Back to Lifting- Starting Low Bar Squat

[UberSquat]

So to make a short story long I had an MI last August at 50 yrs old. Some history. I have lifted off and on since I was 8 (I started by doing single arm curls with a manual typewriter in its case). Anyhoo in the past 4 years I was doing mainly Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (blue belt) and that was about it. Occasionally over the years I would also get back pain, usually when I'd stopped lifting for 3-6 months or so. When that happened I would work out for a bit with deadlifts and some of the typical physio prescribed exercises and it would resolve in 3-4 weeks. I used to work for a courier company unloading boxes so that's where that came from.

But I digress. Just prior to the MI, 2 days to be precise, I'd done a workout with weights because I'd felt my usual back pain coming on. Post MI you aren't supposed to do anything until your followup stress test. So I was sitting around for about 5 weeks and my back pain became something I'd never experienced before. It was on both sides instead of one focused spot, and it put me off my usual rehab routine for back pain.

So after this new back pain started I started the usual prescribe 150 minutes of cardio per week. But stopped after about 3 months due to my back pain in the morning. I hadn't done much until this summer when I started back with cardio at Crunch Fitness. I've had a X-ray and Ct and they don't show anything that would explain the pain I'm having. After a bit of surfing Youtube for back rehab I found the Starting Strength vids. I was familiar with Mark and have had the 2nd ed book for quite a few years, but haven't read it in ages either. I'd done similar workouts based on the ones I found in Brawn by Stuart McRobert. I soon found the Barbell Prescription and bought that. I've started the basic routine with weights that are so light I was embarrassed to be using them in the gym. I didn't realize until my first workout, particularly squats, how weak I'd become.

Finally onto my technique question. I was watching the Starting Strength bar position video on youtube YouTube I cannot get my arms in that close without bending the wrists. Too painful on my shoulders. Tried playing around with it again today, but felt like it was riding on top of the spine of the scapula causing some tenderness/bruising.That bone back there is definitely sore. Not sure if I have the bar too high or too low.

[Mike Troxell]

I skipped to the last paragraph, try this:

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