| What is it? Briefly: The Top Squat is a powerful apparatus to improve the common squat exercise. It attaches to the bar to position a pair of rugged handles sensibly in front of the shoulders for comfort, safety and control. Such a design helps prevent back and shoulder injuries caused by traditional hand placement on a bar. |
| Where can it be used? Use it on virtually any straight barbell at home or in the gym. It will work on both Olympic and Standard bars, because on both types the center portion of the bar where the Top Squat attaches is 1" thick. It can also be used on Smith machine bars and other vertical-motion machine-based bars for the same reason. |
| What's the weight limit? We haven't found one! One customer reported using it with 500 lbs loaded on the bar. That's the most we've heard of anyone trying. In heavy squats, the bar undergoes a lot more strain than the Top Squat attachment, and it would be reasonable to expect the bar itself to bend significantly before the Top Squat is in danger of failing. |
This 18 3/4", 11-gauge heat-treated steel tube coated with dense polyurethane is customized to press snugly onto your bar. The plastic-coated tubular section offers a densely padded 3-inch diameter support with an indented, centrally located vertebra relief for weight distribution and shoulder comfort. Two solid steel one-inch handles extend outward 16 inches at agreeable angles and with slight end-curves for universal functionality. The unit is slick and rugged at 15 pounds.
The Top Squat was developed for the athlete who loves to squat, realizes the important role it plays in strength and muscle building and would like an alternative method for holding the bar in place across the back. Back and shoulder problems are no rarity among athletes, especially strength and muscle-building athletes, and securing the bar with outstretched arms can be distressing if not impossible.
The concept of the Top Squat was conceived by Dave Draper in his late 50s when he overloaded his upper back and shoulder cage while pursuing some aggressive squat and dead lift training.
Humbled and healing, he realized he could no longer squat as his shoulder rotation was limited by the painful and damaging injuries he sustained. Positioning his hands to control the bar or extending his arms the length of the bar for support was impossible.
That he could not squat because his shoulders were limited in range seemed unacceptable to him. If only he could balance the bar from a comfortable and powerful placement of the hands and arms before him, like two handles protruding from the front of the bar itself.
Voila, the Top Squat. Hefty enough for gorillas and designed for all levels of fitness advancement, the unit makes squatting possible again when it once was retired to the heap of bittersweet memories.
Training without squatting is like lightning without thunder. The bright instantaneous dance of light is captivating, but you've got to feel the earth move under your feet and hear the great rumbling down the length of your back.
The Top Squat is as simple as squatting, agreeably not the easiest exercise in the lifter's repertoire, but possibly the most effective. You center the unit on your standard 1 1/16th" bar and press it into place. Secure the beast to the bar with the pair of nylon and Velcro safety straps provided and you're ready for action. After a few hardy workouts you'll probably forego the safety straps as the unit remains sufficiently in place by pressure.
Here is where the lifter does his thing, comfortably locating his or her body in relation to the apparatus. Stand close to the bar and grasp the handles near the curve and duck under the bar as is your customary approach. Maneuver yourself feet position, body erectness, shoulder-trap placement, etc and unrack the bar adequately loaded to achieve a groove but not to set any world records. To begin he find that the handles in a 45-degree downward position are just right for comfort and the functional upward rotation. Testing: one, two, three. Be attentive, be confident.
Once in position, balanced and solid, move the handles up and down to become familiar with their range, sureness and advantage. As you raise the handles (parallel or above) the bar will follow the Top Squat's rotation and position the bar backward for ultimate squatting efficiency and performance, AKA the powerful and perfect squat. The erectness of the back can be determined by the raising or lowering of the handles, an added attraction he had not foreseen in the inception of the Top Squat and have come to appreciate.
The action of the squat remains true. It is not altered unless you choose to for lower back safety, maximum thigh power or improved thigh recruitment.
Within a few sets of thoughtful squatting I'll think you'll agree the Top Squat builds strong legs while protecting the shoulders and back. If your shoulders are troublesome, you'll jump up and down like we do when we have a spectacular workout. If your shoulders are healthy, unimpaired and without pain, the chances of you damaging your rotation cuff will be reduced considerably, as supporting the bar in the conventional manner while squatting is a tremendous stress on the vulnerable and overworked shoulder region.
Put squats back in your workouts and start climbing those once-impossible mountains again.
This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 14 April, 2007.