My amazing, beautiful wife bought me a Texas Deadlift bar with blue cerakote coating as a gift for the home gym.    I’ve wanted a deadlift bar for about as long as I’ve been lifting.  My local commercial gym never had one.  When I was starting my home gym, I wanted to add a deadlift bar to my collection.  One caveat, I don’t deadlift over 500 pounds....yet.  I’m making progress and am up to a 470 pound pull.  I watched and read tons of videos and reviews comparing the Texas Deadlift Bar (TDB) to the Ohio Deadlift Bar (ODB) from Rogue and ultimately decided on the Texas Deadlift bar because almost every comparison says the TDB has more whip.  

So why did I want a deadlift specific barbell.  I want to pull as much weight as possible in the deadlift.  That’s it. No other reason.  The Texas Deadlift bar gives you a little more of an advantage in this area versus a power bar because of that extra whip (or barbell flex).  

Tech specs are all over the internet for the barbell but the Texas Deadlift bar is 27 mm diameter, 92 1/2 inches in length, 190k tensile strength and weighs 44 pounds. The loadable sleeve length is 14 1/2”.  As of the time of this writing, the Texas Deadlift Bar costs $319 for the bare steel version.  Adding other finishes such as black zinc or chrome to the shaft or sleeves is an up charge. A TDB with a blue cerakote finish and chrome sleeves like the one I bought will cost you $384 before taxes and shipping.  Mine was right at $400 after shipping.   When the bar arrived at my home it was well packaged and in perfect condition.  

A deadlift bar is longer and have a smaller diameter than a power bar.  This allows the bar to have more whip, or in other words to be more flexible.  This flex, or whip, allows you to gain momentum when pulling the weight off of the floor.  Say you’re deadlifting 315 pounds.  You will get a small amount of flex on the bar before the weights move off the floor.  As the weight you are lifting increases, so does the whip.  At 135 pounds, I don’t feel or perceive any whip whatsoever.  At 225, there is a tiny bit but not enough to make a difference.  Started at 315 pounds, I start feeling the flex in the bar just before the lift off the ground.  And anything at 400 and above, it is a very noticeable whip coming off the floor.  Now the whip doesn’t mean that the weight bounces.  It simply means the bar starts to bend as you pick the weight up off of the floor.  This is advantageous to the lifter because you are able to build momentum coming up, meaning you are gradually pulling more weight the higher you pull the bar until all of the weight is off of the floor.  A standard power bar, won’t have that whip or flex so there will not be any momentum built when initiating the lift.  That being said, If you are deadlifting 700 and above, I’m sure it does have some flex to a power bar, but the deadlift bar will have significantly more whip at those weights. 

The sleeves on the Texas Deadlift Bar are ribbed.  This helps prevent the plates from sliding when doing deadlifts.  The plates slide on and off when loading but the ribbed sleeves do make a difference in the plates slipping when making contact with the floor while doing multiple reps.   The ends of the sleeves also have a chamfered edge which helps with loading the plates.

Another advantage of the Texas Deadlift Bar is the smaller diameter.  The 27 millimeter diameter allows a better grip.  The aggressive knurling on the bar helps keep the bar from slipping at higher weights.  It “bites” into your hand but not so much that it rips the skin.  I love how the TDB feels when you grab hold of it. The feeling of grabbing an aggressive knurled bar is like nothing else.  I love it!  The knurling is similar to the Ohio Power Bar, if you have one of those.  

So do you need a deadlift bar?   Of course not.  But if you want it, get it.  Don’t let the naysayers tell you that the deadlift bar is only for lifters who pull over 500 pounds.  I can feel a difference starting at 315 pounds as far as the whip goes.  But even if you’re lifting 200 pounds or more, you’ll enjoy the smaller 27 mm diameter of the shaft. 

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