Safety Squat Bar (SSB)
A barbell with a cambered design and shoulder pads for squatting.
The safety squat bar has a curved (cambered) design with padding on the shoulders and handles in front. It reduces shoulder and elbow stress compared to low-bar squats, making it accessible to those with upper body limitations. The bar position shifts weight forward, emphasizing quads and upper back.
What the bar changes
A specialty barbell with padded shoulder yokes and forward-angled handles, cambered so the weight sits slightly in front of and below a straight bar's path. Two consequences follow. The handles are in front of you, so the shoulders never externally rotate into the position a straight bar demands, which makes it usable for lifters with shoulder or elbow restrictions. And the camber pushes you forward, so the torso has to work harder to stay upright and the upper back is loaded far more than in a back squat.
How to use it
It substitutes directly for the back squat as a main lift, and it is a common choice for lifters training around shoulder pain, for high-volume squat work where bar position on the back becomes the limiting discomfort, and for good mornings and split squats where the hand position is otherwise awkward. Expect to use around 10 per cent less weight than your back squat, sometimes more, and treat that as the nature of the tool.
Common mistakes
Letting the forward push win. The bar wants to tip you into a good morning, so if the upper back gives up, the squat becomes a folded-over grind. Bracing the upper back hard and keeping the elbows down counters it. The other is holding the handles and pulling down on them for dear life, which makes the bar less stable, not more; a light grip with the load on the yokes is the intended position.
Examples
- Padded yoke on shoulders
- Front handles to hold
- Easier on shoulders than low bar
Related Terms
Compound exercises
Put this into practice with exercises from the library.
One-Arm Long Bar Row
Strength · Barbell
One-Arm Medicine Ball Slam
Strength · Medicine Ball
One-Arm Open Palm Kettlebell Clean
Strength · Kettlebells
One-Arm Overhead Kettlebell Squats
Strength · Kettlebells
One-Arm Side Deadlift
Strength · Barbell
One Arm Chin-Up
Strength · Other
One Arm Dumbbell Bench Press
Strength · Dumbbell
One Arm Floor Press
Strength · Barbell