EliteFTS Shoulder Saver Pad
Mark Brown
June 2, 2022
This would be the shortest review to date because it would be the easiest but that’s not what I do. This little piece of gym equipment is very worth getting for anyone who bench presses and wants to get better and stronger at it. I will explain why by thoroughly burying the lead.
Anyone who is familiar with strength training for a few years or trains with someone experienced understands the the concept up a board press. For those who aren’t, this is a brief explanation. A board press is a bench press down to a board that has been placed on the chest. The “board” is usually a small piece of 2×4 lumber that is about an inch thick. When lifters stack boards on top of each other the name of lift corresponds to how many boards are on the chest: 1 Board, 2 board, 3 board, 4 board, etc. They are used to shorten the range of motion of the bench press to train the movement, especially at the top. They take load off of the shoulder joint to an extent as well. Board presses always allow the lifter to press more weight so the lift aids in tricep, lat and central nervous system training.
The problem with board presses is that they are two person lift unless someone is really good at balancing the board or has the chest to do it solo. I did them before getting the EliteFTS
Shoulder Saver Pad and they were a gigantic pain in the ass. Pete and I fashioned a 2 board out of 2x4s meant for a driveway Jenga set up put together with a wrist wrap I didn’t use anymore. There are numbers of solutions for this. Most of them are lifts with key differences that make them fundamentally different from a board press. Floor presses achieve the same effect of a 2ish board press but the floor prevents the triceps from fully loading so more of the lift is on the pectoral muscles. Pin presses can be set to the distance of whatever number board press someone wants to do but the bar’s starting position reverses the concentric and eccentric phases. Very not the same! A lifter could just do a bench press and not go all the way down willfully but it would take a lot of skill to always stop at the intended “board” level. The board makes it very easy to hit the mark every time. Boxes serve the same purpose for squats.
There’s yet another solution to the board press annoyance. One could buy a shoulder saver bar. Expect to pay near $400 and God knows how much on shipping to get it. If someone has the money to blow on a shoulder saver bar, then all power to them. I don’t. The bar has a lot of benefits though. The Shoulder Saver Pad allows any straight bar to turn into a shoulder saver bar. I can say very confidently that this one piece of equipment has done a lot to help improve my bench press gain 60 pounds in about 2 years. It’s not just the easiest way to do a 2 board press that has helped, but also the pad has made me change where I grip the bar when I bench press. My grip has slowly widened to my middle or ring finger is over the break in the knurling over the last year of lifting. Prior to that my normal grip was close to a narrow grip press. The shoulder saver pad influenced it first by allowing me to train a wider grip while pressing in the 75-90% 1RM range. That’s not exactly 2 birds with 1 stone but the metaphor isn’t far off. Adding the floor press to my program has also aided in my training of a wider grip. It’s significant because the way the wider grip puts more on the pecs and lats than the triceps.
Now for some thoughts on the pad itself. Dave Tate, co-owner of EliteFTS, said that the lifter’s body would collapse before the shoulder saver pad does in a video on product page about it. He’s not lying. That is one sturdy piece of equipment. It’s got a nice smooth leather covering and is pretty easy to get on and off. I just have to bang it into place on the bar and it just takes a few firm hits to push it off. The leather on interior groove, the part that attaches to the bar, has become a casualty to the center knurling of my Ohio Power Bar but that’s okay by me. It’s the most vulnerable part of the pad and it still goes on and comes off easily. The knurling on the Ohio Power Bar doesn’t mess around either. The biggest problem involving the Shoulder Saver Pad is that it is so good that EliteFTS has a hard time getting it in stock, especially with these chain supply issues. It is currently not in stock. The price, $40 currently, is definitely not a hindrance. Keep this on the wish list and the Christmas list when it comes back in.
Life Through Lifting 