How to McGuyver Fitness Equipment: Safety Squat Bar Edition

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to teach a short segment on the benefits of resistance training to some para cycling athletes. The group was a very diverse one, with some in chairs, some with hemiplasia, and some with other neural conditions, which essentially meant there had to be different scenarios for most of the people in the group going on simultaneously, and in a gym that wasn’t really well equipped to handle them.

We still had some fun, did some squats and deadlifts, and got some sore muscles, though.

When teaching the squat, for example, some had to hang on to a supportive structure to make their balance requirements less and to help them get into the movement with more confidence, some had to squat to a bench to give a version of a safety net, and some had to try to balance their weight between each leg so they didn’t lean hard to one side, plus also being aware of how they developed tension on all sides of the working joints. It was tricky, but I think everyone got a lot out of it.

One of the really cool things about the day was seeing some of the modifications some bikes had. There were altered crank wheels, varied handles and grip settings, adjustable seats, hand cycles with different chassis and seat settings, plus a bunch of other things. It got me to thinking sometimes optimal doesn’t work and adjustments have to be made to make sure the person is able to work hard and have fun, but still feel comfortable enough to get a benefit from the movement.

This got me thinking about some common exercises in the gym and how they may not be ideal for some, but with small modifications they can be McGuyvered into something that resembles an awesome exercise. For those who don’t know, McGuyver was a television show from the 80s and 90s in which the crime fighting McGuyver would fashion tools or weapons from seemingly innocuous tools, like diffusing a bomb, using a paper clip to bring down a helicopter, or using a paperclip to diffuse a bomb while bringing down a helicopter.

Let’s take a look at something like squats. Many people find that having the bar on the back of their neck is next to impossible due to shoulders that have all the mobility of a clam, and as a result they either can’t get the juicy benefits of some solid and deep squats. For this reason, there was a need to create a different type of bar to help people get squatting without smashing their shoulders to pieces. Hence, the birth of both the safety squat bar and the giant cambered bar. Here’s a demo from the good people at Rogue, who sell awesome equipment including these custom bars.

If you want one of these for Christmas as a gift from yourself, here’s the link for the US site HERE and also the Canadian site HERE. Please note I’m not an affiliate with Rogue but they’re an awesome company that sells wicked stuff, so if you like it, go for it.

Now the great thing is these options are available if you own your own place and can bring in equipment as needed, or if you have a home gym big enough to warrant multiple bars. The downside comes when you are in a situation like me where you work or work out in a commercial facility that doesn’t necessarily accept you bringing in your own equipment, or if they were asked to get in something tend to take 6 months, go through 3 sub committees to approve it, and then get all excited when they bring in 20 bosus and recycled medicine balls.

So in those situations, you kind of have to make things work for you on the fly. One option that can work easily to create a version of a safety squat bar is to use a normal barbell and then attach handles to the bar from lifting straps.

This is a great option if you just want to grip something and put your shoulder into a better position to squat your face off without smashing your shoulders. The downside from what I have found is the straps typically aren’t built to provide much hand grip ability, plus the straps can be somewhat small and hard to hang on to, so there’s a bit of a need to have a stronger grip to keep the straps held tight and pulled into your upper back.

One option I’ve played with and found worked really well is to substitute the straps for small hand towels.

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Bonus points for this almost turning into a blooper reel as the right plate almost slid off the bar. NO RE-TAKES!!

The towels give more of a grippable surface to hang on to, plus the diameter of the towels is usually thicker than a strap, which means those who may have mild arthritis and can’t close their grip very easily around a strap.

A key thing to remember when doing this without a proper safety bar squat bar: the SSB has some padding on the back of the neck and shoulders, plus the design puts the weight forward over the shoulders compared to a regular bar, so if you’re using a regular bar you’ll need to pull it into your shoulders more than with an SSB, plus also fire up your traps to hold the weight so it doesn’t slide down.

Some trainers would say “just spend the money and get the bar,” which I would agree with, but if you’re in a commercial gym or a condo gym that may not let you bring in a lot of specialty equipment, you might be limited in what you can do, so having the ability to alter existing equipment as needed to get the best benefit may be warranted. There’s no replacement for having the right equipment, but like McGuyver, you can still get the job done with some unconventional or minor adjustments here and there.