T Nation

Is My Barbell Uneven?

Powerlifting
#1

I take a grip so my index fingers are just barely on the smooth part of the bar in the middle slightly wider then shoulder width apart so that the knurling in the middle in between my 2 shins.

When I do deads I feel the right side of my body do more work, so i decided to move around to the other side of the barbell and see if that changed anything.

I took the same grip I always do, and sure enough as soon as i pulled the left side of my body felt like it was loaded up with 30Lbs then my right, It was not loaded unevenly.

I don’t think form is an issue maybe my barbell is warped somehow?

Just wondering if any of you have had a similar issue.

#2

If anything, the rings aren’t marked symmetrically. Measure it.

#3

I would bet that you have uneven weighted plates. I have the 10 of the Standard barbell plates and 2 weight 48#, 2 weigh 43#. If I load up one side with both the heavy ones and the other side with the light ones ( it happened a few times) I can feel that weight difference big time. I weighed mine on a bath scale and then marked them with a sharpie to make sure each side was as even as possible.

#4

We had some cheap bars at my apartment gym that were marked about 2" unevenly on one side…
Also, at Jamerson Athletic Center (virginia tech) we measured our plates’ weight (very expensive ones) after about 4 years use and they measured about the same as SD mentioned, 48-42ish, which is a big deal when you get stronger, I’d check both