STEPPED WEIGHTLIFTING BAR

The stepped or safety bar has been designed to address inherent safety hazards associated with the bench press, an exercise used in weightlifting. Serious injury or death can result when a person lying prone on a bench collapses from exhaustion, unable to support the weighted bar. A stepped bar, that allows clearance over the chest area, provides convenient access to the bench and promotes a safer and enhanced exercise routine, when used with a properly adjusted safety rack or cage. The stepped bar design is inherently safe and retains the benefits of the free weight bench press. Although stepped or cambered bars have been used before in other applications, none have employed the unique offset counterbalance of this design. To balance the stepped portion of the bar in an upright position, the weight collars have been dropped a calculated distance below the axis of the bar. The primary advantage of this design is that the stability of the upright step increases proportionally with the weight on the bar.