INTRO

The Kensui Open Swiss Barbell offers a neutral grip option with an “open” design aimed at reducing the restrictions on range of motion that you will encounter with some Swiss bars, which have a “closed” design.

Specs:

It weighs 45 LBS
500 LBs Weight Capacity
78.75” long
12.75” of loadable sleeve space (on each side)
Space between the most interior handles is 18”
No Center Knurling (Perfect for Overhead Pressing)
28MM Handles, spaced out about 1 7/8” each

Exercises:

The Barbell has an imbalance due to its one-side open design. This imbalance is prominent with some exercises and not so prominent with other exercises.

There are 6 exercises that the Company mentions for this barbell in the following Kensui promotional video:

Here are my thoughts on each one of these 6 exercises.

Neutral Grip Bench Press: 2/5 Stars

The barbell’s imbalance is prominent on this exercise. While bench pressing you want to mainly focus on your chest. Having to focus on the imbalance, and having to engage your wrists/forearms to counteract the wobble of the bar - distracts from focusing on your chest.
Furthermore, many Swiss bars, have a cambered center to get a deeper stretch in your chest, the Kensui Sapporo Bar doesn’t have this.
For these reasons, I do not think this is a good barbell for this exercise.

Neutral Grip Hammer Curl: 4/5 Stars

The barbell’s imbalance is NOT prominent on this exercise. The open design allows you to get the barbell closer to your body/face (depending upon how you hold the barbell) than you can with a closed-design Swiss Bar.

Neutral Grip Shrugs: 2/5 Stars

The barbell’s imbalance is noticeable on this exercise. Further, the space between the interior handles is only 18” - and this may not be sufficient for people bigger than me. The Bar will rub against your “groin area” - which is annoying. Therefore, if you want to do neutral grip barbell shrugs, a Trap Bar is probably the better tool for the job.

Neutral Grip Barbell Row: 3.5/5 Stars

The barbell’s imbalance is noticeable on this exercise, but not significantly. Then open design does allow you to get extra range of motion - as compared to non-cambered closed system Swiss Bars.
Would a cambered Swiss bar out perform this bar? Perhaps. I don’t know. However, what I do know is that performing neutral grip barbell rows on this barbell does feel nice.

Neutral Grip Romanian Deadlift: 3/5 Stars

The barbell’s imbalance is not as pronounced with this exercise. Again, the space between the interior handles is only 18” - and this may not be sufficient for people bigger than me. If you are bigger than me, a Trap Bar is probably the better tool for the job.

Neutral Grip Overhead Press: 4.5/5 Stars

This is where the barbell shines. The engineering/design choices seem to me to be primarily focused on this exercise over all others. I am guessing the executives at Kensui figured out that Overhead pressing with a neutral grip is not IDEAL with a CLOSED design because you have to keep the bar further away from your body to prevent hitting your face with the closed design. SO voila! The Sapporo Barbell was born.
The imbalance is not as pronounced with this exercise, and I think the barbell feels great with this movement.

Shopping

SO – here is the summary of the exercise…some are great, some are MEH, some are NOPE. If this bar is the right barbell for you – please consider making that purchase by Clicking on the affiliate links located here: https://bit.ly/DBL-KENSUI-SAPPORO-OPEN-SWISS

Clicking on this link costs you nothing extra and it helps support the channel. Thank you! Much appreciated!

Kensui Sapporo Open Swiss Bar