Does everyone count the weight of the bar in the gym

chriity139

As above for deadlifts, bench and squats. I always thought you never counted the weight of the bar just the weights put on but apparently you do.

Am i the only one who thought that ?

srsly78

It you are not lifting the bar -> it's weight does not count.

If you are lifting the bar -> then you must include it's weight.

Unless you don't actually care about an accurate measurement... Feel free to try and lift without the bar, it might be awkward tho.

mdwexford

Yes, yes you are.

Mr. CooL ICE

I do. It makes me feel like just a weakling, as opposed to a complete and utter weakling.

Also, I don't know if the weights are in lbs or kgs, but in my head I keep telling myself that they're kg.

the_syco

Yes. There are three different bars in the gym I goto;unknown, 12kg, and 20kg.

If doing a 50kg bent over row barbell, I want it to be the always roughly the same, thus with the 12kg it'll be used with the 2*20kg weight, or with the 20kg with the 2*15kg weights. I think the "unknown" bar is 5kg or 8kg.

If I never counted the bar weight in this case, sometimes I could be lifiting 42kg, sometimes 50kg.

Duck's hoop

I think almost everyone counts the bar. It's 20 kilos in fairness. 20% of my max bench.

And as the other guy said, try lifting without it. It's weight like.

TimeToShine

20kg is the standard weight of an olympic barbell and is always counted as far as i know. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably taking the mickey.

siblers

This makes me feel so much better about my workout now. Must find out the actual weight of the bar at my gym.

chriity139

Cheers just wanted to see did everyone else do it as I always thought it didnt count in the weight. At least my compound lifts are an extra 20kg over what I thought they were

MicraBoy

Hell yeah, its 20 friggin kgs!

Paco Rodriguez

I don't count the weight of the barbell or dumbbell. When I started I heard that you weren't supposed to so, but apparently you are. But I'm sticking with not counting.

Duck's hoop

With dumbells you're subtracting the weight of the dumbell? So on 25kg you count 23.5?

Seems odd.

Duck's hoop

And the first few sessions I did of GVT, if I used your methods, I'd have been lifting no weight for 100 reps OHP. But my shoulders were murdered.

Odder still.

Mellor

Duck's hoop wrote: »

With dumbells you're subtracting the weight of the dumbell? So on 25kg you count 23.5?

Seems odd.

I assume he meant dumbell bars with separate plates, not fixed DBs. So counting a bar with 2x10kg as 20kg and not 21.5-22kg.
Still not correct, but less odd than subbing the bar from fixed weights.

Nervous Wreck

Thread is mental.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

Thread is mental.

To be honest I wondered the same thing myself when I started weight training. Nobody tells you these things. There are no stupid questions.

Shane732

Clarissa Cuddly Harbor wrote: »

To be honest I wondered the same thing myself when I started weight training. Nobody tells you these things. There are no stupid questions.

I know what you mean but it'd be like doing a bar only movement and then coming out of the gym saying - I did (say) bench press today. What did you lift? Oh nothing!

Mr. Manager

Shane732 wrote: »

I know what you mean but it'd be like doing a bar only movement and then coming out of the gym saying - I did (say) bench press today. What did you lift? Oh nothing!

Those fresh air lifts are a killer

pinkypinky

I think it's a totally fair question, and as a woman who only started deadlifting recently, I'm still working with just the bar...it absolutely counts. 20kg is not nothing.

RobAMerc

Does this only matter for your ego though ?
I mean in fairness all that should matter is that if you lifted X kg last week that you lift X+Y kg this week.
The overall weight shouldn't really matter should it, and therefor it doesn't matter if you count the bar or not as long as you consistently do that.

Blacktie.

RobAMerc wrote: »

Does this only matter for your ego though ?
I mean in fairness all that should matter is that if you lifted X kg last week that you lift X+Y kg this week.
The overall weight shouldn't really matter should it, and therefor it doesn't matter if you count the bar or not as long as you consistently do that.

No. It's important to know what you can lift. If you ever change gyms the bar may not be the same weight. Or for taking part in powerlifting competitions they could be using a 25 or 30kg bar.

Also for working out percentages when working with a lot of programs requires your true max to be known.

mdwexford

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

I don't count the weight of the barbell or dumbbell. When I started I heard that you weren't supposed to so, but apparently you are. But I'm sticking with not counting.

Thats the spirit, stick to your incorrect morals and dont let anyone tell you otherwise.

Duck's hoop

Mellor wrote: »

I assume he meant dumbell bars with separate plates, not fixed DBs. So counting a bar with 2x10kg as 20kg and not 21.5-22kg.
Still not correct, but less odd than subbing the bar from fixed weights.

Sorry. Was being facetious.