Barbell Rescue – Your Barbell Hates You

Owning a garage gym comes with few legit downsides. One is the ongoing need for new shiny objects. Another is not having enough space for those new shiny objects. And the third, is maintenance. When you go to a commercial gym, you don’t have to maintain anything. But as soon as you OWN something, you gotta keep it clean, oiled, and working properly. Now, you can take the Westside mantra of beating their equipment up like crazy. Or you can take the approach of maintaining some of it so it looks good and performs well forever. I like the second approach personally, which is why I like Barbell Rescue.

What Is Barbell Rescue?

Simple… they make brushes that clean your bars. You might be thinking, like those soft bristle cheap brushes from Harbor Freight? No, those suck. They break down after a use or two. Barbell Rescue is designed FOR barbells, as it is cylindrical. This means it will clean your bar in one go, instead of having to rotate and turn ultimately make multiple passes at the bar.

The brush is made up of a hard shell plastic tube, with nylon bristles inside. The clamshell opens up, you slide your bar in, toss in a little oil, close it, and get to work. Yes, that image in your head is exactly what everyone thinks of at first. And no, I don’t think the Barbell Rescue will do double duty as a bar cleaner and a personal pleasure device.

How Often Should I Clean My Barbell?

If you don’t use chalk, you might clean them less. Depending on the humidity levels where you live, you might clean them more! Friends that live in Atlanta have been known to clean every week. The coatings, or lack there of, of your bars will impact your cleaning needs as well. And as mentioned, it also depends on your goals. Bars will rust, patina, and otherwise be a little nasty, but still usable, as long as they aren’t entirely mistreated.

My Cleaning Schedule

This info is based on my own experiences. I live in Northern California where we get 110 degree summer days and 20 degree winters with plenty of rain. Our humidity levels aren’t very high though. I find that most of my equipment can use a clean and oil at the end of each major season change. So at the end of the summer to prepare for winter, and at the end of winter as we lean into summer. My bars get a cleaning with a brush and oil. I ALSO clean all of the bars I use BEFORE each GGC, and after each GGC. This is because I want them to be ready and in their best shape for competition day, and to take the pounds of chalk and ammonia and various nonsense off the bar from said competition day.

So we are talking, about 6 times a year in my gym, the bars get their cleaning treatment.

So the moral of the story is, anywhere from never to a lot. I think if the process of cleaning bars was easier, like with the Barbell Rescue, I might do it more often. I might do what you are recommended to do, and hit that chalk off after every session. So a $49 brush (they have a 10% discount code readily available) that helps keep your $300+ bar alive and well?

Should I Buy A Barbell Rescue?

I personally have multiple brushes meant for bars, several I bought for the exact purpose of cleaning a bar, and I only own two bars that need cleaning. They get the job done, and I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to spending money to replace something I already own. I used my NON Smart Phone flip phone almost long enough for the flip phone craze to come back into style. I say get the job done, because the brushes MEANT for the barbell, actually kind of suck, I never use them. For now, I use an old brush meant for cleaning tile. It has firm bristles and works without damaging my bars.

So for me in my situation, buying a Barbell Rescue Brush hasn’t happened yet. If you take me back 5 years before I bought those brushes, I’d 100% buy the Barbell Rescue brush. It is only marginally more expensive than the brushes I bought, it has the full 360 cylindrical design, and from what I’ve heard from a number of people, it is made to last.

If my current brushes wear out, I’ll be replacing them with the Barbell Rescue brush. No hesitation.

Real Life Examples

I like the fact that this is also made by a small US company, ran by an Air Force vet. So there is a lot to like about the Barbell Rescue brushes. Add that they are working on custom colors, simply because people like to color match their gym, and you have few reasons NOT to buy one.

The above picture is from our dude Mike Curry, who took home a Barbell Rescue Brush in the Spring 2023 Garage Gym Competition. The left is before, and the right is after. He has a good video showing the bar cleaned vs not here too.

You can check out Barbell Rescue at this link.

Garage Gym Competition Sponsorship

Barbell Rescue is tossing up 3 brushes in EACH event for the 2023 year. So make sure to mark your calendars for the Fall event for your chance to win a brush.