Does high bar squatting maintain low bar strength?

[Kregna]

I ask because I have this forearm pain when I get in the low bar squat position (wider grip helps but not completely) and I want it to heal. I've tried training through it but it hasn't gotten better, even squatting just twice a week

If I squat high bar do you think I'll get weaker when I go back to low bar? I did try doing a search but only found posts about using it as a more full time replacement

Thanks

[Alexander Dargatz]

Depends, of course. Squatting high is obviously better than not squatting at all. And if it's just for a few weeks, I can't imagine the low bar squat will suffer too much. On the other hand, I'm fairly sure that if you exclusively squat high bar for months, you'll lose some strength for the low bar when you get back to it. How much? No clue. But when i switched from HBS to LBS for the first time, i had to reduce weight by around 40% to get it right. Weights crept up fast initailly, though..
But I wonder, does the bar position really make such a big difference for your forearm injury? It's just a couple of inches higher or lower on the back... and if griü adjustment doesn't help that much... have you tried the high bar yet and did it help?

[Kregna]

Depends, of course. Squatting high is obviously better than not squatting at all. And if it's just for a few weeks, I can't imagine the low bar squat will suffer too much. On the other hand, I'm fairly sure that if you exclusively squat high bar for months, you'll lose some strength for the low bar when you get back to it. How much? No clue. But when i switched from HBS to LBS for the first time, i had to reduce weight by around 40% to get it right. Weights crept up fast initailly, though..
But I wonder, does the bar position really make such a big difference for your forearm injury? It's just a couple of inches higher or lower on the back... and if griü adjustment doesn't help that much... have you tried the high bar yet and did it help?

Thanks for the reply

it feels completely fine high bar squatting because it's not being stretched as it does to get it in the low bar position. There's no stretch on my forearms whatsoever when I do high bar. I'm not sure what the issue is exactly or how it got started (been squatting years low bar and only had elbow problems before) but it hurts even during bar warm ups. Maybe my brachialis?

[Skander]

I ask because I have this forearm pain when I get in the low bar squat position (wider grip helps but not completely) and I want it to heal. I've tried training through it but it hasn't gotten better, even squatting just twice a week

If I squat high bar do you think I'll get weaker when I go back to low bar? I did try doing a search but only found posts about using it as a more full time replacement

Thanks

I've always liked low bar better, so maybe I'm just a good low bar squatter, but as an Olympic lifter I always have been encouraged to high bar. I wanted to see how low bar went for a while, especially with my knees feeling better with low bar. I maxed out high bar at 405x1 before switching. A couple weeks later I hit 430. Then after about 8 weeks maybe I hit 450 on low bar- so I'd say the strength returned pretty fast for me. My pre high bar numbers were basically meaningless since that was so long ago (maybe 1RM of 360?).

[CrouchingWayne]

I had forearm pain when transitioning from high to low bar - have you tried a form correction? Tighter squeeze of the shoulder blades, higher elbows and, most importantly, palms I've the bar (not under, I.e the hands should not be significantly weight bearing)

[Kregna]

I've always liked low bar better, so maybe I'm just a good low bar squatter, but as an Olympic lifter I always have been encouraged to high bar. I wanted to see how low bar went for a while, especially with my knees feeling better with low bar. I maxed out high bar at 405x1 before switching. A couple weeks later I hit 430. Then after about 8 weeks maybe I hit 450 on low bar- so I'd say the strength returned pretty fast for me. My pre high bar numbers were basically meaningless since that was so long ago (maybe 1RM of 360?).

Thanks for the input. That sounds like there definitely is some carry over to low bar

I had forearm pain when transitioning from high to low bar - have you tried a form correction? Tighter squeeze of the shoulder blades, higher elbows and, most importantly, palms I've the bar (not under, I.e the hands should not be significantly weight bearing)

I've tried a few things and found wider seemed to help (less stretch on the forearm) but because it happened during warm ups (with just a 20kg bar) I don't think it's because the arms are bearing the weight

I did some high bar earlier and found unracking it low bar at my high bar weight didn't hurt, but will do another week or so to be sure

Cheers

[Michael Wolf]

Having done each exclusively for several years, and more recently mixed them in training over the past couple years, I've found each definitely has carry-over to the other. Which is eminently logical: strength being a general adaptation and all that, getting stronger will, not surprisingly, carry over to other movements that also depend on strength, even if the movement pattern isn't the same. But especially in the squat, when high bar vs low bar is only moderately or slightly dissimilar, not majorly.

That said, I've also definitely found what we say around here to be true, that low bar is superior as the primary movement for general strength training, and leads to better overall strength gains that carry over to any other strength-dependent activity. If you truly can't low bar for some reason, then high bar. But being that low bar is better, you should try to fix what's wrong with your low bar so you can return to it.

[Skander]

The one thing I "lost" doing high bar for so long is my grip on the low bar. It used to feel so easy and natural on low bar and I just can't get back to that feeling.

LBBS didn't seem to do much for my C&J, while my snatch improved, though the arrival of my son means that I can't really do a meaningful comparison at this stage. I'm just happy to maintain and not go crazy.

[Shaun]

They both have good transfer to each other, but I found that low bar transfers slightly better to deadlifting and is an overall better way to perform the squat.

[Hassan Mansour]

I agree with Wolf here, and his input for Kregna is spot-on, imo.

Since I have some experience with this issue, this seems like a good place to sum up my recent experience with the HBBS:

Having done the HBBS exclusively for the past six months or so, and just now getting back into low bar squatting, I have found that there are skill, strength, and muscular adaptation components of leaning over with the barbell on your back that the HBBS does not train. I distinctly remember making a joke to a buddy of mine after doing my first work set of low bar squats. I said to him, "I could probably high-bar more than I could low-bar at the moment, so it's not a parlor trick after all."

I've found through practical experience that what Rip says is quite true, that a combination of LBBS plus FS is superior to other squat variants.

Besides the HBBS being a decent variant for those that are working around certain injuries, I just can't see what the HBBS does that LBBS or FS can't do better (and more safely).

Also, for those who are not full time athletes with unlimited recovery resources, there are some serious downsides to regularly high bar squatting. The long-ass lever arm and the less stable surface area on your back become real problems when you seriously increase the overall volume of back squatting. (I won't mention the additional toll on your knees since I've never had those sorts of problems from any squat variants, and since it's not something I have lots of experience with, I don't feel comfortable making any sweeping generalizations one way or another.) While these factors (longer lever arm on back, etc.) might not be serious considerations for your favorite Olympic weightlifter, they can definitely make or break your training if you are just a regular lifter with other stressors and things hampering your overall recovery.

Just my experience, take it for what it's worth. Again, I'd agree with Wolf: fix your LBBS and figure out a way to heal up the elbow.