REP Health Colorado Bar Overview

Discovering a barbell that performs properly for powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and common power coaching with out burning a deep gap in your pocket might be difficult. Fortunately, REP Health leveled up its barbell lineup in the summertime of 2023 with a high-quality mannequin that checks these containers (and lots of extra): the Colorado Bar. Our Breaking Muscle group of licensed private trainers, CrossFit fans, and power and conditioning coaches totally examined this multi-purpose bar’s capacity to deal with conventional powerlifting actions like squats and deadlifts, in addition to dynamic lifts like cleans and snatches.  

Sturdy, reliable, and various, the brand new flagship barbell from one of the vital respected health gear producers delivers severe bang in your buck. On this REP Health Colorado Bar overview, we’ll dive deeper into what makes this mannequin among the finest values in the marketplace by breaking down its specs, highlighting its strengths, and seeing the way it stacks up towards the competitors.

Key Takeaways

• The Colorado Bar checks in at an affordable worth level of $319.99 to $329.99 for the 20-kilogram (44-pound) mannequin. There’s additionally a 15-kilogram (33-pound) model that prices between $269.99 and $279.99.
• You’ve gotten two end choices with this barbell: a tough chrome shaft with chrome sleeves, or a Cerakote shaft with Duracoat sleeves. Plus, the Cerakote model offers you the liberty to flex your artistic muscular tissues with 5 shade selections for the shaft.
• Whereas IPF knurl markings and a 1,500-pound weight capability give it an influence bar really feel, the inclusion of IWF knurl markings and the absence of a middle knurl additionally make the Colorado Bar well-suited for Olympic lifts. As well as, composite bushings make for an total quieter lifting expertise.

REP Health Colorado Bar Execs

• The power to buy a Cerakote model of the Colorado Bar ought to enchantment to house fitness center house owners who prepare in a non-climate-controlled surroundings. As a result of the sort of shaft coating offers superior safety from the weather than laborious chrome, those that prepare outside or in humid garages will respect higher corrosion resistance courtesy of Cerakote.
• The Colorado Bar’s composite bushings not solely permit for a easy and regular spin but in addition give it a tighter tolerance. One other good thing about choosing composite over bronze bushings is much less noise when your weight plates hit the ground.
• Between its versatility and construct high quality, the Colorado bar can function the one barbell in your house fitness center. For those who don’t have an enormous finances for fitness center gear, you may cowl a number of bases by investing in a multi-use bar that’s able to dealing with a variety of lifts.

REP Health Colorado Bar Cons

• An absence of aggressive knurling and a solid-but-not-elite tensile power of 190,000 PSI make this barbell simply an okay selection for powerlifters. In case your exercises primarily revolve across the squat, deadlift, and bench press, a specialty bar tailor-made to your coaching type could also be a wiser selection.
• Paying north of $300 for a barbell produced exterior of the USA may stop some individuals from going the Colorado route. There are American corporations that provide comparable options at a extra tolerable worth level.
• Though Cerakote shaft coating affords higher corrosion resistance than laborious chrome, it nonetheless falls wanting a chrome steel end. Those that choose the high-end look and distinct knurling of a chrome steel bar ought to go on the Colorado barbell. Nevertheless, be ready to pay a premium for these benefits.

REP Health Colorado Bar Specs

REP Health Colorado Bar Score

From specialty bars designed for energy racks to Olympic barbells made for extra dynamic actions, the Breaking Muscle group has put numerous barbells by the wringer to find out what separates the perfect from the remainder. Testing greater than 75 fashions utilizing a gauntlet of squats, cleans, presses, and different lifts, we developed a proprietary scoring system to rank them based mostly on a number of components, similar to worth, knurling, versatility, and sturdiness.

Right here’s how the REP Colorado Bar scored throughout every class.

REP Health Colorado Bar In-Depth Overview

The Colorado Bar might not be a real celebrity at one activity, however its versatility is what makes it shine. With a number of end choices, high-quality construct supplies, and enough tensile power for many lifters, we imagine it’s a fantastic possibility for anybody who likes to change up their kind of coaching. Most significantly, REP’s flagship barbell offers glorious worth since it might probably fulfill a number of duties.

Worth and Worth

The value for the Colorado Bar varies relying on what measurement and end you favor. The 15-kilogram (33-pound) mannequin, which is finest suited to inexperienced persons, feminine lifters, and smaller athletes, begins at $269.99 for the laborious chrome end. For $10 extra, you may select a black or pink Cerakote shaft coating with Duracoat sleeves.

Then again, the bottom worth for the 20-kilogram Colorado Bar is $319.99. For a mixed-use barbell in a tough chrome end, the fee falls about in keeping with the business common. For instance, the Rogue Health Ohio Bar ranges between $275 to $415, relying on the end. Nevertheless, it might be price upping your finances a bit to get higher corrosion resistance and longevity. At $329.99, the Cerakote-finished Colorado Bar nonetheless brings loads of worth, particularly since you may select between 5 shaft coating colours so as to add some artistic aptitude to your house fitness center setup.

Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about freight prices. As of this writing, REP Health affords free delivery, which may prevent at the very least $25. General, the Colorado bar packs a ton of customizable choices right into a well-priced piece of fitness center gear, making it our decide for the best budget barbell. We rated it 4 out of 5 stars for the value.

Supply

Let’s simply say ordering a barbell on Amazon generally is a bit like taking part in with fireplace. After I ordered a budget-friendly one for my house fitness center, the supply course of ended up being a serious dud, with a low-quality bar from a wholly totally different model than I had chosen arriving in broken packaging that left the endcaps uncovered. Evidently, that disappointing expertise left a bitter style in my mouth about having a barbell shipped to my entrance door.

Fortunately for our product testers, REP Health made certain the Colorado Bar arrived at our warehouse in Springfield, MO, with zero points. I used to be happy to listen to it suffered no injury throughout its journey. Effectively-packaged and well-protected, we gave REP 5 out of 5 stars for a easy, painless supply course of.

Building, Supplies, and Coating

With a 28.5-millimeter shaft, the 20-kilogram Colorado Bar comes near the 29-millimeter mark you’ll discover in most energy bars. A part of its enchantment is that it has a shaft diameter that falls proper in between Olympic and powerlifting requirements.

REP offers you ample end choices with the Colorado Bar, together with Cerakote (which is available in black, blue, inexperienced, pink, or white) or laborious chrome with laborious chrome sleeves. Nevertheless, needless to say chrome plating can cut back the longevity of a bar by 50 %, which isn’t excellent in case you drop the bar loads. Primarily based on our collective data about barbells and the precise metal every model makes use of, we’d estimate that the Colorado bar can final at the very least 30 years in a house fitness center setting.

In the meantime, the Cerakote bars have a lifespan of greater than 50 years due to their F2-R score. Not like the F1-R-rated chrome model, they characteristic Duracoat sleeves that present greater ranges of scratch and corrosion resistance by a chemical course of that hardens the surface of the metal to create a easy black end.

Talking of seamless, the Colorado Bar’s easy sleeves make loading and unloading your weight plates a breeze. Whereas I benefit from the effectivity of easy sleeves, different Breaking Muscle workers members like our Critiques Editor Amanda Dvorak choose ribbed sleeves for the reason that plates keep in place higher even with out collars.

Mix that with a cultured endcap design that has the corporate emblem, title, and weight of the bar laser-etched on the within of the sleeve, and you’ve got all of the makings of a premium bar at a non-premium worth. General, the Colorado scored 4.5 out of 5 stars for building.

Knurling

As a mixed-use bar, the Colorado comes with twin knurl markings for Worldwide Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and Worldwide Powerlifting Federation (IPF) specs. This makes it straightforward to determine the place to position your palms when bench urgent or performing different lifts, like snatches. On the identical time, the absence of a middle knurl permits you to comfortably carry out Olympic-style actions (like cleans) or high-volume overhead presses with out having to fret about scraping up your throat.

The knurling sample on the Colorado Bar isn’t fairly as aggressive as what you would possibly discover in an influence bar like REP’s Double Black Diamond Bar, which options deep mountain-style knurling that makes it excellent for deadlifting however not excellent for extra dynamic actions. As an alternative, REP went with a medium-depth, volcano-style knurling that also offers sufficient grip with out tearing up your palms throughout high-repetition coaching classes. For many athletes, volcano knurling works finest, because it offers 4 factors of contact on every marking, resulting in a superior grip and fewer slippage.

Creating enough friction with out being too abrasive, the Colorado Bar’s medium knurling sample scored 4.5 out of 5 stars on our grading scale.

Rotation System

REP actually paid consideration to the main points of the Colorado Bar’s rotation system. Slightly than following the business normal of placing bronze bushings in a multi-purpose bar (like Rogue did with each the Ohio Bar and the extra economically priced Echo Bar), they went the additional mile through the use of composite bushings.

Apart from lasting longer than their bronze counterparts, composite bushings cut back the quantity of noise when dropping the bar whereas nonetheless offering good spin — one thing our product testers took word of throughout their coaching classes with the Colorado. Plus, composite bushings additionally make for tighter tolerances, that means there’s much less wobble between the sleeve and the shaft. 

REP’s resolution to make the Colorado Bar with bushings as a substitute of bearings caters on to followers of the massive three lifts. Energy bars often characteristic bushings as a result of the sleeves spin extra slowly, which makes the barbell really feel extra balanced whereas performing deadlifts and bench presses. 

Then again, weightlifting bars sometimes use faster-spinning bearings that play a important function when the barbell is rapidly altering instructions throughout snatches and cleans. As well as, the superior spin fee from bearings additionally helps cut back stress on the joints whenever you execute the “catch” portion of a clear or snatch. Nonetheless, most multi-purpose bars depart bearings behind for bushings for the reason that latter are extra versatile, quieter, and cheaper. 

Between a easy spin fee, enhanced sturdiness, and a quieter lifting expertise, the Colorado Bar earned 4.5 out of 5 stars for its rotation system.

Versatility

Particularly designed to accommodate a wide range of exercise kinds, the Colorado Bar is the last word Swiss military knife. With a tensile power score of 190,000 kilos per sq. inch (PSI), you may confidently crush PRs with none issues. Actually, the Colorado bar has the identical PSI score as opponents just like the TITAN Sequence Cerakote Olympic Barbell from Titan Health and the Rogue Ohio Bar.

Additionally able to getting used for non-powerlifting workouts like curls, overhead presses, and cleans, the Colorado Bar can deal with absolutely anything you throw its means. It might not outperform a specialty bar, however in case you’re in search of one barbell to rule all of them in your house fitness center, this all-around beast can definitely stand as much as the duty.

All in all, we gave the Colorado Bar 5 out of 5 stars for versatility.

Sturdiness

As certainly one of its newer fashions, the Colorado Bar has but to point out the way it can maintain up over time. However based mostly on the supplies and design, we’re assured it should proceed to carry out properly and look good for the lengthy haul.

That mentioned, the most secure route — at the very least from a sturdiness standpoint — is to go along with the Cerakote model. Different barbells we’ve examined that characteristic this end have lasted greater than six months with out rusting. Contemplating a lot of them are saved in non-temperature-controlled rooms, that speaks volumes concerning the degree of safety Cerakote offers.

And in case you’re nonetheless involved about longevity, REP stands behind its barbells with a lifetime guarantee (extra on that beneath). Finally, we rated the Colorado Bar 5 out of 5 stars for sturdiness.

Guarantee

All REP barbells include a lifetime guarantee. Nevertheless, the coverage solely covers manufacturing defects. So, in case your Colorado Bar will get broken attributable to negligent use (i.e., dropping it with iron weight plates loaded on it), you’re a bit out of luck. You’ll additionally run right into a roadblock in case you retailer your barbell exterior, as this can mechanically void your guarantee. 

In comparison with different producers, REP Health doesn’t supply fairly the identical degree of protection. For instance, Rogue’s lifetime guarantee additionally contains bending that’s not attributable to defective use or abusive dropping of the bar.

So, despite the fact that the Colorado Bar features a lifetime guarantee, the defect-only disclaimer led to a rating of 4 out of 5 stars on this class.

REP Health Colorado Bar vs. Rogue Ohio Bar

It’s clear REP had certainly one of its opponents in thoughts when developing with the Colorado Bar. Not solely is it named after the placement of the corporate’s headquarters identical to Rogue’s Ohio Bar, nevertheless it packs comparable options right into a similarly-priced product.

Regardless of minor variations in dimensions (the Colorado bar is 0.15 inches shorter with 0.3 fewer inches of loadable sleeve size), each bars have the identical shaft diameters (28.5 millimeters) and tensile power score (190 KSI). Nevertheless, the Colorado Bar’s composite bushings give it a tighter tolerance and quieter sound than its competitor’s bronze bushings. Plus, our testers discovered it to have a bit extra aggressive knurling than the Ohio Bar.

Then again, Rogue affords a wider vary of end choices. The Ohio Bar is available in 5 totally different shaft coatings (black oxide, chrome steel, black zinc, E-coat, or Cerakote) and 4 totally different sleeve coatings (chrome, proprietary black matte, brilliant zinc, or chrome steel). Consequently, the value for this American-made barbell ranges from $295 to $465.

General, both bar will work properly along with your squat rack and may face up to loads of pounding. REP could manufacture their merchandise in China, however they’ve established a rock-solid repute for high quality within the health gear business. Finally, although, if you would like a barbell produced within the USA that has a barely extra inclusive lifetime guarantee, Rogue’s Ohio Bar would be the option to go.

Rogue Fitness Ohio Bar

4.5

• Comes with a lifetime assure towards bending
• Weighs 20 kilograms (about 44 kilos) and has a 28.5-millimeter diameter
• 16.4-inch loadable sleeve size
• Twin knurl rings and no heart knurl

Check Price

REP Health Colorado Bar Buyer Critiques

There’s little doubt REP hit a house run by releasing the Colorado Bar through the summer season of 2023. Inside only a few months, clients have discovered it to be a worthwhile funding for his or her house gyms based mostly on the overwhelmingly constructive suggestions. With 4.9 stars based mostly on 75 evaluations, lifters across the nation have fallen in love with the newest addition to REP’s line of house fitness center gear.

Apart from being impressed with the look and total end of the Colorado Bar, clients additionally respect the medium-aggressive knurling and easy spin fee courtesy of the composite bushings. One consumer famous that the oil out of your fingers exhibits by on the black end, which can make going with one other shade a much less irritating different. 

Last Verdict: Is the REP Health Colorado Bar Price It?

The REP Health Colorado Bar brings a premium really feel at a reasonably reasonably priced worth. Whereas there are definitely cheaper choices accessible, house fitness center fans who worth versatility and a focus to element shouldn’t hesitate to tug the set off on REP’s new flagship barbell.

For lower than $330, you will get a high-quality, Cerakote-finished bar that’s designed to deal with nearly any kind of exercise, comes with a lifetime guarantee, and may anchor your storage fitness center setup all by itself. Though the Rogue Ohio Bar is definitely a worthy contender attributable to its sturdiness, worth, and efficiency, you may confidently name upon the Colorado Bar that can assist you obtain your strength- and muscle-building objectives.

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