Fat Bar for DC Training?

[SDMF]

I recently switched to using a fat bar on a few of my DC exercises: BB curl, BB incline bench, and lat pulldown. Are there any disadvantages to using a fat bar for DC training?

[Jared Ragsdale]

My only thoughts are that your grip would fail before the muscle you're trying to activate.

[SDMF]

My only thoughts are that your grip would fail before the muscle you're trying to activate.

I can see that happening on BB curls or lat pulldown, but would that also be the case on BB incline bench?

[Big R]

You could try it out, see what happens. In theory, depending on how you currently lift it's possible to recruit more muscle fibers with fatbar from gripping the bar harder than you normally would. For BB curls you might also be more inclined to hold the bar with a more correct form that better targets your biceps as opposed to your forearms (this last bit is quite speculative on my part). If you start having grip problems, you could also throw on some wraps to help your hand squeeze harder. Believe it or not, it's an oft used technique for improving grip (usually alternating fat gripz with/without wraps). And no, I'm not talking about lifting straps, but wraps.

Bottom line, absolutely try it with BB presses, but it may or may not work for the other two. It will probably suck a lot for lat pulldowns, might not hurt BB curls.

[mentalflex]

I look at it like this, for each exercise, would using the fat bar add or detract from your ability to train the specific targeted body part or would it allow for additional muscle fiber recruitment without compromising your ability to stimulate and fatigue the targeted muscle. If it forces you to use lower weight and slows the progressive increases in weight, it may take away from the targeted muscle's ability to handle ever increasing loads, thus growing.

[SDMF]

I think I'm just going to use the fat bar on BB curls and not the other 2 exercises. My elbows and wrists were taking a beating on heavy BB curls with a standard bar. The fat bar seemed to allow me to focus more on the biceps. My grip didn't seem to be a problem. I just angled my wrists forward a little more and used some chalk. If grip becomes a problem I'll switch back to standard bar, or maybe EZ bar.

[SDMF]

I look at it like this, for each exercise, would using the fat bar add or detract from your ability to train the specific targeted body part or would it allow for additional muscle fiber recruitment without compromising your ability to stimulate and fatigue the targeted muscle. If it forces you to use lower weight and slows the progressive increases in weight, it may take away from the targeted muscle's ability to handle ever increasing loads, thus growing.

My problem with standard BB curls was that when the weight got heavier it seemed like my triceps were doing a lot of the work. Using a fat bar feels like more work is being done by the biceps. Does that make sense?

I hope my grip doesn't become a problem, but I'm going to stick with it and see how far I can progress.

[0001Delta]

I have sucessfully used fat gripz, gripforce and fat bars on DC.

For presses, I feel using a fat bar causes more muscle fiber activation, but it's considerably dangerous since most people won't be able to wrap their fingers around the bar, and lack the grip force to safely control the bar and do the exercise once the weights get heavier. Personally, I don't believe the diameter of the bar slows or halts progressive weight increases ( you do have to start with a considerably lighter weight, but I find it's possible to add weight in the same ratio as when using a regular bar.) Obviously using a fat bar will cause your regular diameter barbell lifts to go up, especially shoulder and triceps pressing, so keep this in mind when setting up your rotation, depending on your goals.

For curls and extensions, I find it there's more activation of the bis and tris, however your forearms will fatigue first and grip will be a limited factor., so it's got a good move for RP sets, unless of course you have troublesome forearms or lack grip strength. If you do have big ass hands however (like me), you get better overall arm work.

I have yet to try a fat bar for squatting. Probably would be a bad idea for back squats, but could be usefull for zerchers and front squats.

And unless training for grip, fat bars do nothing for back exercises ( rows, pulls, deads).

[SDMF]

I have sucessfully used fat gripz, gripforce and fat bars on DC.

For presses, I feel using a fat bar causes more muscle fiber activation, but it's considerably dangerous since most people won't be able to wrap their fingers around the bar, and lack the grip force to safely control the bar and do the exercise once the weights get heavier. Personally, I don't believe the diameter of the bar slows or halts progressive weight increases ( you do have to start with a considerably lighter weight, but I find it's possible to add weight in the same ratio as when using a regular bar.) Obviously using a fat bar will cause your regular diameter barbell lifts to go up, especially shoulder and triceps pressing, so keep this in mind when setting up your rotation, depending on your goals.

For curls and extensions, I find it there's more activation of the bis and tris, however your forearms will fatigue first and grip will be a limited factor., so it's got a good move for RP sets, unless of course you have troublesome forearms or lack grip strength. If you do have big ass hands however (like me), you get better overall arm work.

I have yet to try a fat bar for squatting. Probably would be a bad idea for back squats, but could be usefull for zerchers and front squats.

And unless training for grip, fat bars do nothing for back exercises ( rows, pulls, deads).

Good call on the fat bar front squats. I never thought of that. I'll have to give it a try. I have been doing front squats with a safety bar, but with that it's almost impossible to get out from underneath it if I fail at the bottom.

[SDMF]

Are there any benefits to using a fat BB over a standard BB for overhead pressing?

[fferron123]

I use fatz grip with reverse curl, they do wonder for the forearms