Just when you think the Swiss Bar can’t get any more versatile, here’s five more ways and exercises you can use to blow your lifting mind:

1.) Use it for incline movements – The swiss bar is a great tool for using it on something like an incline press. Not only does it hit your chest from a different angle, it’s great on your shoulders. You can go close-grip, medium or wide (or all three) and the neutral grip makes for a different set-up than traditional incline barbell presses.

2.) Push-up power – In our last article, we talked about putting it at the top of a power rack for chin-ups. Here’s the opposite – put it at the bottom for a killer way to do push-ups. Again, you can change grips all in one set, getting a great stretch at the bottom and exhausting several different muscle groups. Throw some chains or some weights on your back and this could be brutal.

3.) Tricep and bench press exhaustion – One EFS reader – Earl Escartin – called this the “6-6-6 Press” and the cryptic name seems about right. Do a neutral-grip bench press for 6 reps with a wide grap, rack it and move to the medium grip. Do six more reps, rack it and finish with six reps on the closest grip.

This can also be done with tricep extensions, which is another great exercise with the bar. If you’re feeling especially good, add some chains on the extensions or presses.

4.) Still easy on the shoulders – This bar reigns supreme in that regard. Even with simple shoulder exercises like front raises, shoulder pain is something a lot of lifters can’t get around. The neutral grip for front raises helps immensely and it can turn into a solid exercises using the three different grips to exhaust your shoulders.

5.) Clean and press like your favorite strongman – So maybe you don’t have one of those World’s Strongest Man logs. That’s okay, the swiss bar is the next best thing. Take a narrow grip, clean the bar up to your shoulders and then press overhead. You can also take out the clean and simply curl the bar up and then press in the same motion. EFS reader Peter Brannstrom called this “a poor and weak man’s log press. I really like that exercise.” So do we, Peter.

Other reader favorites with the swiss bar:

“Close-grip (press) dynamic effort.” – Corey Smash

“(The Swiss bar) also works great for a jammer setup with bands.” – Steven Holt

“Floor press with chains.” – Brian Bott

Exercises with Swiss Bar

Clean and Press

Front Raises – Different Grips

Triple Grip Tricep Extensions

Close Grip - Add Chains for a Challenge

Swiss Bar Row with Chains

Grappler Press