Comparison of Olympic and Safety Squat Bar Barbells on Force, Velocity, and Rating of Perceived Exertion During Acute High-Intensity Back Squats in Recreationally Trained Men.

Abstract

This study examined using a traditional Olympic (OL) or safety squat bar (SSB) barbell on force, velocity, and perceived exertion during an acute session of high-intensity back squats in adults. Twelve recreationally trained men (23.0±2.6 years; 88.3±19.1 kg) randomly completed two sessions of 3 sets of 6 repetitions at the same absolute load using the OL barbell or SSB barbell. Force and velocity were measured on every repetition and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was assessed for each set. A two-way ANOVA (set x barbell) with repeated measures and Sidak post-hoc test (repetitions set-by-set) or paired t-test (repetitions independent of set) were used (p<0.05). Compared to a traditional OL barbell, using a SSB barbell resulted in no significant differences in peak force (2443.0±46.6 vs 2622.9±65.8 N, respectively; d=0.28) or average set RPE (7.8±0.8 vs 8.0±1.2, respectively; d=0.15) during an acute multi-set high-intensity back squat session. In contrast, compared to a traditional OL barbell, using a SSB barbell resulted in significantly (p<0.05) lower average velocity (0.42±0.04 vs 0.38±0.05 m/s, respectively; d=0.27) during the same parameters. When performing the back squat exercise recreationally resistance-trained adults exhibit similar peak force and perceived effort with OL or SSB barbells, but greater velocities can be achieved with the OL barbell. Practitioners working with adults to develop lower body strength and power with the back squat exercise across multiple sets can interchangeably use the OL or SSB barbells to similarly train force, but training velocity is trivially better with the OL barbell acutely.