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Thread: Programming high bar squats when low bar not possible

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    39

    Default Programming high bar squats when low bar not possible

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    Hi Coach - I'd appreciate your advice on programming when low bar squats are not possible.

    Situation: 51 year old male; 6' tall, 200 lbs; first started using your approach back in 2010; work (I spend a lot of time on the road), life and injuries have meant that I have not made the progress that many do (and calories-wise IHNDTP properly - life on the road again...) but I did get stronger than I'd ever been before. I have not trained properly for a couple of years but my lifts from memory (each for 5 across in lbs) were: Squat: 275, DL 340, BP 185, Press 125, Clean 200. Anyway, I have a block of time through to Christmas where it looks like I will be based in my home town and free to eat and train properly, and I am keen to get started again.

    Complication: slap tears in both shoulders (one treated, one not) mean that low bar squatting is not an option flexibility-wise, though high-bar squatting is possible

    Question: I am beginning on the following split: A: High squat, bench, chin; B: Deadlift, press, back extension or glue ham raise. I plan to alternate these sessions. This thinking builds on advice from The Barbell Prescription that high squats should not be performed each session, but my questions are:
    1). Should I alternate these 2 sessions so I squat once one week and twice the following or should I do session A on Monday and Friday and B on Wednesday - so I squat twice a week every week and deadlift just once? (I guess if I do this then I would need to rotate the presses so I am not benching a twice the frequency of the press?)
    2). I have thrown in some back extensions or glue ham raises in session B to make up for the lower hamstring activation in the high bar squat. Is this necessary?

    Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    106

    Default

    Start on the Novice Linear Progression with training two days per week (e.g., Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday). No need for other program modifications at this point. You're a Masters-level athlete but not terribly old and you haven't mentioned any lower body injuries to work around, so two squat sessions per week should be fine for at least the beginning of the LP.

    Skip the back extensions and GHR's. Squats and deadlifts will be enough.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    39

    Default

    Thanks Bill - very clear.
    I will keep it simple.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    116

    Default

    I must have missed where in the BBRx where it says not to high bar each session? What was the reasoning there?

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