OK, we all know I love the SSB/Yoke bar right?
Well if you don’t, I do.
I love it.
It is the first piece of equipment I bought after getting a power rack, a Texas Power bar and a set of dumbells for the original location. And it wasn’t a sweet EliteFTS Yoke bar, it was the original and crappy yoke kind that crushed your spine.
Even so, I still loved it and I’ll tell you why.
It works. It just makes everything stronger.
RANT:
And back then we didn’t need a study to prove that it made your upper back work harder.
Our study was getting under 600 fucking pounds and smashing out reps in the squat and good morning, and then feeling our upper backs crushed the next day.
And the next.
Kids these days, need a study to prove what actual training does.
NOTE: Rant over. I love studies, and a very good friend of mine did the SSB study, so don’t get all pissy about the rant.
So as I said the SSB makes everything stronger, and according to the internet and the science it specifically makes your upper back work more.
More work means more results (Strength/Size) so I am going to give you this:
Using the Safety Squat Bar: 3 Tips to Make it More Effective!
Tip #1:
Get your traps locked in place before you mount the bar.
This should be common sense, but it is not. And I can’t remember how long it took me to figure this out 20 or so years ago.
If we want to contract and squeeze our upper backs (which yes we do) you will never, ever be able to fully contract it once you have taken the bar out of the rack.
So, set it as pictured below.
Tip #2:
Pull Down on the handles. Hard.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that you don’t have to and can get a different training effect by keeping them neutral.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that your upper back will still work harder if you don’t pull down, but if you can make the exercise more effective why wouldn’t you?
Pulling down on the Yoke does a few things.
It opens the chest if you do it right. We always hear “CHEST UP”, and the SSB forces you into a dump if you don’t counteract it, so pulling down will force the chest into the correct position and will…….
Allow your lats, middle and upper back to contact harder.
- Don’t believe me.
- Go try it now.
- I’ll wait.
- Are you back?
- Did it work as I said?
- I knew it.
One caveat: be sure and keep your abs braced and don’t let the ribs flare upwards as you pull down on the handles.
Use this set up sequence:
- Unrack with traps locked
- Walkout
- Root/Brace
- Pull down on handles keeping the proper brace
- Make fitness
Tip #3:
This is really a bonus tip because the first two are gold. To the veteran lifter they are probably nothing new, but many of my readers are not old timers, so it is probably something they don't know.
This one you might not know, even the old timers.
Pull your elbows apart as you pull down.
Driving the elbows out as shown below really really makes the upper/mid back contract harder.
It also helps keep your elbows from smashing into your knees.
As I said before, if you can make the back tighter and more locked in place, you will get strong(er), add size to the area, and it will reinforce to a greater degree the effects of using the bar and one of it’s primary benefits:
Correcting the awful forward dump we see in so many squats.
Here is one more tip on fixing the dump that has nothing to do with the Yoke bar.
Get your hands out wider than your shoulders.
I see this at least 100 times a day.
People have their hands in either touching the side delts or even inside them.
Please stop this. All of you shoot up ass first and dump forward.
Yes, you may make the lift, but look at the shear force you are slamming on your lower back.
It is massive. I actually would like to see a study done on this to prove this point.
Mike Lawrence are you reading???????
When the hands are super close to the delts, or inside the delts you are effectively shutting the upper back and lats off.
Don’t believe me?
Go and try it.
Do a set with your hands in cloooose and pay attention to how well your lats/upper back contracts.
Now move them out a few inches and pull your right elbow to your left ass cheek, and your left elbow to your right ass cheek.
More lats/upper back?
I thought so.
And there it is:
Using the Safety Squat Bar: 3 Tips to Make it More Effective
I hope this helps you get a bigger squat and pull.
Oh, don't forget to buy my book on the bar here too.
It's old and needs updating, but it is still relevant.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
May 23, 2019
