high bar to low bar

[Knyght]

68.5kg 168cm / male / 27
squat (high bar): 90kg

So... After being told by people that I should squeeze my scapulae tight and the bar won't move around and such I suddenly realised (well, I already knew this really) that I was doing high bar squats and that this might be bad.

So today I thought, okay, I'll try low bar. Then I remembered why I didn't start off doing low bar squats. My warmups were okay. They were more than okay. It felt like I was squatting with air on my back. Awesome. Until about half way through my warmups when the bar started feeling like it wanted to slip down and I had to actively press with my hands to keep it in place. I couldn't do my work sets like that. Even unracking was unstable as fuck.

So I went back to high bar for my work sets. Which, since the warmups were a walk in the park, I wasn't properly warmed up and I had to suck out after my first set :/

So my basic problem is: I'm short with a small frame. I don't really have any obvious lats for the bar to rest on. They are there, and when my back is squeezed in the lighter warmups the bar feels rock solid and it's definately in the right place. But with more weight (starts around 60kg) the bar starts feeling like it's slipping.

I definitely want to move to low bar squats, since it seems like I could squat ridiculously more weight than with high bar. Especially since with the high bar my progress is slowing to a crawl.

Any advice to move to low bar like this? Not sure what I can do. Other than more pull-ups, which is on the agenda.

[stonerider]

the bar doesn't rest on your lats, it rests on your shoulders

you will have to keep somewhat of a forward lean, even when standing up, to keep the bar from wanting to slide down


but yea, i always hated that feeling of the bar wanting to slide down my back

[LimieJosh]

I have a bad shoulder and never got used to low bar. I have tried 3 different times to transition, it always feels good in the early stages and always results in shoulder problems that affect my bench and press once it gets "heavy". For me it was a failed experiement, and any gain I might have had due to the supposed benefit of low bar > high bar was negated by the impact it had on my other training. I made the switch back to high bar last year, and haven't looked back.

[Tamara Reynolds]

If the bar is sliding down your back, then your bar position is wrong or your elbows aren't up.

I have 48 kg lifters who can keep the bar in place on their backs.

Get the bar position right. Get your elbows right. And, for fuck's sake, use a bar with center knurl.

Oh. And chalk. It was made for a reason.

[stonerider]

If the bar is sliding down your back, then your bar position is wrong or your elbows aren't up.

I have 48 kg lifters who can keep the bar in place on their backs.

Get the bar position right. Get your elbows right. And, for fuck's sake, use a bar with center knurl.

Oh. And chalk. It was made for a reason.

my bar position was correct, and my elbows were up, yet it still felt like it wanted to slide down my back

what now

[Tamara Reynolds]

my bar position was correct, and my elbows were up, yet it still felt like it wanted to slide down my back

what now

I bet myself $5 that you were going to say that. I just won $5. That's what.

Hahahaha.

But, seriously, I would have him video for form check because most people do have the bar too low and don't realize it. And, I have had a heavy bar start sliding regardless, especially on a set of 5. I have one lifter who does this weird breathing thing at the top when he resets and shrugs his whole upper body up and gets the bar out of place. STOP FUCKING DOING THAT WEIRD BREATHING THING WITH ALMOST 400 LBS ON YOUR BACK, DUMBASS.

[Tom Campitelli]

Everyone is different, but the bar sliding down the back is often a result of having it placed too low.

[Knyght]

My elbows might not have been up \o/

Obviously this will solve everything. Maybe. Probably also the bar was too low. Where should it be? It's kind of hard to see.

[Corrie]

I have to agree with Tbone on this one. I used to have the exact same problem but when you get it in the right spot you know it. It just won't move.

And knyght, try again and really shove your elbows up. Something about that last bit of elbows up pushes your delt muscles up and makes a perfect little shelf. I used to just push my elbows back but going back and up helps even more.

[Tom Campitelli]

My elbows might not have been up \o/

Obviously this will solve everything. Maybe. Probably also the bar was too low. Where should it be? It's kind of hard to see.

This will probably be of interest:

http://startingstrength.com/index.ph...t_bar_position