CAP Barbell Standard Bar, 1-Inch Threaded

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If you’re looking for a way to lift weights in your own home but don’t have much space, the CAP Barbell Standard Bar in 5ft or 6ft lengths could be the solution.

A simple design that supports a variety of mass-building compound exercises, we take a closer look at the subtle design features and exercise options that have made this such a popular choice in the CAP Barbell range.

Design features

Although the big Olympic weights bench setups are great for supporting heavy weights, it’s not always practical to have them in many home gyms.

Whether you don’t have the space, don’t have the budget, or simply won’t need all the exercises they offer, sometimes all you need is a simple free weights setup.

This is exactly what the CAP Barbell Standard Bar is designed for.

Available in both the 5ft and 6ft lengths, this lets you fit the bar to your current setup, which can be particularly useful if you already have a bench or squat rack that is too wide for the 5ft version.

Being classed as a standard sized bar, you will inevitably be able to lift less weight than using the Olympic barbells.

However, at 250 lb, this is also a useful increase over the 200 lb weight limit of other barbells in the CAP Barbell range.

Weight plates and locking collars

As with most standard bars, this isn’t designed to take the full size Olympic weight plates.

Any standard sized weight plate set will be compatible, but you will have to get used to the extra time it takes to thread on and off the twist-lock collars.

If you want to be able to change the weight on the bar quicker, there is a solution.

Whereas Olympic bars often use the ‘clamp’ style of collar, a simple spring-lock design will be more than suitable for holding the plates on securely.

One final feature which may seem obvious but is certainly worth a mention, is the knurling.

This is the textured section of the bar designed to help improve your grip when lifting heavier weights. Although many bars suffer from lower reviews due to the metal flakes that can result from this process, there’s no mention of this on any of the reviews we found for the CAP Barbell Standard Bar.

Exercise options

The great thing about straight barbells is that you can work almost every muscle group effectively with very little experience or additional equipment.

Although the 250 lb weight capacity will inevitably restrict your progress if your strength is already approaching that level in the bench and deadlift, but this is still an ideal option for anyone starting their first fitness program.

Of course having a high quality weights bench with barbell rack will be useful, but you can still perform most of the exercises listed below even without one.

As with any exercise performed at home, we would always recommend some form of safety catches or rails if you plan on squatting or benching weight close to your 1-rep max.

That being said, the following exercises are a few that you can perform safely using the CAP Barbell Standard Bar, without having to pay for any extra equipment.

Customer reviews

Despite being one of the lower priced designs in their range, the CAP Barbell standard bar has still managed to receive over 100 highly rated reviews on Amazon alone.

If you’re familiar with CAP then you’re probably already familiar with their reputation for making world class fitness equipment, which is reflected in the customer’s own words.

While we aim to provide all the information you need on this bar in our own review, the reviews available through online shopping sites are certainly worth a read.

To act as a quick summary, we’ve put together a collection of the most frequently mentioned pros and cons from these reviews, and put them together in the lists below.

Pros:

Cons: