What Is Barbell Whip And Why Does It Help You To Lift Heavy?

Whether looking for a personal record or at the pinnacle of competition, the mechanics of weightlifting often shape our capabilities in far larger ways than we realise, and every piece of equipment we use is as vital as our form.

This is why we use Olympic-standard bumper plates, as their size, shape and weight more closely replicate the type used in competition, and why the barbell used to lift them is especially unique in its design.

It needs to be strong enough to withstand being dropped following a successful lift, it needs to be knurled to provide an effective grip, and its sleeves need to rotate in order to avoid any extra forces working against a lifter that could prove to be unfair.

However, the most interesting and most unusual quality a barbell needs to have is “whip”, but what is it, why does it matter, and how does it affect your personal best?

What Is Barbell Whip?

Known in the world of physics as flexural stress, whip is the way in which a barbell bends in reaction to the combination of forces pushed against it before snapping back.

This combination process, when timed well, allows lifters to work with the natural energy of the bar to help increase the amount they lift.

It is similar in concept to flex in golf; a golf club bends back against the shaft, creating an elastic energy that springs forward on impact, affecting speed, launch angle and carry distance.

Whilst the effect is relatively subtle, it can be enough at the elite level to mean the difference between a potential personal best and a bomb out, where a competitor fails all three attempts on a lift and is disqualified.

What Affects The Barbell’s Whip?

Whilst there are some standardised elements of competition barbells, such as being 2.2m long, 20kg in weight and 28mm in diameter in the knurled grip section, there is still a lot of scope for variation in how a barbell is made and thus how much whip it generates.

Working out exactly what these changes are is difficult because barbell manufacturers are understandably secretive about exactly how they make their barbells. However, there are some properties that studies have found affect the whip of a barbell.

Materials Used

Olympic barbells need to be the same weight and size, but not necessarily be made of the same materials in the same ratio.

Some barbells are made of stainless steel, whilst others are coated in chrome, and these small changes can affect the mechanical properties of the bar as a whole, particularly with regard to its stiffness. Both the alloy and the finish can have an effect on the whip.

To what extent this affects lifts will likely never be known unless the equipment guidelines for weightlifting competitions change and become especially specific.

Coupling Mechanism

Barbells consist of a grip shaft and two sleeves, and whilst the dimensions are standardised, the mechanisms for connecting the components of the barbell together in order to ensure that they move smoothly enough for competition vary significantly.

Some use bearings for faster rotations, some use slower, solid bushings, some use both, and some use neither.

Most competition barbells use bearings, but there are so many different variables and ways to design a bearing sleeve, which can have subtle effects on the weight distribution of the barbell and thus how it whips when under load.

How Does Whip Affect Weightlifters?

It must be noted that the effects of whip are both subtle and can typically only be felt at the most elite level. It provides a one per cent benefit, is difficult to time and is unlikely to affect a lot of lifters at your local gym.

This is another similarity whip has to golfing flex; elite golfers use the subtle bend of the club to subtly affect their shots, but most golfers will not even feel that it is there.

In competitions, everyone uses the same barbell, so differing levels of whip do not necessarily provide a competitive advantage or disadvantage.

The only major effect it has, and one that will make it a subject of study for years to come, is when it comes to world records.

If whip is ever quantified and found to have a significant enough effect on lifting capacity, it could lead to either an arms race for certain types of barbells or a system similar to wind assistance in athletics where certain records are disqualified if the wind speed is fast enough to provide a boost.