can someone explain the ring and knurl markings on an olympic bar

ceoexec2

can someone explain the ring and knurl markings on an olympic bar and what the correct grips are for the olympic and big 3 lifts

spiral

an olympic bar will have a centre knurling then a smooth portion either side then more knurling then a set of rings then more knurling out to the collars.

For the clean one very rough starting point is to start one thumb length out from the smooth part of the bar..

For the snatch/overhead squat again a very rough guide is to start with thumbs on or just outside the rings.

Everyone is different and you may have to change your grip several times as your flexibility or positions improve

Deadlift grip is similar to clean grip.

To squat you have to have the bar centred on your back or across your clavicles.

I dont really bench but I have seen people use something similar to clean grip I descibed above to quite wide grips.

podge57

the knurling is just for grip purposes

in powerlifting, index finger on the rings is the max legal bench grip, im not sure what other purpose they serve, except they help with positioning

ceoexec2

thanks. you wouldnt happen to know what are the allowed grip widths for competition in power and olympic lifting by any chance

you got there before me podge

spiral

AFAIK in olympic lifting you can grip it any way you choose but only some will work !!

Roper

ceoexec2 wrote: »

thanks. you wouldnt happen to know what are the allowed grip widths for competition in power and olympic lifting by any chance

you got there before me podge

IIRC there's no legal/illegal grips in Olympic lifting. Gravity tends to punish inefficient grip widths. Snatches don't go over if you grip too narrow, you'll either lose it due to flexibility or due to the fact that the bar has an extra 6 inches to travel. Same with cleans if you go further in or further out, you'll never catch the bar right.

wasabi

What Spiral and Roper said about weightlifting competition grips, you can essentially do whatever you like gripwise. Apart from straps aren't allowed, obviously.

The usual method for estimating your snatch grip if you're a beginner is to take the bar in your hands and bend your elbows 90 degrees (like doing a really wide upright row). Then adjust your grip width so there's a 90 degree angle between the bar and your forearm. As you snatch then you can adjust in or out as it suits you. I personally found that width perfect and still use it.

For a clean the width to use is the width that lets you rack the bar on your shoulders with your grip just outside them.

If you're a normal enough sized male human my method will work out basically the same as spiral's.

Roper

wasabi wrote: »

The usual method for estimating your snatch grip if you're a beginner is to take the bar in your hands and bend your elbows 90 degrees (like doing a really wide upright row). Then adjust your grip width so there's a 90 degree angle between the bar and your forearm. As you snatch then you can adjust in or out as it suits you. I personally found that width perfect and still use it.

I learned it as basically your shoulder to the opposite outstretched arm, knuckle to shoulder. Then someone just said "go outside the knurls and then adjust as you see fit".

I like the second way better.

rubadub

podge57 wrote: »

im not sure what other purpose they serve, except they help with positioning

I thought positioning was the main point, never thought of doing cleans etc. If the bar was all uniform and long it would be hard to tell if you hands are equally near the centre/plates. So you could unconsciously end up going near one end of the bar and supporting more weight with your stronger arm.

spiral

their just landmarks for you to use