How much more do you guys tend to pull on a power bar Vs a good olympic bar e.g. Eleiko XF bar.
Is there a minimum poundage when the bar starts to bend a lot more?
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks
Chris
At a 5 plate deadlift, I haven’t had any issues switching from a power bar to an olympic bar - both bend a bit at this weight, oly bar likely a bit more. (granted, I only pull conventional; sumo looks to be more affected by the bar-whip).
Can’t speak from personal experience, but when people are pulling 6+ plates, the bend becomes quite noticable… I would imagine somewhere over 5 plates is when people may want to start getting specific about which bar they use. Of course, this is just my experience so it may be beneficial to start being bar-specific sub-5 plates too 
@Vincepac1500 is one of - if not the biggest deadlifter here, he may have more info if he’s willing to chime in
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Thanks that’s my recall too . I have only done 240kg years back though. I’m a far bit offthat now. Probably 20kg or on good day.
So about 490-500lb it might make a difference. Thanks Andrew.
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I haven’t done it on a weightlifting bar, but I have done deadlifts with power and deadlift bars. With that, I think once someone learns the movement with the deadlift bar there is usually a bit of a difference in what they can pull. It is more than just the whip to consider. It is easier to hold onto since is is noticeably thinner. The center of gravity of the weight can also be closer to you (by about 1.5mm).
I’d say for me, I am probably good for 20 extra lbs on a deadlift bar over a power bar.
Bumper plates will also give you more whip than thinner plates.
If you really want to go crazy, use bumper plates on a bella bar haha.
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Not an Olympic bar but for day a deadlift bar vs stiff bar. Like @Andrewgen_Receptors said I notice the bar bend around 500lbs on gym plates and about 600 ish with calibrated plates. Less and I don’t notice much difference. I will say though when I was younger pulling high 4s to 500 I did notice the bend in the bar with less weight. I believe that the small 1/2-3/4 " you get from under 500 may have helped when the lift was tough but now the much weight is so easy for me the small amount of slack doesn’t come into play anymore. Not sure the length on Olympic bars but that seems to play more of a roll now.
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Thanks Vince
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