Significant forward knee travel or high bar?

[Autumn Harbinger]

I have a friend that recently became interested in strength training. They recently tagged along with me on my one of my workouts. During the workout I ran him through the steps of setting up the squat as described in SS.

I have long legs and an average length torso, consequently my back is fairly horizontal during my squat. My friend has similar proportions, so I thought nothing about it as we ran through the set up. Turns out his legs are so damn long and his torso so short, that even as horizontal as his back can go the only way to get the bar over his mid-foot is for his knees to track significantly over his feet.

I'm generally inexperienced but I figured these proportions negate a lot of the benefits of running low bar in the first place, beating up his back pretty good without getting much hip drive. I think he should just stick to high bar squatting. Any opinions?

Also this may seem like a stupid question but.. Where the hell does the bar sit during high bar?? I know it sits on your traps, is it touching your neck? Do you get your traps as tight as possible with grip width to sit the bar there? I've literally never done high bar, and after playing with it I couldn't find anything that felt natural.

[Simon Rest]

Check out SS coach Nikki Simms. You'll not find a longer legged squatter. Low bar.

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I bet your friend can do it. Might need coaching, might need desire. But I bet he can

[Autumn Harbinger]

Coaching would be the ideal course. Unfortunately not available .

Watched through as many of her squatting videos as I could. To my inexpert eye I'd say her torso:femur ratio is better than his.

I just don't see how the setup could be tweaked to make it any more ideal. Even with a wide stance, feet externally rotated out to 45 , and a very horizontal back, significant knee travel is still required to maintain bar path. I suppose I could be completely missing something due to inexperience but I don't see how his proportions can be any further mitigated here.

Do you think that your proportions can put you into a low bar position that is far enough from ideal, that the benefits of squatting low bar would be negated to the point that one might as well oly squat?

[Simon Rest]

Post a video?
I don't think knee travel is that big a deal

[Autumn Harbinger]

I don't think knee travel is that big a deal

I was thinking of its effect on hip drive:

"Letting your knees travel too far forward presents a different challenge..... it has a detrimental effect on hip drive out of the bottom." pg 52 SS

Further goes on to say the consequence of this and the difference in lower-leg mechanics lowers the weight that can be used


Edit:

Just wanna make clear I'm not talking a little bit out in front of the foot, I'm saying in excess of the 3-4 inch guideline mentioned in that chapter.

[Simon Rest]

Yeah, I reckon post a video

[Austin Baraki]

Check out SS coach Nikki Simms. You'll not find a longer legged squatter.

Ahem...
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[Simon Rest]

Ahem...
Instagram

That is one tall dude. Another of his IG posts seems apt here

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[Keith Norman]

Generally, yes it will sit on the traps. Since the position is easier on the shoulder and elbows, try and get your hands inward as much as you can. It should be uncomfortable, but not painful. This will cause your traps to shrug up a little bit and make a more stable and comfortable base. As far as the knees too forward position this is fixed in one of two ways. First, force your knees out during the descent. Second, try angling your feet out more which would probably closer to a 45 degree angle.