After seeing countless people at the gym putting that bit of foam over the bar (the ****y pad as it’s often known) when squatting, it made me wonder
a) Is it safe?
b) Why do people do it when it’s more comfortable without it?
The thing I’m most interested in is the safety aspect. The way it seems to me from looking at people squat like this is that in order to get the bar onto your shoulders while the padding is there the trainee needs to have the padding pressed right up to the base of their neck, pushing it slightly forward which surely isn’t a good thing. Does anyone know if this increases the chances of neck or back injuries?
And to anyone that uses one, why do you do it? Did you start doing it just because it was there and everyone else did?
I must confess that I used to use one for the first few months of squatting and only used it because I thought there must be a good reason why all the trainers at the gym had their clients using one. Obviously I now see how silly that was and have the bar sat far further back behind my traps; as a result I’m more comfortable, the bar is more stable, my form is better and I lift more
a) Is it safe?
b) Why do people do it when it’s more comfortable without it?
The thing I’m most interested in is the safety aspect. The way it seems to me from looking at people squat like this is that in order to get the bar onto your shoulders while the padding is there the trainee needs to have the padding pressed right up to the base of their neck, pushing it slightly forward which surely isn’t a good thing. Does anyone know if this increases the chances of neck or back injuries?
And to anyone that uses one, why do you do it? Did you start doing it just because it was there and everyone else did?
I must confess that I used to use one for the first few months of squatting and only used it because I thought there must be a good reason why all the trainers at the gym had their clients using one. Obviously I now see how silly that was and have the bar sat far further back behind my traps; as a result I’m more comfortable, the bar is more stable, my form is better and I lift more