We test and review fitness products based on an independent, multi-point methodology. If you use our links to purchase something, we may earn a commission. Read our disclosures.
The Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar V4 is the most versatile safety squat bar currently available. After using the previous versions and finding a lot of shortcomings, Chris Duffin and the Kabuki Team have taken the criticism and made a bar that is not only incredibly versatile, but equally easy to use. If you want the best safety squat bar currently made and don’t mind paying for it, this is it. No question.
Kabuki SSB
The Transformer Bar is practically 3 bars in one. Using the first lever height, the bar's mechanics act identically to a Duffalo Bar and allows for a similar squat movement pattern as a regular bar. The Transformer Bar also acts like a regular cambered bar, and of course it is a fully adjustable Safety Squat Bar (SSB) with an industry-first adjustable camber angle and lever height. It allows the lifter to control the height of the camber (4 different settings) as well as the angle (variable by 30 degrees all the way around).The weight horn also allows for 4 camber heights. The first one (A) allows for a position similar to a straight bar on your back (due to the height of the pad, the center of the sleeve in position A almost aligns with the center of the center bar). In combination with the 12 camber angles, these 4 heights allow for a total of 36 different positions on the bar. Name one other bar that can be used 36 different ways in a single movement like the squat?This feature is the bread-and-butter of the Transformer Bar. A proprietary 12-angle bracket allows for 360 degrees of variation (30 degree increments) in angle of the weight relative to the lifter. Why did we do this? So the bar could be used as both a regular cambered bar, and a safety squat bar while still allowing for lifters to experiment and train in ways they've never been able to before! Here at the Lab we are constantly experimenting different, more extreme positions of the Transformer Bar and will share with all users what we discover. For now, be aware that you can have a bar in your possession that allows for functions and training methods previously impossible – so be careful and tread wisely! It's an exiting bar and who knows what uses and methodologies we'll discover in the future utilizing this bar!
Kabuki Strength is by and large making some of the best specialty bars on the market and the newest version of the Transfomer Bar is their best one yet. I’ve tested and reviewed practically every safety squat bar on the market and written about thebest safety squat barshere. The original Transformer Bar was very much average, in my opinion. It was a cool idea, but wasn’t quite ready for commercial adoption and was hard to recommend for any home gym owner. However, the latest Transformer Bar (version 4) is easy to recommend for anyone wanting an incredibly versatile safety squat bar for squats, goodmornings, lunges, and many other movements.
What is the Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar?
The Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar is a safety squat bar that uses a rotating sleeve to allow the load to be placed at various cambers and distances from the shaft of the bar to change how the bar feels during use.
The Transformer Bar was created by Chris Duffin and his team at Kabuki Strength in Portland, Washington. They’ve come up with quite a few popular specialty bars including the Duffalo Bar, HD Trap Bar, Kadillac Bar, and the Transformer Bar, which is now in its fourth iteration.
Although we call the Transformer Bar a safety squat bar, that’s largely because there isn’t another category to put it in. Similar to the Marrs-Bar which we recently reviewed, the Transformer Bar is quite a bit different from a traditional safety squat bar. Dissimilar from the Marrs-Bar, the Transformer Bar can do much more by mimicking the feeling of everything from a front squat to a low bar back squat while being held in the same position on the back.
Related: Check out the Kabuki Kratos Flywheel Review.
Video Review
What We Like About the Transformer Bar
When Kabuki Strength reached out to us about the possibility of us reviewing the Transformer bar, I was a bit worried they were simply changing some of the aesthetics of the bar. We’ve used and reviewed the previous versions of the Transformer Bar and although I liked the concept, I thought it was very much “half-baked.”
Here was the biggest issue with the previous version which will lead into my favorite fix with the newest version:
Using the various features of the bar that allow for changing the camber angle and sleeve distance from the shaft were so tedious and time-consuming to change that they simply weren’t used.
This was certainly the case for me and I know it was for many others as I talked to owners of the bar who voiced the same frustrations. The versatility of a piece of equipment only increases in positivity as the time to use it’s features decreases in time to setup. Take wall-mounted squat racks for instance. A PRx Profile Rack that folds up is vastly superior to the Rogue Fold-Away Racks not due to better steel or any quality, but because folding the rack down and using it immediately is quicker than folding the uprights in individually, securing it to the wall, and locking in the pull-up bar.
Thankfully, Kabuki took our criticisms of the previous versions of the Transformer Bar and made a much easier and quicker to use model. To be blunt, this is the most versatile safety squat bar on the market (it has been since it came out) and now has it’s features easily useable by trainees no matter their experience.
Although the Transformer Bar can be used in a similar manner as any safety squat bar such as the EliteFTS SS Yoke or Rogue SB-1 Safety Squat Bar, it can mimic the feeling of other movements as well. A safety squat bar traditionally feels in between a deadlift and a back squat due to where the load is placed. It obviously has the benefit of helping those with shoulder mobility issues by placing the hands in front, but the main reason it’s used by powerlifters the world over is to add a different stimulus to the squat (one, if not THE most trained movement.)
The way the Transformer Bar is able to achieve the feeling of different bars and movements is by placing the load at different angles and distances from the shaft of the bar. The curve in the bar that you see on safety squat bars is called a camber and is replaced by an adjustable bracket on the Transformer Bar. This is what allows the Transformer Bar to feel more like a low bar back squat when the load is placed in a similar location as it would be with a barbell for a low bar back squat. Or makes it feel like a front squat when a barbell is used in the front rack position for a front squat.
The new mechanism for the Transformer Bar is a pop-pin that’s seen on many different pieces of gym equipment from benches to functional trainers. The pop-pin may give you reservations to its weight capacity as it did me, but we’ve been told the Transformer Bar and its pop-pins are rated for 1,500 LB. The same weight rating that the original Transformer Bar had.
The other adjustment piece on the Transformer Bar is the sleeve that fits into 4 different holes on the brackets and then locks in with a spin. This places the weight either farther or closer to the shaft of the bar. The further away from the center, the heavier/harder the weight/movement will be. This allows home gym owners with a low amount of weight make movements harder or just change the difficulty of a movement by changing the stimulus.
Honestly, I’m surprised that Westside Barbell and those that follow a Conjugate style of training that is constantly changing bars and movements haven’t fully embraced the Transformer Bar. It could be that the angle was difficult to change, but maybe with this new design, it will be adopted; I think it should.
The sleeves are machined, Olympic-sized barbell sleeves that are ribbed and due to their size fit Olympic plates and best bumper plates while being able to take the same collars you use on your straight bars which is not the case with many specialty bars on the market.
Beyond the sleeves and camber mechanism, the bar is overall what you’d expect from Kabuki. High-end materials and well-thought-out features. The shaft, brackets, and handles of the bar have a bright zinc finish that should provide better corrosion resistance than the black zinc previously used.
The handles on the bar have a volcano knurl pattern that is the same as what’s used on theKabuki Strength New Gen Power Bar. They also now have end caps which is yet another addition to the bar that makes it feel much more polished.
All of these improvements and features make the Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar my favorite specialty bar that the team has come out with and quite possibly the most versatile specialty bar available.
What We Don’t Like About The Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar
With the improvement of the useability of the angle adjustment system, the Transformer Bar has overcome many of the objections we initially had.
There are only a couple of minor things that we don’t like.
First, and this is very small, but black zinc sleeves show wear quicker than just about any other coating (Cerakote and powder coat are probably the worst.) I get the reason behind using it as it provides a contrast and looks pretty cool against the bright zinc, but understand that over time it will end up looking faded and worn.
The other thing we don’t love is the stickers on the brackets. I do really like the addition of these from the standpoint of easily identifying what angle you’re at, however, I worry that in a hardcore training environment they could end up getting torn up and removed. Laser-cut would have been preferable, but again, I don’t think this is a major critique and is getting nit-picky.
Lastly, and this is just a product of the bar being made in the USA, the price is quite a bit more than other safety squat bars. I wouldn’t want any of the features removed or the quality lessened, so I’m actually fine with the cost. I also like the fact that the price is the same as the previous model even though it’s vastly improved.
Other than that, there isn’t a whole lot we dislike.
Kabuki Strength Bar vs. The Competition
Rogue SSB
The weight distribution is unique to this bar. Training with the Rogue Safety Squat bar is known to tax your anterior chain; the weight distribution falls between the front squat and the high-bar back squat to vary your power output training. This bar is a safer option for intense squat progressions or maximum load lifts.This bar is known to increase your maximum working weight when compared to the traditional back squat.
Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar vs. Rogue SB-1 Safety Squat Bar
To be honest, with all of the great options available today, I don’t recommend the SB-1 from Rogue to just about anyone. It’s not a bad bar, but it’s been overtaken by nearly every company producing specialty bars today.
EliteFTS SSB
As we worked through this process, we quickly discovered that a small change in one aspect created flaws in others. The goal was to eliminate these negative aspects, not to create more. For example, making the pad denser (so that it wouldn't break down like all of the others) changed how the bar would sit and move on the lifter's back. The length of the handles also affected how the majority of lifters would come out of the bottom of the squat. In turn, the length of the bar affected the stability, the handle thickness, the stress on the arms, the length of the camber, the strength of the bar, etc. Therefore, this process– what we thought would be a couple of simple upgrades, became a major project. In time, however, we did get it done. This bar now has...* A denser and longer neck pad that will not break down and sits perfectly on the upper back.* Shorter but thicker handles that allow the lifter to support the bar without aiding in the lift or tossing the lifter into a compromising position.* A longer bar camber that greatly increases the strength and rating of the bar. While we know this bar is rated over 1500 pounds, this really doesn't mean anything. We already know ratings are worthless in real world applications, as we all have seen MANY 1200-pound rated power bars bend with less than 400 pounds. Our real world way to test the strength of the bar is to load it with 600 pounds and ask LiL Stevie (6'5 350 pounds) to toss it off his back and onto the rack spot pins. With the "LiL Stevie method," we were able to find out what bars would bend, break, or stand up to the challenge. NOTE: It was also a blast to watch!* Some other upgrades include, better packaging so your bar arrives AWESOME, higher quality handle grips, and a clear coated finish.
Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar vs. EliteFTS SS Yoke
The EliteFTS SS Yoke is one of the best safety squat bar designs there is. It’s since been copied by many others, including the Titan Fitness Safety Squat Bar which we do feel is a better value, but the SS Yoke is still the original. If you don’t feel you’d use the functionality of the Transformer Bar, then there is little reason to buy it as the SS Yoke and myriad of other SSB’s are much less. However, The Transformer Bar has a much wider range of functionality and is better quality overall.
Marrs-Bar
The Marrs Bar is a safety squat bar with a unique camber. By redistributing weight like a "backpack", this is the ONLY bar that doesn't rest on your neck and cervical spine. With an ultra-comfortable memory foam harness, you can load more weight without discomfort. Our revolutionary design lets you do lunges, back squats, and front squats - hands free - like no other bar on the market. By reducing axial load on your neck and back you will reduce wear and tear on your spine, shoulders, hips and knees.
Marrs-Bar vs. Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar
If I was going to spend the amount of money it takes to buy either of these bars, I would definitely purchase the Transformer Bar. The Marrs-Bar is a great specialty bar that provides a unique feeling in comparison to most SSB’s. However, it lacks the versatility of the Transformer Bar at a similar, if not more expensive price (depending on shipping.)
Full Rating
Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar V4
The Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar V4 is the most versatile safety squat bar currently available. After using the previous versions and finding a lot of shortcomings, Chris Duffin and the Kabuki Team have taken the criticism and made a bar that is not only incredibly versatile, but equally easy to use. If you want the best safety squat bar currently made and don't mind paying for it, this is it. No question.
Product Brand: Kabuki
Product Currency: $
Product Price: 599.99
Product In-Stock: InStock
4.6
Kabuki Strength Transformer Bar V4 FAQs
How much does Kabuki transformer bar weigh?
The Transformer Bar, designed by Chris Duffin and Kabuki Strength, is the highest-quality and most feature-packed safety squat bar available. The Transformer Bar is one of the only specialized bars on the market that is equivalent in weight to an Olympic barbell, weighing in at 20KG/44 LBs.
What does the transformer bar do?
The Transformer Bar is a patent-pending multi-function specialty barbell that adjusts the weight’s center of mass relative to the lifter’s body, allowing for variations in loading mechanics, movement dynamics, and training impact.
Further reading
Fat Gripz are barbell attachments that increase the grip diameter, essentially turning any solid bar into an axle bar. They're incredibly tough, useful, and surprisingly cheap. We highly recommend them. Read more
Two smart rowers with different types of resistance, which will you choose in the matchup between CITYROW vs Hydrow? Read more
In our Dynamic Infrared Sauna Review, we’ll go over this affordable low-EMF sauna and whether it performs as well as the competition. Read more
Our experts have put together the best stationary bike workout for beginners. Read more