My first post here, having enjoyed lurking for a couple weeks...

I have a shoulder problem and cannot do regular barbell squats. I have been doing dumb bell squats, and am looking for other ways to manage both squats and calf raises.

I was looking at a Body-Solid leverage squat machine. Nice unit, and is easy on my shoulder, but the safety catch was very sticky and hard to operate. Anyone here who has experience with that unit?

Is the Powertec version any better?

Or perhaps I should look at a leg press/sled instead?

a hip sled is far better than a machine squat thing, but itll cost you a lot of money

the powertec leverage squat is really nice, ive used it

u can squat because of a shoulder problem? thats weird
the bar should rest mainly on your traps. Have you tried a bar pad or a manta ray?

Have you tried a bar pad or a manta ray?

yeah, like a safety squat device.

i lack shoulder flexibility for the barbell squat, but am slowly getting there. :) the leg press doesn't bring all the other postural muscles into the motion like squats so adding deadlifts will help. i just started doing deadlifts with low weight(less than bodyweight). have you tried hack squats?

Here's the TDS (http://www.jefitness.com/91305.htm) version of that same leverage squat. Note the MAKE OFFER button...so you could possibly pick this up for less than $360. I'd actually like to move(sell) the Crossbow out of the rec room, and put one of these in it's spot
Real nice guy to deal with...

a hip sled is far better than a machine squat thing, but itll cost you a lot of money

the powertec leverage squat is really nice, ive used it

u can squat because of a shoulder problem? thats weird
the bar should rest mainly on your traps. Have you tried a bar pad or a manta ray?

Thnaks for the response.

My range of motion with my shoulders doed not let me place a bar where it belongs to do a squat - not with my hands on the bar. I can get a bar onto my neck, but not down to the shoulders. Cannot even do it on a Smith machine. It is coming along slowly. I can do dumbell squats OK.

The range of motion thing is odd - I had scapula surgery in June, and had left side "frozen shoulder" for a while. MD said it was not related to the surgery. I have my doubts. Much of the left side range of motion is back, but both sides are inflexible in some directions. Might be supraspinatus issues, per MD, so I am stretching and lifting and like that.

Thanks for all the responses.

- The TDS unit is interesting. Sure would like to get my paws on it. The Body solid one loked perfect, until I tried it.

- The comment that the hip sled is better but much more expensive: Powertec has a compact sled that retails for about the same as the powertec leverage squat unit. Not sure if it has enough travel to allow full extension.

Has anyone here tried it out?

Can you do front squats? I would persue that in the interim rather than fork out the cash for the extra equipment but that is just me. :)

Can you do front squats? I would persue that in the interim rather than fork out the cash for the extra equipment but that is just me. :)

Almost, but not quite. I get a lot closer to the correct position than I do with a regular squat. I am guessing I am a few months away from front squats. A good excuse to buy new toys..

I am in southern California. I am going to pay my local Nellie's a visit soon and play with the sleds. Last I checked, they had only one on the floor, a Body Solid, and did not stock the compact Powertec.

I'll looked for a used one, too.

Try looking at the "Top Squat" from Dave Draper.

It is basically a handle device that attaches to an olympic bar so that you can balance the bar on your back with your hands out in front of you.

I damaged my left shoulder before I ever tried squatting, so I have never squatted without using a Top Squat.

I use the padded version and I really like it.

There is a video on this site that lets you see what it is and how it works.

http://www.topsquat.com/

[QUOTE=MYOB]Try looking at the "Top Squat" from Dave Draper.

Thanks for the link.

I had never heard of this thing. It would work, for sure. The link shows a guy squatting with truck tires in place of iron weights. Hope they do not mind if I just use regular weights.

After looking around for a good way to add variety to my leg exercises, I decided to order the following.

Super Squats Hip Belt
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/products.asp?dept=17

super safety squat bar
http://www.if-systems.com/

Just a couple more ideas for you to consider.

After looking around for a good way to add variety to my leg exercises, I decided to order the following.

Super Squats Hip Belt
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/products.asp?dept=17

super safety squat bar
http://www.if-systems.com/

Just a couple more ideas for you to consider.

Thx. I have to study these bars to see if they would let me do what the Draper top Squat will in terms of my arm/shoulder postition.

Lots of options now.

What about a trap bar? Check out the link.
http://sfuk.tripod.com/reviews/trapbar_review.html

If you have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, this is a pdf file that talks about the Top Squat and has some additional photos.

http://davedraper.com/TopSquat.pdf


What about a trap bar? Check out the link.
http://sfuk.tripod.com/reviews/trapbar_review.html

That's a good article about Trap Bars.

I should have thought of mentioning them myself (I love mine).

If you are doing dumbell squats with the dumbells hanging down and that works for your shoulder, then a Trap Bar will let you add weight and do the motion without banging dumbells on your legs.

I personally have a Shrug Bar from NY Barbells. The difference between a Shrug Bar and a Trap bar is the shape of its frame.

This is the page with the Shrug Bars.
http://www.newyorkbarbells.tv/im-0022shr.html

The animation on the left shows what the lift looks like. It is very much the squatting motion - but with the weight hanging down instead of perched on top of you. This makes it a lot easier to balance. Plus you can just let go if you have to for some safety reason.

Since the Shrug Bar was the first piece of freeweight equipment I bought, I got the standard weight version. I didn't forsee that I would eventually get a power rack and olympic bars & weights. So my Shrug Bar has its own set of standard weights that it shares with my dumbell handles.

Note that the NY Barbells Shrug Bar has raised handles. These further help the pendulum effect by making you not have to prevent the bar from tipping forwards/backwards. However, this makes the bar "higher" when it is sitting on the ground. When I started I was just putting on 5 pound weights, so this wasn't a big issue. Now that I'm using 25's on it, I had someone make me a low platform to stand on so that with the weights on the ground I'm still reaching down the amount that I want to (around the same depth that I squat to). I actually like the platform since I was able to trace the outline of my sneakers on it so that I maintain the same leg spacing and foot angles from workout to workout.

The NYBB site says the weight capacity is 1000 pounds and the bar weighs 54 pounds. My bar weighs 33 pounds, so I suspect they are talking about the olympic version. The most I've deadlifted on mine is 180 pounds (including the bar weight) and at this point I don't think I'll ever reach a weight that overtaxes the bar. (Though it would really be cool if I did -- I'd be impressed with myself enough that I wouldn't mind buying another bar.)

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts on my squat/leg press questions. Based on your comments....
- I ordered a Top Squat from Dave Draper for about a hundred bucks. I found Dave's web site has some interesting forums - not the discussion ones so much as the library of articles he has put online there.
- I am also going to try a shrug bar, as soon as it gets here.

Wow...can you imagine if you lost your balance with that hip-strap thing! You could endo or reverse endo and break your head, or something else!



After looking around for a good way to add variety to my leg exercises, I decided to order the following.

Super Squats Hip Belt
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/ironmind/products.asp?dept=17

super safety squat bar
http://www.if-systems.com/

Just a couple more ideas for you to consider.

I don't see how you can lose your balance. For me, I was thinking of hooking it onto a low pulley, plus it leaves your hands free so you can help pull yourself up if/when you reach failure.

Thought I'd let you all know what the resolution was.

I now have both a trap bar and a top squat.

Both are fine tools.

The trap bar is a big improvment over dumbells for shrugs and for deadlifts [squatlifts].


The top squat really works as advertised - at least with the light weights I am now doing. I am enthused to be able to do squats without my shoulder problem getting in the way. So much so that I am going to get a cage/squat rack to make life easier than it now is with my bench acting as squat rack.

I took the top squat to my local equipment store. It fit all the free bars in the store just fine. It did not fit the thicker ones on all the smith machines - seemed like maybe I could have forced it on the bar, but did not want to mess up the rubber on the fat bars.

Both are good tools. Thanks to the group for pointing the way.

I dont think you ever answered someone's question about doing hack squats.

A hack squat is basically a deadlift except you do it behind your legs. This works muscles most similarly to a normal squat. You can try this.

And of course there are always normal deadlifts.

I dont think you ever answered someone's question about doing hack squats.

A hack squat is basically a deadlift except you do it behind your legs. This works muscles most similarly to a normal squat. You can try this.

And of course there are always normal deadlifts.



You are right, I did not answer. Should have, too. Thanks for the nudge.

I had to go look up what a hack squat is - which I did back when the post was made - and found it is as you describe. I tried them, found they were OK with my shoulder/rotator cuff. I might have kept up with them, but the trap bar felt a lot better than the hack squats or the regular deadlifts. So, I have been doing trap bar squats as well as regular squats with the top-squat thing. In fact, I assembled a new Powertec cage for the squats a few days ago and have done my first leg day with it. I have some Q about the cage that I will post if I cannot find an answer searching the archives.