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Safety Squat Bar Bench Press

IntermediateStrengthTier T3

You lie on a flat bench and hold a safety squat bar over your chest. You lower the bar to your chest and press it back up.

Targets: Shoulder
Muscles: Quadriceps, Gluteus Maximus, Pectoralis Major, Triceps

Stop if

Choose an easier exercise if pain reaches 6 out of 10 or becomes sharp. Stop and rest if pain reaches 8 out of 10.

This is the general ClapMove rule. This exercise has no extra stop rule of its own.

  • Pain 6 out of 10 or more: choose an easier exercise.
  • Pain 8 out of 10 or more: stop and rest.

Equipment needed

  • Works at home
  • Works at the gym

bench

Home Options

  • weight bench

Dosage

3

Sets

8

Reps / Time

60 sec

Rest

controlled

Tempo

Step-by-Step Guide

Set up

  • Set up as for a traditional bench press with the handles removed.
  1. A woman lying flat on a bench holding a padded safety squat bar with no handles straight above her chest with her arms extended.

    Step 1 of 3

    Lie flat on the bench in your usual bench-press set-up with the handles off the bar. Hold the bar up over your chest.

  2. The same woman with the padded yoke of the handle-less safety squat bar lowered onto her chest and her elbows bent.

    Step 2 of 3

    Lower the bar until its pads rest on your chest, just below your shoulder joints, with your elbows bent.

  3. A woman lying flat on a bench holding a padded safety squat bar with no handles straight above her chest with her arms extended.

    Step 3 of 3

    Lie flat on the bench in your usual bench-press set-up with the handles off the bar. Hold the bar up over your chest.

Safety Information

Take the handles off the bar before pressing, because with the handles on they dig into the body as the bar comes down to the chest. A new bench press variation should be done with a spotter, so check the safe set-up for your own bar and bench before you start. Stop if you feel pain in the shoulders, elbows or chest, or if you cannot control the bar on the way down, and ask a clinician if you have a shoulder or chest condition. Stop if the exercise causes pain or you become unwell. Seek appropriate professional advice about symptoms or suitability.

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Printed from clapmove.com. ClapMove is not a replacement for professional medical advice — always consult a healthcare provider before starting any exercise program.