You walk into the gym, and it's a metal forest. Bars everywhere. Straight ones, curvy ones, thick ones, and those weird cage-looking things tucked in the corner. Honestly, most people just grab the standard Olympic bar because that’s what everyone else is doing. But if your goal is a bigger chest—not just moving weight from point A to point B—the specific bar for chest workout sessions you choose changes everything about how your pecs actually grow.
It’s about physics. And anatomy.
Your chest doesn't just push things away; it brings your arms across your body. That’s called horizontal adduction. A standard straight bar actually locks your hands in a fixed position, which limits how much your chest can actually contract. It’s a trade-off. You get stability, sure, but you lose out on that deep squeeze at the top.
The Standard Olympic Bar: The Reliable Workhorse
We have to start here. The 45-pound (20kg) Olympic bar is the gold standard for a reason. It's predictable. You know exactly how it feels, and you can load it up with massive amounts of weight. For pure mechanical tension—which is a primary driver of hypertrophy—nothing beats it.
However, there’s a catch.
Because the bar is straight, your wrists and elbows are forced into a specific track. If you have shoulder issues, specifically in the acromioclavicular (AC) joint, a straight bar can be a nightmare. It forces a certain amount of internal rotation that some shoulders just hate. Researchers like Dr. Bret Contreras have often pointed out that while the bench press is king for ego, it isn't always the "optimal" chest builder for every body type. If you have long arms, the range of motion on a straight bar often bottoms out on your chest before your pecs are fully stretched.
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Why the Football Bar is a Game Changer
Ever seen a bar with multiple handles running vertically? That’s a Swiss bar, or a Football bar. If you’re serious about a bar for chest workout variety, this is the one you need to hunt down.
The neutral grip (palms facing each other) is a life-saver.
Basically, by turning your palms inward, you tuck your elbows. This shifts the stress away from the front deltoids and puts it squarely on the sternal head of the pectoralis major. It also saves your rotator cuffs. Many powerlifters, like the guys at Westside Barbell, swear by multi-grip bars to keep their shoulders healthy while still moving heavy triples. You can’t go as heavy as you would on a straight bar, but the "mind-muscle connection" is usually way higher because you aren't fighting joint pain.
The Cambered Bar: Going Deeper Than Usual
This bar looks like it has a "U" shape in the middle. Why? To let you go deeper.
With a standard bar, the movement stops when the steel hits your chest. With a cambered bar, your hands can actually drop several inches below your chest level. This creates an insane stretch. According to the length-tension relationship in muscle physiology, stretching a muscle under load is one of the most potent triggers for growth.
But be careful.
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Don't just jump into a cambered bar with your max weight. That extra two or three inches of range of motion puts a massive amount of torque on the shoulder capsule. Use it for higher reps—think 10 to 15—and focus on the eccentric (lowering) phase. It’s a tool for bodybuilders more than it is for people trying to win a powerlifting meet.
EZ-Curl Bars Aren't Just For Biceps
Okay, this sounds weird. You’ve seen people doing "close grip" presses with an EZ-curl bar. Is it a legitimate bar for chest workout use? Sorta.
It’s mostly for the inner chest and triceps. Because of the zig-zag shape, it takes the pressure off the wrists that you'd normally feel with a straight close-grip bench. It’s a niche tool. If you’re at a crowded gym and all the benches are taken, grabbing an EZ-bar and doing floor presses can actually give you a decent pump. It’s not a primary builder, but it’s a solid "finisher" move.
The Specialized Duffalo or Bow Bar
Chris Duffin, a legendary figure in the strength world, popularized the "Duffalo" bar. It’s slightly curved—not a sharp U-shape like the cambered bar, but a gentle arc. This bar mimics the natural curvature of the human body. When you bench with it, the bar wraps slightly around your chest at the bottom.
It feels... natural.
It gives you a bit more range of motion than a straight bar without the extreme, sometimes dangerous depth of a full cambered bar. It’s the middle ground. Most high-end performance centers are moving toward these because they reduce the "shear" force on the shoulders while still allowing for maximum pec fiber recruitment.
Thick Bars and Fat Gripz
Then there’s the Axle bar. It’s thick. Usually two inches or more in diameter.
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Using a thick bar for chest workout routines isn't about the chest directly; it’s about neural drive. When you have to grip something harder, your brain sends a stronger signal to the entire arm and chest to stabilize. This is called irradiation. Using a thick bar can actually make the weight feel "lighter" in terms of joint pressure, even if your forearms are screaming. If you don't have an Axle bar, you can just pop some silicone "Fat Gripz" onto a regular bar to get the same effect.
Addressing the "Inner Chest" Myth
We need to be real for a second. You can't truly isolate the "inner" chest with any bar. The muscle fibers of the pectoralis major run from the sternum to the humerus. You can't contract the middle of a string without contracting the ends.
However, using a bar that allows for a closer, neutral grip—like the Swiss bar mentioned earlier—can emphasize the peak contraction. That "burning" feeling in the middle of your chest isn't the muscle magically growing in only one spot; it's the result of the fibers being fully shortened.
Setting Up Your Rotation
You shouldn't use the same bar every day. Adaptation is the enemy of growth. If you've been stuck on a plateau using the Olympic bar for six months, your nervous system is bored.
Try a three-week block:
- Weeks 1-3: Standard Olympic Bar (Strength focus: 5x5).
- Weeks 4-6: Football/Swiss Bar (Hypertrophy focus: 4x10).
- Weeks 7-9: Cambered or Bow Bar (Stretch/Range focus: 3x12).
This rotation keeps the joints fresh and hits the muscle from different angles. It prevents those nagging overuse injuries that usually pop up when you do the exact same movement pattern for years on end.
Practical Next Steps for Your Next Session
Stop treating the bench press like a casual movement and start treating it like a technical lift. Next time you're in the gym, look for the "weird" bars. If your gym only has straight bars, change your grip width by just one inch—it changes the firing pattern of the muscles.
- Check your mobility first: If you can't touch your toes or reach behind your back easily, avoid the cambered bar for now.
- Test the Football bar: If your shoulders click when you bench, find a neutral-grip bar immediately. It usually fixes the "click" instantly.
- Control the eccentric: No matter which bar you use, take three seconds to lower it. Gravity shouldn't do the work for you.
- Track the data: Don't just "feel" it. Write down which bar allowed you to move the most weight without pain. That is your primary builder.
The "best" bar is the one that allows you to train with the highest intensity while keeping your joints out of the physical therapy office. For most people, that's a slight rotation between a standard bar and a multi-grip specialty bar.