The Best Home Gym Equipment Dictionary. It covers barbell specs, types of barbell, weight plates, racks, benches, pulley ratios and more.

Barbell build and specs

Olympic Barbell

A barbell with certain measurements such as a 50mm sleeve diameter, a 28-29mm shaft diameter and a length of 2m for women’s barbells and 2,2m for men’s barbells.

Barbell Shaft

The middle part of the barbell that you hold on to.

Barbell Sleeves

The rotating ends where you load the plates.

Barbell Tensile Strength

The maximum weight the barbell can support without breaking. A rule of thumb is to look for a tensile strength of 190.000 PSI (pounds per square inch).

Barbell Yield Strength

The maximum weight the barbell can support without permanently deforming or bending. Often not listed. Look for tensile strength instead.

Barbell Knurling

Cross hatching pattern on parts of the shaft. It helps you hold on to the barbell. Preferred aggressiveness of th knurling is very subjective.

Barbell Snap Rings

A ring inside the end of the sleeve that keeps the sleeve fastened to the shaft. There is often an outer and an inner snap ring on each side of the end cap (round endpiece with logo seen on most good barbells). Cheap barbells have hexagon bolts instead of snap rings and are considered less safe/robust.

Barbell Bushings

Located between the shaft and the sleeve. Often made from bronze. They allow smooth rotation, so the rotation of the plates does not apply rotation to the shaft during lifting. Often seen in powerlifting bars, hybrid/all-around bars and some weightlifting bars.

Barbell Needle Bearings

A bearing with several needle shaped pieces that rotate between the shaft and the sleeve. Allows even more rotation then bushings. Usually found in high-end weightlifting bars.

Types of barbells

Weightlifting Barbell

A barbell used in olympic weightlifting. The shaft is usually 28mm in diameter resulting in a more flexible barbell with more whip to it. The knurling is usually semi aggressive and the sleeves should rotate easily.

Powerlifting Barbell

A barbell used in powerlifting. The shaft should be 28,5 or 29mm in diameter, which results in a more stiff barbell. The knurling is often aggressive (sometimes very!). They have knurling in the center of the shaft in order to allow the barbell to grip on to your T-shirt during backsquats.

Squat Barbells

A very stiff 240cm long bar with a shaft thickness of ~32mm. It has more room for plates due to longer sleeves. Full length knurling on the shaft and the shaft thinkness maximizes the barbell’s grip on your back. It often has a center mark to make sure the bar is centered on the lifter.

Deadlift Barbells

A 230cm long bar with a shaft thickness of only 27mm. Therefore, the bar is not very stiff, and will bend more than regular bars in the initial phase of the deadlift before the plates leave the ground.

Axle Bar

A bar with a extra thick shaft thickness. It is harder to hold on to, and is used a lot in Strongman. It also places the weight further away from the lifter during deadlift – making them heavier.

Safety Squat Barbells (SSB)

A bar with handles that is popular with people with upper body mobility limitations or shoulder pain. Is also requires more of your quads and upper back since the weight is positioned a bit further forward.

Cambered Squat Barbells

An “unstable” bar. It functions like a pendulum with your neck and traps as the turning point. Hence, it forces you to be tight and controlled, otherwise it starts to swing. A difficult bar for beginners to use. A special subtype is the duffalo bar that takes the stress of the shoulders for big lifters.

Trap Barbells

A deadlift accessory that allows you to train different deadlifts without having the weight in front of you. It can used for other things than deadlifts, be creative. They have evolved a lot over the last couple of years and they now exist as Open Trap Bars with interchangeable handles.

Swiss and Football Barbells

Great for pressingand pulling with a neutral grip. Swiss bars typically have straight handles, while football bars typically have angled handles. They can be found in cambered versions that allow for a bigger range of motion.

EZ Barbells

Typically used for curls or skullcrushers. At a fairly low price they provide you with significantly more options for your accessory training.

Plate types – weight is weight?

Iron Weight Plates

Old school cast iron plates where the diameter of the plate gets smaller as the weight of the plate gets lower. Probably the cheapest type of plates. Great if you have no need to drop the weights from hip height. Some find them noisy, others think that they define the sound of lifting.

Steel Weight Plates

More resilent to fracturing than iron plates, but also more expensive. Great for powerlifting. Both the diameter and the thickness of the varies as the plates get heavier. They can also be bought in a more expensive verison called “calibrated steel plates” that are accurate to within 10 grams of the marked weight.

Bumper Weight Plates

Dense rubber plates with a central steel or brass collar. Thickness varies as the plates get heavier, while the diameter should remain true to the IWF standard (450mm) for 5 to 25kg bumper plates. Great for all kinds of training, but you cannot load the bar with as much weight as with iron/steel plates. A often coloured, less noisy and more durable version exists called ‘Competition Bumpers’.

Urethane Coated Steel Weight Plates

Often seen in commercial gyms. Less nosiy and easier to handle than iron/steel plates. But the coat can fracture if you drop them from overhead and they are usually among some of the most expensive plates. They are an alternative to iron/steel plates if you find those to noisy.

Crumb Rubber Weight Plates

Sometimes called ‘Hi-temps’. They are made from crumb rubber (virgin or recycled) that is heated and compressed in a mold. They are cheap,durable and great for outdoor use. Therefore, they are used in many Crossfit Gyms. But they can be very bouncy. The diameter is only 445mm (5mm less than the IWF bumper plate standard). They are also thicker than bumper plates, so you can usually only load the bar to around 180kg with crumb rubber plates.

What You Should Know About Benches

IPF (International Powerlifting Federal) Bench Standard

These measurements are mostly used by more top tier gym equipment companies. Length = 1,22m, width = 29-32cm, height = 42-45cm. It would be a great idea to find a bench with an IPF height if you are serious about benching. A bench that is too high will make it much harder to plant the feet solidly against the floor and it will therefore be difficult to achieve a tight benching position.

FID Bench

FID stands for flat, incline, decline. Flat bench press = You are lying flat on the bench. Incline bench press = The upper body is in a more upright position. Decline bench press = Your head is pointing downwards. Most adjustable benches only do ‘flat’ and ‘incline’. But a true FID (flat, incline, decline) bench does all three positions.

Zero Gap Bench

Excessively large gaps between the seat and the back rest can be annoying. Especially, if the back rest in not long enough in itself to be used without the seat for flat benching. If gaps really annoy you, there are companies taht produce ‘zero gap benches’.

Fat Pad Bench

An extra wide and thick bench pad that sometimes has an extra aggressive grips to it as well. The aggressive grip on the pad will prevent the lifter from slipping on the bench, while the wide pad makes it easier for bigger lifters to keep both shoulder blades on the pad during benching.

The Significance of the Front Feet on Your Bench

Just a reminder to think about the front feet of the bench. Some companies make benches with way too big and clumsy front feet that come in the way of your own legs and feet while benching.

Combo Rack & Competition Bench Press

These are the competition standard in most powerlifting federations. The bench can usually be attached to the rack, the height of the rack can be adjusted without removing the the barbell and the safeties/face savers can often be removed when needed. Some have upright that angle inwards towards the lifter. This makes it easier for big lifters to get the right hand placement on the barbell, since regular uprights would often be right where a big lifter would want to grip the barbell.

Racks – The Crown Jewel of Home Gyms

Power Rack

A rack with a minimum of four uprights. Great for accessories and therefore also great for homegyms since you can use it for storage and you can accumulate lots of different training exercises on a very small area of your total floor. You can work both inside and outside the rack. They also make lifting alone more safe if you set up safety arms or strap safeties on the inside of the rack.

Modular Racks – The Standard for Home Gyms

Modular racks are racks that can be customized and improved as your needs grow. They often start as a basic 4-post power rack. You can then add a pulley system, a smith machine, dip bars, a better pull-up bar etc. This allows you to grow into your rack and figure out your needs a long the way.

I recommend that all all people starting a home gym buy a modular rack from the beginning. They come in all price ranges these days, and you can find good budget modular racks that still have a ton of fine attachments available. Companies like ATX, Sqmize, Atletica, Mirafit and REP sell modular power racks in all price ranges.

What is Westside Hole Spacing?

A rack with uprights where the holes in the bench press area (lower midlle part of the uprights) are spaced ~25mm apart. This allows more precise placement of the J-cups to make lift of more comfortable when bench pressing.

Combo Rack

See under ‘Bench Types’.

Free Standing Squat Rack

Two upright and possibly also a pullup bar on top. Great if you are an expirienced lifter or do not max out in training. You should not max out a squat rack without safeties unless you know how to bail out properly and unless your floors are sufficiently protected.

Half Rack

A four post rack with a small distance between the front pair and back pair of uprights. You usually lift on the outside of the rack. The back pair of uprights are just there to provide a storage solution for weight plates. You might be able to squat inside the rack, but it will be a tight fit and probably not safe.

Upright Dimensions

Important to consider before buying a rack. A modular rack that supports more accessories will last you longer and provide you with more storage solution and more training options in the long run. Check out my ‘Rack Compatibility Table’ before you choose your rack.

Machines – Some Important Lessons

1:1 vs 2:1 Pulley Ratio

The pulley ratio of a cable based strength machine is determined by how the cable connects to the weight stack.

• 1:1 (Straight Connection): The cable goes directly from the weight stack to your hand. 100 kg on the stack feels like 100 kg.

• 2:1 (Doubled Connection): The cable is anchored to the machine frame, loops through a pulley sitting on the weight stack, and then goes to your hand. This “doubling back” creates a mechanical advantage that cuts the felt weight in half.

This is important to know, especially with all of the functional trainer power racks coming out. Many of them only have moveable trolleys with a 2:1 pulley ratio. With a 100 kg weight stack, this means that you won’t be able to do lat pulldowns or seated rows at more than 50 kg. This might work for you. But it is good to know these things before buying.

	1:1 Ratio	2:1 Ratio
Feel	100 kg = 100 kg	100 kg = 50 kg
Cable Travel	Standard	Double Length
Best For	Lat Pulldowns, Low Rows	Flys, smaller muscle groups, Rehab

Selectorized vs Plate Loaded Machines?

Selectorized machines have a weight stack and you just choose your working weight by inserting a pin into the weight stack. A plate loaded machine requires you to manually load weight plates onto the loading pins on the machine.

	Selectorized	Plate Loaded
Cons	More Expensive Can’t be loaded as heavy as a plate loaded machine Very hard to relocate the machine	It can be annoying and time consuming to adjust the weight You need to own enough weight plates
Pros	Easy and quick to adjust the weight	Cheaper Can be loaded heavier Easier to relocated the machine

I hope this was helpful. Please comment below or reach out to me if you have other categories that you think I should add to this dictionary.