What is the Buffalo Bar?
The Buffalo Bar is a slightly curved, above-average long barbell, which almost looks like a bar that has been bent due to excessive loading due to its curvature. This special form of the Buffalo Bar has a number of advantages.
1. Longer and Thicker - Longer for a wide grip. This makes the bar easier to grip for exercisers with strained shoulders who are unable to grip a regular barbell due to injury, pain, or limited mobility. Thicker for a thicker grip. Similar to Fat Gripz but with a smaller diameter, the Buffalo Bar offers the classic benefits of a thicker grip .
2. Slightly curved – the curved shape of the bar creates more contact surface on the upper trapezius muscle, which is much more comfortable than a regular barbell with a smaller contact surface, especially if you have a bony upper back. This also allows for a lower hand position during squats when grabbing the bar - which also protects the shoulder in the case of impingement syndrome, since the upper arm does not have to be raised as far. Famed bodybuilder Tom Platz likes to lay a regular LH on a flat bench and load it with weights, bending it for squats for the same purpose.
The Buffalo Bar can also be used for bench presses and offers the benefit of a greater range of motion as the user's chest lies within the arch, allowing for a lower hand position alongside the body.
3. Lower CG - the power curve is overloaded at a lower point compared to the regular LH squat. This places more focus on the bottom of the range of motion and makes the lifter stronger there, which is a good way to overcome a plateau in that range of motion.
Use the Buffalo Bar in your training, as a variation on the regular barbell for bench press, neck press and squats, if you have shoulder problems and squats with a regular barbell are not possible (pain-free), as well as to overload the strength curve with squats at another point and one to set new stimulus. Usually it's little things like a slightly modified version of the barbell that enable continuous progress.
Good luck training with the Buffalo Bar!
(The original Buffalo Bar is patented by IronMind and can be imported directly from the USA. All models available in Germany do not meet the ideal specifications.)
Picture: Personal trainer Thomas Dybdahl from Aarhus, Denmark squatting 190kg with the Buffalo Bar on the last YPSI squat day.