Rep Fitness Gladiator WL Bearing Bar – Women

REP Fitness Women’s Gladiator WL Bearing Bar

The REP Fitness Women’s Gladiator WL Bearing Bar is a budget-friendly Olympic Weightlifting bar with several nice features.

At an attractive price of under $300, the bar includes a mix of bearings and bushings, a strong tensile strength, and a hard chrome finish.

Here are some further details about the bar:

Knurling

The knurling on the REP Women’s Gladiator WL Bar is mild-to-moderate in feel due to a relatively flat knurl pattern. It isn’t going to be aggressive, but you’ll still get a good grip that is suitable for Olympic lifts. Because it’s a more mild bar, you’ll be able to use it in high rep/frequency settings with minimal risk of damaging your hands. It’s a great every day training bar.

The bar includes single Olympic Weightlifting rings and it does not offer a center knurl.

Shaft

This bar offers a 25mm shaft, which is industry-standard for a women’s Olympic Weightlifting bar. What separates this bar from some of the competition is that it offers a very nice tensile strength of 230k PSI – well above most bars in its class. Furthermore, the bar has a reported yield strength of 210k. Most companies, including REP on some of their other bars, don’t report a yield strength, despite it being a more practical measure. Tensile strength measures the point at which a bar will literally break, whereas yield strength measures the point at which a bar will experience permanent deformation (i.e. won’t go back to being straight).

The hard chrome shaft will provide a good-not-great feel and you’ll get the same when it comes to resistance to oxidation.

Sleeves

The sleeves on the Gladiator Women’s WL Bearing Bar are grooved, which is consistent with their other Olympic Bar offerings. The main differences between a grooved sleeve and a smooth sleeve are that grooved sleeves are louder and they tend to keep the plates on better when you’re not using a collar.

The sleeves are coated in hard chrome and they utilize 3 needle bearings and 2 bushings (per sleeve) to spin the bar. While you won’t get quite the same spin as you would on a 100% bearing bar, but you’ll still get a quality, consistent spin.

Aesthetics

Aesthetically, the Gladiator Women’s WL Bearing Bar is a good-looking bar. Chrome is generally a nice-looking finish that has a cool polish to it. If you train in a humid environment, it’s recommended that you oil this bar on occasion with something like 3-in-1 oil to keep it looking good for a longer time.

I like the band on the collar with the matching black/yellow end cap. The band is also helpful if you’re in a training environment with a lot of people/bars, as it helps easily identify the bar.

Features & Highlights

• Hard Chrome – Chrome is a cost-efficient plating that does a good-but-not-great job at fighting off oxidation. You won’t get the same feel as you would with a non-plated finish like bare steel, stainless steel, etc… but you get a nice blend of feel and rust resistance without the larger price tag.
• Grooved Sleeves – The grooved sleeves will tend to keep the plates on the bar better than a smooth sleeve when not using collars, but they will also be louder.
• No Center Knurl – The REP Women’s Gladiator WL Bearing Bar does not offer a center knurl, which is common for women’s bars.
• Bushings + Bearings – This bar offers a mix a bearings and bushings, which creates a controlled spin while keeping the price down compared to a full bearing bar.

What They’re Saying at Repfitness.com

The REP Women’s Gladiator WL Bearing Bar receives very positive feedback from users. With an average rating of 4.9/5 at repfitness.com, here are some of the things they have said:

Positive

• “Bought this for my wife and she loves it! Can’t recommend it enough!!!”
• “This is an outstanding Crossfit and Olympic lifting bar. A+++”
• “I purchased this bar to use for Olympic Weightlifting in my garage gym. I originally had a Rogue Bella bar but just wasn’t happy with it for Oly use. This bar has exceeded my expectations for the price. Nice feel and whip. Knurling is a little more aggressive than the bar i use at my local gym but after a few weeks of use I don’t even notice it anymore. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a great bar that won’t break the bank!”
• “Everything about REP’s Gladiator Barbell is quality. The look and feel of it is amazing. It’s better than any bar I’ve ever used. I’m extremely satisfied!”

Critical

• “The sleeve part of the bars scratch very easy. Only used bar 5 times and it appears very worn. Excellent Olympic bar in terms of functionality.”

Garage Gym Lab Review

Garage Gym Lab has not reviewed this bar.

Other Options

The below barbells were picked as alternatives to the Rep Women’s Gladiator WL Bearing Bar.