Troubleshooting the Squat Grip for Inflexible Trainees During the Seminar

[Archidel]

Hi Coaches,

I am an aspiring SSC planning on attending a seminar soon. I've got a quick question in regards to squat grip troubleshooting. I would very much appreciate any feedback you can provide!!

I've done my best to absorb all videos and articles that have been presented on the squat grip. All of the squat grip errors which you could categorize as "bad habits" seem simple enough to solve if the issue is just motor control and a lack of awareness of the correct position for the trainee. However, I'm unsure of what to do on the platform if presented with a person who does not possess the flexibility (or anthropometry?) to place the bar in a low bar position with perfectly straight wrists that day. I coached someone today with pretty damn long forearms. I could not get him into the low bar position without allowing him to go into a fair amount of wrist extension, despite widening his grip, changing the angle of his wrists, and repositioning where the bar sits in his palm. As far as I'm aware, there's no other trick if these things don't work, other than applying a long term strategy such as the Paul Horn stretch. So if I'm presented with a trainee like this at the seminar, what am I supposed to do? Do I allow him to low-bar squat with extended wrists? Do I have him squat with the bar as low on the back as he can get it with straight wrists and see if he stretches out set to set? Do I make him high bar? Thanks for helping me figure this one out. It's stressing me out haha.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Some people cannot do the low-bar squat. They high-bar. You would be responsible for correctly assessing this situation.

[Archidel]

Some people cannot do the low-bar squat. They high-bar. You would be responsible for correctly assessing this situation.

Thanks Rip.