Do NOT fear the Barbell!
DO Fear The Reaper – BUT – DO NOT Fear The Barbell . As much as I love the ol’ classic rock tunes, I’m afraid the Blue Oyster Cult got it wrong when they wrote the lyrics to “Don’t fear the reaper”.
In fact, the fourth verse was missing a key ending in the last line. Now whistle along with me as I’ve added it below as follows:
“Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid OF THE BARBELL”.
See what I did there? Anyway, here’s where I am going with all this…
Coaches like me, would like to help you to lose your fear of the barbell. Now why might this be the case? Here’s why. For almost all of you, the barbell is the single most effective tool in the gym for enabling you to actual change. I.e the thing you want.
The thing you hire professionals like me to get you and the thing you put your hard work and time into. It’s what you deserve and I’d like to remove all things that are suboptimal out of your training plan, leaving only what is effective.
But there’s a problem here. The barbell is alien to you. Its 7ft length makes it look unwieldy, and maybe too heavy and too hard to get to know. Then there are THEM. Yes them, you know who I mean.
The ones who you don’t want to be around, go in the area they roam, or make the kind of noises they make. It’s okay, I’m not that keen on them either.
However, and with risk of going all out David Attenborough on you, it just so happens that the the free weights area is the best darn watering hole in the entire savanna.
It is the home of true progress the likes of which nourishes your body, and yes the occasional crocodile too. Real results, are acquired over a long time and sometimes by becoming comfortable with what you are initially uncomfortable with.
great for beginners & long term progress is possible
By design the barbell enables long term progress like no other thing in the gym does.
Once you have learned a few basic lifts, we can scale training by adding weight to the bar with the plates. We have 25kg plates, but we also have 0.25kg plates and everything in between. This is key to how this method works.
They key that this door unlocks is precise calibration of exercise to your capability. What you can actually do today. And a good coach knows exactly how to modify any exercise to enable you to start right away.
At this time I have never had a session whereby I have not been able to assess how well a person can move, select the right group of exercises (adjusted for them if needs be) and then get them started on their first day.
For example, one of the greatest barbell exercises you can be doing is the squat. Particularly the low bar variant of the squat.
This barbell exercise trains a vast amount of muscle mass and thereby is incredibly time efficient in the gym (versus doing many different things to cover as many muscle groups). It also loads the axial skeleton which is important as that careful loading is what helps us to increase bone density.
Want to know what the secret is to Grade ‘A’ granite-like bone density? Try out squatting, deadlifting and overhead pressing (done standing up).
the versatility of the barbell & Varying Exercises
Let’s go back to the low bar squat. The bar is positioned on your back under the spine of the scapula (bony ridge you can feel behind you on the edge of your shoulder blades).
In this one instance I am able to make a number of side steps to help you get under the barbell. If you for any reason cannot start on the bar, I can still use free weights to progress you up to a point where we can then transition over to barbell work.
This is common when I coach people that have tight shoulders, or have had past shoulder surgeries. Or are starting with quite weak legs and back.
We’ll begin by using a small dumbbell or kettle bell, and squatting to a box. Over time I lower the height of the box until we no longer need it, while getting you stronger with the dumbbells.
Once we arrive at a 20kg dumbbell we are usually ready to move across to the barbell. Because the mechanics of the movement are so similar, to you the lifter this doesn’t feel like learning a new lift at all. If anything it’s more like remembering a lift and repurposing the current skills you’ve achieved.
Troubleshooting The Low Bar Squat
the right environment to learn
Time and again I’ve seen emails that show me that people feel less confident about the free weights area of the gym.
Many have heard of the effectiveness of free weight training, but it doesn’t always come across as a welcoming place to be.
In this situation I advise that you seek to start your journey at a private gym.
I coach at a private gym called Profound Fitness, and it means that a lifter is only ever there with a coach present. This means total attention and care can be given in the teaching aspect of exercises. It also means the feeling of many eyes watching you, that makes people feel under pressure, are simply absent.
Being coached in a private gym is a great way to start out learning barbell lifts in a safe space, that means you can then take that knowledge back to where you train with greater confidence.
Let a good coach guide you to confidence.
Reach out to recommended people for their guidance and don’t fear the barbell my friends!