How Much Does a Barbell Actually Weigh? (Full Guide)

You may have seen barbells at the gym and you may have had a thought cross your mind that went “I wonder how much the barbell weighs?’

Well, your typical Olympic bar at the gym weighs 44lbs/20KG.

However, these are not the only barbells made nowadays.

There are many specialty barbells out there to train with depending on your level of strength and goals.

Below I am going to go over the different types of barbells and how much they actually weigh!

Olympic Barbell (20KG/44lbs)

This is the barbell you typically see placed on Bench Presses, Squat racks, and Olympic platforms at commercial gyms.

If you are looking to get a barbell for your home gym, this is the bar you would get to do all your main barbell compound lifts like Squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead press.

With that being said, if you do get a barbell for your home gym, don’t cheap out. It is vital that you get a good one because you don’t want one falling apart on you.

The barbell I recommend is the

These can last you a fairly long time.

Olympic Barbell (15lbs/6.8kg)

It is great that you can now buy barbells at a lighter weight because it is awesome for those of you who are just beginning out on your own fitness journey and are just getting into strength training.

Some females are able to easily do the lifts with the 44lb Olympic bar, however, that is not the case with all the ladies.

From what I have seen, girls can typically squat and deadlift fairly quickly with the 44lb bar, but it is the upper body exercises that are challenging.

This is why it is great to have the 15lb Olympic barbell on deck at your gym or house so you can train all movements without worrying it might be too darn heavy.

The Hex Bar aka the Trap Bar (60lbs/27.2kg)

The Hex Bar, also known as the trap bar is a great bar to perform deadlifts, farmers carries and shrugs with.

It is heavier than your prototypical Olympic barbell as it weighs 60lbs/27.2kg.

The Hex Bar, depending on the type you get, can handle anywhere from 500lbs to 800lbs of total weight.

However, when you use this bar, make sure to chalk up your hands because it can truly rip at your hands at first because of the knurls.

Lastly, this bar does not look like your normal Olympic bar either.

It is designed in a hexagonal form so you can step in and out of the position you’ll be set from.

OSO Mini Barbell aka a Kid’s Barbell (5lbs/2.3kg)

Learning proper form is absolutely vital when training kids from ages 8-12.

Working on proper mechanics, while performing all different movements can help get the kids stronger.

When their form is proficient enough, adding weight won’t be a problem because you will have full confidence in the kid to maintain proper technique with a load.

This is why getting a kid’s barbell can be of tremendous value.

It weighs 5lbs and that is great barbell to teach the movements correctly.

With that being said, you can always use the Olympic barbell that weighs 15lbs as well.

Lastly, don’t worry about kid’s weight training stunting growth.

I actually wrote an article about how weight training does not stunt kid’s growth and is completely safe which you can read about by clicking here.

It is written from experience and there is a study in there that you can see that was done to prove once and for all kid’s strength training is safe!

Safety Squat Bar (62lbs/28.1kg)

As you become more advanced in your lifting, you can begin to use a safety squat bar.

When you use the safety squat bar, it helps alleviate stress off your shoulders, elbows, and wrists.

This specialty bar can be used to perform some of the following movements:

Front Squats
Back Squats
Forward Lunges
Reverse Lunges
Bulgarian Split Squats
Calf Raises

These are just some of the exercises you can do with the safety squat bar.

Check out the full benefits of this amazing barbell written by the garage gym lab by clicking here.

E-Z Curl Bar (19lbs/8.6kg)

This is the bar that you will a lot of the bros use when performing all sorts of arm exercises.

It is a great bar in terms of taking tension off your wrists when performing an exercise such as the curls.

Though it is not fully necessary for you to see optimal results, it can be a helpful tool in the toolbox when it pertains to exercise options.

Olympic Swiss-Bar (35lbs/15.9kg)

The swiss bar actually has other names it goes by, The football bar, multi-grip bar, and the American bar.

This specialty bar is mostly used for upper body exercises such as the bench press in different grips and to do barbell rows to name a couple.

Also, what makes this bar great is that a lot of people tend to report that they feel less strain on their wrists and shoulders when using this barbell vs your typical Olympic one.

Therefore, if you are looking to advance your barbell training, the swiss bar aka the football bar aka the multi-grip bar aka the American bar can be of tremendous value to you!

Farmer’s Walks Barbell (21.5lbs/9.75kg each, 43lbs/19.5kg total)

The farmers carry, also known as farmer’s walks and loaded carries, are typically done with kettlebells and the hex bar.

However, this specialty barbell is designed particularly for this exercise.

This barbell comes in two as you can see above so you can load up both sides when performing loaded carries.

Furthermore, farmer’s walks have tremendous value in terms of building grip strength, shoulder/rotator cuff strength, and core strength.

They transfer over tremendously in terms of real-life value because it will be that much easier for you to carry and move heavy objects around when need be.

Barbell Weight Summary

When you are looking to barbell train, getting the typical Olympic 44lb/20kg barbell is going to be your best choice to perform all compound movements.

However, as shown above, the other barbells have tremendous use as well.

Depending on your goals, strength levels, and age, the barbells listed above can all be of great value to you!

While the Olympic bar is a given for barbell training, choose a specialty bar when looking to add some spice to your weight lifting routine!