REP fitness Gladiator WL barbell vs Stainless steel power bar

This is a comparison between the REP fitness Gladiator WL bar and the REP fitness Stainless steel power bar. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the REP stainless steel Power bar

This is an overview of the REP fitness stainless steel power bar including the pros, cons, and alternatives. This article was originally posted in which barbell to buy from REP Fitness. Follow the links for more information.

REP Stainless steel power bar $379

The stainless steel power bar comes with 29mm in diameter, a medium Knurl and bushing to attach to the sleeves to the barbell. This is a powerlifting focused barbell which saves you a little money compared to the deep Knurl top dog from REP fitness. The full specifications are:

200k tensile, 1500 lb rated
29mm for extra stiffness
Length: 87.4"
Medium depth knurl
810mm between outside edges of knurling rings
Stainless steel shaft and smooth stainless sleeves
Bushing sleeves for smooth spin
Snap-ring design.

This is a solid choice, although I would pay the $20 extra for the deep Knurl any day if I am already looking into a powerlifting specific bar.

Pros of the REP Stainless steel power bar

The pros of the REP stainless steel power bar:

Stainless steel
200l tensile

The biggest plus is the powerlifting Knurl marks and the stainless steel itself. Stainless steel means that this barbell is a lot less likely to rust than regular steel barbells. It is also the main driver of the price of the bar as REP chooses to cover the sleeves and the barbell itself with stainless steel.

Tensile refers to the strength of the steel and how much pressure it needs to bend. The higher the number the more power is needed to permanently bend the bar. High-quality barbells hover around 200.000 tensile strength so the stainless steel power bar is spot on.

Cons of the REP Stainless steel power bar

The cons of the REP stainless steel power bar:

Medium Knurl
Price
No color options
Imported

To me personally, this bar makes little sense, unless the federation you lift on works with medium Knurl instead of aggressive Knurl bars. If you are already looking into a powerlifting specific bar you might as well pay the little extra and get the deep Knurl instead. For a compromise, this bar would be quite dear.

Compared to other vendors REP fitness has no color options (yet) on their barbell portfolio. Rogue fitness offers a wide array of sleeves made out of different materials and cerakote coatings. TITAN fitness copied this approach with their blues city barbell line. Currently, there is only the black Sabre bar in the REP fitness portfolio that offers a different color from steel.

The biggest con for REP fitness barbells might be for some that they are imported from overseas. If you want your hard-earned money to go into manufacturing jobs in the US you have to purchase from Rogue or Sorinex.

Alternatives to the REP Stainless steel power bar

Alternatives to the REP stainless steel power bar are:

The Rogue Ohio power bar in stainless steel is the current Creme de la Creme in powerlifting bars. There are some other models from kabuki strength and elitefts that are strong contestants for being higher quality, but they are by far not as known as the Rogue Ohio power bar.

The REP fitness deep Knurl bar is in my opinion the right choice from REP for a serious powerlifter to get the deep Knurl. Why stop $20 short on a $400 item that you will probably use for the next 10 years.

The TITAN blues city power bar is the direct competitor of the Ohio power bar and the REP stainless steel power bar. Here some serious savings can be made at the cost of higher risk of a bad user experience through quality issues on the bar or the with the service provided.

Conclusion for the REP Stainless steel power bar

I personally think that the REP stainless steel power bar does not make an awful lot of sense when you know about the deep Knurl bar from REP as they are only $20 apart. But that is just my thinking as I think the more aggressive the knurling the better for my purposes.

Overview and review of the REP fitness Gladiator WL barbell

This is an overview of the REP fitness Gladiator WL barbell including the pros, cons, and alternatives. This article was originally posted in which barbell to buy from REP Fitness. Follow the links for more information.

Rep Gladiator WL $289

The REP Gladiator WL is a variation on the Gladiator design from REP fitness that provides a center knurl, good tensile strength, and bearing on the sleeves for under $300. If you are looking for a solid weightlifting barbell that does not break the bank, you have probably found your perfect match. The full specifications of this barbell run as following:

28mm diameter (25mm for 15kg bar)
20 kg (45lb) or 15kg (35lb) option
1500 lb static rating
3 Needle bearings and 2 bushings per sleeve
Ribbed sleeves to keep weights from sliding while training.
Hard Chrome coating - rust-resistant coating
Center Knurl on WL and SS barbell
No Center Knurl on MX Gladiator and 15kg
Medium Depth Knurl
230k tensile, 210k yield
5 year warranty

A great barbell maximizes the important ingredients that make a good weightlifting barbell like the tensile strength and center knurl while compromising on some components like the sleeves to keep the cost as low as possible. I love the thought process that went into this to make a good weightlifting barbell affordable for the average Joe.

Pros of the Rep Gladiator WL

The pros of the Gladiator WL:

Price
Design

If you want a weightlifting barbell, but do not want to spend $700 to $1000 just on one piece of equipment for your home gym, then this is a great choice. I love what REP fitness has done her to put the best of the weightlifting world into a piece of steel, without making it too expensive. Yes, you will compromise with this barbell, but you can not have it all when you buy new and want to save money at the same time.

Cons of the Rep Gladiator WL

The cons of the REP Gladiator WL barbell are:

Not IWF approved
No full bearing on the sleeves
Imported
Color options

Currently, this barbell is not IWF approved. If you want to train as close to competition standards as possible you either need to opt for the Rogue weightlifting barbell series or the Eleiko barbells. Most Olympic lifting events on the international stage still use Eleiko equipment, while Rogue fitness is catching up in market share in the United States and international Invitation events. It will be interesting to see whether we will see Rogue equipment on one of the next Olympic events for lifting.

This bar will not spin as smoothly as the fully breed Olympic barbells from Rogue, Eleiko, or REP fitness as the sleeves are a bushing and bearing hybrid. This is a choice for this barbell to keep costs down as bearing is a specialized material that comes at a higher cost.

This barbell is imported and therefore manufactured and packaged in China. If this rubs your patriotic streak up the wring way you will have to opt for Sorinex or Rogue fitness who through lengths to keep their production and supply chain as local to the United States as possible.

There are no color options on this barbell as REP fitness does not provide a wide range of sleeves or Cerakote coating for their barbells. This might change in the future when sales volumes go up and REP fitness gets the chance to invest in the production lines of their overseas vendors.

Alternatives to the Rep Gladiator WL

Alternatives to the REP Gladiator WL bar are:

The REP Gladiator MX barbell is very similar to the Gladiator WL. The main differences are the full bearing sleeves and no center knurl which makes it more of an all-round barbell than the WL. Weigh up between these two barbells what you will actually use it most for and make a decision on what to get.

The REP Excalibur is the better choice if you want a Lifetime warranty instead of a 5-year warranty on your barbell. In return, you make some considerable sacrifices on the features of the barbell which I personally would not be willing to make. But I have never filed a warranty case in my entire life, so I am probably not the best person to advise on this perk.

The Rogue Pyrros bar is the top-of-the-line weightlifting barbell from Rogue. If you want a barbell that is IWF approved and connects you to one of the greatest talents in Olympic weightlifting to date then this is the right piece of metal for you. The only downside is that the price is considerably higher than anything you would find in the REP fitness range.

The TITAN Blues city weightlifting barbell is TITAN's approach to weightlifting barbells with bearing sleeves. If you want to bring the low-cost idea to its final conclusion TITAN is a safe bet. What you get in money saved you might regret shipping and quality control wise by purchasing through TITAN as they have to cut some corners to make the low prices across their entire portfolio feasible.

Conclusion for the Rep Gladiator WL

The REP Gladiator WL barbell is a solid choice for someone who wants to save some money on ha high-quality weightlifting barbell. Thi bar makes some compromises in the design to bring the cost down, but these make sense. Especially if you see oly lifts as a more dynamic alternative to powerlifting for training at home, rather than chasing Olympic medals, then this is the perfect fit of a barbell for you.