EliteFTS SS Yoke Bar
The safety squat bar Dave Tate reverse-engineered because the existing ones wrecked his back — a wider, denser pad and 49.5 inches between cambers.
Specs
| Weight | 65 lb |
|---|---|
| Length | 92 in |
| Distance between inside surface of pads | Close to 9 in (22.8 cm) |
| Measurement between cambers | 49.5 in |
| Collars | Spring collars do not fit any specialty bar |
These figures are copied from EliteFTS’s own published specs and were last checked on 2026-08-31. Manufacturers revise products without notice, and variants differ. Confirm anything your decision depends on with EliteFTS before you buy.
Choose this one if
- You squat with a safety bar weekly rather than once a month
- Existing safety bars have flattened their pads or hurt your neck
- You have 92 inches of clear rack width
The detail
The SS Yoke Bar exists because of a specific failure mode, and EliteFTS is unusually direct about it. Dave Tate reverse-engineered it after finding he could not use existing safety squat bars for more than a month at a time — the short pads and spinal compression trashed his back, and the pads themselves broke down until they were pressing on his vagus nerve.
That diagnosis is the design brief: a wider, higher-density inner pad to displace load across the upper back instead of concentrating it, plus a second layer of padding so the bar fits people of different sizes without gaps.
If you use a safety bar occasionally, most bars are fine. If it is a weekly staple — and for anyone whose shoulders no longer tolerate a straight-bar back squat, it will be — pad geometry is what determines whether you can keep doing it. That is the argument for this bar over a cheaper one like the Bells of Steel SS4.
Forty-nine and a half inches between cambers is what sets where the sleeves sit relative to your shoulders, which in turn determines how much the bar wants to tip you forward. Nine inches between the inside pad surfaces is what has to fit your neck.
Ninety-two inches long is the dimension to check. That is five and a half inches over a standard bar, and specialty bars routinely turn out not to clear a rack's uprights.
Spring collars do not fit this or any specialty bar — EliteFTS states it plainly, and it is worth knowing before delivery. Budget for clamp collars.
At 65 lb the bar's own weight is 20 lb over a barbell. Write it down.
EliteFTS does not publish a weight capacity, sleeve length or shaft diameter for this bar. Sleeve length in particular matters if you squat heavy — ask.