Thick Bar Training

Build a Massive Grip, Tenacious Strength, and All-Around Muscle Mass with “Fat Grip” Workouts and Programs

     One of the best ways to build tremendous strength and plenty of all-around mass is through thick bar or “fat grip” training.  I think it’s probably one of the most under-utilized methods of training.  Have you done a lot of thick bar training?  If not, then my point is made.  If you have then you understand well its power to transform your physique.

     I first read about thick-bar training probably in ‘96 or ‘97, when I got a copy of Brooks Kubik’s "Dinosaur Training.”  I like that book for many reasons, but Kubik insisted that thick bar training was one of the best methods that you can use, and not just for building your grip strength but for simply building “all-around” strength.

     At that time, however, there was an issue.  Where in the world do you get a thick bar?  I had read about thick bar training before that, though not to that same degree—I knew that it had been a part of strongman training—but I had never trained in a gym that had a thick bar, so I took a lot of Kubik’s advice and applied it to my own workouts, but thick grip training wasn’t one of them.

     About two decades ago that changed, however, when I purchased a pair of “Fat Gripz.”  They are one of the best purchases I have ever made.  I probably chucked around $20 for the pair, and have used them ever since (I’m sure they’re more expensive now).  They’re durable.  I’ve used them almost every week since then and still haven’t had to purchase another pair.  So, my first advice here is to go out and buy your own pair or order a pair online.  I think there are other companies that make similar “fat grips,” though I can’t speak for their efficacy or durability since I’ve only ever used the “official” Fat Gripz brand.  They also come in different sizes now, so you might want to buy you a couple of different pairs of varying thicknesses.

     In this article, I want to present some workouts and other ideas for thick bar training.

     I think, even when lifters do thick bar training, they don’t do enough of it.  They typically just use it for a set or two at the end of a session, maybe on some “power holds” or for a “finisher” on farmer walks or deadlifts; maybe on a set or two of barbell curls.  But there’s a lot more to thick bar training than just that.

     You should spend a training cycle doing entire workouts of thick bar training.  Outside of squats, which don’t really offer a benefit (though I know some lifters that might dispute even that), they’re good for pretty much all other movements.  You can use them for deadlifts, cleans, snatches, overhead work, bench presses, and curls.

     We’ll start with a couple of full-body workout ideas.  When it comes to 3 days per week, full-body sessions, my programs generally fall into two “camps.”  You can cycle your loads by following a heavy/light/medium system a la Bill Starr or you can do an “everything moderate” program where each workout is pretty much like Starr’s “medium” days.  Both approaches will work just fine.  If you want to go “all-out” in at least one workout each week—some lifters simply love hard training and can’t seem to go without it—then go with the H/L/M method.  If you prefer more of a “grease the groove” style of training, where each session is treated more like a “practice” than a workout, then the 2nd approach is probably better.

     These 1st two workouts are great for anyone who is looking to pack mass and/or strength over the whole of their bodies.  Use either one of them or rotate between the two workouts, doing one of them for 8 weeks or so before switching to the other.

Heavy-Light-Medium Mass and Strength Builder

Monday:

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps.  Work up over 5 progressively heavier sets to one “all-out” set of 5 reps.  If you get 5 reps on your last set, add weight at the next workout.  If you fail on your 3rd or 4th rep, then stick with that weight until you do get it.

• Thick bar barbell bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps.  Use the same method as the squats.  You will be surprised at how much the thick bar helps your pressing strength.  Most lifters understand that thick-bar training is great for back or biceps work, as those are “natural” grip builders, anyway, but I think they discount their use for benches and other pressing movements.  Thick bar presses are what Pavel Tsatsouline calls a “high-tension technique.”  It takes advantage of “irradiation,” where the tension needed to grip the thick bar irradiates out into surrounding muscle groups, tendons, and ligaments.  This ends up producing more muscle mass than a bodybuilder who “isolates” the muscle group.  You can take advantage of the “law of irradiation” by simply squeezing the barbell hard, but you can’t avoid it when doing thick bar work.

• Thick bar deadlifts: 5 sets of 5 reps, same as the squats and bench presses.  You can do either sumo or conventional.

• Thick bar barbell curls: 5 sets of 5 reps, same as above.

Wednesday:

• Reverse lunges: 5 sets of 5 reps (each leg).  Use the same method of 5x5 as the Monday movements.  In this program, you will let the exercise selection itself determine whether the day is heavy, light, or medium.  No matter how heavy you attempt to train your reverse lunge, it will never match the weight you can use on back squats, for instance.

• Thick bar military presses: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Thick bar dumbbell power cleans: 5 sets of 5 reps.  Another advantage of thick bar work is that it makes that 50 pound dumbbell that you could typically clean with absolute ease, much more of a beast than usual!  On the last set, you may find your grip slipping as you attempt to get your last couple of reps.  Squeeze the dumbbell as hard as you can in an attempt to prevent this and to take advantage of the law of irradiation mentioned above.

• Thick bar dumbbell curls: 5 sets of 5 reps

Friday:

• Front squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Thick bar bottom-position bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps.  In the power rack, set the pins so that you are starting the bench press from the bottom position, on your chest.  At the bottom of each rep, pause on the rack for a second before beginning the ascent again.  Relax your muscles briefly during the pause, including your grip, then squeeze the fat bar as hard as you can as you start the concentric portion once more.

• Thick bar deficit deadlifts: 5 sets of 5 reps.  You can do these either sumo or conventional.  One good idea is to use a different stance on these than what you used for your “regular” deadlifts on Monday.

• Thick bar barbell curls: 3 sets of 5 reps; 2 sets of 3 reps.  For your final movement, train heavier than you did on Monday.  This still makes it a “medium” movement, because your total workload will be less than what you curled on Monday.  Work up to a weight that is 5 pounds or so heavier than your last set of 5 reps on Monday.  On the following Monday, when you return to the gym for your heavy day, attempt a set of 5 reps with what you used for a triple here.

     If you want to, then feel free to add some abdominal work and some loaded carries to the program.  You can do a set or two of steep incline weighted sit-ups or the ab wheel on each day.  For the loaded carries, add a set or two to your heavy and medium days but skip the movement(s) on your light day.

     Now let’s look at an “everything moderate” full-body workout.  Here, you will do the same workout at each training day, not pushing anything to a “max” effort, but treating each session as more of a “practice.”  This program is more indicative of the kind of workouts performed by old-school “bronze era” bodybuilders and strongmen.  It’s the kind of program done by turn of the century strongmen such as Hermann Goerner and George Hackenschmidt.

“Moderate Strength” for Mass and Power

Monday - Wednesday - Friday:

• Squats: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Work up over 5 progressively heavier sets to one hard, but not “all-out” set.  When you do your last triple, you should still have a couple (or even a few) reps left “in the tank.”  Stick with the same weights at each session until the weights start to feel “easy” and then, and only then, add poundages.

• Thick bar deadlifts (sumo or conventional): 7 sets of 2 reps.  I’m not usually a fan of frequent deadlifts, but here’s another great thing about thick bar deadlifts: you can do them much more frequently than their non-thick bar counterparts.  The problem with frequent deadlifting, especially for really strong lifters, is that it simply places too much stress directly on your lower back.  But with thick bars, your grip gives out long before your lower back, allowing you to train them multiple times per week.  Work up over 7 progressively heavier sets until you reach your heaviest double.  As with the squats, you should still have a little bit left in the tank at the end.

• Thick bar bottom-position bench presses: 3 sets of 5 reps.  Do 3 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, once again working up to a hard but not all-out set of 5.  Use the same technique here that I discussed in the H/L/M program above.

• Thick bar one-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do 5 progressively heavier sets of 3 reps for each arm.  Once again, do not go all-out, but have a couple of reps left in the tank at the end of your 5th set.

• Thick bar chins: 5 sets of 3-5 reps.  For these, don’t add weight on each set. Depending on your strength, you can do them with your bodyweight or use a belt to attach added weight.  Use a poundage where you could get around 8 reps for one all-out set.  Stick with that weight until 5 reps are easy on all 5 sets and then, and (once again) only then, do you add weight.

• Thick bar barbell curls: 5 sets of 5, 5, 3, 2, and 2 reps.  Do two progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, followed by a heavier triple, and then two heavier sets of doubles.  As with all other movements, you should have some reps left in you at the end of the final set.

• Thick bar one-arm dumbbell snatches: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do progressively heavier triples here, working up to one hard, but not all-out set.  This movement will require that you will really squeeze the fat grip dumbbell at the start of the set until you lock it out at the top.  Make sure that you do 5 sets for each arm.

     As with the 1st program, feel free to finish each session with a set or two of abdominal work and/or loaded carries, such as fat grip dumbbell farmer walks.

     You can also use thick bar training in order to specialize on developing a muscle group.  Thick bar work is great for arm and back specialization.  Let’s look at a couple of workout programs geared toward these two.

Arm Specialization

     Probably every single man who has ever strode across a gym floor has, at one time or another, sought bigger arms.  After all, when anyone asks you to “make a muscle,” they don’t want you to hit a “most muscular” or for you to demonstrate your lat spread.  They want you to flex your biceps.

     Thick bar arm training is good, if for nothing else, because it’s a completely different stimulus from other arm workouts you have been doing.  If you have had good success training your arms, but have now used every training method under the sun with the exception of thick bar work, there is no doubt that thick bar arm training will result in bigger arms.

     Do the following program 2 to 3 days per week.  On another 2 or 3 days, train the rest of your body but don’t over do it.  You could do a workout consisting of squats, overhead presses, and some sort of pull (power cleans, deadlifts, snatches) on Monday and Thursday, and then do the following program on Tuesday and Friday or even Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.

The Bigger Bar, Bigger Guns Program

• Thick bar barbell curls: 5 sets of 5 reps.  Start the program by doing 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  As with the “moderate strength” program above, do not go all-out.  Always have a couple of reps left in the tank at the end of each exercise in this program.

• Close-grip thick bar rack presses: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Get in the power rack, and set the pins so that you are starting the bench press a few inches off of your chest.  This will help to ensure that your triceps are taking the brunt of the work instead of your chest.  Do progressively heavier sets the same as the barbell curls.

• Standing alternate thick bar dumbbell curls: 5 sets of 3 reps (each arm).  Here, do 5 straight sets of 3 reps using the same weight.  A good weight to select is one where you could get 6 reps for each arm if you were doing 1 all-out set.  Stick with that weight at each session until the weight feels easy and then add weight.

• Thick bar dumbbell floor presses: 5 sets of 5 reps.  As with the alternate dumbbell curls, do these as straight sets.  Keep your elbows tucked to your side so that you are maximizing triceps work over pectorals.  Select a weight where you could get 10 reps for one all-out set.  As with dumbbell curls, stick with this weight until the final sets feel easy, and then add weight at the next session.

• Thick bar weighted undergrip chins: 5 sets of 3 reps.  These are straight sets again.  Use a weight where you could get 6 reps for one all-out set.  Focus on squeezing the thick bar and tensing your biceps.  You want your biceps to do as much, or more, of the work as your lat muscles.

     As mentioned in the “moderate strength” program, one of the benefits of fat grip training is that it allows you to train your back with much more frequency than I would typically recommend.  I love high-frequency training.  But it admittedly works best—at least when heavy training is involved—when training squats, overhead pressing movements, and the various quick pulls.  Deadlift?  Not so much.  But the thick bar takes care of that issue by forcing you to train with submaximal poundages on deadlift variations.  At least, it’s submaximal for your lower back; not, obviously, for your grip and forearms.  However, this doesn’t mean that the back doesn’t get a good workout.  It absolutely does, in spite of the less than maximal weights that a heavy deadlifter would utilize otherwise.  And it does that through the mechanism mentioned earlier: high-tension training via the “law of irradiation.”  You can, therefore, take advantage of this and get on a high-frequency back training routine, replete with way more deadlifting than I would otherwise suggest.

     The following is an example program that utilizes the “3 to 5 method.”  3 to 5 days of training per week.  3 to 5 lifts per workout.  3 to 5 sets per lift.  3 to 5 reps per set.  For any lifter who prefers a more “instinctive” method of training—great for lifters with years of training experience under their belts or even less advanced lifters who are naturally intuitive.

     Please keep in mind that what follows is an example of a week of training.  Even if you follow the below routine exactly as written, you may make changes, depending upon how you feel once you start each workout session, in the weeks that follow it.

The Thick Bar 3 to 5 Method for a Massive (and Massively Powerful) Back

Monday:

• Front squats: 3 sets of 5 reps.  Work up over 3 progressively heavier sets.

• Thick bar conventional deadlifts: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do 5 progressively heavier triples.

• Thick bar one-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 5 sets of 3 reps (each arm).  Do 5 straight sets of triples.

• Thick bar weighted chins: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do 5 progressively heavier triples.

Tuesday:

• Thick bar dumbbell deadlifts: 5 sets of 5 reps.  Do 5 progressively heavier sets.

• Thick bar power cleans: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do progressively heavier triples.

• Thick bar barbell curls: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Straight sets.

Wednesday:

• Squats: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Progressively heavier sets.

• Thick bar dumbbell clean and presses: 4 sets of 5 reps.  Do progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  On each rep, set the dumbbells down, so that each rep is a clean and a press.

• Thick bar shrugs: 5 sets of 5 reps.  Do these as straight sets.  Since the range of motion is short in shrugs, I recommend the most sets combined with the most reps.

Friday:

• Thick bar sumo deadlifts: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do 5 progressively heavier triples.

• Thick bar dumbbell bench presses: 3 sets of 5 reps.  Straight sets.

• Thick bar weighted chins: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Progressively heavier triples.

• Thick bar barbell curls: 3 sets of 3 reps.  Do these as progressively heavier triples, mixing it up from your Tuesday session.

• Thick bar dumbbell one-arm power snatches: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Straight sets.

Saturday:

• Bottom-position squats: 3 sets of 5 reps.  Do 3 progressively heavier sets.

• Thick bar dumbbell power cleans: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Straight sets.  Do these using both arms at the same time.

• Thick bar one-arm dumbbell deadlifts: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Do 5 progressively heavier sets.

     As with other programs, feel free to add some abdominal work and some loaded carries to any of the sessions.

Conclusion

     If you have never done it before, then please consider giving thick bar training a go.  You may be surprised at the overall muscle and strength that it builds.  And if you’re a competitive athlete, especially in any “contact” sport, such as a martial art, football, or rugby, you will greatly benefit from the “thick” strength (pun not intended) that it gives your entire body.

     Need a new training program?  You may have just found it.

     As always, if there are any questions about thick bar training, or any of the above programs in general, then leave them in the comments section below or shoot me an email for a more personalized reply.