Synergee Regional Olympic 20kg Men’s and 15kg Women’s Hard Chrome & Black Phosphate Barbells. Rated 1500lbs for Weightlifting and Powerlifting.

Background: My only prior experience with barbells is with a beat up bar with two broken sleeves for 2-3 years, so read my review in that context. I purchased the hard chrome 20kg olympic bar for $300 a week ago. Here are some points worth discussing: 0) SHIPPING. Package arrived on time. I originally ordered another brand 20kg bar from Amazon in the same price range, which got "lost" in transit from Amazon to UPS (after waiting for weeks). Amazon resolved that without hassle but I was hesitant to buy from a 3rd party in case this happened again. Synergee however, did not disappoint. 1) PACKAGING. As others mentioned, the package comes in a hard cardboard cylinder with screwed on end caps. Getting the caps off required some gentle shaking to use the bar's inertia to push itself out. Inside, the bar comes wrapped in a plastic bag with a pair of lifting straps, wrist wraps, and a couple of cards with information pertaining to customer service. While the cylinder did its job and protected the bar in transit, the internals suffered damage prior to being placed into said tube. At some stage in this bar's early life, it was likely stored in just the plastic bags without hard cover; parts of said bag were torn and there were numerous small scratches and chips to be found all over the bar. I don't care about cosmetics as much as functionality, but had hoped for something better. 2) OILINESS. After reading some other comments, I expected the bar to come greased and protected (yes, I wanted it to come oiled). Mine was completely dry, except at the interface between the bar and the sleeves. What at first looked like rust turned out to be grimy grease (which wiped off easily enough), indicating that my bar has probably been in storage for some time. I have not taken the sleeves off to inspect the insides, and I probably won't until I have to do maintenance in a few months from now. Will update my review if necessary when the time comes. 3) SPIN. The spin on my bar is exactly the same as shown by another reviewer's video clip. With a 45lb plate on it, a light push will keep the sleeves rotating for 20-30 seconds. 4) SLEEVE PLAY. There is a 1mm lateral play on the sleeves, and almost zero vertical play. I don't know if this 1mm is a significant shortcoming, but it's definitely there if you are concerned about it. 5) STRAIGHTNESS. With a light push, the bar rolls itself straight across my tiled floor. I also used the technique of turning the bar on a rack and eyeballing it. It is completely straight as far as I can discern. 6) OTHER. In terms of knurling, whippiness, and general feel, I will just say that the bar is superior in every aspect and feels much safer and effective (pressing, benching, deadlifting) compared to the no-brand beater I got from a garage sale (which also had a chrome finish). It holds the weights I am able to use so far (450lb) without problem. Summary: My bar came with some imperfections, but it functions as I expected. All things considered, including COVID related inflation (200-300% over a year ago or so) and availability, customer reviews, designs, specs, etc., I give it 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5). Spec sheets and performances are of course two different things. It is hard to tell if figures like "190k PSI" are accurate or are even relevant for long term durability and performance -- only time will tell. I'll be back to update my review in a year or so. Update: 1 year later, the bar is still functioning perfectly. I have been using it almost every single day since my purchase, and there has been no problems. The sleeves still spin perfectly, and I have not had a need to open it and clean it yet. I now regularly load it to over 400lb and it is handles just perfectly. I squat in the 450+ range, and have never had an issue with the lack of center knurling - the regular knurling digs into the real deltoids just fine.

I have been seriously working out for the past year. As my lifting weight has increased, I became less and less confident in my three piece bar. I am not lifting a crazy amount of weight, under 250, but my old bar just started to have some play in it. I started researching bars and found this one. It is a great one piece bar! The bearings on the ends are just incredible. As you are doing exercises where the angle of the bar changes, like bicep curls, the weights do not rotate at all. At first that seemed odd, but actually it leads to a very stable weight. I also really love the knurl on this bar. It is enough to get a solid grip but not so much that it bites into your gloves or hands like my old bar. Lastly, the diameter of the bar is "standard". I had not really paid attention to this, but when I first got this bar I realized my old bar was thicker. It took about 10 days to get used to these small changes, but I would not go back to the older bar now. This bar feels great, is very solid and well made, and I am very happy with it!

Great spin and narolling, love the bar

One of the better barbell’s I’ve used. Something you’d find in a competitive gym rather than a big box gym which is exactly what I was looking for. Grip is amazing. Love the width of the bar. Would definitely recommend.

This bar seems really good. The sleeves spin but they aren't too loose. It's very sturdy but has a bit of flex like the very high end bars. I was very worried after reading some reviews when they said the company shipped bars in bad ways but from the photos I've attached, the only way the bar is getting damaged is if the carrier breaks the packaging. It took me 15 minutes or so to open up the cylinder. 10/10 on shipping and packaging. The bar does have a thin layer of machine oil on it to protect it so be sure to wipe that off. I'm still waiting on weights (ol Rona pricing) so I'll update my review when I get weight on the bar but from what my friends said it's a solid bar that goes above expectations. Over all in this price bracket this bar is definitely the best.

I bought this bar with limited information, as despite there being a lot of short reviews, there were not many that mentioned the key things that I wanted to know. I have now had some time to use the bar and test it in the gym, and want to submit a more comprehensive review for folks who may be interested in this bar. I purchased the 15kg (women's) bar in Hard Chrome. I am a weightlifter (as in, I do Olympic-style weightlifting), and my review is written from that perspective. First - a quick summary. This bar FAR exceeded my expectations, based on the price I paid. It feels solid in my hands, the knurling provides a good grip, and it has excellent spin. This bar simply feels fast when executing Olympic movements. I strongly prefer it to the two Rogue Bella Bars and one old beater (unknown make) Olympic women's bar that my gym has. If you are looking for a good barbell on a budget, you have definitely found a keeper with this bar. Now, let's dive into the details: 1 - GRIP The grip on this bar is nothing to write home about, but it is also not a strike against it. Olympic barbells (think Eleiko here) that cost 4-5 times as much as this bar have more aggressive/sharp knurling, but this bar does not promise that. It's a utility bar, like a Rogue Bella Bar, with dual hash marks for powerlifting and weightlifting. In this regard, the knurling is comparable to other bars of similar design. It's about as aggressive as a Bella Bar, which is a good thing! It doesn't tear your hands up too badly with very sharp Olympic knurling when you are doing volume, but it is still enough to offer a very secure grip when you are lifting heavy loads. One thing to be aware of with regard to the grip on this bar -- when I received the barbell, I had trouble with grip. I initially assumed it was because the knurling was very shallow. It isn't. The bar was actually covered in a light coating of machine oil, presumably leftover from the manufacturing process. I cleaned it well with some gym sanitizer and a lint-free rag, and it fixed any and all issues that I had with the grip. 2 - SPIN This is what makes this barbell an absolute STEAL. Most bars in this price range are built with bushings, which offer a lower degree of spin than needle bearings, but this bar boasts 5 bearings in each sleeve! Needle bearings are what's used in high-end weightlifting bars (again, think Eleiko here). When I ordered this barbell, I expected it would have moderate spin, thanks to low-quality bearings. Boy was I wrong. The bearings on this barbell are fast and smooth. When doing snatches or cleans, the plates on the bar do not rotate AT ALL as you get under the bar (as in, the bar spins freely and as needed when you drop underneath, but the plates don't spin or offer resistance at all!). There is minimal / not noticeable resistance when getting under the bar. Really truly, the spin on this bar blew my mind, given the price. If you are looking for an affordable barbell that has good spin for weightlifting, I would point you to this bar by Synergee, 100% of the time. It dramatically outperforms every other bar in its price range in this regard, and even outperforms bars in the next price-bracket up ($200-300). SEE VIDEO for a quick demonstration of the spin this bar has. I put 45lb plates on the bar with it sitting in a squat rack, then pushed very lightly on the plate. It spun smoothly and easily and continued to spin for a full 30+ seconds!!! Note for non-weightlifters: The "spin" of a barbell refers to the ability of the sleeves (where you put the weights onto the bar) to spin independently of the bar, which is the part of the barbell you hold onto when lifting. If you plan to use a barbell for squat/deadlift/bench, spin is less important than doing weightlifting (snatch and clean & jerk), but good spin will still help with good form in those movements. 3 - WHIP I have not lifted heavy with this bar yet, due to where I am in my training cycle, but I feel comfortable saying it is not the whippiest bar in the world. It's fairly rigid doing weightlifting movements at lighter weights. It gets a little bit of whip as you get heavier, but not a lot. I have done front squats at 90kg with this barbell, and it flexed slightly, but was not particularly whippy and did not want to bounce/flex on my shoulders at the top of the movement, like an expensive weightlifting bar would. But remember, this is not an expensive weightlifting bar, and the flex/whip in this bar is about what I would expect from a utility bar in this price range. This bar is constructed for both powerlifting and weightlifting, and if it had too much whip it could make powerlifting more challenging, especially heavy deadlifts. Really, the whip in this bar is right around what I expected. Not as much as a weightlifting bar, but it does have some whip once you add a bit more weight. Ultimately, I think that the bar strikes an excellent balance in this regard. It does not have too much whip for powerlifting, but it has enough whip that if you are doing heavy weightlifting, there will at least be some. In terms of comparison, the whip is about what I've experienced with a Rogue Bella Bar, which retails for quite a bit more than this barbell. For an all-around training barbell, the amount of whip is good! It makes it versatile! FINAL THOUGHTS I cannot overstate how impressed I am with this barbell. If you are looking for a very affordable weightlifting bar, this one will not disappoint. It would also perform supremely well for powerlifting, or even just doing some weight training. While I have not tried every bar out there, I have trained with a lot of different barbells, and I feel confident in saying that this is the best bar in the $1XX price bracket.

Purchased this in anticipation that a bar with a super-heavy rating would be a good investment, and picked this up on discount. Will likely never be able to test if it actually will support 1500 lbs, but I can verify no flex during steady lifting with 350 lbs (sorry I don't have more, Olympic plates are quite expensive). The bearings are smooth and make no noise whatsoever. If there is any "buyer-beware" issue, then I must report this: It is a very pretty bar, in my opinion, but adding and removing weights will scratch the black coating. I don't knock a star for this because this is to be expected, and quite frankly, if you are buying heavy-duty equipment for heavy lifting, performance and quality should be your only concern. Heavy usage will cause nicks, dings, scratches and the like. It happens. But some will probably opt for a chrome-looking bar or sleeves for aesthetics, and that will be their decision. Also, packaging and shipping could not have been better. Very pleased with this product, glad I took a shot on an unfamiliar brand - just wish I had more olympic plates.

I got the Synergee Regional Bar, 20kg/45lb bar with the black phosphate coating. This bar seems like a more budget friendly version of the Rogue power bar. My attached pictures show me deadlifting 500lbs, showing off the whip of the bar. This feels very nice for deadlifts and I'm guessing bench press would be fine as well. There is no knurling in the center of the bar (same as the Rogue) so I wouldn't recommend this for squats but it can be done with good control. I've used the Rogue and Texas Power Bar extensively and can say the Synergee stacks up well, especially for the money. It had a great spin, the knurling is more aggressive than the Rogue but softer than the Texas bar. My second picture, however, shows my only gripe. There is a burr on the knurling on one side. It's very minor so I'm not upset about it but definitely vet your purchase. Overall I'd say this bar is very close to the more expensive bars out there. It will likely serve you well. Time will tell for me.