🏋How Bar Placement Affects Your Squat
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It’s all about ✅ pros and ❌cons. There is no right or wrong place for the barbell when you squat. Just as there is no ‘ideal’ human body. Where you hold the barbell in a squat will load joints differently. Are you weightlifting for competition 🏋️♀️, or do you just want to squat with limited pain after an injury? These questions dictate where you hold the bar.
.
🔴High Bar – this has you place the barbell above the ‘spine’ of the scapula. It uses part of the traps to cushion the bar. You can see the torso angle from hips to bar is more vertical. This will give less leverage to the hips (yellow line) so it can be a better lifters with: 🔺Low back pain
🔺Hip pinching
.
✳️Low Bar – this has you slightly retract your shoulder blades to provide a shelf for the barbell around the spine of the scapula. Notice the torso angle is a lot less. The knees have a lot less leverage (blue line). And the bar won’t put as much weight near the neck. This can be better for lifters with
🔺Neck Pain
🔺Knee Pain
🔺Poor Ankle Mobility
.
As my colleague described yesterday at our lifting workshop, the better leverage through your hips with low-bar technique allows you to lift heavier (as the hip as more powerful surrounding muscles). But for certain body types high-bar technique may feel better👍
.
It’s all about ✅ pros and ❌cons. There is no right or wrong place for the barbell when you squat. Just as there is no ‘ideal’ human body. Where you hold the barbell in a squat will load joints differently. Are you weightlifting for competition 🏋️♀️, or do you just want to squat with limited pain after an injury? These questions dictate where you hold the bar.
.
🔴High Bar – this has you place the barbell above the ‘spine’ of the scapula. It uses part of the traps to cushion the bar. You can see the torso angle from hips to bar is more vertical. This will give less leverage to the hips (yellow line) so it can be a better lifters with: 🔺Low back pain
🔺Hip pinching
.
✳️Low Bar – this has you slightly retract your shoulder blades to provide a shelf for the barbell around the spine of the scapula. Notice the torso angle is a lot less. The knees have a lot less leverage (blue line). And the bar won’t put as much weight near the neck. This can be better for lifters with
🔺Neck Pain
🔺Knee Pain
🔺Poor Ankle Mobility
.
As my colleague described yesterday at our lifting workshop, the better leverage through your hips with low-bar technique allows you to lift heavier (as the hip as more powerful surrounding muscles). But for certain body types high-bar technique may feel better👍
