Why I Love the Multi-Purpose Bar

By 

Will Davis

Published: February 11, 2013 

A lot can be said for keeping training simple and not straying too far from the basics, and for good reason—the basic lifts provide the biggest ‘bang for your buck’ and will help you achieve results faster than some tomfoolery involving an elastic band and a BOSU ball.

We know that squats, deadlifts, and presses form the cornerstone of any successful strength training program, as no other exercises can use the loads that will recruit the same amount of muscle or elicit the same hormonal responses to help build a gargantuan pair of man tonsils. However, every once in a while, a lifter needs a change of pace from using the standard straight barbell. Whether it’s because of an injury or because he/she wants to change things up and keep things fresh, there is no harm in sporadically vacating the basics in their pure form and bringing in a little variation.

Lately, I’ve developed a lot of love for the Multipurpose Bar (MPB), particularly for bench pressing and the bent over row. After programming these exercises into my clients’ training and my own training for some time, I thought I’d share why I think this makes a fantastic tool for the coach’s proverbial toolbox.

The handles for the MPB are located ‘inside’ the bar, thus placing the wrists in a more neutral position (between supinated grip and pronated grip).

Bench press

Shoulder position

Typically, and especially for beginners, the bench press will be performed with the humerus perpendicular to the torso, placing the shoulders in internal rotation. Although this may not be too problematic with light weights, when heavy weights are pressed with the shoulders in this position, there is risk associated with the rotator cuff tendons, as the humerus has an increased chance of clashing with the bony processes of the scapula. The result of this can be a painful impingement—a topic described much more clearly in Mark Rippetoe’s fantastic Starting Strength. Therefore, to counter this unpleasant situation from occurring, lifters with good training knowledge will bring the humerus in to an angle of 45 to 75 degrees relative to the torso in order to create a more neutral position for the humerus at the glenohumeral joint.

By using the MPB, the neutral position is achieved naturally, as the humerus is more externally rotated in order to maintain alignment with the wrist position.

Shoulder stability

As you can see from the photos below, when the MPB is directly over the shoulder, longer movement arms are created between the bar and the supporting joints.

With the straight bar, the moment arms are of equal length on both sides, so minimal work has to be done to stabilize the bar in the lockout position. However, with the MPB, you can see that the moment arms differ in length on either side of the balance point. This will require extra effort at the lockout position from the wrist stabilizers, triceps, and the supporting musculature of the shoulder joint. Due to this instability, less weight has to be used. Although this is not ideal for maximizing strength or hypertrophy in the pressing muscles, it can provide a great training effect for the shoulder stabilizer muscles, which will indirectly strengthen the pressing movement. (These muscles will mostly be comprised of the rotator cuff group, which have the integrated function of holding the humeral head stable within the glenoid fossa). Thus, since most beginners have pretty abysmal shoulder stability but still desperately want to train the bench press, the MPB is the perfect training tool. It helps improve both stabilizer and pressing strength, making training time more efficient.

During the execution of the lift, the instability created by the bar will demand additional recruitment from the rotator cuff, as it supports the integrity of the glenohumeral joint. The development of stability with the MPB bench press should carry over to bench pressing with the straight bar as greater neural drive; therefore, force production is transferred to the prime movers.

Bent over row

Wrist position

As with bench pressing, I also believe that this bar makes a great variation for bent over rows.

With the wrists in a neutral position, assistance from the wrist flexors—a typical recruitment pattern observed when training the upper back—is impeded, as the wrists are ‘locked in’ to the bar.

The result is twofold:

1. Decreased possibility of straining the wrist flexors.
2. Stricter recruitment of the muscles that you’re trying to train.

Scapula position

Additionally, the neutral position of the shoulders means that when the MPB is lifted, the bar is pulled back towards the lifter. With the straight bar, the shoulders are internally rotated and the elbows are pointing outwards; therefore, during the lift, the more natural line of pull will be a vertical line from start to finish. Typically, any deviation from a vertical path is seen as a bad thing, as extra effort is required to accommodate the new moment arms that have been created. However, from studying the photo below, it may not be all bad:

With the MPB, you can see that the bar has been raised higher. Therefore, since it has traveled a further distance, more work has been done by the upper back. More work equals more activation and, given time, means more strength and size in what was probably a dormant muscle group.

Furthermore, if you look at the elbow position in both photos, you can see that with the MPB, they have been pulled backwards and are now in a lower position than with the SB (where they have been pulled straight up). In many cases, when using the straight bar, lifters may intuitively call upon the upper trapezius muscles to initiate lifting the bar, which can anteriorly tilt the scapulae. For many gym-goers, anterior tilt of the scapulae is one of the last things they need, as it can lead to a whole host of shoulder issues further down the line. On the other hand, with the MPB, the scapulae have been forced into depression along with retraction. This, in turn, recruits more of the lower trapezius—a woefully underutilized muscle that is paramount to shoulder health.

So, although less weight will be used with the MPB over the SB (due to the fact that the bar path isn’t vertical), your shoulders may thank you in the future, as you will achieve better stimulation of the scapula stabilizers.

Summary

The benefits of the multi-purpose bar over the straight bar are:

• Increased activation of the rotator cuff (bench press)
• Increased activation of the wrist flexors and extensors (bench press)
• Teaches the correct elbow position for beginners (bench press)
• Forces you to use lighter loads—excellent for someone who is coming out of an injury (bench press)
• Reduces the risk of straining the forearm flexors (bent over row)
• Trains the upper back musculature through a greater ROM (bent over row)
• Can favorably recruit the scapula stabilizers (bent over row)

If you have access to a multi-purpose bar, I highly recommend incorporating it into your training from time to time. If you’re in the business of training others, then I think using this bar in place of the straight bar should strongly be taken into consideration when training beginners and/or those who have an increased need to train the rotator cuff and scapula stabilizers.

It may take a bit of time to get used to, but it will be worthwhile in the end, as the impact on your basic lifts will be nothing but positive. More importantly, your shoulders will thank you for it!