much weightlifting value from such a small investment of time and money. If you're new to thick bar training, ease into it. If you try to lift too much too fast with too thick a bar, you'll only wind up hurting yourself.