REP Double Black Diamond Energy Bar Assessment (2023)

REP Health has been making a reputation for themselves for a while now. However when the home gym equipment firm launched a brand new line of barbells in the summertime of 2023, we had been excited to see how they improved upon their predecessors.

After coaching with the Double Black Diamond Energy Bar for a number of weeks, we are able to actually say that it’s considered one of our favourite powerlifting barbells. We accomplished dozens of squats, bench presses, and deadlifts with it and even used it for lifts like overhead presses. On this REP Health Double Black Diamond Energy Bar evaluation, we’ll share our experiences and break down the price, development, knurling, and different particulars of this premium powerlifting barbell.

Key Takeaways

• The Double Black Diamond Barbell retails for round $329.99 to round $449.99.
• As this can be a energy bar, it options aggressive mountain-style knurling that will help you get a safe grip for deadlifts.
• The barbell is accessible in three choices: a Cerakote shaft with Duracout sleeves, a stainless-steel shaft with arduous chrome sleeves, or a stainless-steel shaft with stainless-steel sleeves.

REP Health Double Black Diamond Professionals

• The Cerakote model of the barbell could be supreme for residence health club homeowners who prepare in non-temperature-controlled basement or storage gyms. The coating can assist forestall rust and corrosion from growing rapidly.
• The Double Black Diamond Energy Bar comes with a restricted lifetime guarantee. You may relaxation assured that REP stands behind the bar’s high quality and can rectify any points that will come up. (For the document, although, we don’t suppose that’s seemingly.)
• This Olympic barbell has a excessive tensile energy of 200,000 PSI. Even for probably the most elite powerlifters, it ought to be capable to deal with any weight you load on it.

REP Health Double Black Diamond Cons

• The Double Black Diamond bar is an influence bar with aggressive knurling and isn’t meant for dynamic lifts like snatches and energy cleans. CrossFitters, Olympic weightlifters, and useful health athletes ought to take into account a multi-purpose barbell as a substitute.
• All of REP’s barbells are made abroad, so lifters preferring to purchase American-made merchandise might wish to have a look at different manufacturers.
• The value of the Double Black Diamond Barbell is affordable for the standard you get. However for athletes on a decent funds, a extra inexpensive energy bar just like the Bells of Metal Powerlifting Bar 2.0 could also be a greater possibility.

REP Health Double Black Diamond Specs

REP Health Double Black Diamond Score

Our skilled product testers, who embrace licensed private trainers, energy and conditioning coaches, CrossFitters, and aggressive powerlifters, have examined over 80 barbells. After coaching with them for every part from squats to bench presses to CrossFit Exercises of the Day (WODs), we used a proprietary scorecard system to rank them. Classes that we scored the barbells on embrace value, tensile energy, knurling, and sturdiness.

Right here’s how the REP Double Black Diamond Energy Bar scored.

REP Health Double Black Diamond Overview

The Double Black Diamond bar is a newcomer in REP’s barbell lineup. It replaces REP’s Deep Knurl Energy Bar EX. The title pays homage to the state of Colorado, the place REP’s headquarters are situated, and the state’s sturdy winter sports activities tradition. “Double black diamond” refers back to the most difficult ski slopes and can be consultant of this barbell’s depth and toughness.

Like its predecessor, the Double Black Diamond barbell is an influence bar meant for the three powerlifts: squats, bench presses, and deadlifts. As such, it options aggressive mountain knurling and Worldwide Powerlifting Federation (IPF) knurl markings. You may select from a number of finishes, which provide various ranges of sturdiness. And like different respected health gear manufacturers, REP presents a restricted lifetime guarantee on this top-tier barbell.

REP Health Double Black Diamond Energy Bar In-Depth Assessment

Whereas we’ve beloved lifting with the Double Black Diamond Energy Bar, we notice that it is probably not the best barbell for everybody. As talked about, the aggressive knurling might not swimsuit all types of lifting, and it’s not the most affordable energy bar obtainable. Relying on which end you get, it is probably not fully proof against rust or corrosion. However its excessive tensile energy means it may deal with tremendous heavy masses, and we predict it’s nonetheless worth contemplating its high-quality development and the way nicely it performs for powerlifting coaching.

Worth and Worth

The REP Health Double Black Diamond Barbell prices round $330 for the Cerakote choices, round $400 for the stainless-steel and arduous chrome mannequin, and round $450 for the all-stainless metal model. It’s not too far off in value from the Rogue Ohio Energy Bar, which prices anyplace from about $275 to about $415, relying on the end. Nevertheless, the Double Black Diamond bar is costlier than a solid budget barbell just like the Bells of Metal Barenaked Powerlifting Bar 2.0, which prices round $220.

That stated, REP Health presents free delivery on all orders as of this writing. Contemplating that delivery a barbell can value $25 or extra, the Double Black Diamond Bar generally is a cost-efficient possibility. Plus, with the sturdiness and wonderful efficiency high quality it presents, we predict it’s a good worth. We rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars for the value.

Supply

I’ve purchased shut to 2 dozen items of residence health club gear through the years and have additionally acquired complimentary gadgets as a result of my job as a health author. Most merchandise arrived completely packaged with none harm. Nevertheless, I’ve acquired two barbells whose packaging was broken upon supply. The bars had knicks and chips on the sleeves and shaft earlier than I even had an opportunity to make use of them.

I used to be joyful to listen to from our product testers that the supply of the Double Black Diamond barbell to our warehouse in Springfield, MO, went far more easily. The barbell arrived in a cardboard tube with plastic finish caps that had remained intact throughout delivery. The bar was additionally wrapped in foam and plastic to additional shield it from dings and scratches. We scored the supply course of 5 out of 5 stars.

Building, Supplies, and Coating

The Double Black Diamond Bar has a 29-millimeter shaft. This diameter is frequent in energy bars. Some, just like the Authentic Texas Energy Bar, have a 28.5-millimeter diameter. However in response to our product testers, 29 millimeters is the gold commonplace.

When ordering the Double Black Diamond Bar, you possibly can select from three finishes: Cerakote (which is available in black, blue, inexperienced, or crimson coloration choices), stainless-steel with chrome sleeves, or stainless-steel with stainless-steel sleeves. The Cerakote bars have Duracoat sleeves, which makes them more durable, extra corrosion-resistant, and fewer vulnerable to scratches and scuff marks from plate inserts.

No matter which end you select, you’ll get a bar with easy sleeves. I typically want barbells with ribbed sleeves as a result of I don’t use collars typically, and the ribbing helps preserve my weight plates in place. However once I skilled with the Double Black Diamond Bar at our testing facility in Springfield, MO, I did recognize how straightforward it was to slip plates on and off it. I additionally beloved how the top was beveled. The beveling made loading plates a breeze as a result of I didn’t must completely align the plate inserts with the top of the sleeve.

One factor I really like concerning the Double Black Diamond Bar is the endcap design. The black endcap boasts raised silver lettering with the REP title and a double diamond define. It’s a small however distinctive contact that provides the barbell a high-end aesthetic. Equally, REP additionally added etching with its emblem and the bar’s title to the within of the collars. These traits might not seem to be a lot, however the high quality craftsmanship and a focus to element assist this bar stand out from its opponents.

All in all, this barbell will get 4 out of 5 stars for its development high quality.

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Knurling

As this can be a energy bar, the Double Black Diamond Bar options powerlifting knurl marks as specified by the IPF. This implies it has single knurl rings and a small space of middle knurling. The knurl rings act as a reference level for the place to position your fingers when bench urgent, whereas the middle knurl helps preserve the barbell in your again for again squats.

The knurling itself may be very aggressive. It’s a mountain-style knurling, which means it has a diamond-shaped sample with sharp, pointy peaks. Mountain knurling is frequent in energy bars as a result of it presents a superior grip for deadlifts. Nevertheless, energy bars with mountain knurling aren’t probably the most comfy to raise with, particularly for brand new lifters, due to how aggressively they dig into the fingers.

Alternatively, in the event you’re already used to lifting weights and have calluses constructed up in your palms, the knurling on the Double Black Diamond Bar might not hassle you as a lot. I’ve calluses on my fingers from years of lifting weights and doing pull-up bar workout routines in CrossFit WODs. Once I skilled with the Double Black Diamond Bar, I positively observed the stickiness and grippiness of the knurling, however I wasn’t in a ton of discomfort.

As well as, REP makes use of greater tooth per inch (TPI, the variety of seen tooth per inch on the barbell) than different corporations use on their energy bars. The mountain sample can be much less pointy than what you’d discover on different energy bars. Primarily, you get a stable grip however don’t have to fret about tearing your pores and skin throughout each deadlift exercise. For these causes, we rated the knurling 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Tensile Energy

Tensile energy refers to how a lot weight a barbell can maintain earlier than it fractures. It’s measured in kilos per sq. inch (PSI). A excessive tensile energy is vital in an influence bar, particularly for lifters who can squat, bench press, and deadlift lots of of kilos. Normally, the upper the tensile energy, the extra abuse a barbell can deal with.

REP’s Double Black Diamond Bar has a tensile energy of 200,000 PSI. Different barbells we’ve examined and reviewed have greater tensile strengths. As an example, the Rogue Ohio Energy Bar has a 205,000 PSI tensile energy. Alternatively, the tensile energy of the Double Black Diamond Bar is greater than extra economical barbells, just like the Efficiency Collection Energy Bar from Titan Health. Titan’s energy bar solely has a tensile energy of 165,000 PSI.

For these causes, we rated the Double Black Diamond Bar 4.5 out of 5 stars for its tensile energy.

Rotation System

The rotation system refers back to the mechanism a barbell makes use of for its sleeve rotation. Some barbells use bearings to rotate their sleeves, and others use bushings. Bushings are extra frequent in powerlifting bars as a result of they don’t spin as rapidly or easily. For slower, extra grindy lifts just like the squat, bench press, and deadlift, slower rotation is useful as a result of the barbell will really feel extra secure.

The Double Black Diamond Bar makes use of bronze bushings. The bushings supply some spin, however it’s not as vital as what you’d discover on an Olympic weightlifting bar, like REP’s Alpine Weightlifting Bar. However since a low quantity of spin is strictly what we’d hope for in an influence bar, we scored the rotation system 4 out of 5 stars.

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Versatility

As talked about, the Double Black Diamond bar is an influence bar. It’s not a multi-purpose bar like REP’s Colorado bar or Rogue’s common Ohio bar. Whereas it’s nice for powerlifting, it wouldn’t be appropriate for the dynamic actions you’d discover in CrossFit. The aggressive knurling received’t be comfy in your palms throughout actions the place the barbell might rotate in your fingers regularly, like thrusters or push presses.

Additionally, as a result of the barbell solely has single IPF knurl marks and doesn’t conform to Worldwide Weightlifting Federation (IWF requirements), it’s not supreme for Olympic weightlifting (snatches and clear and jerks). We solely gave it 3 out of 5 stars for versatility since we don’t advocate utilizing it for something aside from powerlifting. A high-quality, all-purpose bar with medium knurling and twin knurl marks could also be extra appropriate for energy sports activities that make the most of extra explosive barbell actions.

Sturdiness

We’ve solely had the all-stainless metal Double Black Diamond Bar at our testing middle for a few months. To date, it has held up nicely. However in our expertise, REP’s stainless-steel bars are inclined to rust rapidly. We’ll must let extra time cross to see if the Double Black Diamond Bar begins to rust or if it continues to look pristine.

Even so, we rated the bar 5 out of 5 stars for sturdiness. As talked about, the barbell can be obtainable with a Cerakote end. Different Cerakote barbells we’ve examined, like Rogue’s Cerakote Barbell, have lasted for greater than six months with out rusting. That is regardless of every day use and being saved in non-temperature-controlled rooms. Plus, REP additionally presents a restricted lifetime guarantee on all of its barbells. An organization wouldn’t supply this kind of assure if it didn’t actually stand behind its merchandise.

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REP Health Double Black Diamond Energy Bar vs. Rogue Ohio Energy Bar

When it comes to specs, the REP Double Black Diamond Bar and the Rogue Ohio Energy Bar are comparable. They each have a 29-millimeter shaft diameter, a middle knurl, and IPF knurl marks. Their whole size and loadable sleeve size are almost equivalent. The stainless-steel variations of each bars boast a 200,000 PSI tensile energy, however among the Ohio Energy Bar variations have a 205,000 PSI tensile energy.

The Ohio Energy Bar is barely extra inexpensive. The most cost effective model begins at round $295, whereas the Double Black Diamond Energy Bar begins at slightly below $330. REP presents free delivery on all purchases whereas Rogue doesn’t, however relying on the place you reside, the Ohio Energy Bar should still find yourself being cheaper.

Like REP’s energy bar, Rogue’s Ohio Energy Bar is available in a number of finishes. There’s a Cerakote shaft coating (which is accessible in black, blue, crimson, or inexperienced), black zinc, naked metal, stainless-steel, or e-coat. In our expertise, Rogue’s stainless-steel doesn’t rust as rapidly as REP’s. In the event you want a stainless-steel energy bar, you might wish to go together with the Ohio Energy Bar.

Alternatively, if knurling is extra vital to you, we’d advocate the Double Black Diamond Energy Bar as a substitute. One in every of our skilled product testers, who’s examined lots of of items of health club gear, says he prefers the knurling on the Double Black Diamond Energy Bar. For him to say that may be a large deal. Up till lately, the Ohio Energy Bar’s knurling was his favourite out of all the facility bars he’s skilled with.

Rogue Ohio Power Bar

• Materials: Metal or stainless-steel
• Weight: 20 kilograms (44 kilos)
• Weight capability: 680.2 kilograms (1,500 kilos)
• Tensile energy: 200k to 205k PSI
• Loadable sleeve size: 16.25 inches
• Knurling: Very aggressive
• Guarantee: Lifetime guarantee towards bending

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REP Health Double Black Diamond Energy Bar Buyer Evaluations

For the reason that REP Health Double Black Diamond Bar was simply launched this previous summer time, there aren’t many evaluations on it but. The shoppers who’ve left evaluations have been glad with the development high quality. Those that purchased Cerakote variations of the bar famous how vibrant the colours look in particular person. Clients are additionally happy with the knurling; many have stated that it’s grippy and sharp however not overdone.

Consumers who selected the stainless-steel barbell left feedback about points with corrosion. Nevertheless, it seems that REP has mounted these points and provided to interchange these barbells.

Remaining Verdict: Is the REP Health Double Black Diamond Energy Bar Value It?

All in all, we take into account the Double Black Diamond Energy Bar one of many high energy bars available on the market. In the event you’re a powerlifter who has some additional money to spend and also you’re on the lookout for a top-notch barbell, this one could possibly be for you. It’s made to IPF specs and boasts IPF knurl marks and a 29-millimeter diameter. We beloved the sensation of the knurling, as we discovered it sharp and grippy however not as uncomfortable as different energy bars we’ve examined. That stated, we nonetheless wouldn’t advocate it for CrossFit or Olympic weightlifting. For extra of an all-purpose barbell that may deal with extra explosive and dynamic lifts, you’ll must look elsewhere.

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