Squat Grip

[BeauJangles]

Hey guys,

So I'm not the most flexible individual and, with my squats lately, I've been doing very poorly - my lower back has been bothering me every so slightly and I took that as a sign I need to fix my form. I picked up a copy of Starting Strength and I took a pretty good look through it. Anyway, I noticed that Rippetoe recommends the lower bar position for squats.

I'm having a few problems. First, my shoulders are not flexible enough to allow me to maintain a straight wrist. Because of this, there is a lot of pressure on my wrists from the bar. According to SS, I should be pulling the bar down onto my back and, while that sounds nice in theory, I couldn't pull it off in the gym.

I guess I'm confused about how low the bar is supposed to be. I thought the lower position put the bar below the upper bone on the scapula (I don't know what the term is), but I find that impossibly low. Any higher and I feel the bar is resting right on my shoulder blades, which I know is completely wrong.

Ugh, I'm so frustrated because after trying to figure this out at the gym for half an hour, my balance in the high bar position is so screwed up that I couldn't really squat.

Thoughts (besides what a noob)?

Edit: so I wanted to mention I've been looking at this thread a lot http://www.strengthmill.net/fo...bc45413e0d4ebfd&t=1334

I'm so confused though because I've seen so many variations of the lower back position. Is this correct? http://youtube.com/watch?v=i5shsc0_jHA . I tried to go that low on my back, but that just hurt my wrists. I tried keeping my elbows up, but my wrists were at ~90 degree angles to my forearms.

edit2: this guy also seems to have good form, but the bar rests much higher on his shoulders http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=177

Sorry, I'm a little frustrated.

 

[crt1530]

I use a high bar position on squats because my shoulders are a bit inflexible and that's how I've always done it. Find a position that works for you. As far as the wrists go, you don't want to be supporting the bar with your hands. Try widening your grip until you can pull the bar into your body instead of pushing up on it.

Spend some time with weight that is light for you and work on finding a setup that feels right. The best way to get better at squatting is to spend more time under the bar.

 

[Maleficus]

Squat RX: http://www.youtube.com/view_pl...ist?p=C03D688F10C4DE1F

Part 4 applies to this convo specifically, but i recommend the whole series.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Maleficus
Squat RX: http://www.youtube.com/view_pl...ist?p=C03D688F10C4DE1F

Part 4 applies to this convo specifically, but i recommend the whole series.

Thanks man, that video was really helpful. I'm going to head over to the gym after work and work on my grip and body positioning.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Just find what's comfortable for you. Make sure when you first get under the bar, loosen your shoulders, then tighten up and pull back your shoulders. (It'll help to give a place for the bar to rest on your traps)

 

[Riverhound777]

It took me a while to be able to do the low-bar grip. I ended up having to widen my grip a bit, but my upper back was still tight, so I think I'm ok. But the first time I tried it it felt really weird and uncomfortable. But now that I'm used to it, the weight actually feels much lighter on my shoulders since it is spread over more surface area than the high bar.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Most gyms also have bar attachments that will sit the bar on your shoulders. THey are good for starting out and getting an idea of where the bar should be and what you should be doing with it's weight.

 

[gramboh]

I've always done high bar since it feels natural. I've just started doing shoulder dislocations trying to get more mobility so I can try lower bar to see if it feels different in terms of glutes/ham recruitment. Stronglifts has a good article on shoulder dislocations (this will also help with wrists I think).

 

[spamsk8r]

I used to do high bar, then changed to low bar based on Rip's book. Low bar is incredibly more stable and powerful, in my experience (and Rip's, which is why he recommends it). If you absolutely can't get your shoulders to stretch that much, do high bar for now, and work on your shoulder mobility (shoulder dislocates especially, along with kipping pullups). I used to have a really tight shoulder which is why I think I gravitated toward the high bar position, but now that my shoulder mobility is really good it's low bar all the way.

 

[skace]

Well, flexibility isn't static either. If you are having difficulty doing exercises and you feel that you are doing them properly, perhaps you should lower the weight and spend more time working on flexibility.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: skace
Well, flexibility isn't static either. If you are having difficulty doing exercises and you feel that you are doing them properly, perhaps you should lower the weight and spend more time working on flexibility.

Good advice. The broom handle stretch would probably be helpful to improving flexibility for the squat grip

We used to perform this stretch in Kung Fu, using the Bo, and also bend over at the waist and rotate upwards left and right .