I used the Safety Squat bar today for the first time. It was ok, nothing special. It was strange to place my hands near the top of my shoulders to hold the bar.
Anyone else’s opinion on the Safety Squat bar? Likes / dislikes?
I’d love to try one. The gyms I go to never have them though.
The safety squat bar is the best piece of equipment I have purchased in some time. What safety squat bar are you using? Is it similar to the ones sold on elite fts? You said it was nothing special which I find hard to believe as using a safety squat bar should take a lot more effort than a regular barbell.
Don’t know how much you squat or your set up but if you squat heavy and with a wide grip it will take it’s toll on your shoulders after a while. I got bicep tendonitus with using a straight bar every week so I bought an EFS YOKE bar. Problem solved. The bar will really hit your quads & low/mid back hard . You can do good mornings with it, zercher squats and front squats if you turn the bar around and put the pads over the shoulders the opposite way. This is great because the pads take away the discomfort of a front squat.
SSb’s are the shizz
[quote]bundy wrote:
You said it was nothing special which I find hard to believe as using a safety squat bar should take a lot more effort than a regular barbell.[/quote]
No shit, I can squat 625. When I first got my YOKE bar I worked up to 405 and it was the hardest longest grinder rep I have ever done. I almost freakin passed out. I’m up in the 5’s with it now but they are harder than using a regular bar fo sho…
[quote]bundy wrote:
The safety squat bar is the best piece of equipment I have purchased in some time. What safety squat bar are you using? Is it similar to the ones sold on elite fts? You said it was nothing special which I find hard to believe as using a safety squat bar should take a lot more effort than a regular barbell.[/quote]
The safety squat bar I’m using is the “standard,” as shown in the attached link. When you open up the page, scroll down to the Safety Squat -Standard bar. That’s the one that I’m using.
You can use this for Front Squats? How? I place the main part of the pad on my traps and shoulders.
[quote]ghost87 wrote:
[quote]bundy wrote:
The safety squat bar is the best piece of equipment I have purchased in some time. What safety squat bar are you using? Is it similar to the ones sold on elite fts? You said it was nothing special which I find hard to believe as using a safety squat bar should take a lot more effort than a regular barbell.[/quote]
The safety squat bar I’m using is the “standard,” as shown in the attached link. When you open up the page, scroll down to the Safety Squat -Standard bar. That’s the one that I’m using.
You can use this for Front Squats? How? I place the main part of the pad on my traps and shoulders.
[/quote]
Sorry - here’s the link:
[quote]ghost87 wrote:
[quote]bundy wrote:
You can use this for Front Squats? How? I place the main part of the pad on my traps and shoulders.
[/quote]
You bet, instead of the bar being on your back, put it so the pad on is the front of your throat and the handles go over your shoulders facing the back.
EDIT… Check this out…http://www.youtube.com/user/keck47
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
[quote]ghost87 wrote:
[quote]bundy wrote:
You can use this for Front Squats? How? I place the main part of the pad on my traps and shoulders.
[/quote]
You bet, instead of the bar being on your back, put it so the pad on is the front of your throat and the handles go over your shoulders facing the back.
EDIT… Check this out…http://www.youtube.com/user/keck47[/quote]
I’ve done this too and found it a great exercise. The elitefts site has a great article on how to use the safety squat/yoke bar. Strengthdawg are those numbers raw? If so great stuff. What rep range are you using for the yoke bar?
[quote]ghost87 wrote:
[quote]ghost87 wrote:
[quote]bundy wrote:
The safety squat bar is the best piece of equipment I have purchased in some time. What safety squat bar are you using? Is it similar to the ones sold on elite fts? You said it was nothing special which I find hard to believe as using a safety squat bar should take a lot more effort than a regular barbell.[/quote]
The safety squat bar I’m using is the “standard,” as shown in the attached link. When you open up the page, scroll down to the Safety Squat -Standard bar. That’s the one that I’m using.
You can use this for Front Squats? How? I place the main part of the pad on my traps and shoulders.
[/quote]
Sorry - here’s the link:
http://www.elitebarbell.com/
[/quote]
That’s the one. This should be crushing you the first time you used it. Don’t do what some people do and place their hands on the power rack and pull themselves up. That’s for softcocks!
This is another bar I’d love to get my hands on but they’re so damn rare in Sweden. I couldn’t even get the gymowner to get a trap bar so probably no use even asking about this lol.
[quote]bundy wrote:
Don’t do what some people do and place their hands on the power rack and pull themselves up. That’s for softcocks!
[/quote]
You mean like this? 
[quote]Matsa wrote:
This is another bar I’d love to get my hands on but they’re so damn rare in Sweden. I couldn’t even get the gymowner to get a trap bar so probably no use even asking about this lol.
[quote]bundy wrote:
Don’t do what some people do and place their hands on the power rack and pull themselves up. That’s for softcocks!
[/quote]
You mean like this?
That’s the one. I’ve seen guys do this and turn it into an arm/back exercise yet their legs are only doing half the work.
[quote]bundy wrote:
Strengthdawg are those numbers raw? If so great stuff. What rep range are you using for the yoke bar?[/quote]
I wish. Actually they are with a squat suit, straps down and a belt. My Raw numbers are about 75# ish lower.
Rep ranges = most of the time its 3-5. Sometimes I’ll drop the weight and do a ‘widowmaker’ ala DC training.
For the front squats I usually do somewhere in the low 200#/100k for reps of 12-15.
I really like the SSB, but I have a hard time fully taxing my legs when I use it since my upper/lower back turns out being the weak link. Like others here, my poundages are significantly lower than when I use the regular barbell, so when I’m done I don’t really feel like my legs got hit as hard as possible, but with that said, I think there is a benefit to using this bar to strengthen weaknesses which will allow your poundages to increase on other lifts. It is very humbling. I see to do better with it when I do a box squat as opposed to an olympic squat. From a bodybuilding perspective, I probably wouldn’t use this as the sole quad exercise because I don’t think your legs will get worked as much as they could, but I do see value to it, especially for those with shoulder issues that make holding the bar on squats tough.
I also really like using it for front squats.
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
[quote]bundy wrote:
Strengthdawg are those numbers raw? If so great stuff. What rep range are you using for the yoke bar?[/quote]
I wish. Actually they are with a squat suit, straps down and a belt. My Raw numbers are about 75# ish lower.
Rep ranges = most of the time its 3-5. Sometimes I’ll drop the weight and do a ‘widowmaker’ ala DC training.
For the front squats I usually do somewhere in the low 200#/100k for reps of 12-15.[/quote]
Still good numbers. Well done.
[quote]bruno082985 wrote:
I really like the SSB, but I have a hard time fully taxing my legs when I use it since my upper/lower back turns out being the weak link. Like others here, my poundages are significantly lower than when I use the regular barbell, so when I’m done I don’t really feel like my legs got hit as hard as possible, but with that said, I think there is a benefit to using this bar to strengthen weaknesses which will allow your poundages to increase on other lifts. It is very humbling. I see to do better with it when I do a box squat as opposed to an olympic squat. From a bodybuilding perspective, I probably wouldn’t use this as the sole quad exercise because I don’t think your legs will get worked as much as they could, but I do see value to it, especially for those with shoulder issues that make holding the bar on squats tough.
I also really like using it for front squats. [/quote]
Until I used the a safety squat bar I didn’t realise how weak my core was. After discovering this I got stuck into a lot of weighted core work and the problem disappeared.