Shoulder pain during low-bar squat?

[blowdpanis]

@blowdpanis, how much did it cost to have those made?

Think the pair pictured was ~$125. I mean, they're just made of aluminum and require basic CAD shit (I think he said it took him under an hour of work), there's really not a lot of cost other than finding a willing fabricator. I had originally envisioned this as a super small business venture since Kirkham doesn't appear interested in making these at all.

The problem being that, for most fabricators, this isn't really worth their while unless I wanted to make like 100+ at a time or something. I think there's a better design here that I alluded to (and you sort of did wrt adjustable handle position on the SSB), basically make the end handle adjustable as well so you could adjust the distance the handle is from the bar. That'd give it a whole lot of flexibility in terms of body size etc. But yah, since it's so small potatoes, I've had trouble getting anybody to bite on making a small batch of these for me.

[mgil]

blowdpanis, how much did it cost to have those made?

Think the pair pictured was ~$125. I mean, they're just made of aluminum and require basic CAD shit (I think he said it took him under an hour of work), there's really not a lot of cost other than finding a willing fabricator. I had originally envisioned this as a super small business venture since Kirkham doesn't appear interested in making these at all.

The problem being that, for most fabricators, this isn't really worth their while unless I wanted to make like 100+ at a time or something. I think there's a better design here that I alluded to (and you sort of did wrt adjustable handle position on the SSB), basically make the end handle adjustable as well so you could adjust the distance the handle is from the bar. That'd give it a whole lot of flexibility in terms of body size etc. But yah, since it's so small potatoes, I've had trouble getting anybody to bite on making a small batch of these for me.

That seems like a reasonable price considering. Kirkham would've wanted $300 or more, my guess. Dude builds all-aluminum Cobra replicas for a living.

I have lots of concerns with alignment and other factors as well when applying an add-on to the barbell, whereas the SSB geometry is fixed, but allows for various builds.

Hell, even the SSB that Edge and Black Widow make could probably be made for ~$100 if you had welding chops.

Regardless, it’s great that those handles are working out for you. The other solutions seem way less secure.

[blowdpanis]

Since nobody sells these, here are a few pictures of how they look attached to the bar in case somebody wants to go my route and convince a fabricator to make a pair. My pair is just slightly fucked up as I got the diameter wrong the first go and he (somewhat shoddily) expanded their diameter afterwards, but they still work fine.

https://i.imgur.com/swCZn5J.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mtTrtUD.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/n87ZIAB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oLvbNMc.jpg

But the basic logic is that you want the diameter of the opening that attaches to the bar to be equivalent to whatever diameter bar you're using (e.g. 29 mm in my case). When they cut the handles, this takes off a small fraction and allows them to clamp pretty flush to the bar. In future versions I'd like to line this with rubber or something to prevent it from fucking up the knurling, but since I have two bars I don't care if it gets a little scuffed up, but fair warning.

In terms of the geometry of lining the handles up, it's easier than you think, as per the last picture above. You just lay the bar on the floor and attach the handles from that position. That way, they're at an identical angle by virtue of both touching the ground.

Aside from the risk of scuffing up the knurling, the other main issue is just that it takes a few minutes every time you want to attach/detach from a bar. Note a huge deal, but I was thinking of trying to rob the elitefts OBB power handles design or something to figure out a way to make these attach more quickly. So a future version of these would probably be lined with rubber, have an adjustable handle that you can put at a variable distance from the bar, and possibly attach to the bar in a more user friendly way for portability. As long as I can get a fabricator to actually work with me on it at some point.

[BillyRao]

I took an 1" army belt made out of cotton webbing, cut it into 2 lengths, took it to a shoemaker and had him stitch them into loops and then secured each to the bar. Was able to squat 500lbs using this set up. I don't have the ability to post photos, but if anyone wants to post it here for everyone to see I could send it.

[mgil]

I took an 1" army belt made out of cotton webbing, cut it into 2 lengths, took it to a shoemaker and had him stitch them into loops and then secured each to the bar. Was able to squat 500lbs using this set up. I don't have the ability to post photos, but if anyone wants to post it here for everyone to see I could send it.

If you PM me the photo I can post it to imgur.

[blowdpanis]

I took an 1" army belt made out of cotton webbing, cut it into 2 lengths, took it to a shoemaker and had him stitch them into loops and then secured each to the bar. Was able to squat 500lbs using this set up. I don't have the ability to post photos, but if anyone wants to post it here for everyone to see I could send it.

Another bootleg way of accomplishing this is to use the Max Aita strap method where you loop straps around the bar. To make this low bar compliant, you can actually clamp the straps to the bar so they don't move, which is normally the problem when trying to use straps to low bar (the bar can rotate and the bar can start falling further down your back as a result).

[BillyRao]

I took an 1" army belt made out of cotton webbing, cut it into 2 lengths, took it to a shoemaker and had him stitch them into loops and then secured each to the bar. Was able to squat 500lbs using this set up. I don't have the ability to post photos, but if anyone wants to post it here for everyone to see I could send it.

Another bootleg way of accomplishing this is to use the Max Aita strap method where you loop straps around the bar. To make this low bar compliant, you can actually clamp the straps to the bar so they don't move, which is normally the problem when trying to use straps to low bar (the bar can rotate and the bar can start falling further down your back as a result).

Tried to post some pictures, but file size was too large to IM, so they could not be posted. The setup I described doesn't need to be clamped as you loop the loop through itself, which also creates a handle. Was able to lowbar and I never had any issues with the bar rolling.

[blowdpanis]

I took an 1" army belt made out of cotton webbing, cut it into 2 lengths, took it to a shoemaker and had him stitch them into loops and then secured each to the bar. Was able to squat 500lbs using this set up. I don't have the ability to post photos, but if anyone wants to post it here for everyone to see I could send it.

Another bootleg way of accomplishing this is to use the Max Aita strap method where you loop straps around the bar. To make this low bar compliant, you can actually clamp the straps to the bar so they don't move, which is normally the problem when trying to use straps to low bar (the bar can rotate and the bar can start falling further down your back as a result).

Tried to post some pictures, but file size was too large to IM, so they could not be posted. The setup I described doesn't need to be clamped as you loop the loop through itself, which also creates a handle. Was able to lowbar and I never had any issues with the bar rolling.

Have you tried a free image hosting service like imgur? Probably the easiest way to go. I'm genuinely curious to see what the setup looks like.

[BillyRao]

I took an 1" army belt made out of cotton webbing, cut it into 2 lengths, took it to a shoemaker and had him stitch them into loops and then secured each to the bar. Was able to squat 500lbs using this set up. I don't have the ability to post photos, but if anyone wants to post it here for everyone to see I could send it.

Another bootleg way of accomplishing this is to use the Max Aita strap method where you loop straps around the bar. To make this low bar compliant, you can actually clamp the straps to the bar so they don't move, which is normally the problem when trying to use straps to low bar (the bar can rotate and the bar can start falling further down your back as a result).

Tried to post some pictures, but file size was too large to IM, so they could not be posted. The setup I described doesn't need to be clamped as you loop the loop through itself, which also creates a handle. Was able to lowbar and I never had any issues with the bar rolling.

Have you tried a free image hosting service like imgur? Probably the easiest way to go. I'm genuinely curious to see what the setup looks like.

That was suggested to me, but unfortunately that requires a computer and I do not have one. If you want, dm me an email address and I can forward them to you.

[blowdpanis]

That was suggested to me, but unfortunately that requires a computer and I do not have one. If you want, dm me an email address and I can forward them to you.

Here are the pictures in question:





Looks like a cool setup, similar to heavy duty straps.

[Oldandfat]

I also tried contacting Kirkham. No response. I bought these:

https://www.spud-inc-straps.com/the-saf ... strap.html

Just played around with them so far, but haven’t used substantial weight on the bar. Tomorrow they get a full assessment.

I high bar now as I was unable to low bar without issues.

[blowdpanis]

So as one more little project, I had a welder modify an existing pair of OBB Power Handles I had:

https://www.elitefts.com/obb-power-handles.html

Into a pair of handles akin to what I had fabricated. All things considered pretty cheap, and nice work. At least for personal use, this will now be my go-to pair as, instead of a few minutes to attach it to a bar every time, this takes a few seconds and can be brought to commercial gyms and such.

How they look now:

https://i.imgur.com/Y1sq0SD.jpg

Compared with old handle:

https://i.imgur.com/yM8XRU7.jpg

One more:

https://i.imgur.com/8svdixS.jpg

[BenM]

Cool idea! How do they feel to squat with?

[blowdpanis]

I tested it out with an unloaded bar, but next real squat session is Sunday, will report back then. I wonder if I should show this design to the OBB people.

[blowdpanis]

Tested today, they work great. They feel more or less identical to the actual fabricated pair I had made, basically, but are waaaay easier to put on/take off.

One thing I'll note about doing low bar with these types of handles, though, is that you have to be more mindful of elbow and/or chest position, as there can be a tendency for the bar to roll down your posterior delts a little as fatigue mounts (e.g. doing high-ish reps). With high bar this is a non-issue, obviously.