A load-distribution cushion padding for engaging around a bar of a weight-lifting device and for cradling and protecting the cervical spine of a weight-lifter by absorbing shock from the bar of the weigh-lifting device while the weight-lifter is doing a squat exercise. The padding includes a tube and a ring. The tube engages around the bar of the weight-lifting device. The ring surrounds a portion of the tube and cradles and protects the cervical spine of the weight-lifter by absorbing the shock from the bar of the weigh-lifting device while the weight-lifter is doing a squat exercise. The tube is made of molded thick foam of varying degrees of open and closed foam, thicknesses, and densities. The ring is made of a shock-absorbing low-density foam. The tube has a central portion containing a circumferential groove. The ring fills the circumferential groove in the central portion of the tube, and forms therewith, a shock-absorbing tube. The shock-absorbing tube has an axial slot completely therealong, which receives the bar of the weight-lifting device.