Elbow problems even with high bar, what the hell am I doing wrong?

[AdamW]

Rip, realize this is not exactly a new topic and it is discussed thoroughly in the book, but no matter what I do I am still getting tons of weight transfer into my elbows and the resulting tendonitis becoming a massive hindrance to my training.

I filmed a video of 3 bar positions, all of which I am still feeling pressure down into my arms:


The bar wants to roll down my back no matter what and my arms are the only thing keeping it there. How the hell does a guy like Koklyaev get the bar to stay in position without his hands on the bar at all?

Getting extremely frustrated because every session for the past 3 months has been a coin toss as to whether or not I can do anything because of the elbow bullshit. I thought it was better and last night went to close grip bench what should've been a pretty routine triple at 315 and as soon as the bar got to my chest my elbows just turned off and the bar dropped to the safeties.

Here are some light pause squats from last night where I was trying hard to keep the weight out of my arms, but there was still tons of weight going into my arms instead of my shoulders:


For reference so you hopefully don't throw away my question as being some newb who hasn't read the book, I've been lifting about 3 years, current lifts:

Squat: 523
Deadlift: 562
Bench: 369
Press: 275

I never had these fucking problems when I was smaller for some reason either, which is also frustrating.

What am I doing wrong here? I'm about to buy a safety squat bar and give up powerlifting at this point, losing my goddamn mind.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Why is your chin up so high? Are you looking down or up, or forward?

[TinyArnold]

Could increased flexibility fix this?

[AdamW]

I try and focus on a spot about a foot above the floor on the wall, but I agree it seems like my head position isn't following my eye position.

Here's a video I found from the front where you can see the head/eye position a bit better:

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'm thinking that you've never learned the hip drive trick, and as a result your upright chin/thoracic spine/eye gaze is probably loading your elbows with too vertical a back angle. That, and long forearms/short humerus anthropometry.

Could increased flexibility fix this?

No, Tiny, more stretching is not always the answer.

[Tamara Reynolds]

I agree with Rip that your head position is most likely contributing to the problem.

If you are going to high bar in order to keep pressure off your elbow/shoulder, then you need to use a different grip. You are trying to high bar with a low bar grip, and that is just going to exacerbate the issue.

This video at :50 shows what I mean:

[hamburgerfan]

What helps for me is a wider grip and curls. That, and cutting back a little on tricep shit if I've been overdoing it.

[JonathanR]

I'm recently diagnosing this in myself and in my (admittedly rather uneducated) opinion, it's a matter of the back being too vertical as early as the unracking of the bar. Looking at the thumbnail of your second video, would you really expect the bar to stay on your back without your hands holding it there? I think once the weight gets heavy, the standing position becomes sort of "hunched over" (still with chest up) to allow the weight to be balanced over mid foot and balanced on the back.

[RussB]

What helps for me is a wider grip and curls. That, and cutting back a little on tricep shit if I've been overdoing it.

I second the curls suggestion. A fairly challenging set of 20 reps helps me.

[spacediver]

are the curls done right before the squat? What effect do they have - is it to pump up the biceps to help push the forearm/hand into the bar?