Squat Abrasions

[Gary Gibson]

I've been doing lots of volume lately including ten sets of five in the squat. I believe the sheer amount of time the loaded bar is on my shoulder is causing some pretty ugly abrasions. There is the same pattern of broken skin and worn away dermis on both sides of my back.

I went out and bought a couple packs of plain black t-shirts. I plan to wear three at a time to get three plies of cotton between my skin and the bar. It doesn't hurt that bad, but I don't want to keep breaking skin and get all scarred up. Not sure the extra padding will work and I expect I'll be sweating a lot more. If it works, I was thinking of cutting off the lower half of the shirts to allow a little ventilation (and wearing a bigger t-shirt over them all).

Probably sounds a little stupid. Has anyone else had this sort of problem with abrasion from squats?

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Yep. From Jan 2009 to Nov 2009 I used a Sheiko template for my programming. I now have a dark line that goes right across my upper back where the barbell goes when I squat. It used to hurt but now its just thicker skin I guess...pain no more.

[tescott]

I get it all the time. It's especially noticable when I've been out in the sun. My whole back gets burnt or tans, except for these two patches and a faint line across my whole back!

[elVarouza]

Happens to me as well. I've actually had some acne or something develop in the area that's burst when I've put the bar on it...pretty gross. I've found that the skin toughens up pretty quickly after a week or so. It's possible your skin just needs to toughen up to the extra volume. How long has this been happening?

[Platus]

It happened when I first started back squatting. Then, it happened again when I moved to a low-bar position. I wore a really thick sweatshirt until it healed, and now it seems my skin is tough enough that a regular t-shirt is sufficient.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Probably sounds a little stupid. Has anyone else had this sort of problem with abrasion from squats?

I no longer tan under my bar position. This may have some ugly implications for Gary.

[Gary Gibson]

I no longer tan under my bar position. This may have some ugly implications for Gary.

Heh. Actually menalistic skin tends to hyperpigment when damaged. Extreme damage results in keloids.

This only started this year when my loads started hovering around 300 for work sets. I've done volume every now and again since my first Smolov nearly two years ago, but back then I was struggling to get to three plates. Interestingly, this latest round of skin damage has been the worst and it started with loads under 225 (but done for ten sets).

[IWillLiveFreeOrDie]

Interesting, I have the same issue, but I figured it was due to not keeping my upper back tight, and letting the bar slide around.

[Dastardly]

Gary Gibson, single handedly bringing back the mens belly top:

[quadancer]

I started bleeding a bit over the spine one day we did 325x6x5...I just thought it was cool. (blood an' sweat, ya know?)