I use a 55 pound barbell because I have an extra Y Chromosome

Story time: Once upon a time I was in the gym, and this tall swedish girl was using the last available barbell to do hip-fuckaround-thrusteroos or whatever. She finishes and then I see the bar looks like the women's bar and I ask her, "is that the women's bar?" And she says, "well I don't know if I'd call it THAT, but it is the 15kg bar" in a really offput and disgusted sarcastic type of way. I was so confused with her demeanor, but then I realized that I'm in a cult AKA the weightlifting ingroup that nobody gives a shit about in the real world so of course she didn't realize that they use these for competition, so I said, "oh, no, women use 15kg bars in weightlifting while the men use 20kg". She looks me up and down like I was made of sludge and she's like, "women can use WHATEVER bar they want to lift, dude!" and she stormed away before I could further explain. These other 2 girls looked at me and started sneering in the corner like I was a misogynist chauvinist pig trying to enforce women to use a 15kg bar like some fiat rule handed down by god when really I'm just a weightlifting nerd trying to figure out what bar she just finished using so I can train 😩 This misunderstanding lives rent free in my head daily even though it happened like 3 years ago.

The lack of things to do by these people impress me everytime.

When my coach was helping me with snatches years ago I couldn’t hook grip a “men’s” bar so he had me switch to a “women’s” bar. I got my hook grip figured out and mostly use a the 20 kg bar. However, when cycling hang snatches I’ll grab the 15 kg bar. I’m a 5’6” dude. I got smaller hands it works. A barbell is a tool. In competition though men’s bar is the standard for men so that’s what gets used. Lady need to shut up.

I started out crossfit using a 10lb bar. Eventually progressed to a 20lb bar, then a 35lb bar, and eventually a 45lb bar. It's helpful to use lighter bars early on so you can use bumper plates to get the bar off the ground to help learn the movements.

I wonder how the author of the article feels about suggested weights in workouts, like 95/65 lbs for thrusters. There's the men's weight and the women's weight. That must freak them out too then.

If you aren't a weightlifter, it doesn't really make sense to refer to them as mens/womens, but since the standard already exists for the sport that created them... its silly to be offended by it.

"Very much most of the time men are going to have bigger hands and be stronger than women" I've never been more called out in my life...

I don't have any problem calling them 15kg or 20kg barbells. Just like kgs used in kettlebells, plates, or dumbells. People are getting too sensitive about everything. Edit: I forgot to add that where I train sometimes we work out with a partner and sometimes is a girl that uses my 20kg barbell or sometimes I use a 15kg barbell. We don't have separate female/male weightlifting classes with mandatory gender-based equipment. I think the entire debate is pointless.

I think what would be really interesting is to hear a world class female athlete commenting regard this.

They probably didnt even know about the diameter thats how ignorant they are....

I'm a small guy with small hands, so I bought a women's bar so I can grip it better while working out at home and I don't feel emasculinated at all. Since buying the women's bar I have traded my Dodge truck in for a Chevy and am shopping for a fanny pack or possibly a purse to perfectly go with my new Chevy truck.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned in life, 'Only I am responsible for my emotions.' Not sure why the idea where one needs to be responsible for others emotions became an acceptable norm.

Wokeism......the gift that keeps on giving!

Ive had to explain this so many times to people. As you mentioned, the diameter of the bar is smaller as women on average have smaller hands, but then we have the metallurgy of the bar too. A woman's bar whips the same way a men's bar does, but is designed to do so at a lower weight, if they didn't, lifters would get buried as they receive the bar because all the force would transfer directly into the lifter, rather than the bar. As for Kettlebell sport, there are no gendered kettlebells, only specific weights for the women's classes vs mens, for example, the Long cycle is 32kg per hand for men vs 24kg for the women. Sport kettlebells have identical size and shape regardless of weight. Russian style kettlebells get bigger with thicker handles as they get heavier, simply as a function of the casting process. This article is yet another example of someone jumping the shark because they don't understand why things are the way they are. And in powerlifting, everyone uses the same bar because you don't need to hookgrip them for squat, bench or deadlift.

I use a 15 kg (women’s) boneyard Rogue Oly bar that I got for $150. I like the bearings much better than bushings for the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk, and don’t prefer to spend ~$600 for a 20 kg (men’s) Oly bar.

We're doomed

I did my first snatches with a women's bar. And to this day I kinda prefer it for its whip - thinner bar - bends more. The only way I could force myself to switch was to buy an Eleiko men's barbell lol. Now I mainly use that. If I was a guy with smaller hands I'd probably never switch. Maybe for back squats? Dunno. But what you lift is what you lift regardless of the initial bar weight. Use whatever feels comfortable.

I feel the point she is making isn't that calling 15kg/20kg bars women's/men's bars is discriminating. In the context of the sport weightlifting calling them women's/men's bars makes perfect sense do to them being gender standardized bars. But in the gym where people don't really care about the sport, it's just a 15kg/20kg bar where one is slightly smaller then the other. If a women has big hands she isn't doing anything wrong by using a 20kg bar, the same way a man with a smaller build shouldn't feel emasculated by using a 15kg bar. Do what is correct for your body, of course if you want to compete you have to use the standardized bars for your gender, but if you are just working on improving yourself do what works for you.

Well said Zack. You said everything I was thinking when I read this article. I'll be honest that during coaching with larger classes I have always called the barbells by their weight, for identification purposes, as many newbies don't know that there is a difference. I saw in 100% of the times SOME men went for the 15kgs and ALL the women went for the 15kg barbells. It has always been a natural thing, never forced

Saying we shouldn't call them men's and women's barbells because barbells don't have genders is like saying we shouldn't call them men's and women's bathrooms because bathrooms don't have genders.

Let me guess, the author has never set foot inside a gym.

Thanks for making this point. It’s dumb that it has to be made but since it does I’m glad you spoke and on it. Thank god we have a women’s bar, cuz there ain’t no way I’m trying to snatch with a men’s bar! We have plenty of men that I teach with a women’s bar. They usually progress pretty quickly to a men’s bar after learning the snatch. Some prefer it but they aren’t competitive weightlifters, just fitness CrossFitters. The ones that prefer it are usually closer to my height 5’3” Also, I think the Chalk Up article got it wrong- I don’t think they are a CrossFit Affiliated Gym. They are “community fitness” now?

I love how people that virtue signal make everything worse. Next they will start to call them monster barbells and wimpy barbells and hope that solves the problem

Damn Zack, no one in the fitness industry has the ability to explain certain aspects and concepts of weightlifting as well as you do..maybe Alexander Bromley comes close..Bravo my friend..👏👊💪

I will say, I’ve seen many men/teen boys hinder their lifting because they are using a “men’s” barbell when they really should be lifting with a women’s bar because of the weight or hand size. Also, it really sucks how hard it is to find training bars in a smaller diameter.

If someone is too upset by the idea that there's "men's barbells" and "women's barbells" to lift with one they probably don't have the necessary mental tolerance to lift in general.

YES the diamater of the bar for proper grip is one of the reasons why these barbells were invented in the first place

The only time it truly matters is in sport, where divisions have their own specs (and obviously if you're training for a sport specificity in training). Outside of that it doesn't really matter. At the core I think you agree with the premise of the article. If someone needs to use a 20, 15, 10, or 5kg bar for the appropriate stimulus, they should. Even if someone wants to compete eventually, coaches need to meet them where they currently are at, and work towards whatever the sport they're pursuing requires.

So I think there's some valid points hidden within the ideas presented in the article. I do think that making the proper form the main goal is more important than which bar you're using. I also think that there's a certain point to paying more attention to the weight than the terms for the bar used as well. At the end of the day the emphasis should be on safety and form. That doesn't mean that terms should have to change either.

I have a male friend in his 50s, who practices weightlifting recreationally, and he uses a women's bar exclusively due to short thumbs. A cheap women's bar can generally handle 120-140 kg, which is way more than a recreationally lifting man is going to C&J

It’s insane that these things even need to be debated. We have clothes and shoes intended for pre-puberty children because those children typically have different shapes and proportions than the adults of their gender. You cannot simply shrink down adult clothing and expect it to fit correctly. Women have different shapes and proportions to men and as result sporting equipment needs some adjusting to be made ideal for the average person of each gender. It’s not called a women’s barbell because it’s lighter, it’s because it’s intended for adults with smaller hands which for the most part is going to be women. Yes, there are exceptions, some women can grip a male barbell fine, but most women around the world will struggle due to hand size. The opposite is true too but at the end of the day equipment is made for typical proportions and no the exceptions. We have enough empirical data collected from weightlifting events and training databases to prove that men, on average, are far stronger than women. The average intermediate male lifter lifts about twice as much as the average intermediate female lifter. We should note that strength means your ability to produce and resist force and the weight on the barbell can be a somewhat misleading indicator of total strength. The average man is taller and has a far greater range-of-motion on their lifters than the average female. Someone benching 225lbs for an 18 ROM is producing far more force than someone benching 225lbs for a 6” ROM. A 1980 study on force production of US National team Olympic lifters showed that the power difference between a 56kg and a 110kg lifter (both male) was 2.23 times despite the fact the 110kg lifter's best snatch and clean'&jerk was only about 1.4-1.5 times the lighter lifter's. The greater rom necessitates greater force production and thus demonstrates a higher level of strength. Hence in the real-world strength (force production) difference between men and women is actually a lot greater than just the 2 times figure we see from raw barbell numbers. Of course the strongest women will still outlift many men, even sometimes those not on gear, but they are exceptions and often in terms of reall world force production, their strength is well below the upper male pecentages.

I did some research, and it's probable that the writer's daughter can outlift her (51 year old) husband at least in some lifts. Her name is Celia Huddart, and she lifted 85kg and 107kg at 71kg weight in the 2023 usaw u25 womens division. Still no reason to change terminology.

11:21 I have a non binary barbell. Its just as real as the category

Why do we suddenly have to change things that have been in effect for over 50 years without issue

I think standards are useful. I cannot imagine the organizer switching back and forth during the competition between 15 and 20kg for lifters' preference...But I am a man, doing CF for fun. And I use a 15 kg bar for my small hands. To be honest, I did not know people judges me by the bar weight.

I feel like it should be based on weight class more? Hand size is the biggest issue, and heavier classes tend to have taller athletes with bigger hands...I really doubt that women over 5'8 struggle with gripping a men's bar more than a woman's than men under 5'3 or so would. Hand size really is everything. Also having messed with a women's barbell for pull work, it makes it harder when you have big hands, I have a 6'11 wingspan and very large hands and it's legit painful to hookgrip or double overhand 150kg+ compared to a men's bar.

Odds of a young female crossfitter being able to outlift their potentially completely untrained father are not that small at all. She being able to do that when they both train with relatively similar intensity and frequency is highly unlikely.

Do you think there is a call for allowing the lighter men’s category to use the women’s bar? Could this result in great weight lifted?

I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

Great Review of this topic Zack, For the Majority of gym-goers they should just see the bars as 15/20kg barbells. The biggest misunderstood part of this gendering is purely the standardization of bars for men and women due to their average physiology i.e. average size of hands, and further this IS important because of the "standard" part like you said people forget you need a something of a standard measure to ... measure.

The diameter of a bar has almost nothing to do with your gender. CrossFit box owner is right.

Not sure i agree, even in competition. There are two bars, which broadly cater to morphological differences between men and women, but weightlifting is also separated by weight class, which also has morphological differences (you don't have 5'1 super heavyweights and you don't have 6'9 lifters in the lightest weight classes). You could definitely argue that having a different bar standard per weight class for women and men would be unfeasible, which is fair, but it's also unreasonable to say a super heavy weight woman who's hands are bigger, shoulders broader, is taller and heavier than a 4'8 45kg male lifter, should use a lighter, thinner bar. Really the lifter should be able to choose which bar suits them best, or you could set a standard by weight class (maybe the 15kg bar suits men in the 45kg class and the 20kg bar suits the women in the superheavy class.

One of the running funnies in our gym is ‘Women’s RX is still RX’ 🎉😊

I believe that hand size matters more than whatever other argument, unless you're too strong to the point that bars begin to bend and bounce because of tensile strenght, then it does really matter. But i wouldn't necessarily ask a 188 cm women to lift the 15kg bar because she is a woman, when my 160cm friend could have a stronger grip with the 15kg bar and people think he should lift with the 20kg bar. I actually think it's unfair that the 55kg men have to lift a bar much proportionally thicker than men who are 81-89 kg in weight, because men tend to remain lean untill the 96kg cat. While pretty much every women above 87 kg hold a lot of fat, so their hands still need the thinner bar.

What show is the backdrop from? I’ve definitely seen it somewhere… Can’t put my finger on it.

Eh...nothing burger. Life is too short. just call the barbell by the weight and still keep the gendered standard in official competition

2:18 35 pound and 45 pound weightlifting bars with actual needle bearings are valid, stop denying their existence! I think Tru Grit makes most of them these days, but there are the occasional random ones out there.

Grab the “thinner bar”. Done.

love these vids man, but I miss the lifting vlogs

Random kettlebell comment: I consider myself a kettlebell enthusiast. The standard handle is 35mm for most competition kettlebells, but I actually like the 33mm handles as well (I wear L-sized gloves). Kettlebells also have a "hook grip" but the thumb wraps the index/middle fingers.

If an affiliate gym wants to go against regulations of the sport, they’re welcome to give up their affiliate status.

If a coach forces an obviously weak man or woman to warm up with a standard barbell, that’s just bad coaching. If I have a younger/weaker athlete, they will use a 15/10kg barbell or maybe even 10/5kg depending on their strength.

While I'm neither a Crossfit nor Olympic Weightlifting coach, I actually bought a 7,5kg Technique bar because many women that start out can't bench press 20 or even 15 kilo. I call that bar the women's bar sometimes, luckily no one complained yet... Did I mention it's pink?

I think if you break down the argument into "if you're teaching a class match the bar to the persons ability/grip and strength in regards to the prescribed exercise" that's totally fine and a good point to find common ground. Whatever you want to call the bar I don't care. Implying that all men would get offended is stupid though (even though some decently do, or at least get a little insecure at first). If we're talking about competition that's a different story. weird side note: I love training snatches with the mens bar. makes switching back feel amazing

In kettlebell sports/Girevoy they use competition bells, where all weights are the same size, same dimensions, same placing of center of gravity. No differences between men and women in bell dimensions - only in the typically used weights in each competition (when men lift 24 kg, women lift 16 kg.....).

dont see how it is non-exclusive for non-binary folk. There is 2 options in that scenario: either the non-binary person wants to compete in weightlifting/cross-fit and they should just train with whatever bar fits the category they compete in or if they dont care for competing, then they can literally whatever the fuck they prefer because no one will stop you either way. What might happen is that your gains are slowed or halted because of an “improper” choice but it is a compromise that you would have to be willing to make

The one weightlifting comp I have done, it was a 20kg female bar and a 20kg men's bar. Girth was different what then morning chalk up?

Honest question, since I started considering what you said about bar diameter and hook grips, but did Naim Süleymanoğlu use a 20kg bar? I was just thinking about his height and I imagine he had small hands that would make it difficult to hook grip a 20kg bar.

I workout at home in a limited space. Rather than break nearby glass sliding doors I use 15 kg bars as they are 300 mm shorter. Best thing about it is their is such a stigma in having "womens" 15 kg bars that no one wants them. So, they were 1/2 the price of the same brands equivalent 20 kg bar.

Very good video video. Good context!

It may not be helpful to only refer to bars by weight... you can get shorter bars (international bars for example) that are 15kg but standard 28mm diameter, this would be non standard in Weightlifting... I guess there may be an argument to be super specific like "get a 15kg bar with a 25mm diameter shaft" but that takes a lot of energy when you need to give a quick instruction... I've certainly cycled snatches on a 25mm bar before, and called it a women's bar - but if I needed a 15kg bar and was training to be sport specific I'd aim to use one with a 28mm shaft... likewise if a female athlete wants to be sport specific they should drill pattern with 25mm? It's no good to turn up to a comp and be thrown by how the grip and flex feels...

Coming soon: The gender signs in the Target clothing departments from men/women/boys/girls to you/them/young they/young you. Good luck.

Can women with large hands use the men's barbell in big competitions? When I use women's barbells the smaller diameter cuts into my hands/calluses more.

So me personally, in terms of the CF methodology, sure use whatever bar your heart desires (as long as safety allows). Also, in my classes I coach, I just say grab your bar, I don’t need to tell anyone to grab bars and if I have a new person, I’ll tell them to grab the light bars for training and teaching purposes. But yes, in terms of sport and competition, there has to be a standard and that requires the differentiation. For the non-binary part, that’s where I’ll just say whatever bar you can safely lift. At the end of the day; my big issue here is that this article talks about CrossFit class and equates it to the sport a little more than reality allows

I think as this craziness enters more into our world it’s going to radicalize many of us.

If the bar is comfortable and practical for the exercise, who cares?

I wonder if they say the same about basketball diameters 😅

I feel you're missing the point - the person being quoted isn't disputing the valid reasons for having different sized barbells, they are making the point that the language can be exclusionary. It doesn't need to be gendered. Reeling off examples of gender-based differences in other sports isn't convincing, why would calling it a 28.5 ball be ridiculous? It's just as, if not more descriptive than referring to it as a women's ball.

Bro always has the dopest green screen backgrounds. Starfield is the move right now

How is this even a debate? People will make an argument out of anything.

Your most valid reference is the diameter of the bar has to be smaller because a majority of the female population has smaller hands.

it's 2023, I sure am happy I have a home gym and don't have to deal with this crap. What gender do my standard bars get? If i paint my bar in rainbow colors do I get extra points?

All this boils down to there is a difference between men and women.

the whole "men's vs women's sports" for "men's vs women's barbells" or "men's and women's balls" seems like it's just repackaging the same "we call it that because we have called that and don't need to change it" stance which I am not very fond of. I can think of many ways to make it simpler like putting tape/coating the bars a certain color so your gym has designated red and blue bars (even with just a little tape) or whatever. does there need to be a distinction between them? yes. they're different bars and it matters for training purposes. does it need to be "men's and women's"? hardly. it has been that, and I personally have no problem with that as it is just a label, but were they labelled anything else (obviously within reason and not like Hitler vs Stalin bars pls) I would be okay with it. 28mm bar? good. pro bar? good. lighter bar? good. afab/amab bar? good. type A bar? type B bar? good. It is important to make a distinction and if that person doesn't like it being a "gender binary" distinction, they can have two diff colored racks and rack the bars on the red and blue racks even as to not alter the actual implement. if they want to be inclusive, go ahead. the only important thing is to keep the distinction and to know what bar you would be competing on. (think kabuki vs texas DL bars in PL or squat bar vs power bar, axle vs bar vs log vs just a crate of barrells or playboy bunnies in strongman lmao)

I kind of agree with this but from the perspective that bar diameter should be based on weight class. 70+ classes should be 20kg bars and under 65 should be 15kg. Hand size goes down for guys too, and it would standardize the jerk timing since lighter men can’t jerk the same way as heavier men weights. 160 responds way different than 140 on a 20kg bar

Quake 2 soundtrack in the outro goes hard

Society is seriously heading down a slippery slope, please don’t let crossfit do the same thing

I'm non-binary and think it's unfair that there isn't a special 17.5kg bar for me with a 26.5mm diameter

i dont get it, why have a gender designation on a bar wich has obvious kilo difference? Youve just spent 14-15 minutes explaining that there are a lot of factors outside gender that should decide wich bar you should use. Its not logic. So why is it mandatorey for women to use 15 kilo bars in crossfit?

No human has ever been "gendered." We are "sexed." Nouns in some languages are "gendered." Humans are not "human nouns," we are "human beings." Humans are neither "binary" nor "non-binary." I suppose we could claim to be "unitary" or "global" or "holistic," but why? I suppose to indicate "not non-binary, not binary." Good grief! I think you're making assumptions about the family. I don't know this non-gendered female Crusader's husband or daughter, but I have no reason to doubt that if he's a small, sick, injured 65 year old man who's never trained, he can be outlifted by his large healthy uninjured 30 year old daughter who's trained for 20 years. It's evil that many federations have terminated rules that used to forbid men from competing in women's divisions. Remember that men who suffer with sex identity dysmorphia have a legal, natural place in men's divisions, competing with other men. The are NOT excluded from sport. As for bar name and choice, for Oly lifts at home I use a 15 pound York Aluma-Lite technique bar with a pair of 2.5 kg technique plates because I can start my workout without killing myself and keep loading low denomination bumpers (it's rated up to 150 pounds yes pounds not kgs) and change plates until I reach my Senior Citizen clean and jerk limit for the day. It's just more convenient than switching to the 20 kg bar. Why would I care what it's called? I call the Football Bar a Football Bar although it's neither a football nor a bar, because people know what I mean. I call my Log a Log although it's made of steel. Dang. People already know that a Women's Bar is designed for Women and is called a Women's Bar. Don't protest accuracy and truthfulness in language!

The sport of olympic weightlifting is about personal peak performance. Therefor it would seem logical for outsiders from different sport that you use a bar that let you lift the most weight in a proper way. Tian tao for instance has smaller hands and has difficulty hook gripping the 20kg bar, it might be possible that he could lift more weight if he used a bar with a smaller diameter. All I am saying is that is sports where it is about personal performance it is natural to choose material that lets you excel. For instance, I come from a rowing background where you choose a boat which supports your weight optimally, so you have les water resistance and can set it up so you can make the most efficient stroke. The boat still has to fit certain standards (length, weight width etc.) So why is that not possible for weight lifting? It seems quite natural from my perspective.

Just as we shouldn’t gender exercises (Women should be encouraged to do Overhead Presses, Men should be encouraged to do glute focused lunge variations) we shouldn’t gender equipment through their title. I’m not a oly lifter, but I don’t see a problem dropping “women’s barbell” title while keeping the weight and diameter exactly the same.

if people are more worried about their sexual orientation than the progress they're making in the sport and are too caught up in these weird semantics then weightlifting rly isnt for them - humility is needed

When activism enters the gym

90-something % of lifters (across Crossfit, Oly, or just general strength training) don't ever engage with competition or competitive standards. And the 10% that do will undoubtably know the difference between these bars, what they imply, and why they exist. "Mens/Womens" as terms give no actual information to a gym user. Its at best meaningless and requires further explanation, or at worst gives the wrong impression or makes people choose one bar or the other for reasons other than which is the better training tool for them. "15kg bar, 20kg bar" is straight to the point, conveys the most important information and doesn't apply a category to the bar that may impact someone's choice in training tool. I dont see how "mens/womens" offers any advantage as terminology.

Nobody seems mad about Men's and Women's basketballs. Barbells are the same. There's standardized Junior basketballs too.

I feel like it’s always the people who aren’t in a high level at their sports who complain about gender differences. I am a powerlifter not a weightlifter but it’s the same either way. You take two athletes who weigh the same who are both at the same level of training (both never lifted in their lives or both world class athletes) who lifts more? Men. Duh. Besides from and outside perspective having a smaller thinner bar doesn’t seem like it’s made to ‘be demeaning to women’ but instead give them the best advantages the can based of their differing physical form (small hands). A woman who could lift say 90kg on a women’s bar might not be able to lift the same on a men’s bar because they can’t grip it properly. Are you going to tell them that they should swap to the heavier bar just so they can lift less? And in terms of the non binary ‘issue’ you compete with your sex, use the barbell of your sex, I thought the whole point was ‘male’ and ‘female’ is your sex and ‘man’ or ‘woman’ your gender. No one is excluded, use your brain.

Womens or mens barbell doesn't mean the barbell they have to use, its just means refers to the one they do use for competition. Its more of a designation then a description, of course either can use either outside of a weightlifting competition, but that's why they weigh that weight, that's what they are built for.

The way I see it the bar weight doesn't matter since you'll just add more weight to it. The real discussion is about the bar diameter and the way we categorize/label them. It seems that the average women's hand size is just a little bit below the average men's hand size, so as a matter of practicality a difference in standard bar diameter might make most sense, as well as whether athletes would or wouldn't be allowed to use either diameter bars. I certainly wouldn't care if the women's bar was newly standardized to be the same weight as men's, and if it were referred to as a non-gendered bar term. At the lower weight classes being able to hook grip the bar is certainly a concern in both women's and men's as athletes have been known to apply serious amounts of tape to make up for their hand size (which is technically illegal in weightlifting? not sure).

Honestly, I've been in and around gyms for over 10 years, but not weightlifting gyms, and I never had any idea anyone called a 15kg bar a women's bar. Since getting a bit more familiar with weightlifting, I've found it is easier for me to hook grip a slimmer bar. So I use them sometimes, but this naming is nitpicking. Call them whatever you want, I just want to lift them 😅

My max snatch is 100 kg but with the women's bar

Since the women’s barbell is a thinner diameter doesn’t that mean there is less material used to construct it so there for less material equals less weight. While the men’s barbell is made with more material so therefore it weighs more ?

A bar could be a trans bar, a 20kg bar that identifies as a 15kg bar. I know when I deadlift 210kg I tell people the barbell weight with plates identify as 500kg.

I agree we should stop saying "women's barbell" and "men's barbell." It should be "girl bar" and "regular bar."

Woman with weak husband and strong daughter has a point to make. In the gym, I see women making big lifts in the squat - and that's almost exclusively where it ends.

Zack, about two weeks ago you uploaded a video about transgender people in strength sports. By the time I clicked on it, it was taken down. I'm sure I know what happened, but have you said anything about it? Or is the video available elsewhere, like on Patreon?

people really have too much free time, instead of training she decided to write this article

Doesn't crossfit require men to use the 20kg bar in the open? Even if gender isnt used in the name, its implied. I've journeyed from crossfit to weightlifting to general exercising over the last decade. I've recently wondered, in powerlifting do the bar specs change based on gender? As a woman, I've always used the mens bar for back squats, womens bar for deadlifts, and I juat decided I preferred the men's bar for benching. In the end, I'm not competing so I'll use whatever makes sense for the movement and my effectiveness.

If that woman's husband can't lift more than his daughter, he either doesnt train or is injured.