Bar Slides Down During Squat

[Rob Schlicker]

A friend of mine has a problem with the bar sliding down her back during the low bar squat. The bar seems to start in the right place (wedged between the spine of scapula and the posterior delts), her wrists are straight, and she is flexible so her grip is narrow.

By the end of the set the bar moves down .5-1". She doesn't have much muscle mass so the "shelf" created by her delts is not much to begin with.

Does lack of upper back muscle mass cause the bar to slide? Or is there some adjustment that can be made to the grip/setup to keep it in place? Thanks.

[Dale Waters]

Does the bar stay in the lower position, or does it continue to slide down? My one thought would be that if she is shrugging her shoulders at the beginning (sometimes caused by jacking the elbows up), then the bar could roll down to the correct position as she resets between reps.

[Pete Troupos]

Hey Rob
She'll need to learn to keep the shoulders in enough extension to support the bar while squatting, and not let the elbows drop. But not so extended that they're cranked up and cause different problems. Make sure she knows how to extend her thoracic spine properly as well to "trap" the bar, then get her shoulders/elbows in the right spot to makes sure the bar won't slide down. Sometimes, not always, I've had success keeping elbows in place if the lifter thinks about trying to touch them together behind their back.

[Rob Schlicker]

Dale - The bar starts in the right place but slides down on her right side as the set goes on.

Pete - She might be cranking up her elbows too high. I'll give her the touch your elbows behind your back cue to see if it helps.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Video?