Iron Bull Strength Advanced Squat Pad - Barbell Cushion for Squats, Lunges & Hip Thrusts - Neck & Shoulder Support Pad - Perfect for Gym, CrossFit & Home Workouts

Before using a pad my wife use to ask me who's been clawing at my back? ;-) I am doing about 1.5X body wt squats and my whimpy back can't take the bar. Also, since using a pad I can lift more because I am not feeling the pain on my neck.The gym has these but I though I would buy my own and save me the neck germs of everyone else who used it the past month.The product has held up great and if very durable. I should be able to get a few good years out of this pad before it saws it self in half.Now I don’t have to have the barbell on my neck without padding when I am at home or the gym. Also great for hip thrusts too.The padding is good. I am just worried about the center. It seems to be thinner than I had expected. I am curious to see how long this lasts.This pad has helped me get going with back squats again. I haven’t tried it for hip thrusters yet, but it’s plenty thick and I’m sure it will be fine for that exercise. Fast delivery too!Fits nicely on the barbell, does not slip, I get more comfortable workouts.Have been using it consistently for about a month. Provides great comfort while hip thrusting heavy weight (have gone up to 220lbs with this pad). Unsure of the durability, but for the price it’s a good deal.I use this for hip thrusters, so if you want to squat with it all I can say is "don't" because you should just learn to carry the bar properly instead of using this which will shift the weight on your back and reduce your stability.It works awesome for hip thrusters, though. I don't foresee a ton of durability, it is a piece of foam, but it doesn't need to last 20 years, either.Keeps the back of the neck and the shoulders from taking the brunt of the bar while you're squatting It's perfectI went for this design as it doesn't have velcro straps as many do (and I didn't want the velcro picking up lint/cat fur etc) However I now wish I'd gone for one you can secure as this one can easily slide round out of place and a couple of times i've ended up in a pickle with a heavy barbell that has slid through the gap in the pad onto my back - i've had to invent a way to tie a strap around it to ensure I can get a barbell up and onto my back without it sliding round, so not ideal.A quick Word of Warning: The gap in the middle of the pad does almost nothing to protect your d**k & b**ls when you’re performing barbell hip thrusts.You still have to use your arms to roll the bar down your thighs, so just be aware of that.The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because the pad slips off the bar too easily. A Velcro strip could be useful for securing itThis provides fantastic cushioning when doing squats. Previously I didn't have any cushioning at all and so after a few sets of squats my trap muscles would invariably hurt under the stress of the load. This changes all that - now when I put this squat pad on the bar I don't feel any pain at all. I can concentrate on my squats which are now fun to do, not a chore. A tip for when you put this on the bar - make sure that the opening is at the top, if it's at the bottom then the pad will slip off when you start to do your squats, a minor point but important nonetheless.As a large burly fellow that attends a powerlifting gym I opted to buy the pink pad as something of a joke. After receiving it I discovered that my friend's black version of the product appeared to be slightly larger than mine. The product site makes no mention of there being a "girl" version of the pad so this could simply be natural variation in the product. I would however advise future purchasers overly concerned with protecting their hip bone whilst thrusting to opt for the more "masculine" colors as a precaution.The pink pad provides pain free support for hip thrusts up to about 350lbs, more than that and one needs additional padding (I might just be a pansy).Love this pad for doing hip thrusts with an Olympic barbell within a few weeks I’m knocking out sets with a 100kg on the barbell. For someone like myself that’s neglected my glute work over th years it’s been a game changer can already notice I’m busting out of my jeans!