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Thread: High Bar Squat Form Check

  1. #1
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    Default High Bar Squat Form Check

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    • starting strength seminar april 2025
    Looking for some feedback on my high bar squat. This was set 3 of 5 at 130kg (285 pounds).

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=bk5fyA9c...FJ_1JPMdtuoitw

    It appears to me the hips are rising a little faster than the chest but if you identify any other issues please let me know.

    So we don't derail the thread, I squat High Bar because its more sport-specific (I compete in wrestling). Please lets not make the thread about this choice.

    Thanks in advance,
    James

  2. #2
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    Explain how squatting with lighter weight and an incorrect back angle is specific to wrestling.

  3. #3
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    The position with the knee very far over the toes is achieved in some single leg or fireman’s carry takedown entries.

    The front squat is even more specific with the weight in front of you and I do train those on occasion too.

    I acknowledge you squat less high bar than low bar, that was never in dispute.

  4. #4
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    So, you think the position with which the joint is trained is more relevant to the sport than the strength obtained from the training?

  5. #5
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    I agree that, especially the further you go into the set, the more your hips are rising faster than your chest, but I'll say that's not a bug, but a feature.

    The reason your body is doing this is that, as it gets heavier for you (including that you're fatigued...), the more you have to involve the strongest musculature.

    In other words, despite the bar placement, you're sliding into low bar mechanics because those mechanics are better able to move the weight, i.e. they're stronger. I know you don't want this thread to center on your choice of high bar, but that's why that's happening.

    I will also say that, whatever squat style you choose, it would behoove you to use an eye gaze that will maintain an anatomically neutral position for your neck. Craning the neck up under load to keep looking at the mirror or the wall puts you at risk of cervical issues, something no one wants, but a grappler especially doesn't want.

  6. #6
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    No, I agree the strength is very important. I don’t have a view on which is more important but I would say with confidence been particularly strong at specific joint angles is very important to success in the sport; if you can’t finish the takedown after expending the energy to get there you won’t get very far. Most of these fights to finish the movement start in positions with joint angles more closely resembling the high bar squat than the low bar squat.

    I really don’t won’t to be in an argument with you Rip, you obviously know much more than I do. I just wanted some feedback on my squat and this wasn’t an attempt to undermine the program.

    Sorry if it came across that way.

  7. #7
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    If you are a westler looking for strength; low bar squat and conventional deadlifts are your best friends.

    Any person with +70 IQ could conclude it.

  8. #8
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    As a fellow grappler, I highly recommend you low bar squat and get your squat up. Way up.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by JamesFazz View Post
    No, I agree the strength is very important. I don’t have a view on which is more important but I would say with confidence been particularly strong at specific joint angles is very important to success in the sport; if you can’t finish the takedown after expending the energy to get there you won’t get very far. Most of these fights to finish the movement start in positions with joint angles more closely resembling the high bar squat than the low bar squat.
    This is fuzzy thinking from the ExFizz Department. If your squat goes from 185x5 to 405x5, what happens to your strength at critically specific joint angles you referred to?

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by JamesFazz View Post
    No, I agree the strength is very important. I don’t have a view on which is more important but I would say with confidence been particularly strong at specific joint angles is very important to success in the sport; if you can’t finish the takedown after expending the energy to get there you won’t get very far. Most of these fights to finish the movement start in positions with joint angles more closely resembling the high bar squat than the low bar squat.

    I really don’t won’t to be in an argument with you Rip, you obviously know much more than I do. I just wanted some feedback on my squat and this wasn’t an attempt to undermine the program.

    Sorry if it came across that way.
    The low bar squat is optimized for strength. The reason you cannot assume this exact position in wrestling movements are because of the limitations imposed by the necessities of the double leg, the fireman's carry, or whatever.

    When I was a wrestler in high school, we ran stairs and wind sprints for conditioning, but we didn't try to run them in a wrestling stance. Why would developing strength be any different?

    Specificity belongs in practice; generality belongs in training. Make sure you're not cross-wiring the two.

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