Barbell Pad: A Complete Guideline

Using a pad never put out the lights at the gym. Instead, it made weight lifting worth trying for beginners. Sometimes, you meet people in the gym fixing a bar pad only to squat 40 kg. When you see this, a simper may run across your face while wondering why such a low weight deserves a pad.

Padding is for Heavyweight

Not like we are picking on beginners or light weight lifters. After all, every weight lifter once wore that learner’s logo at the initial stage. So, only throw a pad on a barbell if each side is carrying at least 20 kg.

Why Use a Pad When You can go Peeled

Most of these heavyweights, both guys, and gals, think that only the namby-pamby will add pad on a barbell.

However, when a pad comes on a barbell, amazing things start to happen. Here is what happens –

Weight shots stack up to the ceiling.
The barbell squat pad cushion makes lifting a little comfortable for those doing over 160 kg of squatting.
You will focus more on your form and less on adjusting all the time to find a comfortable neck position.
It makes it easier to incorporate the barbell neck pad into different lifts.
Using a pad adds much weight to the lifter’s body, increasing the hip thrust within the shortest time.
To increase the strength necessary for squatting and deadlifting, it pays to buy a barbell pad.

Reasons Why The Barbell Hurts During Squats

If squats become painful, the only remedy would be to purchase a barbell neck pad. But what leads to neck or body pain during and after Squatting? Most times, it’s due to muscular imbalances or issue with the form.

Here is why that bar is itching your neck.

Muscular Imbalances

There is probably a reason why the bar keeps digging into your vertebrae and back. Any weight lifter without enough back muscles to cover the vertebrae well must feel pain when squatting.

How to Put an End to This

Experiencing muscular imbalance mean your workouts need the addition of more pull-ups.
Also, you must intensify the way you hit deadlifts.
Build the upper back with a shoulder press and watch your vertebrae covering, reducing the pain and making squatting more comfortable.

Proper Placement

Buying the best barbell neck pad to separate you from the steel won’t make you comfortable unless the placing of the bar is not too high on your back. If the pain starts turning to a permanent companion then its time to slide the barbell down – no matter how small. Train your upper traps and deltoids to act as the ideal shelf where the bar can rest on while squatting.

When the Weight is Too Heavy

Maybe you have plans of increasing your weight to show the world that your trending body will soon hit the Billboard top 100. First things first – Billboard is not for weight lifters. As such, since it’s your first time, adjusting to a heavier weight will surely require a barbell pad. Using a pad strengthens the body and toughens the legs to adapt to the heavyweight more quickly than you think.

The Gospel Truth about Barbell Neck Pad

Honesty pays even without cash. Here is the truth –

Your back is hurting because you are not familiar with using the barbell.
The weight of the barbell is too heavy for you.
You think other weight lifters are looking down on you. We call it inferiority complex.

More Truth

Nobody ever starts squatting for the first time without the bar hurting their back.
The pain goes with time but comes back once the weight starts getting heavy.
A barbell pad knows how to submarine any upcoming injuries.
Put that shame off your face – it’s your thing using a pad. Even if other weight lifters are making a jerk of you, put them where they belong. Then buy more pads to surprise them.

Don’t Let Anyone Claim to be a Judge in Your Case

You don’t need a so-called weight lifting judge to tell when and when not to use a barbell pad. Using a barbell pad to get acclimated to lifting a heavier weight is up to you.

Wearing a sorry look to the gym all the time thinking they will call you a feeble fellow never helped issues. If something needs attention, do it, it’s your life you are living. But even at that, don’t hit less than 40 kg squat wearing a pad as a full-grown man.

More Reasons Why a Barbell Neck Pad is a Good Choice

Convince yourself to see reasons why anyone who wants to get under the barbell needs bar strapping. Consider these ideas if you wish to forge ahead and have it your way.

New Lifts

Irrespective of your weight lifting strength and techniques, or your ideology, accept the fact that some lifts can’t lap without a pad. A hip thrust requires making use of a barbell pad to ensure that the bar doesn’t go beyond the hip bone. Take it or drop it, trying out a new lift drives you off the risky lane when a pad comes on board.

To Get More Comfortable

Making things hard for beginners may end up chasing them away from the gym house. It was one calculated move at a time until Rome turned to an empire. Don’t cause unnecessary pain for yourself lifting a heavy barbell when there is a handy pad.

Remember that newbies are hoping to add some more weight too. So positive feedback from you on pad usage will bridge their negative thoughts about squatting.

Bruising

Everyone’s body isn’t as thick as WWE wrestlers. Such persons tend to notice bruises on their tender skin after weight lifting. Ordinarily, squatting will never give you bruises on the neck or back. But if it eventually does, then buying a barbell neck pad should be the next available option.

Using a pad doesn’t make you look weird or something like that. Instead, it is only an unwise person that will notice bruises after squatting and refuse to use a pad the next time.

Injuries

Sometimes, injuries on the shoulder, back, or neck may try to stop us from being the same person that lifts and squats for long. In such situations, a barbell neck pad might do well and become your temporal partner for the moment.

When the injury finally finds its way home, you can go back to your usual routine and keep building.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger Used a Pad – Who are We?

It’s no longer new that some persons think that anyone using a barbell pad is as dumb as a dummy. You know what? Thinking never changed anything – doing things is always the go-getter. Was it not the same people who argued about lifting gloves and all that, until the world-renowned Ronnie Coleman found pleasure in wearing them.

Who is Ronnie Coleman?

Good question – he is one of the most admired bodybuilders who always wore gloves to lift. This man set a world record and wrote his name on the sands of time by doing the following –

Won 8 Mr. Olympia
He did over 800 pounds of squatting, which is about 360 kg
Benched not less 500 pounds, which equals 225 kg
Without much ado, he is the freakiest person that ever hit a bodybuilding stage.

Forget About Hardcore – Move the Damn Thing

Who is interested in the peanut gallery of hardcore or macho lifters as they call it? You go hardcore and raw – we lift heavy weights with pads – so my hardcore friend, guess we are all the same. Still in doubt? We can as well punch it out. Better get a barbell pad, smash new records while those stork-legged blabbers can keep gnashing their teeth.

Pause, and Take a Deep Breath

Remember the old Austrian Oak, the Legend in the making, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenneger and his 160 kg front squatting with a barbell pad. Nobody dares to call him a wimp, looking at all the delightful women seeking to have their place near this hulk of a warrior. By mere looking at him, you may suspend your question as results speak louder than arguments.

Barbell Squat Pads Have Come to Stay – Get Used to That

No one ever went to the gym and came back in one piece. Even though some say that squatting without a pad doesn’t inflict pain on them, but getting one in some cases will never fall out of place. Practicing any of the below-listed exercises will require a barbell neck pad.

Triceps Dominant Bench Press

Every exercise demands a good bottom stretch and a hard contraction at the top. Just that the response of the muscles depends on the sort of stimulus that a person possesses.

Here is the general principle of gaining more muscle mass.

All muscles must work through the entire motion range
They should utilize progressive overload principles
Spend time under tension
Endure the metabolic resistance techniques
Go through intensity techniques
Undergo a wide variety of rep ranges and exercises.

Wowed you – huh? Or was it a bit hard to comprehend? Then have your eyes on them again.

Triceps versus Pectoral Muscles

The pectoral muscles respond to deep stretches – that’s why pec flys were Arnold’s favorites. He stretched to the limit on each negative that the barbells nearly had a feel of the floor.

Contrary to the pectoral muscles, triceps don’t respond to deep stretches. Instead, it responds well to peak contractions and an overloaded progressive heavyweight. That’s why the pecs of big benchers are not always well-developed. Given that the bench does not build the pecs of most people. Except if the weightlifting bench is big enough to develop the triceps.

More About Triceps

Sometimes you don’t get to do things alone, instead purchase a gym program that will hammer home for you the triceps building tips. It is through such programs that you will understand the importance of a barbell pad in a close grip bench press.

The Function of Squat Pad

It is a motion range shorter that allows one to lift an overloaded heavier weight which is good for the triceps. It’s not a strange thing that the triceps get big through the use of a barbell neck pad.

Hip Thrust

Practicing hip thrust in the gym calls for the use of a barbell pad. It’s not optional, its a must. Using a barbell pad increases body weight due to the nerve that crosses the pelvis. Pinching the nerve will lead to the loss of sensation in the legs. Although such experiences are rare, it also happens sometimes.

Don’t get scared, though, practicing hip thrust is among the best exercises that the glutes need.

Building Up With Multiple Exercises

For those whose derriere is as flat as the plains of the Midwest regions in America, squatting and deadlifting should be your next target. To build up a weak body, one must indulge in different exercises, as a way of hitting your weaknesses from multiple angles.

Glutes and Squats

Another part of the body system that responds to a hard peak contraction is the glutes. This option helps when you squeeze hard during squats and deadlifts. Even at that, the hip thrust is the best exercise for a peak contraction. Since the strength curve at the top of the movement places more strain on the muscles, thus achieving this calls for a barbell pad.

Front Squats

Due to lack of wrist mobility, most people find it hard to perform the tricky front squats in the classic Olympic weight lifting style.

As an alternative to the classic style, one can opt for the forearms cross style. Although it doesn’t meet the standard, yet it is also a known type of weight lifting. This method gives room to raise the elbows and keep the torso upright while you are hoping to explode out.

An Important Queastion

With all the points, at least we have proven beyond every reasonable doubt that there is no shame in using a barbell pad.

Which is more important?

Is it going bare because your friends are doing it? – or protecting yourself from neck and back pain.

While pondering on that, bear in mind that bodybuilders also use a barbell neck pad to stay in form all season.

Fitness Magazine