It looks really bad but spent some time today sanding the rust. Turns out , only the surface is rusted, the metal is still in tact. It'll take probably a few more days to remove the rust but so far so good. I am not at the stage yet where my lifts might cause the barbell to bend, but thank you for your advice. I'll be more careful with it from now on wards, and if I see any sign of it bending, I'll stop using it.