Safety Bar Squat

Also known as: SSB Squat, Safety Squat Bar Squat, Yoke Bar Squat

StrengthFunctional

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Body Part: Legs

Description

A back squat with a safety squat bar, a bar with a padded yoke and handles in front of the body. You rest the pads on your upper back, hold the handles in front of your shoulders and squat to about parallel. Your arms stay in front, which spares the shoulders, while the bar tips you forward and makes your upper back work to stay upright.

How to Perform

Set the bar in a rack at a height you can step under with a slight knee bend, and set the safety pins just below the bottom of your squat.
Step under the bar so the padded yoke rests across your upper back and traps, and take one handle in each hand in front of your shoulders.
Brace your core, stand up to lift the bar off the hooks and take two or three short steps back.
Set your feet about shoulder-width apart with your toes turned slightly out, and point your elbows down and forward.
Take a deep breath, brace, and bend your knees and hips together, knees moving in line with your toes.
Lower under control until your thighs are about parallel to the floor, keeping your chest up and your whole foot on the floor.
Push through your whole foot to stand up, straightening your knees and hips together, and breathe out near the top.
After the last rep, walk forward into the rack and set the bar on the hooks.

What Muscles Work

Primary Muscle:

Secondary Muscles:

Tips

Center the yoke on your back before you unrack, so the bar sits level and both legs share the load.
Pull the handles down lightly to keep the pads pinned to your back and the bar from shifting.
Let your knees travel forward over your toes as you descend. It helps you stay upright under the bar.
Keep your head neutral and look straight ahead. Do not let the yoke push your head and neck forward.
Choose a stance and toe angle that let your knees follow your toes comfortably, and keep them the same on every rep.
Start lighter than your straight-bar back squat. The load sits differently, and most lifters handle less weight with this bar at first.

Common Mistakes

Letting the chest drop and the upper back round as the bar pulls you forward.
Letting the knees cave in on the way down or up.
Shifting the weight onto the toes and lifting the heels.
Letting the hips rise faster than the chest when standing up.
Setting the yoke too high, on the neck, instead of across the upper traps.
Cutting the squat short, well above parallel.
Dropping fast into the bottom and bouncing out without control.
Squatting without a deep breath and a braced core, so the lower back rounds at the bottom.