Snapping barbells weight limits

Hi I train at home with a 7ft one inch barbell. How much weight can this bar hold. I can’t seem to get an answer out of anybody, except for companies like york who state such bars are designed to take 100kg! (but is this just them covering themselves for safety limits?). If not then can someone please let me know because I’m loading the bar with 170kg for 20 rep deadlifts and am about to pile on considerably more weights for a lower rep scheme - is this a silly idea - should I ditch the bar and go for the expense of an olympic set?

Cheers

No one will be able to answer this ? for you without knowing about the bar. What brand, style. What is it made of.

But I would say that the weight you are using is really stressing that bar and would spring for an olympic set as you stated to be on the safe side.

Hope this helps

Phill

Not much to add to Phill’s reply other than I’ve seen a 6 foot, 1’ diameter bar loaded to 470lbs and it didn’t look very stable to me, obviously a 7 foot bar would be less stable. Bite the bullet and buy an olympic set.

Good call Phill, but get a damn haircut! Just kidding

I sincerely doubt that the bar will snap, no matter how dramatic the event is in your imagination. It will definitely bend though, maybe even to the point of it being inoperable.

Get some Oly bars dude.

B.

If you’re lifting in the attic, get an Oly bar.
If you’re lifting in the basement, it’s your call.

what is it made of?
is it solid?
how much wt on each side?

then simple stress analysis will tell you if it will fail.

r=Mc/I

where
r= bending stress
M= moment (distance from support to wt)
c= 1/2 diameter of bar
I= moment of inerti of a circular cross section, which I can’t remember off the top of my head.

have at it!

Ive had 495 plus 350lbs of band tension on my jesup bar and it barely bent.

I work with steel every day and i can tell you that it definetly wont just snap. Your barbell isnt made of iron, its a steel alloy. It may very well bend, but not just snap like a twig, unless you were to load it instantly with a lot more weight than anybody could lift (you’d likely need some kind of a mechanical press to do this). 1" diameter steel bar is strong stuff, especially its a decent quality barbell. If you’re noticing a lot of flex in the bar with the weight you’re working with, its time for an olympic set though. If your bar does bend, your plates will slide off the end and that might make a mess of the floor.

Bars have been known to snap. Ivankos web site has some interesting articles regarding bars.

http://www.ivanko.com/cgi-bin/products.pl?cat=reta&subcat=tech_main