I received my BodyBoss 2.0 and was excited to put it to the test. It’s a great concept, but in practice, it doesn’t hold up. The platform is well made, although a bit narrow that prevents a wider stance for squats and deadlifts. The bar is pretty, with comfortable padding in various places and the attachment points on the ends are solidly welded in place. However, it is designed to screw together, presumably to make the entire thing more compact. This creates a problem I’ll address shortly.
The bands it comes with are pretty weak, really limiting what movements you can do with them. If I didn’t already have my own set of Rogue Fitness bands, it would be essentially useless except for maybe lateral raises. The handles are fine, and it comes with straps which I plan to use for leg extensions and leg curls, but I haven’t tried them yet.
The primary reason I made the purchase was to be able to Squat and Good Morning without having to wrap a band around my neck. I eventually found a band resistance that allowed me to get a decent 12-rep set in with Blood Flow Restriction cuffs on. In other words, it was in no way heavy; just a reasonable amount of resistance from about the midpoint of the squat to lockout. Getting into position in the first place is very difficult as you can imagine, since you have to squat to the deepest position to get the bar over your head and onto the upper traps.
Now for the main reason BodyBoss 2.0 is a bust. The attachment points for the bands are on the ends of the bar, and because the bar is actually two bars screwed together, the weak point is the thread in the center and it is weak indeed. After only one set of Squats, the threads bent resulting in a V-shaped bend in the bar. I can only assume at some point, after a few more Squat sets, or if I tried to add more band tension, the threads will be severed from the bar.
The bar was fine for Shrugs today as the tension wasn’t nearly as much as it was for Squats, and I did Overhead Tricep extensions using the handles which worked well.
I haven’t given up Squats entirely, as I think I can wrap the band around the center of the bar and stand on the band itself, thus moving the tension to the middle instead of the ends, and it should be a little more comfortable than just having the band around my neck, but I’ll try that experiment tomorrow. But suffice it to say, there is no way to use the BodyBoss 2.0 for Squats.
In the back of my mind remains the allure of renting a 10×10 climate controlled storage unit and getting a Power Rack, Barbell, Bench and some Bumper Plates to create a bare bones gym for myself, but I’m not there yet.
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