If you are buying one bar, this is almost certainly the category you want. A multipurpose bar sits between a power bar and a weightlifting bar on purpose: usually 28mm or 28.5mm, dual knurl marks so both grip standards are shown, and a sleeve that spins somewhere in the middle. It is a compromise, and it is the right compromise for most people.
About the photographs. Product photography on this page is illustrative. We are licensing real images of each bar and will swap them in per product as they arrive — until then the pictures show a generic unbranded bar of that type, not the product named beside them.
The same 11 bars as a table, on the figures that decide it.
Every figure is the manufacturer’s or retailer’s own published specification. An em dash (—) means they do not publish that figure — it is never a number we have guessed. “Tensile” is tensile strength in thousands of PSI. “Rotation” is bushings, needle bearings, or both in the same sleeve. No prices are listed here, deliberately: check the current price with the shop.
Including the answers that tell you this is not the category you want.
Only if you specialise later. If you end up competing in powerlifting you will want a 29mm bar, and if you end up training weightlifting seriously you will want bearings. Neither of those is a reason not to buy a multipurpose bar first — it is the bar that lets you find out which direction you are going.
For general training, tensile strength and sleeve build quality. Bearing count matters most if you are doing the Olympic lifts in volume, and if you are, you are in the wrong category. A 240,000 PSI bushing bar will outlast a 180,000 PSI bearing bar in a mixed home gym.
A ceramic coating, originally used on firearms, sprayed and baked onto the shaft. It resists corrosion better than zinc and comes in colours. The trade-off is that it sits on top of the knurl, so the grip feels very slightly softer than bare steel. For a damp garage it is a sensible choice.
Buy the 20kg bar unless the bar itself is too heavy for you to handle safely or your hands cannot close comfortably round 28mm. A 20kg bar is the reference weight all plate maths assumes, and it saves you doing arithmetic every session.
The other 6 categories, and what each is built to do.
A 29mm shaft, almost no whip and a centre knurl that grips your back. Built for the squat, the bench press and the deadlift, and the standard diameter across powerlifting federations.
See the power bars →8 barsA 28mm shaft on needle bearings, so the sleeves spin fast enough to let the bar turn in your hands through a snatch or a clean. Marked to IWF grip spacing.
See the olympic weightlifting bars →8 bars15kg, a 25mm shaft and 201cm overall — the IWF specification for women’s weightlifting. The thinner shaft also suits anyone whose hands struggle to close round 28mm.
See the women's 15kg bars →5 barsA 27mm shaft and a longer span between the sleeves, so the bar bends before the plates leave the floor. Aggressive knurl, no centre knurl. Not for squatting or benching.
See the deadlift bars →3 bars32mm to 35mm and 25kg, fully knurled and deliberately stiff. The extra diameter keeps a heavy bar dead still across your back instead of oscillating.
See the squat bars →5 barsLight bars for learning the lifts, and 6ft bars for garages where a 7ft bar will not fit between the walls. Lower load ratings — check them before loading up.
See the technique and short bars →