Rogue Squat bar vs Ohio bar

This is a comparison of the Rogue Squat bar and the Ohio bar including pros, cons, and alternatives. Follow the links for more details

Overview and review of the Rogue Ohio bar

This is an overview and review of the workhorse model from Rogue, the Rogue Ohio barbell. This article was originally published in "Which Rogue barbell to buy". Follow the links for more details.

Price 285$/295$

Overview

The Rogue Ohio bar is the flagship barbell of Rogue. This is the workhorse of the portfolio and a best seller. You can make anyone happy from powerlifters to weightlifters to Crossfitters. This bar has been bought by Crossfit gyms and home gym owners all over the world. It is the perfect balance between price and versatile use. If you want a bar and don't want to think or even write a long article like I did, just grab this one.

The Rogue Ohio bar was one of the earliest lineups sold by Rogue. It builds the base of most bars which you can read about in this article. This means that Rogue really knows how to build this bar. Years of experience and experiment have gone into the production process of this bar and they managed to build a very successful business on top of it.

The Rogue Ohio bar weighs 20kg and comes in at a diameter of 28.5mm. The basic model comes in two variations, Zinc and Black Oxide. It withstands 190K PSI Tensile strength with a loadable sleeve length of 16.40. The sleeves are attached with bushing to the shaft and you will feel a standard knurl when you lift.

The basic model still goes strong and if you want to go in bulk for an all-purpose gym, this is the option to go for. If you are more powerlifting orientated look out for the Rogue Ohio power bar. If you have more of a weightlifting focus check out the training bar at a similar price.

Pros of the Rogue Ohio bar

The Rogue Ohio bar strikes the perfect balance between budget, functionality and design. It has developed to the middle of the range product that every use case can rely on. You can purchase this bar without wrecking your head. Even if your training focus changes in the future, you can still make use of the Ohio bar without having to buy a new one. Some of them or six years in action and still going strong.

Cons of the Rogue Ohio bar

Middle of the road means that the Ohio bar is not great at anything specifically. It is neither IPF nor IWF approved. It is not made of the best material available and has no bearing. That doesn't make it a bad bar, just not the greatest you could possibly get for a specific use case. In most scenarios, this won't matter anyway.

Overview and review of the squat bar

The Rogue squat bar is a 32mm long sleeved version of Rogue bars to maximize what you can squat. Here are the pros and cons.

The Rogue squat bar is a special design that focuses on squatting at $445. The main differences to regular bars are

Bigger circumference 32mm
Longer shaft
Fully knurled
Longer sleeves

This makes it a bar that is aimed at big, heavy squatters. It could also be interesting for some deadlift experiments as the elephant bar from the Arnold has not gone into mass production yet. The specifications of the bar are:

Made in the USA
Weight: 25 KG
Diameter: 32mm
Stainless Steel Shaft - 200,000 PSI
Aggressive Knurl Pattern along full length of shaft + powerlifting and center knurl marks
Bar Length: 94.488
Distance Between Sleeves: 56"
Loadable Sleeve Length: 16.795"
Chrome Sleeves
Bronze Bushings

Pros of the squat bar

The pros of the squat bar compared to other bars are in the name. The design features are inbuilt to maximize big squats.

Longer sleeves
Longer shaft
Full knurling
32mm

Longer sleeves will enable you to put more weight on the bar with rubber or steel plates. If you see Ray Williams squatting you can get an idea of why he might run out of space on the sleeves.

32mm stainless steel will keep the whip at bay. While you want whip in an Olympic barbell to make use of momentum to get the bar overhead, it is not a desirable feature in a squat bar. You want to minimize 1000 pounds taking a life on their own on your back.

The full knurling will provide more grip to your back. There are other bars out there with center knurls which does almost the same thing for you.

The longer shaft will make it less like for you to bump into the rack when oh are walking out very heavy weights. Depending on your setup this can be annoying. I injured myself twice because of twisting my upper body when walking out of a setup and touching off the j cups.

Cons of the squat bar

The cons of the squat bar are

No IPF / IWF approval
Space requirements
Limited use
Price

If you are considering the squat bar because you want to break records, keep in mind that it is not approved for the IPF or IWF. You will still earn respect for posting the first 500kg raw squat, which this bar is basically built for, but it won’t count in these federations.

If you are setting up your home gym in a very crammed place, keep in mind that this bar will protrude even further to the sides. If you have already cut it very thing with the distance of your bar to the wall or another rack, the squat bar might just push it over the edge.

The squat bar is mainly limited to squats. As it has bushing and knurling all across the bar it might not be the best option for Olympic lifts, the bench press, and deadlifts.

For the price you are looking at you can get more versatile barbells for your home gym with a cooler design. If you are setting up your home gym the squat bar might not be the go-to option.

Alternatives to the squat bar

Alternatives to the squat bar are

The Rogue Chan bar is a good alternative for mere mortals who don’t squat 400kg. It is cheaper than the squat bar, has a poppier design and can also be used for Oly lifts. If I was to spend $400 on a starter barbell for my home gym it would be this one.

The duffalo bar is an interesting bar for people who squat 800 pounds plus on a regular basis. This bar has been invented at Kabuki strength which is headed by Chris Duffin. The design is aimed at relieving stress on the shoulder while bench pressing and squatting. This is a very interesting second bar to buy instead of the squat bar, even though it costs $200 more.

Summary for the squat bar

The squat bar is a great bar for someone who actually needs it. This would be people who squat more than 300kg on a regular basis. There are not that many of them around. I personally think for a second barbell in your home gym you are better off going with safety or duffalo bar.vs Squat bar