Barbells can seem really intimidating, especially if you’re newer to strength training or if you feel like you have a more casual relationship with lifting weights.
Barbells are heavy. Barbells are challenging. Barbells have math involved. Barbells are for gym bros and fitness professionals. They’re not for the average person lifting weights, right?
Wrong!
Barbells are a great option for pretty much everyone.
5 Benefits of Barbell Training for Beginners and Beyond
1. Versatility: You Can Do a Lot With Barbells!
Barbells are best known for making progressive overload easier in compound lifts like deadlifts, squats, chest presses, and overhead presses, but you can also do many other exercises with a barbell that you’d typically do with dumbbells.
While barbells won’t replace every exercise, they are great for working with many familiar lifts in slightly different ways than you would do them with dumbbells.
Barbells also offer a variety of loading options for exercises where heavier dumbbells might become limiting.
And not only can you train strength with barbells, but you can also train power.
You can do a lot with barbells!
2. Strength: Barbells Make Progressive Overload Easier
When you’re newer to strength training, you likely start with lighter hand weights. Some exercises truly require lighter weights, but for many adults newer to strength training, you simply don’t know how much load your body can tolerate, so starting lighter is safer.
As you build confidence and strength through consistent practice, you typically need to use heavier hand weights in order to feel sufficiently challenged.
This can happen rapidly for beginners, particularly with lower-body exercises like deadlifts and squats.
Unless you belong to a gym with lots of dumbbells, kettlebells, or other free-weight options, increasing weight with hand weights can be both cost- and space-prohibitive. Do you really want to buy a set of 50 lb dumbbells? And where will you store your 12 pairs of hand weights?
While you don’t need to train to failure to build strength, working with lighter weights often means doing more reps to get a sufficient challenge. If you’re working with a bar and plates, you can increase to heavier weights, keeping your reps lower and potentially saving time.
A starter collection of plates (25, 15, 10, 5, and 2.5 lbs) will keep you busy for a long time, and you can add weight to the bar in a slower, more incremental way than you can with increasingly heavy dumbbells. Plus, storing plates can take up significantly less space than storing multiple pairs of dumbbells.
If your goal is building strength, using a barbell and plates can be a more efficient and practical option than using dumbbells alone.
3. Affordability: Barbells Can Be a Smart Home Gym Investment
If you’re looking to set up a home gym or working out at home is simply more accessible for you, barbells can be a great option for the money.
While they might cost more upfront, quality barbell equipment can last for decades with proper care. Once you buy it, you likely won’t need to replace much of it for a very long time.
You can get barbell equipment based on your needs and finances.
On a tighter budget? Get a basic squat rack, bar, plates, and optional bench.
Have less space? Get a foldable rack, bar, plates, and a plate tree!
Want to make a bigger investment because you have the space and finances? Get a cage, bar, plates, bench, and all sorts of other accessories.
For a long time, I only had a bar and a set of plates (25, 15, 10, 5, and 2.5 lbs). I didn’t even have a squat rack. And I was still able to do a lot with that setup.
4. Confidence: Build Mental Fortitude Along With Your Muscles!
Working with a barbell and plates can feel like a big shift, not just physically but mentally. Barbells can be used safely with proper technique and setup, but they do require a little more of a learning curve and adjustment. That’s not a bad thing. It’s a really good thing.
Working with barbells requires you to take more initiative and to trust yourself. This builds confidence, not only in your body and its ability to do harder things physically, but also in your mental resilience.
Barbells are as much of a mental game as a physical one. And while building strength and muscle is incredibly important, so is building the fortitude to try new, challenging things. And then proving to yourself just how great your capacity actually is.
5. Bonus: You’ll Get Better at Math
OK, this might not be the most important selling point, but it’s true. You have to do a fair amount of addition to ensure you’re lifting the amount of weight you want to lift.
If you’re not working with a coach, there’s also calculating percentages, like 70 or 80% of your one-rep max.
Anyway, barbells are great for your body AND your brain.
Ready to Give Barbell Training a Try?
So no, barbells are not just for gym bros and fitness pros. If you want to increase your strength, build muscle, and support bone health, barbells might be a great tool for you!
Barbell training can be appropriate for people of many ages and experience levels, and the exercises become easier to navigate once you’re more familiar with movement patterns that might feel a little bit different in terms of grip or position.
If you’re newer to working with barbells, find a skilled fitness professional for guidance and support.
