Cambered Bar

[Al Myers]

Cambered Bar

[Chad Ullom]

Wish I did, I love shaking up the workout…but, no

[Thom Van Vleck]

Well, I know it’s not the same, but I have a safety squat bar and if you use it without holding onto the rack, it’s similiar, but not the same. I also have a bar that is very badly bent (thanks to Sean Betz) that I squat with, its kind alike the “buffalo bar”. I agree with the switching things up. My opinion is there is no physiological advantage, it’s all mental. But don’t underestimate the importance of keeping things fresh mentally!

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

[Travis Willingham]

The crew of powerlifters I used to run with had one. Not sure who ended up with it when we disbanded. It was huge, weighed around 75#. It definitely worked your core and kind of had a swing to it when you came out of the hole. I also have a bent bar similar to a buffalo that I bent the hell out of, but I don’t really use it anymore since I bent it so much.

[Al Myers]

These different squat bars sure “mix things up” with your squat training. I think that is the main use for them. The biggest obstacle in squatting is the “mind game”, and trying to stay focused on having hard squat workouts. These “special bars” don’t get used much, but when they do they really can recharge your attitude. Sometimes just getting away from straight bar squats for a while will help your mental attitude. Al

[Scott Tully]

One area I have issues with in the squat is bending over too far, the cambered bar and band squats help with this alot, the cambered(offset, in complete agreement with al)bar really hits the core also. As soon as I can get back to squatting, hurt my knee saturday, I plan on adding these into the 3 week rotation, reg squats, band squats, offset bar squats.

ST

[Thom Van Vleck]

Tully, sorry to hear about your meet. I like squatting with my safety squat bar because I can’t cheat by leaning forward (When I did my 600lb squat I leaned forward until my knees hit my chest and then “dipped” my hips and did a good morning with it. I quit squatting heavy for that reason, my back was so much stronger than my legs I was gonna get hurt!

My question is: Do you feel like you should have done some more straight bar squats leading up to the meet?

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

[Scott Tully]

thom,

I used a straight every week pretty much except the last one,that week is a free workout as it mostly a rest week, I do think I went to heavy in this and farmers picks maybe though that close to a comp, so I dont think that was it, I got rushed and made a bad choice at the comp, have been using wraps anything over 500, got rushed and just pulled my knee sleeves up, also I was set up screwey but had already got the squat command and didnt want to move my feet, I do think its a great tool, but if your going to squat in comps, you have to use a straight bar, one more area Im finding a issue with is I use a 8 foot long squat bar, and in comps they use a Tx powe bar which is 7 foot, and it jams me up, at some point I may look into starting to use one as the comps get closer. the injury was caused by changing something the day of the comp, and having been sicker than crap the few days before.

[Thom Van Vleck]

I agree in the longer bar stuff….I used a bar that John Ware had special made that had about 6″ more room between the sleeves. It’s the bar he used to squat 1000 with. I went collar to collar with my grip and set the bar as low on my back as I could get away with….then the switch screwed me up at a ADFPA meet. I’d hit 560 the week before and BOMBED with 475!!! Talk about feeling like an idiot. It just wasn’t comfortable. You get well and get back at it.

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

[Travis Willingham]

FYI for those in the Kansas City area:

One just popped up listed for sale

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/spo/2178650442.html

[Author]

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