Badlands™ Powerlifting Bar

The Badlands™ bar is a great powerlifting barbell for lifters who want a bar for all three powerlifting lifts. It features aggressive, mountain-style knurling to provide maximum grip support for heavy deadlifts, although the bar can also be used for bench press, and its center knurling helps keep it in place during squats. The knurling ends 5.5” before the sleeve collars for easier barbell adjustments in the J-cups. International Powerlifting Federation-standard knurl markings help with proper hand placement. The steel Badlands™ bar is offered in two different options: with a black chrome shaft with nickel sleeves, or a nickel shaft and sleeves. Both offer excellent wear and corrosion resistance. Black chrome is considered a premium, industrial-grade finish with higher levels of protection. It has a dark, metallic appearance with a reflective sheen. Whereas a nickel finish offers excellent wear and corrosion resistance, it provides slightly less protection. It has a unique gold hue. The sleeves are smooth for easy loading and unloading of weight on the barbell. The bar can handle a load of 1,500lbs. It features bronze bushings, ideal for slower, strength-focused lifts. These bushings allow for consistent rotation, while ensuring incredible strength and stiffness to withstand heavy loads.

Buying guide

Best Barbell for Your Home Gym — July 2026

What is a Barbell?

What a barbell is

The barbell is the center of a strength gym — the bar you squat, press, deadlift, and clean with. A men’s Olympic bar is 20 kg (44 lb) and 7.2 ft long (15 kg / 6.5 ft for women). The specs that matter: knurl (the grip texture — aggressive for pulls, milder for high-rep work), shaft diameter (28–29 mm for barbell lifts), sleeve rotation (bushings are fine for slow lifts; bearings spin fast for the Olympic lifts), tensile strength (~190k+ PSI resists bending), and coating (bare steel grips best but rusts; stainless and Cerakote trade grip for corrosion resistance).

Which one to buy

For general lifting, a multipurpose bar (28–28.5mm shaft, dual knurl marks, no center knurl) does squats, bench, deadlifts, and the occasional clean off one bar — this is the right first barbell for most home gyms. Choose a dedicated power bar (29mm, stiffer, aggressive center-knurl grip) only once you know you’re training squat/bench/deadlift specifically and want the stiffest, grippiest tool for that job. A dedicated Olympic weightlifting bar (needle bearings, more whip) is worth it only if you clean, snatch, or jerk regularly.

Beyond your main bar, specialty bars solve specific problems rather than replacing it: a safety squat bar shifts load off sore shoulders, a trap/hex bar takes stress off a cranky lower back on pulls, and a curl bar’s camber reduces wrist strain on isolation work. Add them once you know which problem you actually have.