Arm Pain and the Squat

[Brodie Butland]

Any suggestions to those of us that can't get a narrow enough grip to create a good enough shelf for heavy weights (no problems with lighter squats).

I'm not talking about not being able to get into the position because its uncomfortable, but rather physical limits in flexibility. There are DOZENS of articles and videos (Yours, Jordans, Alan Thralls, etc..) on how to fix the squat grip. But all the advice for squat arm pain seems to be geared towards those that just aren't doing it right because they don't want to be uncomfortable or they just didn't know any better. What about those with actual flexibility limits.

Take a look at Paul Horn's shoulder mobility video. I've incorporated it into my training...only about a minute of stretching or so and my shoulders are completely loosened up for squatting.

[David Kirkham]

Take a look at Paul Horn's shoulder mobility video. I've incorporated it into my training...only about a minute of stretching or so and my shoulders are completely loosened up for squatting.

When Rip was at at my shop he had me hang from the chin up bar before squats. It has done wonders to loosen up my shoulder. I just hang for 10 seconds a few times. The first set is mucho painful. By the third I'm ready to go. Presses are much easier too after that.

[mr55]

I had slowly increasing shoulder pain from squatting that completely stopped once I abandoned my stupid setup. I used to wedge myself under the bar and rock back and forth a few times on my heels after taking my grip; I thought it was just an idiosyncratic habit that got me in the right position, like a baseball player's routine coming to the plate. It turns out it was fucking my shit up. And the funny thing is it still looks and feels like I have the bar in the exact same position.

[Ryan Arnold]

When Rip was at at my shop he had me hang from the chin up bar before squats. It has done wonders to loosen up my shoulder. I just hang for 10 seconds a few times. The first set is mucho painful. By the third I'm ready to go. Presses are much easier too after that.

I too have had clients with tight shoulders have success with hanging for a bit before the workout. Mobility and bar position improved within a few workouts

[slhuckstead]

When Rip was at at my shop he had me hang from the chin up bar before squats. It has done wonders to loosen up my shoulder. I just hang for 10 seconds a few times. The first set is mucho painful. By the third I'm ready to go. Presses are much easier too after that.

Yeah, I had shoulder issues, started pull-ups (I'm a heavy guy) and it went away. Stopped my pull-ups and it came back. Perhaps false correlation, but I'm less tight in the shoulders and this aging body appreciates sleeping well.

Coach Rippetoe,

I don't know if this is inline with this thread, and I don't know if it's worth the effort (and I'd have no clue how to to it), but has anyone calculated how much force is transferred to the wrists and shoulders with bent wrists versus straight wrists during the squat? I would imagine that the force on the wrists and shoulders would be quite significant, just in the effort of not only keeping the bar in place, but also carrying some of the load in your arms.

[Mark Rippetoe]

As with most things in barbell training, it hasn't been investigated.

[slhuckstead]

As with most things in barbell training, it hasn't been investigated.

Alas, if I had the money I would certainly fund research in this field (The Aasgaard Center for Barbell Training?). I guess for now, just saying that you want pain to go away or be mitigated, will have to be sufficient.

[Mark Rippetoe]

For now: Arm Pain and the Squat

[Espen Lund]

I used to get a tremendous pain in my biceps when squatting, and spent many months on solving it. I was so stiff in my shoulders that I could not keep my chest up when in the low bar position. A lot of stretching fixed it for me.

GMB on youtube have some really good shoulder stretching routines that helped me a lot.