About 10 years ago, I hit my right shoulder pretty bad, which prevented me from regularly doing low bar squats. I didn’t want to stop squatting completely while I healed, so I bought this funny cook with a padded yoke and forward-facing handles: the safety squat baror SSB.
SSB worked as it should. It allowed me to continue squatting without straining my shoulder. The train of gains in my legs continued while my shoulder recovered.
Once my shoulder healed, I tossed the SSB in the corner of my garage gym and returned to my trusty straight bar.
However, as my forties wore on, my shoulders, while not in severe pain, began to feel less wobbly than they used to despite the mobility I was doing. Straight bar squats became increasingly painful, so much so that I dreaded the exercise instead of looking forward to it like I once did. So last year I decided to ditch my regular bar completely and use the SSB for my squats. I haven’t looked back. Life is too short to be cowering under a bar.
Since then, the SSB has become one of my favorite pieces of fitness equipment. Not only is it a great solution for aching joints when you squat, but it’s also a versatile muscle-building tool that lets you do a bunch of lower-body exercises safely and comfortably.
Here’s why every middle-aged dude should consider adding an SSB to his strength training lineup and seven exercises you can do with it.
What is the Safety Squat Bar?
The squat safety bar is a special bar with a padded central yoke and two forward-extending handles. Instead of holding it as you do a straight bar, swinging your arms back as if they were arresting you, you hold the SSB with two handles in front of your chest. This protects your shoulders, elbows and wrists from the usual stress of squatting. Because of the yoke, you can even squat without holding the front handles — without using your hands at all.
The SSB is also curved – its weight sleeves drop below the level of the rod that rests on your traps. This shifts the load slightly forward, which changes the mechanics of the lift. Compared to a traditional back squat, the SSB encourages a more upright torso and increases activation in your upper back and core. This more upright position also allows you to hit your quads more during a squat.
Why Senior Lifters Love SSB
Shoulder relief. This is obvious. As we age, shoulder mobility tends to decline and injuries accumulate. The SSB removes the biggest obstacle to squatting for many older lifters: the pain of placing your hands. With the handles in front, you can train your lower body without straining your upper body.
Joint-friendly mechanics. The bar’s forward bend and upright stance reduce shear stress on the lower back and distribute the load more evenly across the hips and knees. Many lifters with back or knee problems find they can squat deeper and more comfortably with the SSB. I’ve had some knee issues over the last few years and I’ve noticed that when I squat with SSB, I don’t have knee pain.
7 Exercises You Can Do With a Safety Squat Bar
In addition to being easier on the joints, SSB is also flexible. You can squat with it, of course. But there’s more you can do with it than that.
Here are 7 tried and true exercises you can do with a safety bar squat:
1. SSB Squat
Set up as you would for a regular squat, but keep your grip on the handles in front of your chest. Focus on staying tall and letting the bar rest securely on your shoulders. You will feel more upright and more committed to your medium.
You can do all the squat variations you do with a straight bar with SSB, including pin squats, box squats, and band squats.
2. Hatfield Squat
This is my favorite squat variation with the SSB. It’s the only squat I do these days. Perform a SSB squat while holding the rack or pegs placed in front of you for stability. This allows you to lift weights, maintain perfect form and reduce balance demands.
3. Front Squat
Regular front squats are great for building big, strong quads, but this front rack position can be terribly uncomfortable. SSB front squats are a great way to get a quad-dominant workout without the usual wrist discomfort.
To do the front squat with an SSB, you should lift the bar back so that the handles are facing you. Raise the handles and place them on your shoulders so that the yoke pad is under your chin, resting on the tops of your shoulders. Once the bar is in this position, the SSB will naturally stay in place. You can do the lift without using your hands. Then squat like a regular front squat.
4. Bulgarian Split Squat
The exercise I love to hate. Bulgarian split squats are a great isolation move for your quads. Usually, you do them by holding dumbbells in each hand. But doing them this way comes with two limiting factors: 1) weight and 2) grip strength. Dumbbells get so heavy and even if you’re really heavy, your grip strength can limit how much weight you can add to the movement. It’s hard to hold 120-pound dumbbells in each hand while doing a Bulgarian split squat. With an SSB, you can add a lot more weight as you get stronger and it completely removes the grip factor from the equation.
Just load your SSB, get in underneath and sling it out over your shoulders. Place your back foot on a bench and then perform the usual Bulgarian split squat. If you want additional stability, you can keep some pegs mounted on your shelf. That’s how I do it.
5. Lunges
With the SSB on your back, lunges become much easier to control than when you’re trying to keep your grip on dumbbells or shrug your shoulders under a straight bar. The padding and tilt keep the load stable, and the handles allow you to make micro-adjustments to your balance. Forward, backward, or walking walks work—each variation hits the quads and glutes while being surprisingly joint-friendly.
6. Good morning
This is a great hinge move to hit your hammies and glutes (or gyatt as your middle man might say). I’ve been doing this move a lot lately. The SSB makes the good morning more comfortable and safe as the bar stays in place and you don’t have to worry about your grip.
It’s easy to do: with a slight bend in the knee, hinge at the hips while keeping your back flat. Once you feel that big stretch in your hammies, stand back up.
8. Raises calf
SSB makes calf raising easy and comfortable. Place the SSB on your shoulders and lift yourself onto the balls of your feet. For extra range of motion, stand on a bumper plate and let your heels drop under it in the low position.
Final Thoughts
If squats have been giving you more grimaces than gains lately, don’t give up just yet. Get a safety squat bar and keep doing the heavy lifting on your legs.
But don’t just stop at the squat. The squat safety bar isn’t just a specialized tool for injured lifters. It’s a joint-friendly, strength-building tool that allows you to perform a variety of lower-body exercises. For the middle-aged man who wants to stay strong, it’s definitely a worthwhile investment.
