Olympic Style Weightlifting Without Proper Bar

[Horse95]

Does anyone or has anyone trained Olympic Style lifts without an official bar? I was just wondering if regular bars hold up at all and if it is neccessary to buy the bar you are suppost to use the bumper plates with. Some of those bars are very expensive on their own or are an extra few hundred dollars in a large set of bumpers. I wish the equipment to train these lifts weren't so expensive. I read some threads that gave some good options to purchase such equipment. Just wondering if you can get around buying the bar.

[RagingBull666]

I used to do oly lifting in college with just normal bars and iron plates. We countered with a good, padded platform for the catch. Yes you can get around buying a bar with good bumper plates and rubber platform where the weights land. SS, RB

[BiggT]

Sure, you can use a regular bar. If you're interested in training under ideal conditions and eventually competing, it isn't ideal, but to get all the benefits from the lifts you don't need top of the line equipment or anything.

Probably the only thing you need to make sure of is that the collars spin on the bar. If the bar doesn't rotate, then don't bother, but you should be fine otherwise.

[Evidence]

FYI, Glenn Pendlay discontinued his colored kg deonomination bumper plate line by Olympia. I was very sad today to receive that email :-(.