I originally got this bar for my girlfriend who started to workout in my home gym and she loved it. However, over the course of about a month she went from liking the fact that the knurling was more passive, to hating how passive it felt and ended up using my ohio power bar as her daily driver. The knurling feels just like the ohio bar, but the 25mm shaft does make it feel even softer on the hand. Now this bar mostly gets used when I am butchering attempts at olympic lifting. The lower start weight at 15kg makes it great for guests who need a lighter weight, especially for overhead press. The bar itself is great. The price and quality are hard to beat. If the knurling is a good fit for you and your lifts then you will love this bar.

This bar is low on my list when it comes to bars to buy. If you are doing westside/ conjugate style training then this style of bar may be for you, but I know Titan sells basically the same exact thing for less. All that said, this bar feels fine and does the job you want from it without issue. I would not say it is that polished rogue product you may be used to. I would compare the quality to their axle. It is what they say it is and it works well. Not “pretty” doing it though. I doubt most people are thinking about that, but don’ t think you are getting something better than a cheaper version of this bar because it came from rogue. That school of thought does work a fair bit of the time though. From a practical standpoint, this thing is a pain to store and to move around. It is HEAVY. Not a bad thing, just keep in mind. I don’t think the attachments that mimic this type of bar on a barbell do a very good job. If you are in the market for this type of bar, then get the bar and save yourself on trying out the attachment.

Best squat bar for the money by far in my opinion. I love the full shaft knurling. This is also a great bench bar. If you are wanting a squat or bench bar pick this. The only other option that I think is close is from Texas. The main reason I like this over theirs is the full shaft knurling. Part of what you want on a squat bar is great grip for your back, and full knurling provides that best.

This is another bar for me that I could never justify the new price for. I just never needed it bad enough to spend that much money on something that would be mostly a stabilizer muscle builder for me. I am also not a fan of how their company goes after people online who post DIY versions of the bar. Not even for sale, just for their own personal use. I get there could be a safety concern, but quite a few of their posts do not come off as a company concerned for a persons safety. I got mine used for next to nothing so it was worth it for me. It is cool and does provide a good training stimulus where you can work on stability under load. Most other stability work will not be under much weight load. It is really good for overhead press. Squat and bench are harder to set up because when you hang weight from it with bands you have to wrap the bands in a way that the weight won't touch the ground when in the bottom of the lift. Not that hard, but a bit of a pain. KBs work best, but I doubt most people have enough pairs of matching KBs to use them that way. I just use matching bands and my 25s and lower. They do make some kind of strap system. I do thing that could be of some benefit, but I don’t think it would mimic the band instability as well. There is another version with a slit in the middle for bands to go in. I am sure that works fine, but I just like this one more. Easier to load over the sleeve than fit it inside a sleeve.

Aside from it not being 45 lbs, which most axles aren’t, I don’t really have anything negative to say about this bar. The price is great, the quality that you will expect from an axle bar is up to par, AND IT FITS NORMAL COLLARS! I believe Fringe sport makes an affordable 45lb axle so I could see myself adding that one to the gym, but I would likely keep this one as well. If you are interested in training your grip or strongman then this is a good bar to start your collection with.

Like many people, I looked at the cheaper knock off versions of this bar first. I even owned the Titan Yukon bar for a few years. After using the competition and then using the real thing, I must say that Kabuki is the only one to get that feel and angle right. At least for my body. Generally, I don’t recommend this type of bar at all. Even when done well I don’t see much need for it as compared to other bars. Issues with shoulders for squats? Go SSB, MARRS, Camber, Transformer, or Spider. Want a deeper stretch on bench? Go Kadillac (or other similar design). I own it because I like having the variety and I wanted more of the history of Kabuki in my gym (and I got a used one for a pretty low price). Not a great reason even for me.

Goodness this bar is expensive! If you’re a competitive powerlifter and need some relief on your shoulders for squat then maybe I could see the price behind justified, but even then I think most people are going to have to rationalize this price tag. Price aside, this bar is one of my favorites and may be my favorite way to squat. In my opinion any good barbell strength gym for squats needs… a barbell, SSB, and then a MARRS bar in that order. The transformer bar gets brought up in this debate and in my opinion the transformer bar doesn’t do any of these as good as each of these does their own thing. There is enough difference that I make the room for each bar and I recommend you do the same. The MARRS bar sits right where you want it to on your back for a low bar squat feel. It’s comfortable and sturdy. It’s longer than I thought and that does lead to some awkward maneuvering in the gym. It’s also hard to store and I have to use a vertical plate tree. My version is the original heavy duty. The weight of the bar itself can be challenging to manage at times and near impossible for some. For most I do think their lighter version will be a better fit since it’s got a lower empty weight and is shorter. If you need to upgrade because everyone in your gym is maxing out the weight capacity then I think that deserves the celebration of buying a new bar.

I competed in powerlifting for the first 10is years of strength training and I wish I had this bar near those last 5 years. This thing helps me keep my press strong while also keeping my shoulders happy. I’m sure there are other bars out there cheaper that have a similar angle or will give you similar results, so if you’re having any shoulder issues on press, I highly recommend this style of bar for some of your press days. Since switching to strongman training I rarely flat press, but I like this even more for incline press. That angle was always harder on my shoulders and this leaves me with no issues even with the deeper stretch. I don’t have many reasons for you to pay the premium for this exact bar, especially since you can support other great companies making something that will give you similar benefits that I got from this. The main reason I chose this was I wanted more kabuki and that history in my gym. It’s silly, but so are most of the things in my gym. For most, go with black widow if you want great made in America quality for this type of bar. If you need budget go with BOS.