Swiss bar

[swɪs bɑɹ][swɪs bɑː]

noun

A bar to lift weight plates upon including additional vertically aligned handles.

Meanings

nounSwiss bar (plural Swiss bars)

plural Swiss bars

  1. A bar to lift weight plates upon including additional vertically aligned handles.

    Synonyms: football bar, multi-grip bar, neutral grip bar

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA bar to lift weight plates upon including additional vertically aligned handles.

Origin

Apparently in reference to the neutral Swiss foreign policy, as the most observable difference in performing a bench press with this bar is the neutral grip; perhaps reinforced in view of the complexity of a Swiss Army knife or even the stereotypic holes in Swiss cheese.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Swiss bar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Swiss%20bar

MLA

“Swiss bar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Swiss%20bar. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Swiss bar,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Swiss%20bar.

Source: Swiss bar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.