The purpose of this is simply to protect your neck and shoulders from the bar whilst squatting. Much like this
I have used a similar item at a gym but that was just foam with a vinyl wrap, this one from Maxx is far and away better. It has gel padding which is sealed inside the heavy duty outer.
The Velcro fastening and all of the stitching is top notch and I have no doubts it will last me a long time.
The downsides from using a pad such as this are firstly the bar sits slightly higher on your shoulders than without which some people find doesnt give as good a ‘feel’ for the bar or control. Personally I don’t have this issue but I’m only currently squatting up to 110kg at the moment. The only other issue can be instabilities caused by the padding, personally I don’t find these to be an issue and if anything these very minor instability issues would cause you to engage your core a little more. Again as I increase the weight I squat I may change that opinion however the more weight on the bar the more the gel padding will compress and the less these issue would occur.
Conclusion
All in all for the £7.99 I paid for this on eBay I’m very happy. There are as usual cheaper products out there and some a LOT more expensive but this mid range one seems like the best compromise to me. I would happily recommend one to anyone tired of having bruises on their backs or shoulders from the bar.
Busy Bee Fitness 
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