Thread: Safety Squat Bar

Would love to add one of these to my home gym. They are just so damn expensive. Anyone here use one? Or own one? Here is an article from a Westside guy, about his first experience training with one.

The Safety Squat Bar
By Dave Tate
For EliteFTS - Powerlifting and Strength Training Products and Knowledge for Lifters, Athletes, Coaches, and Trainers
My First Safety Squat Bar Workout

I used to think this bar was a total waste of time and money before I used it for the first time at Westside Barbell Club in the early 1990’s. I came to Westside from a very intense progressive overload background. For those who are not familiar with this style of training, progressive overload begins by performing sets of 10 repetitions for several weeks and over two to three months, one would gradually decrease the reps until you perform singles. This style of training worked well for me when I first began training. As I got more experienced, I needed something more advanced and started training at Westside Barbell. I had to find something new or I was never going to get better. While at Westside, I was introduced to a whole new style of training. It was completely different and I had never seen or read about this kind of training before. I was hesitant at first but since I had not made any progress in many years I figured I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I had seen the Safety Squat bar before and thought it was a total joke. I always thought that if you wanted to squat more, you simply squatted. And if you wanted to deadlift more, all you had to do is deadlift. To me everything else was just to get bigger, not stronger.

I still remember my first training session with the Safety Squat bar. It was a max effort training day. On max effort days, we always pick one exercise and work up until you hit a one rep max. On this particular day we performed a Safety Squat bar squat off of a low hassock (which is similar to a soft box). After one set I knew this bar was going to absolutely destroy the muscles of my upper and lower back. 135 pounds was loaded on the bar and we all began to work up. Back then Westside was not the gym it is today. Yes, there were still very strong lifters there but nothing like there is today. I can’t remember who I was training with but I do remember the intensity of the training session. I had always had training partners but never more than one or two and the intensity was nothing like what I was about to experience.

After a few sets of 135 we proceeded to work up using 3 reps with only 45’s and 25’s pound plates being used. Anything less was a sin. I knew this bar was about to kick my ass when we got up to 315. 315 pounds should not have been that heavy as I had recently squatted 760lbs. But it was and my lower back was screaming. Since I was new at Westside, I didn’t let anyone know. I did not want to look like a chump. The thing that killed me was that 315 was a total joke for all the other guys, and they all squatted less than me! I had no idea why I was so weak. The next jump was to 365 and when I unracked the bar I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it. It felt like a ton when I took it out of the rack. This bar is in a constant process of trying to dump you forward and you have to use the muscles of your lower back to stay arched (another thing I had no idea how to do) and your upper back to keep from dumping forward. After unracking the bar there were several shouts of encouragement from the spotters. I grinded out my first rep. I was about to rack the bar when Louie yelled for me to do two more reps. After the second rep, my eyes began to water and I started seeing stars. The third rep, I don’t remember.

The rest of the guys once again had no problem with the weight and I began to feel humbled. I thought I was done squatting when I heard the 45 slap on the bar. 405 pounds was loaded on the bar and they were calling me back up to the bar. For the first time in my life I did not want to squat. 365 just about knocked my head off and now I was expected to squat 405. Being that I had never made smart decisions in the past with my own training, I figured what the hell. I got under the bar and unracked the weight and proceeded to do one of the slowest single rep maximums of my entire life. I am sure my spotters were yelling the whole time but the only thought going through my head was to stand back up with the weight. After the weight was racked the room began to fade and then I saw flickering silver dust particles all around me. I held onto the bar to ensure I did not pass out and then walked over to the glute ham raise and held myself up for the next half hour. I watched, drooped over the pad and my world spinning, while my new training partners all worked up to 600 pounds.

The next day I was sore as hell from my calves to my neck. There was not a single muscle on the backside of my body that did not hurt. When I looked in the mirror I noticed that both my eyes were blood shot and I had broken capillaries all over my face. I hated the Safety Squat bar but realized how valuable the bar was. Over the next few years I saw my squat jump from 760 to 935 and have to say that some of this increase was due to the torture of the Safety Squat Bar.

The next day I was sore as hell from my calves to my neck. There was not a single muscle on the backside of my body that did not hurt. When I looked in the mirror I noticed that both my eyes were blood shot and I had broken capillaries all over my face. I hated the Safety Squat bar but realized how valuable the bar was. Over the next few years I saw my squat jump from 760 to 935 and have to say that some of this increase was due to the torture of the Safety Squat Bar.

soreness/pain/injury = growth