Stronglifts 5x5 for Women

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Issue with women's bar and squat rack

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sbl1881
sbl1881 Posts: 213 Member
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So, I am on week 1, day 2 of SL and encountered my first issue. No one was available to help me at the gym, so I thought I'd reach out here for suggestions.

I am using the women's bar, which is not only lighter, but shorter as well. I'm 5'3 with shorter arms, so I actually find the women's bar to be easier to use. Anyway, I did not add any weight on the bar day 1, and the bar fit nicely in the squat rack. The issue came today when I did try to add weight...the bar is too short for the squat rack, so you can't actually add plates to the sides. Any suggestions? Should I just suck it up and lift with the men's bar?

Thanks for the advice!

Replies

  • klrenn
    klrenn Posts: 245 Member
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    I wish I could picture this...I'm not sure how it could fit in the squat rack without plates, but not with them?

    Have you tried the men's bar? I'm thinking if that's the only bar at your gym that will fit in the rack, it's what you're going to have to use to progress.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
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    I use the women's bar with plates sometimes--the plates fit inside the hooks on the rack rather than outside. It's a little clunky, but there is room for a plate or two and the clip.
  • sbl1881
    sbl1881 Posts: 213 Member
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    Hi, yeah, I realized that it fit because only the ends of the bar were resting on the ledges. lol. Leave it to me to try and invent new machine/bar combinations.

    I added this topic to the fitness and exercise forum and I think I was using a non-standard bar. It was originally sitting on the rack with the e-z curl bars. An Olympic bar is what I should be using. They're the correct length, smaller in diameter (for smaller hands) and are lighter than the standard bar. I'll look for it on Friday when I go back.

    Thanks for your feedback though!
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
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    Oh, I guess I'm using a non-standard bar, too, because the "women's bar" at my gym is the same width as the regular bar (I think), but shorter and weighs less, and I always think how silly that is. If you were making a bar for women, it should be narrower but the same length as a standard bar so it fits in the rack.
    sbl1881 wrote: »
    Hi, yeah, I realized that it fit because only the ends of the bar were resting on the ledges. lol. Leave it to me to try and invent new machine/bar combinations.

    I added this topic to the fitness and exercise forum and I think I was using a non-standard bar. It was originally sitting on the rack with the e-z curl bars. An Olympic bar is what I should be using. They're the correct length, smaller in diameter (for smaller hands) and are lighter than the standard bar. I'll look for it on Friday when I go back.

    Thanks for your feedback though!

  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    edited July 2016
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    personally (but this is me) i had a bad initial experience with that short bar in the rack and have just sucked it up and gone rackless ever since then if i'm using that bar. i see it as dangerous. it's not that it doesn't reach to the pins on each side, but in the place where i was lifting the margin of error was just too narrow. i missed on one side and had a bit of wreck when i was really really new, and for me that was it.

    maybe i just scare easy :p and i'm definitely up there in the clumsy stakes. but imo, if you're under kind of a load, you really shouldn't be looking to left or right. neck muscles are tiny i'm sure equipped to know how spraining any of them can mess you up in all kinds of additional ways.

    personally i never felt like i could trust myself to just walk that short bar back to both pins without turning my head. in fact, i pretty much proved that i can't trust myself, and pulled something painful in the process. so i've always cleaned that bar. if that meant i had to do shorter press sets or just take longer to add any weight, it still felt worth it to me.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
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    canadianlbs wrote: »
    personally (but this is me) i had a bad initial experience with that short bar in the rack and have just sucked it up and gone rackless ever since then if i'm using that bar. i see it as dangerous. it's not that it doesn't reach to the pins on each side, but in the place where i was lifting the margin of error was just too narrow. i missed on one side and had a bit of wreck when i was really really new, and for me that was it.

    maybe i just scare easy :p and i'm definitely up there in the clumsy stakes. but imo, if you're under kind of a load, you really shouldn't be looking to left or right. neck muscles are tiny i'm sure equipped to know how spraining any of them can mess you up in all kinds of additional ways.

    personally i never felt like i could trust myself to just walk that short bar back to both pins without turning my head. in fact, i pretty much proved that i can't trust myself, and pulled something painful in the process. so i've always cleaned that bar. if that meant i had to do shorter press sets or just take longer to add any weight, it still felt worth it to me.

    I am extra-cautious with it too. I alway kind of leave my hands right underneath when I let go to make sure it's stable, but you're right, at that weight I don't really need the rack. I use it more for form purposes.

    Then again, yesterday at the gym after my shower I could feel I had an eyelash in my eye and I leaned in close to the mirror at a funny angle (without my glasses I can't see much) to get it out and twisted my neck. So I don't really need any equipment to hurt myself!
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    scrittrice wrote: »
    So I don't really need any equipment to hurt myself!

    heh. i twisted a rib by sneezing once, so yeah :smiley:

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