How Much Does a Barbell Weigh? Olympic, Standard and Specialty Bars

A men's Olympic barbell weighs 20kg (44lb) and is 2.2m long, and a women's Olympic barbell weighs 15kg (33lb) at roughly 2.01m. That's the short answer for the long bar you'll find in almost any UK gym. Everything else is more variable: standard 1 inch home bars run from about 6kg to 10kg depending on length, technique bars are 5kg to 10kg, EZ bars sit around 7kg to 10kg, and trap bars usually land between 20kg and 30kg. Smith machines are the wild card, so I'll come back to those.

Below you'll find a table of every common bar type, the dimensions that separate a proper Olympic bar from a lookalike, and a quick way to weigh your own bar at home so your training log is honest.

Barbell weights at a glance

Bar type	Typical weight	Length	Grip (shaft) diameter	Sleeve diameter
Men's Olympic (weightlifting or powerlifting)	20kg	2.2m (7ft 2in)	28 to 29mm	50mm (2in)
Women's Olympic	15kg	about 2.01m (6ft 7in)	25mm	50mm (2in)
Technique or junior bar	5 to 10kg	about 1.5 to 1.95m	25mm	50mm (2in)
Standard 1 inch bar, 5ft	about 6 to 7kg	1.5m	about 25mm	25 to 30mm (1in)
Standard 1 inch bar, 6ft	about 7 to 9kg	1.8m	about 25mm	25 to 30mm (1in)
Standard 1 inch bar, 7ft	about 9 to 10kg	2.1m	about 25mm	25 to 30mm (1in)
EZ curl bar (Olympic)	about 7 to 10kg	about 1.2m	28mm-ish	50mm
Trap or hex bar	about 20 to 30kg	varies	25 to 32mm handles	50mm
Smith machine bar	about 7 to 20kg+	fixed to frame	varies	50mm or 1in

The Olympic rows are fixed by competition rules and manufacturer specs. Every other row is a typical range from UK retailers' listings, so treat those as a starting point and check your own bar.

The Olympic barbell: 20kg for men, 15kg for women

When people ask what a barbell weighs, they almost always mean this one. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) sets the competition standard, and every serious manufacturer builds to it. Eleiko, the Swedish firm that makes IWF-certified bars, lists its men's IWF competition bar at 20kg, 2,200mm long, with a 28mm grip and a weight tolerance of +20g to -10g.

The women's version weighs 15kg, measures 2,010mm and drops to a 25mm grip. It isn't just a lighter bar: the thinner shaft suits smaller hands, and plenty of men with short fingers find it more comfortable for snatches and cleans too. The sleeves stay the same 50mm, so every Olympic plate fits both bars.

Powerlifting bars also weigh 20kg but differ slightly in feel. The International Powerlifting Federation's technical rulebook caps overall length at 2.2m, sets the shaft at 28mm to 29mm and the sleeve at 50mm to 52mm, and specifies that the bar plus its two collars weighs 25kg. Each competition collar weighs 2.5kg, which is why that number is 25kg rather than 20kg. A powerlifting bar is stiffer, with sharper knurling and a centre knurl to grip your back on squats. A weightlifting bar spins more freely and has more whip.

For home use, a general purpose 20kg bar covers both jobs well. Our best barbells in the UK guide compares the bars worth buying at different budgets.

Olympic bar dimensions explained

Knowing the measurements helps you spot a genuine Olympic bar in a second-hand listing or a dusty garage. The numbers below come from the IPF rulebook and Eleiko's spec pages.

• Overall length: 2.2m for a men's bar, about 2.01m for a women's bar.
• Distance between the collars (inner sleeve faces): 1.31m to 1.32m. This is the shaft you actually hold and the width that has to fit inside your squat rack's J-hooks.
• Shaft diameter: 28mm on most men's weightlifting bars, up to 29mm on powerlifting bars, and 25mm on women's and technique bars.
• Sleeve diameter: 50mm (the "2 inch" you see in product listings). Olympic plates have a 50mm to 52mm hole to match.
• Loadable sleeve length: roughly 41 to 42cm on a typical 20kg bar, which is enough for well over 200kg of iron plates.
• Grip markings: a smooth ring cut into the knurling. The IPF places its marks 81cm apart, and most bars include them for consistent hand placement on the bench press.

If a 7ft bar has 50mm sleeves but weighs noticeably less than 20kg, it's probably a cheaper hollow-shaft or "Olympic-style" bar. Nothing wrong with that for light training, but you can't assume 20kg.

Standard 1 inch bars

Standard bars are the ones that come with a cheap vinyl or cast iron weight set. They have thin sleeves (about 25mm to 30mm, sold as 1 inch) and no rotating sleeve, and their weight scales with length. A 5ft bar commonly weighs about 6kg to 7kg, a 6ft bar about 7kg to 9kg and a 7ft bar somewhere around 9kg to 10kg.

Here's the catch: there's no governing standard for these, so two 6ft bars from different brands can be 2kg apart. Most also have a lower load limit than an Olympic bar, often 100kg to 150kg, so check the rating before loading up for squats. If you've outgrown one, moving to a 2 inch Olympic bar and matching weight plates is the usual upgrade, and you'll need to replace the plates as well because 1 inch plates won't fit a 50mm sleeve.

Technique bars

Technique bars are the lightweight Olympic-style bars coaches give beginners and juniors. They take normal Olympic plates but start at 5kg to 10kg. Eleiko's own technique bar weighs 10kg, measures 1,930mm and has a 25mm grip. Cheaper ones are often aluminium, which is why they can go as light as 5kg.

They're worth having if a 20kg bar is genuinely too heavy for your overhead press or snatch practice. For most adults learning to squat or deadlift, though, the 20kg bar is fine from the first session.

EZ bars and trap bars

An EZ bar is the short, zigzag bar used for curls and skull crushers. The angled grip takes pressure off your wrists. Olympic EZ bars (2 inch sleeves) usually weigh around 7kg to 10kg, and the 1 inch versions sit a bit lighter. We've broken the brands down in how much does an EZ bar weigh, and if you're shopping, see the best EZ bars in the UK.

Trap bars (also called hex bars) are a different beast. You stand inside the frame and grip handles at your sides, which makes them heavier than you'd guess from their shape. Most home models weigh between about 20kg and 30kg, with open-ended and extra-long-sleeve bars at the top of that range. Our page on how much a trap bar weighs lists typical figures by design.

Smith machine bars

There's no single answer for a Smith machine, and that's the bit people get wrong most often.

A Smith bar runs on guide rods, and some machines attach a counterweight via a cable and pulley. That counterweight cancels out part of the bar's mass, so a counterbalanced bar can feel like 5kg to 10kg even if the steel itself weighs more. Home Smith machines frequently skip the counterweight, and their bars often weigh 15kg to 20kg or more, plus a bit of friction from the linear bearings.

If you're switching between a Smith machine and a free barbell, your numbers won't line up exactly anyway because the machine controls the bar path. Note which machine you used and keep those logs separate. If you're still choosing a machine, our guide to the best Smith machines in the UK compares the home models worth a look, and the manual is the place to find the bar weight.

How to weigh your own barbell

If your bar has no marking, or you suspect a budget "20kg" bar is light, you can weigh it with a bathroom scale. It takes about two minutes.

1. Weigh yourself. Stand on a flat, hard floor with the scale away from carpet and note the reading. Write it down.
2. Pick up the bar. Hold the empty bar across your forearms or at your waist, balanced in the middle, with no collars attached.
3. Weigh yourself again. Step back on the scale holding the bar still and level. Don't let either end touch the floor or a wall.
4. Subtract. The difference between the two readings is the weight of the bar. If you got 88.4kg holding it and 68.6kg without, your bar weighs 19.8kg.
5. Repeat once. Do the whole thing a second time and average the results. Cheap bathroom scales can drift by a few hundred grams between readings.

A digital luggage scale is a good alternative for EZ bars and short standard bars. Hook it around the middle of the shaft and lift slowly. For a 7ft bar it's awkward, so stick with the bathroom scale method.

How to count the weight on the bar

Your lift is the bar plus every plate plus the collars. Count one side, double it, then add the bar.

Example: a 20kg Olympic bar with a 20kg plate and a 5kg plate on each side. One side is 25kg, both sides are 50kg, add the bar and you're lifting 70kg. Add a pair of 2.5kg competition collars and it's 75kg.

Spring clips weigh almost nothing, so most people ignore them. Lockjaw-style or competition collars are a different matter, as they range from roughly 0.1kg up to 2.5kg each, so check yours.

Coloured plates help if you're in a gym that uses them. Under IPF rules, 25kg plates are red, 20kg blue and 15kg yellow, with 10kg and under left to the manufacturer. Most bumper plate sets follow a similar scheme with 10kg in green and 5kg in white, but home sets vary, so read the number on the plate rather than trusting the colour.

Common mistakes

Assuming every long bar is 20kg. Hollow, unbranded 7ft bars with 2 inch sleeves sometimes weigh 15kg to 18kg. If the label is missing, weigh it.

Forgetting to count the bar. Beginners often log only the plates. That understates every lift by 20kg and makes your progression look odd when you change gym.

Comparing Smith machine numbers to free bar numbers. A counterbalanced Smith bar and a guided bar path mean a 60kg Smith squat isn't a 60kg back squat. Track them separately.

Ignoring collars at heavier loads. Two 2.5kg collars add 5kg. That's a meaningful jump on a press.

What weight should a beginner start with?

For most adults, the empty 20kg bar is the right starting point for the back squat, the deadlift (with plates or blocks to raise it to mid-shin) and the bench press. Do 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps with the empty bar, adding 2.5kg to 5kg a session while every rep looks clean. If 20kg is too much for an overhead press or a bench, drop to a 15kg women's bar, a technique bar or dumbbells for a few weeks rather than grinding out ugly reps.

The NHS recommends muscle-strengthening activity that works all the major muscle groups on at least two days a week, and a barbell covers most of them with three or four lifts.

Choosing the right bar for home

If you're buying one bar for a home gym, get a 7ft, 20kg Olympic bar with 50mm sleeves. It fits standard racks, takes every Olympic plate and gives you numbers that match any commercial gym. A 6ft bar can make sense if your room is tight, but check it still clears the uprights of your rack.

Add a trap bar later if you want an easier-on-the-back deadlift option, or an EZ bar for arms. The weight plates matter as much as the bar, so budget for a decent set of Olympic plates at the same time.

Recommended reads

• The best barbells in the UK
• The best weight plates in the UK
• How much does a trap bar weigh?
• How much does an EZ bar weigh?
• The best Smith machines in the UK