I have 200 lb. hand gripper which is very accurate. I can close these grippers for about 2 reps perfectly -- and don't cheat using the other hand to "set" it. In general, my hands are stronger than the majority of men my age -- 25. I can close it with both hands, which should say something about my grip.
This last week I visited a YouFit and attempted to deadlift a low 225 lbs. I have been "off" deadlifting for years, but knew I could at least hit it once -- and I did.
Problem? The bar seems incredibly hard to hold on to. Surprised me since, well, read above. It makes no sense that I could rep a 200 lb. gripper but have trouble holding on to 25 lbs. more with BOTH hands. The bar felts loose when I was grabbing it and it kept spinning in place (meaning the inner-bar rotates constantly without the weights moving). The bar was a standard 45 lb. bar -- no fat grip or such. I only tried that one bar in the gym, though there were plenty more.
On squats I didn't notice this issue of the bar rolling. Again, I highly doubt it's my grip at all. I have a "tight" bar at home which does not roll/rotate upon grabbing and have pulled close to the weight at the gym with my bar with ONE hand and it was barely as difficult as the gym's bar with two.
Is it me or is it the bar? Am I seriously in another dimension here or something?
Also, the weights were hex if that matters. To give a better visual description, I drew a pic of what I mean:
My first assumption was that I got a bad bar -- but is this a "thing" or no? Are olympic bars like this? I've always deadlifted with the bar I have at home -- a hollow, slightly bent, thin bar that holds about 225 lbs. max. Obviously the guys who complain of gripping in deadlift and such tend to possibly, legitimately have grip issues -- but I have credentials with grip and lots of training: with support, pinch and crush for years. I could deadlift this weight with one hand on a "stiff" bar that doesn't rotate constantly as you pull, but on the bar I had, it was tough with two hands to pull 225 -- even a tiny bit tough with just 185 as well. What gives?