squat grip question

[quad]

Hey coaches,
I know what Rip recommends and I have watched the video.
For me it's possible to keep the weight off my wrists and the elbows up with a thumbs around grip.
It feels much tighter. Does it change squat mechanics? Can I squat correctly with a thumbs around grip?

[Michael Wolf]

I've never seen someone successfully keep neutral wrists with elbows up enough to make a solid shelf, while gripping with thumbs around. If you can do it, I'd like to see it.

[quad]

I can't keep a neutral wrist, it's extended.
In the book/video Rip links extending wrists with elbows dropping, it looks like one is related to the other. My point is that even if the wrist is bent you can still raise your elbows contracting your shoulders and if the grip is wide enough you won't have load on your wrists and it will still be narrower than the grip SS suggests.

[Michael Wolf]

It's theoretically possible to have extended wrists without bearing any of the load. Think of the impossible scenario of someone's elbows up so high that they're pointing at the ceiling, with the hands mashing the bar straight down on the back instead of into the back.

But in real life, with the way the bar wants to move while squatting and the positions we humans can actually get into, an extended wrist is a recipe for a problem, because it will eventually bear some of the load. If you want to do it your way, we're not going to send the squat police after you, but you're extremely likely to have a wrist issue at some point. Lifters who grip the bar in the traditional manner often have wrist issues even with their use of wrist wraps to support the joint.

[quad]

I see Michael, thanks for answering.

[Baconista]

I cannot get my wrists straight either. I cannot get my shoulders back far enough.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[Michael Wolf]

Baconista, we'll talk about this in the thread you started.