Safety Squat Bar: What It Is, How to Use It and What to Buy

A safety squat bar (often shortened to SSB) is a specialty barbell with a padded yoke that sits on your shoulders and two handles that come forward over your chest, so you can squat without reaching back to grip the bar. Most weigh between 20kg and 32kg. It makes you sit more upright, works your upper back harder and takes a lot of strain off stiff or sore shoulders. You'll squat a bit less weight on it, but for many home lifters it's the most useful second bar they can buy after a standard Olympic barbell.

What is a safety squat bar?

Picture a normal barbell, then add three changes. The middle section is padded, sometimes very thickly, so it rests comfortably across your traps. Two handles extend forward and down from the pad, roughly where your hands would hang if you held your arms out in front. And the sleeves at each end are cambered, which means they drop down and forward rather than running straight out from the centre.

That camber moves the load slightly in front of and below where a straight bar would sit. The result is a bar that wants to tip you forward, which sounds bad until you realise the job of resisting it lands on your upper back and trunk, and you can do the whole thing with your hands in front of you instead of jammed behind your head.

Most bars take standard 50mm Olympic plates. Cheaper models sometimes have shorter sleeves, which limits how much you can load, though for most home gyms that ceiling won't matter.

How much does a safety squat bar weigh?

There isn't a standard. Listings typically run from about 20kg to 32kg, and most home-gym bars land between 22kg and 25kg. Heavier commercial bars tend to have thicker pads, longer handles and longer sleeves.

Because the camber shifts where the weight sits, some manufacturers quote an "effective" weight that differs from the dead weight on a scale. For logging your training it barely matters; just use the stated weight consistently. If you want the full picture on how different bars compare, our guide to how much a barbell weighs covers Olympic, standard and specialty bars.

Safety squat bar vs back squat: what actually changes

The SSB isn't just a comfier back squat, and the research backs up what lifters report.

	Straight barbell back squat	Safety squat bar squat
Torso angle	More forward lean, especially low-bar	More upright
Load you can lift	Higher	Typically lower (about 11% less in one study)
Upper back demand	Moderate	Higher, particularly mid and lower traps
Shoulder mobility needed	Need to reach back and grip	Hands stay in front

The best-known study comes from Hecker and colleagues in 2019, who had 12 competitive powerlifters squat with both bars. On the SSB their 3RM dropped by 11.3%, trunk and hip flexion fell by around 7 and 6 degrees, and lower trapezius activity jumped by about 50%. Several leg and core muscles showed lower activity, which the authors put down mostly to the lighter load (Hecker et al., J Strength Cond Res). Their conclusion was blunt: the SSB may not beat a standard bar for building leg strength, but it does challenge the mid back more and places less stress on the lower back.

A Norwegian study comparing safety-bar, high-bar and low-bar squats found something similar on load (lifters handled the least on the safety bar) but also saw greater glute max activity than in the high-bar squat and larger knee extension moments than in the low-bar squat (Kristiansen et al., 2021). So it's not a pure quad exercise or a pure back exercise; the upright torso redistributes the work.

Bar speed is where the evidence gets messy. A 2024 study of 12 recreationally trained men using the same absolute load found similar peak force and effort with either bar, with slightly lower average velocity on the SSB (Staheli et al., 2024). A 2026 study of university athletes reported the opposite: higher velocities on the SSB at percentage-based loads (Alarcón-Rivera et al., 2026). Different methods, different answers. We'd read that as "the bar won't make you slower in any meaningful way".

Who a safety squat bar suits

Lifters with shoulder or elbow problems. This is the main reason people buy one. If getting your hands back to grip a barbell aggravates your shoulders, elbows or wrists, the SSB lets you keep squatting heavy while that settles down.

People coming back from a lower back niggle. A more upright torso and less trunk flexion is generally easier on the lower back, which is what Hecker's group concluded. That's not a medical green light, so if you're injured, get it assessed first.

Home lifters training alone. Holding the handles in front gives you more control, and dumping a failed rep is less awkward than with a straight bar pinned behind your neck. It also opens up lunges and split squats that are clumsy with a regular bar.

Anyone whose back squat has stalled. Plenty of lifters rotate the SSB in for a training block, because the extra upper back work tends to carry over when they return to the straight bar.

It's less useful if your only goal is the biggest possible back squat for a powerlifting meet. You'll still need to train with the competition bar most of the time.

How to squat with a safety squat bar

1. Set the J-hooks lower than usual. Because the pad and handles sit low on your back, set the hooks a notch or two below your normal back squat height so you can get under it with bent knees.
2. Get under and centre the pad. Step in, position the pad across your traps so it feels balanced and grab both handles. Your elbows should point down and slightly forward.
3. Unrack and step back. Stand up with the bar, take two or three short steps back and set your stance as you would for a normal squat.
4. Brace hard. Big breath into your belly, tighten your abs and push your upper back up into the pad. The bar will try to fold you forward; this is where you stop that from happening.
5. Squat. Sit down between your hips, keeping your chest tall. Pull the handles down and slightly forward, and resist the bar tipping you over.
6. Drive up. Push through your whole foot and lead with your chest. If your hips shoot up first, the load is winning.

Exercises you can do with a safety squat bar

• Back squat or box squat. The bread and butter. Box squats to a set height are a good way to learn the bar.
• Good mornings. The SSB is many coaches' favourite bar for these, because the pad stays put as you hinge. See our good morning guide for technique.
• Split squats and Bulgarian split squats. Hold one handle with each hand, or let go with one hand and grab the rack for balance. Our Bulgarian split squat guide explains the setup.
• Walking or reverse lunges. Much more stable than a straight bar, though you'll need room.
• Step-ups. Good for unilateral leg work once you've built some confidence with the bar.

Start with around 70 to 80% of what you'd use on a straight bar back squat for the same reps, then build from there.

Buying checklist

Camber. Deeper camber pushes the load further forward and makes the bar harder to control. A moderate camber suits most home lifters.

Pad quality. This is where cheap bars fall down. A thin pad that compresses under load digs into your neck and traps, and a torn pad is annoying to replace. Look for a thick, stitched or bonded pad with a cover that won't peel.

Sleeve length and plate size. Check the sleeves take 50mm Olympic plates and are long enough for the plates you own. Bumper plates are wide, so short sleeves can cap your load.

Rack fit. Measure the inside width of your uprights and the depth of your J-hooks before you buy. A bar that's too long or sits awkwardly on shallow hooks is a real problem in a small home rack.

Handle angle and length. Longer handles that angle down are easier to hold for taller lifters. Very short handles force your elbows up and back, defeating the point.

Weight. Make sure you know the true weight for logging, and that it's within your rack's rated capacity once loaded.

Safety squat bars on Amazon UK

These three were in stock on Amazon UK at the time of writing. We haven't trained with any of them, so treat this as a shortlist to check against the buying points above rather than a ranking. Prices move, so check the listing.

The BodyMax Olympic Safety Squat Bar is a 22kg bar at around £129, one of the more established names in UK home-gym kit.

Check BodyMax 22kg Safety Squat Bar price on Amazon

The VEVOR Safety Squat Bar is the budget option at around £99.90. VEVOR's kit tends to be good value but the finish can vary, so read recent buyer reviews about the pad.

Check VEVOR Safety Squat Bar price on Amazon

The Exersci Safety Squat Bar costs more at around £169.99. Compare its weight, sleeve length and pad against the other two before paying the extra.

Check Exersci Safety Squat Bar price on Amazon

If you're still choosing a rack to go with it, the home gym hub has our full rack and cage reviews, including the Gym Master GM2 power rack.

Recommended reads

• Back squat: how to do it, muscles worked and benefits
• How much does a barbell weigh?
• The best squat rack in the UK
• The best power cage in the UK
• Good morning exercise guide