Swimmer shoulder flexibility issues in low bar squat

[Jessicanichols723]

Hi,

I am an ex-swimmer and am having trouble with my grip on the low bar squat. I cannot get my hands back behind my shoulders without bending my wrists back and putting my elbows down. I believe this is not only causing me elbow pain, but is also making me lose upper back tension in the bottom of my squat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec8l8X7SndI

Do you have any suggestions?

[Brodie Butland]

Can't really see your hands well enough to make a diagnosis on that. Have you looked at the bar position video in the resources section? It may address the issue.

From what I saw, it wasn't a bad squat...but make sure you finish driving the hips. You had a good bar speed going until you started to lift your chest, and then things slowed down.

[Jessicanichols723]

Thanks. I will get a video on Saturday from the back. I can tell you, though, that my wrists are bent way back and elbows are down here. I can't seem to get my hands behind my shoulders with my elbows back even with a wide grip.

I have watched the video and found it helpful, but I can't get my arms in the that position.

[Jessicanichols723]

Got a rear video. Changed my grip a bit for the better, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNzW7LEPnyk

[Bill Been]

Jessica, I hope Brodie comes back but meanwhile here are a couple things to work on: keep your knees out at the bottom. It's hard. This is not something "normal life" prepares people to do in terms of having lots of muscle and coordination to do it. But nonetheless, the knees are held out over the toes all the way through by hard muscular effort. Your foot position may be a little bit wide, but I'll leave that to a keener eye. Was this a warmup set or just a set you did for the benefit of the camera? I ask, because the fluidity of the movement improved significantly between Rep 1 and Rep 3. It's hard to tell if you're making depth accurately from directly astern - it was probably close but a hair high.

[Jessicanichols723]

I think this video is a better angle.

https://youtu.be/MI9pcVRghes

[jusmoren]

As Bill said you are letting your knees come in on the way up which pushes your hips back and is leading to loss of tension you describe. A set of 5 would have been better because your depth was inconsistent. In particular you relaxed at the bottom of the second rep. Shove your knees out hard, get to the right depth, and keep your knees out on the ascent should fix some things.

As far as the tendonitis there is a slew of recommendations on the board. My grip looks similar to yours and that really helped me. Maybe bring your elbows up a little to form a better shelf for the bar. Here are some others
http://startingstrength.com/resource...t=38105&page=1

[Rob Waskis]

I thought your stance looked wide too.