4 Best Strongman Log Bars in 2024

Since starting in the 1970s, strongman training has become more popular, with prominent figures such as Brian Shaw and Eddie Hall helping to capture the imaginations of people watching at home and in person.

Choosing the best strongman log bar will help to take your training to the next level. With the increase in popularity, a wide range of well-known companies are now making different types of strongman equipment.

I’ve reviewed my top 4 log bars and taken out the hard work, so you’re able to make the right choice when purchasing more strongman equipment.

Top 4 Best Strongman Log Bars Reviewed

1. Titan Fitness Rackable Strongman Log Bar – Top Pick
2. Valor Fitness Strongman OB-Log Bar – Runner-Up
3. Rogue Fitness LB-1 10″ Log Bar – Premium Pick
4. Slater’s Strongman True Log – Built By Hand

Product	Total	Weight Capacity	Comfort	Durability	Price/ Quality
Titan Fitness	39.5	10	9.5	10	10
Valor Fitness	39	9	10	10	10
Rogue Fitness	39	10	9.5	10	9.5
Slater’s	37.5	8.5	9.5	10	9.5

1. Titan Fitness Rackable Strongman Log Bar – Top Pick

Titan Fitness provides premium strength and conditioning equipment without the premium cost, allowing everyone to live healthier, stronger lifestyles. They use high-grade materials in all of their products.

• Material: Alloy Steel
• Item Weight: 50 lbs
• Grip Type: Knurled
• Color: Black
• Weight Limit: 1000 lbs
• Finish Type: Powder Coated
• Features: Rackable bar / Neutral Knurled Grip

Titan Fitness has designed a rackable log bar, allowing you to load the log much easier than on the ground. It allows you to train from a different starting height and work on a specific movement pattern from the height of the bar, giving you a wider range of exercise options.

The neutral hand grips are designed to reduce shoulder stress during pressing, with a knurled finish helping you to maintain a firm grip on the bar during heavy training. The grips are 7.75″ long and 42 mm in diameter. The grip cut-outs are wide enough to fit your hands and arms comfortably without getting in the way.

The Titan Fitness log is extremely well-built, constructed from solid steel with welded end caps. With a weight capacity of up to 1000 lbs, it’s designed for serious training. The steel has been finished nicely, with powder-coating in black to provide added durability, protecting the bar from rust, scratches, and scuffs. It’s an excellent staple for strongman training.

With a 10″ sleeve diameter, the log has plenty of room to load as many plates as needed. The sleeves are compatible with regular and competition plates, allowing you to recreate a competition experience during training.

Overall, the Titan Fitness Log is a heavy-duty piece of strongman equipment, with some great design features, and comes at a good price point.

2. Valor Fitness Strongman OB-Log Bar - Runner-Up

Valor Fitness is committed to new and more experienced fitness athletes performing a wide range of sports including powerlifting, fitness, Olympic Weightlifting, and Strongman.

• Material: Alloy Steel
• Item Weight: 53 lbs
• Grip Type: Smooth Neutral Grip Handles
• Color: Black
• Weight Limit: 500 lbs
• Finish Type: Powder Coated
• Features: Neutral Grip / Removable Log Sleeves / Rubber Protective Edges

The Valor Fitness Strongman OB-Log Bar is a versatile log bar that allows you to remove the log sleeves and use the log bar by itself. Each sleeve has a loadable length of 13.5" with a 2" diameter, making it compatible with competition plates and providing plenty of room for plate loading.

What makes the Valor Fitness Log stand out is the wider openings around the grip handles with smooth rubber edges, providing added arm comfort for bigger lifters. The neutral hand grips are designed to reduce wrist stress and measure 7.5" long with 6" of room from the inside rubber edge and 7.2" from the outside.

Valor Fitness has constructed the log with heavy-duty lifting in mind. It's made with 14-Gauge steel and finished with a protective black powder coating to help it cope better with repeated strongman lifting. It can handle a max weight load of up to 500 lbs, which is plenty of weight for strongmen of all ability levels.

The Valor Fitness log comes in black, with the Valor logo cut out at either end. It has two model choices, with the OB-Log-8 providing a smaller log option. Both log models come at good price points for the quality given.

Overall, the Valor Fitness log features rubber edges around the extra-wide handle openings and allows the sleeves to be removed during training.

3. Rogue Fitness LB-1 10" Log Bar - Premium Pick

Rogue Fitness is a leading supplier of high-quality strength and fitness equipment, including weights, racks, and accessories. They aim to supply serious athletes at any level with well-made equipment at affordable prices.

• Material: 11-Gauge Steel
• Item Weight: 72 lbs
• Grip Type: Smooth Neutral Grip Handles
• Color: Black
• Weight Limit: 1000 lbs
• Finish Type: Powder Coated
• Features: Full-welded end + internal plates / Neutral Grip / Laser-cut Rogue Logo

When purchasing from Rogue, you’re getting equipment that's been tested at the highest level of competition. Rogue is the leading supplier of the World's Strongest Man competition. They have designed a premium log bar that’s worth the extra investment. The 11-Gauge steel has been laser cut to measure 10" in diameter and is ⅛" thick.

It features fully welded internal and end plates with solid round bar protection on the openings. This detailed construction process with the small added features shows that the Rogue LB-1 bar has been designed to last your whole lifting career.

The rectangle handle openings on the LB-1 log provide plenty of space for you to comfortably place your hands around the 1.66" neutral grip handles. The LB-1 bar has been well-tested by Rogue at 1000 lbs giving it a large weight capacity, with the 14" loadable sleeve length allowing you to load a wide range of competition and regular weight plates.

The steel is finished in a black powder coat, with the laser-cut Rogue branding featured on one side. Overall, the Rogue Fitness LB-1 10" Log Bar is worth the extra investment. It features a premium build with a 1000 lb weight capacity and 14" loadable sleeve length.

4. Slater’s Strongman True Log - Built By Hand

Slater’s started with the founder looking for a solution to finding unique strongman equipment. Each of their high-quality strength training products is built by hand, with Slater’s producing logs for elite events such as the World's Strongest Man and Arnold Strongman competitions.

• Material: Ash/Oak/Pine Hardwood, Manilla Rope, Steel End Plates
• Item Weight: 60-80 lbs / 60-100 lbs / 100-120+ lbs
• Grip Type: Smooth Steel
• Color: Cream Natural Wood
• Weight Limit: 400+ lbs
• Finish Type: Sanded + Stained Wood
• Features: Heavy-duty Plate Steel Hardware / Hand-crafted wood / Custom Branding Available / Manilla Rope Wrapped

If you’re a fan of strongman equipment that's been built by hand in the USA, the Slaters True Strongman Logs tick all the boxes. The quality of their hand-crafted wooden logs is unmatched, with several different design options.

Their Bootcamp log is a non-loadable strongman made from kiln-dried southern yellow pine. Weighing approximately 60-80 lbs, It's a great log choice for boot camp style workouts where you don't need to add too much extra weight. This log measures 48" long and 10" in diameter, with 24" between the handles. It's been wrapped with 1" Manilla rope to provide a nice finish. It’s an excellent entry-level, cost-efficient log choice for boot camp workouts.

The Original True log is constructed from yellow pine and features loadable 10" sleeve ends with ¼" heavy-duty steel plate hardware. It weighs 60-100 lbs and measures 68" long with a 10" diameter. It’s a great log choice that combines hand-crafted wood with durable steel sleeves for plate loading.

The Premium True log offers the same design as the Original true log but comes crafted from ash or oak hardwood, weighing 100-120 lbs. It's a high-level oak choice for serious strongman competitors looking for a challenge.

Each Slater Strongman Log comes sanded and stained with the D.P.D family stamp. Slater’s can customize the logs as you need when ordering. Each log takes around 4-6 weeks to make.

What are the Benefits of Strongman Log Bars?

Here are just some of the benefits of using a log barbell for your strongman training:

✅ Increased Strength and Power

Lifting a strongman log bar requires explosive strength and power. Requiring a combination of dynamic strength and power using your full body, lifting a log bar in a range of compound movement leads to increased strength and power.

✅ Increased Fat Burning

The more muscles you use for a given exercise the more calories you burn. With strongman log bars requiring multiple muscle groups to be used at a higher intensity, using them burns more fat.

✅ Sports Performance

Just like lifting a log bar, many sports require powerful, dynamic movements using multiple planes of motion. Therefore, using a strongman log bar can translate into sports performance by building explosive power, strength, and functional capacity.

When Do You Need a Strongman Log Bar?

People who can benefit from using a log weight bar include:

• Athletes training for general strongman competitions
• Athletes competing in log lift competitions
• People who want to improve their overall pressing capabilities
• People of all abilities who enjoy strongman training
• Athletes looking to improve sports performance using dynamic, powerful movements
• People looking for an extra workout challenge
• Anyone looking for a cost-effective compound training method

Popular strongman exercises that can be performed using the strongman log bar include:

• Overhead Pressing
• Log Bar Rowing
• Cleans
• Jerks

What to Look For in Strongman Log Bars?

1. Comfort

Comfort isn't usually one of the main considerations for strongmen, but it should be. If you're lifting huge weights over your head, you want to feel comfortable and focus on lifting. Strongman logs have some features making them more comfortable, such as the type of handle protection and knurling that's built into the log. Some logs also contain protective rubber edges which provide added comfort.

2. Durability

Once you’ve managed to get the log overhead, chances are you won’t be able to bring it down in a controlled manner. Therefore, strongman logs need to be durable when taking repeated impacts. Features that increase the durability include steel alloy construction with solid welds or solid wood that's been stained and sealed.

3. Price/Quality

With strongman bars coming at a higher price point compared to other common gym equipment, make sure they are made using quality materials such as high gauge steel or quality pine, oak, and ash hardwood.

Compare the materials used to the price you're paying and make sure you're happy with what's been offered.

4. Features

If you’re training for a strongman competition, make sure you purchase a log that's similar to the one you’re going to be using. Features on different logs include non-slip grip handles, removable sleeves, and weight collars.

Consider the dimensions of the log and check which ones you’ll be using in the competition. If you're used to training with a smaller-sized log, chances are you’ll find the bigger log much harder if you don't have any experience lifting it overhead.

FAQ

What Size Log Do Strongmen Use?

On average, the size of the bar strongmen use is 10 inches. Some of the heaviest strongman log bars for strongman competitions can be 12+ inches, whilst smaller ones can be as low as 8 inches.

How Heavy Is The Log In Strongman?

In the 2022 World's Strongest Man competition, each athlete attempted to lift a 145 kg log above their head for as many repetitions as possible. The log lift record belongs to Iron Biby who lifted a 229 kg log over his head at the 2021 Giants World Tour Finals.

Summary - Which Log Press Bar Is the Best?

Each of the 4 log choices I've reviewed above has been well-designed and make great additions to your home gym setup. However, coming out on top is the Titan Fitness Rackable Strongman Log Bar. It’s versatile, well-designed, and can handle up to 1000 lbs of weight. It’s my top pick log choice, scoring the highest total according to weight capacity, comfort, durability, and price/ quality.

Do you like strongman training? Have you used any of the logs I've reviewed above? Let me know in the comments!

Also Read:

• Best Short Barbell
• Best Women's Barbell
• Best Curl Bar
• Best Multi Grip Barbell
• Best Rogue Barbell
• Best Bench Press Barbell
• Types Of Barbells
• Homegrown Lifting Bumper Plates Review
• Best Home Gym Pull up Bar

References:

1. 7 Benefits of strongman: Why you should use strongman workouts // Ironbull Strength: https://ironbullstrength.com/blogs/learn/7-benefits-of-strongman-why-you-should-use-strongman-workouts
2. Brian Shaw // Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Shaw_(strongman)
3. Eddie Hall // Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Hall
4. The Amount of Calories Muscles Burn // Very Vell Fit: https://www.verywellfit.com/how-many-calories-does-muscle-really-burn-1231074
5. Transfer of Strength and Power Training to Sports Performance // Rseearchgate: https://www.rseearchgate.net/publication/23711951_Transfer_of_Strength_and_Power_ Training_to_Sports_Performance
6. Are Strongman Logs Just for Strongmen? // Mirafit: https://mirafit.co.uk/blog/are-strongman-logs-just-for-strongmen.html
7. Cheick Sanou // Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheick_Sanou