To avoid using the phrase, “a lot of people have been asking me,” I won’t kid you by using that phrase to make it seem like lifters are waiting in line to ask me any specific question. Hell, I don’t get asked a ton of questions anymore. My social media page is not something I feel compelled to flood with content for the sake of creating content. This doesn’t bode well for me when it comes to engagement, but I feel better doing things this way.
However, when I feel compelled to write about something, I write about it. I’ve found myself in a couple of scenarios lately with lifters that I coach where it seems like it might be helpful to collect my thoughts on the buffalo bar and it’s variations and record them. It is with my hopes that it helps them, and that it helps you if you care to hear what I have to say about it.
The buffalo bar. I can’t say I have any idea who was the first to make this bar, or exactly why they made it. But I am certainly happy that it exists because I use it a lot. I have my guess as to why it was crafted originally, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it’s a tool that many of us have access to (or can purchase) that we can use in our training.
What is the buffalo bar, and bars that resemble it? It’s basically a straight bar with a big and even bend inside of the collars. Almost like that bar that’s bent to shit a lot of gyms have for rack pulls, except it’s bent methodically and evenly throughout. Rather than sporadically bent from that guy that does quarter shrugs with 675 and too many drops from the top with rack pull PR’s.
There isn’t just one or two of them made anymore either, right? You’ve got many companies that make some variation of the buffalo bar. You’ve got the Duffalo bar, bow bar, yukon bar, bison bar, and so forth. There are tons of them, and they’re all a little different as far as tensile strength and how much camber (or bend) they have in them. Yet still, they all use a similar concept of a slight camber in them. Some are better built than others, and most of the time the price will reflect the level of quality of bar. You can do a quick Google search on the Duffalo bar and read about the science and engineering put into it in a very easy to read and understand format. As far as my experience goes (I’ve used maybe 6 different ones), the Duffalo bar does feel the best on my back when squatting and I think it has the largest camber of any of them.
I don’t know the degree of the camber that each specific bar has. But my guess is that it’s somewhere between 1-3 inches for all of them, give or take. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but an inch can have quite an impact here.
In my opinion, the scenario in which this bar provides the most value is when squatting. We’re powerlifters, and on meet day, we squat with the straight bar. While I think other bars such as the safety squat bar and cambered bar can provide a very high level of value, they aren’t that specific. They’re entirely different barbells. They can help us get stronger in different ways and provide relief to the joints and muscles of the upper body, but it’s a different squat. For less advanced lifters, the cambered bar might make them stronger, but the difference in technique and feel might be hard to replicate on a straight bar. The buffalo bar is only slightly different than the straight bar, but can provide at least some relief to the upper body and has similar mechanics to the straight bar. This is great because we beat the shit out of our upper bodies when we train bench. Nagging upper body tweaks, pains, and tendonitis are commonplace in powerlifting. We can attempt to combat this several ways, one being the use of the buffalo bar in place of the straight bar when squatting at least some percentage of the time. The level of which you might use the buffalo bar in place of the straight bar to give your upper body a break is totally case dependent.
If you’re a new lifter, I’d still say you probably can and should use this bar to squat with if you have access to it. I think it’s highly important as a new lifter to strive to make your straight bar squat technique as good as you can, and to be as comfortable as you can with using the straight bar before you throw in too much variation. With that being said, if you plan on powerlifting for a long time, it’s probably going to benefit you to throw this bar in from time to time if you have it. There won’t be any instant gratification, and what gratification you may receive from using this bar ten years from now won’t present itself clearly to you. Such is the case for a many things in powerlifting. We don’t realize the value of doing things a different way or being preventative until we’re fucked, and start the “what if” scenarios. Your shoulders and elbows will probably hurt less later on if you utilize this bar, and that might help you continue powerlifting for a longer period of time.
I can’t stress how much using this bar (and really every other variable with training) should be tempered based on one’s own specific case. I coach one lifter that just realized the buffalo bar he owns tears his elbows up more than the straight bar does. There’s one real life specific case that negates most of what I’m saying in this article. But taking things on a case by case basis is hard, isn’t it? This is why it’s hard to write about training. I could write something that might be applicable to 95% of people. But for that other 5%, it could be the last thing they need. It also places a lot of the ownership on the lifter, which most probably don’t want whether they realize it or not. They want to be able to take the words written by someone they respect and trust, and take that as a gospel because that would make things a lot easier. I know this because I’ve tried to do it so many fucking times. I’ve tried things suggested by the people I respect and look up to most in powerlifting over and over again and realized they just didn’t work for me. Then again, other pieces of advice have worked really well. I digress.
You can also bench with the buffalo bar. Again, how much usage is totally case dependent. The extra range of motion can be hard on the upper body, so I don’t typically advise taking absolute max singles with it. Using a buffalo bar to bench press with can be beneficial for a lifter with a weak bottom end (which is common). It asks more of your pecs by stretching them slightly further, and more of your lats by keeping positioning for longer in the hardest part of the bench. It also might help you if you’re weak at the top. Much like a small deficit pull, your body must fire for a slightly longer range of motion. It isn’t much, but as stated before, an inch can be a long way. If you bench with this bar at least sometimes, it might help you find an extra gear when trying to lock a heavy weight out on the platform.
If you’re a larger lifter, have longer arms, or have shoulder/pec problems, it might not be a great idea for you to use this bar to bench with often. It would probably be a great idea to use it often when squatting, if that’s your case though. If you’re a bigger lifter, you can try adding a small piece of foam or rolled up carpet on your chest with this bar. This will allow you some extra range of motion as you sink into the foam/carpet, but it will take some stress off your shoulders.
For some, it might feel even better to bench with than a power bar. I imagine this has something to do with the slightly different angle the buffalo bar has in one’s hands, which might affect the way the shoulder rotates when benching. I’m no scientist or movement specialist, though, so I can’t really say I know the answer as to why this is for sure. I have programmed the buffalo bar on the bench press up to roughly 80% of the time with one specific lifter I coach. This lifter told me her upper body felt amazing when benching with the buffalo bar, and even benched more than a power bar with the added range of motion of the buffalo bar. She was able to bench PR’s on the platform with a power bar after using it for only about 20% of her training. So in her case, it worked well.
To say more about this – if you’re more experienced, the difference between the buffalo bar and straight bar (at least on the squat) might become negligible. I record my PR’s for each bar with each variation I do, and when my straight bar and buffalo bar PR’s meet or my buffalo bar PR surpasses my straight bar PR, I’m not surprised because it feels almost exactly the same. Just less stress on my shoulders and arms when using the buffalo bar.
Now, if you start using the buffalo bar for the majority of your training, and you can’t replicate the technique on the straight bar, you’ve got a problem that needs to be addressed. At least before you do a meet.
You can also do front squats with this bar. The camber in the bar spreads the bar weight over a larger area. This is also true with back squats. Using the buffalo bar with bands or chains has always felt better to me than the straight bar, and I think the distribution of the weight has a lot to do with it. Again, I’m no scientist, but it feels way better to me. There are of course other exercises you could use this bar on, such as goodmornings.
As far as which one to buy, that’s up to you. I own a $200 buffalo bar I got off Amazon. It does the job, and whips less with 800 pounds than a Texas squat bar or even a more expensive buffalo bar at my gym does. I’d say this was a good investment. I train in a garage gym, so my budget is limited to however much the few of us can scrap together. However, when it comes to gym equipment, it is often the case that you get what you pay for. Yes, there are some pieces you don’t need to go crazy with. My $100 45 degree back raise does the job just as good as a $700 45 degree back raise does. The plates we have all weigh the same, and some cost 1/3 as much as the others when we got lucky and found a deal. Titan and Texas Strength make some decent products for a low price, but some pieces just aren’t worth saving the $100-200 for a subpar product. Texas Strength makes an okay belt squat, but the slippery foot plate on it was likely the reason I tore my groin doing belt squats. In the age we live in now, it isn’t hard to research and find reviews on products you’re looking to buy. Keep in mind, some or all of those can be paid or reviews written by those looking to sell the product. Deception can be commonplace on the internet.
More specifically, how should you use this bar in your own training? It depends on all of what we’ve discussed, right? How you recover from benching with it and how much straight bar work you need matter. With that being said, here’s a rough guideline.
SQUATTING WITH THE BUFFALO BAR
If your straight bar squat technique is ironclad, I’d say use the buffalo bar for 50% of the time you’d use the straight bar. So if you squat heavy twice a month with the straight bar, use the buffalo bar for one of those. If you’re more advanced, you could use it more. I go periods of several months without touching a straight bar on the squat.
If your straight bar squat technique is not ironclad, you probably need to use the straight bar more often. You could use the buffalo bar for work outside of your main movements, such as backdown sets or volume work you’d typically use the straight bar on. Even that might help decrease stress on your upper body.
If you do speed squats, you can run a 3 week wave using the buffalo bar over the straight bar, then move back to the straight bar for your next wave.
BENCHING WITH THE BUFFALO BAR
I’d say for most, benching heavy with this bar once per month is enough. I’d much rather see a lifter leave a bit in the tank with this bar, and I don’t advise max singles on it. Sets of 3 or 5 might be a better option.
Another way you might use it is for volume sets after main work. I like to use this bar in succession with a 3 week wave of speed bench. So do you sets of speed work, and then wave the weight and reps alongside the speed work. Maybe week one you do 3 sets of 10 reps, week two you do 3 sets of 8 reps, and week three you do 3 sets of 6 reps. These aren’t max rep sets, just simple hypertrophy work.
In my opinion, the first bar you should buy is a power bar. The second you should buy is a safety squat bar. The third is a buffalo bar.
Have Calloused Hands 