Have you heard of the Swiss Bar? If not, I wouldn’t blame you. The Swiss Bar (or Football bar) has to be the most underrated bar in the gym. Maybe it is because it looks too clumsy or complicated with all its different grip patterns. Or possibly it gets ignored because the amount of weight being lifted in exercises such as bench press is less than what you could lift with a standard barbell.

While this may all be true, the Swiss Bar should feature in your training or become an essential piece of equipment in your gym for all the benefits that it offers.

Benefits of a Swiss Bar

The Swiss Bar’s main feature is the multiple grip option with the grips being either neutral or slightly angled as opposed to the pronated grip which is the standard grip for a barbell. The neutral or angled grip has three big advantages.

1 - Reduces the pressure on wrists

When lifting heavier weights with a pronated grip, your hands extend backwards which results in a lot of pressure on your wrists. By using a neutral grip with the Swiss Bar your wrists are locked in position and can’t extend backwards, making the exercise more comfortable on your wrists.

2 - Reduces the strain on shoulders

Lifting heavier weights often tests the limits of one of our weakest joints, the shoulders. Most push motions require our elbows to be out to the side which requires a greater activation of our anterior and middle deltoid muscles. Unfortunately this can also cause some shoulder niggles. When using a neutral grip your elbows are forced closer to your body and require less deltoid activation, allowing you to train around shoulder niggles.

3 - More tricep gains

Increased tricep activation goes hand in hand with reducing the shoulder niggles. With the elbows moving closer to the body the tricep activation increases during pressing motions, resulting in greater strength gains in the triceps.

Swiss Bar Exercises

Whether you are training around shoulder pain or not, the Swiss Bar can still be a powerful alternative exercise to your normal routine. The changing of grips in Swiss Bar exercises will challenge and strengthen your muscles in new ways, which will benefit your standard lifts. Here is my top 10 alternative Swiss Bar exercises.

1 - Swiss Bar Bent Over Row

Lean forward from the hips, with the legs slightly bent and spine straight. Grip the Swiss Bar by one of the multi-grips and slide your shoulder blades down your back. Pull the bar into your abs. The hand position during the row keeps the elbows closer to the body which works the lower lats more than when using a straight bar.

2 - Swiss Bar Overhead Shoulder Press

Perform a normal shoulder press but use the Swiss Bar instead. The neutral grip and size of the bar will force you to push the weight upwards from a position that will be further in front of you. This will activate the triceps more and utilise the anterior deltoids as opposed to both the anterior and middle deltoids.

3 - Swiss Bar Hammer Curl

Use the Swiss Bar to do bicep curls. By holding the bar in this position you are not only training the bicep muscle but also training the muscles of the forearm that help flexion in this position.

4 - Swiss Bar Deadlift

Deadlifts don’t only have to be done with a straight bar. A Swiss Bar makes holding of the bar easier than a straight bar. With the bar moving further away from your legs due to the bar size you will place more emphasis on the lower back and hamstrings. This provides a great training variation but first start with less weight than you normally would to avoid placing too much strain on the lower back and hamstrings.

5 - Swiss Bar Single Leg Deadlift

Single leg deadlift versions are fantastic to prevent muscle imbalance by training the legs individually. A Swiss Bar makes it easier for you. By having the Swiss bar slightly more forward and the hands in a neutral position you will be able to maintain your stability better.

Start by pulling your shoulders down your back and tighten your core. Lean forward from the hips so that as your chest moves forward a single leg moves backwards to keep the body in a straight line. Lower the weights to the floor and then drive through the foot and glute to return to the starting position.

6 - Swiss Bar Skull Crushers

Skull crushers are excellent to develop tricep strength. When using a regular barbell your wrists are in a pronated position which is weaker and places more strain on the wrists. By using a Swiss bar with a neutral or angled grip you can increase the weight used and really target the triceps without the necessary strain on your wrists.

7 - Swiss Bar Front Raise

Front raises with Dumbbells or weight plates are common in the gym setting and they are good exercises to isolate the deltoids. Due to the muscle configuration of the shoulder, heavy weights are not easy to lift and it also places an increased strain across the shoulder joint. The neutral grip will help reduce the strain in the shoulder. Due to the weight of the Swiss Bar you might find that there is no need to add additional weight to the bar to start with.

8 - Swiss Bar Incline Press

The Swiss Bar is not just limited to the flat bench press but can also be used for incline press. Similar to the flat bench press, the triceps will require a higher level of activation and the bar would be a bit lower on the chest due to your hand position. This will require different muscle angles when doing the incline bench press resulting in a new training stimulus.

9 - Swiss Bar Ab Roll Outs

Load the Swiss Bar with a Bumper Plate on each side and select a neutral grip on the bar that is shoulder width apart while kneeling. Keep the abs activated while you roll the bar out as far as you can go while maintaining your posture before returning to your starting position. The neutral hand position will prevent strain on the wrist that you would experience with a straight bar.

10 - Swiss Bar Front Squat

If you have ever tried a front squat you will know that the bar can get very uncomfortable to hold. My wrists start aching early in the exercise. However if I have access to a Swiss Bar I am able to perform a front squat with my hands in neutral positions with one edge of the Swiss Bar resting on your upper chest. The weight is once again further forward from you than a straight bar. This will make the quad work harder in the squat and reduce the emphasis of the glutes slightly.

When using Swiss Bars you will find that you will bench press less weight as the deltoids are not activated however, you will reduce the shoulder niggles and increase your tricep strength which when used in conjunction with training with a straight bar will help increase your bench press. There are also many other benefits of using a Swiss Bar and your exercise selection is not limited to just bench press as can be seen. Experiment with the different grips of a Swiss Bar and see how it affects your training. The change of the exercise angles due to the different grips can provide you with different training stimulus which will result in greater strength gains as well as adding some variety to your training.

Written by guest author Brendan McBirnie.

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Tags: Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc > Workout