Trouble Shooting The Squat - Shoulder+Elbow Positioning
Upper back engagement is absolutely CRITICAL to a successful squat.
After all, this is our big base of support for the bar.
While everyones body, mobility, strengths and weaknesses are all different, ideally we want our upper body to be in a position where we are able to pull our elbows down and back like were doing a lat pulldown to help engage our upper back and lats to give us a good base to hold the bar on the squat.
The visual below gives an illustration of how to make this happen!
❌In the pic on the left, my hands are in too close which isn’t allowing me to pull my elbows down and back.
This will ultimately cause the bar to roll up my back as I come out of the hole and pitch me forward.
✅In the pic on the right, I corrected myself and move my hands out wider to allow myself to pull the bar down and lock it into place. This gives a greater base of support for the bar and will allow me to hold the bar in position throughout the rep as well as keep a strong torso position.
If you’re struggling with getting the bar comfortable on your back, mess around with your hand grip and find a spot that is most comfortable that allows you to engage your back. In the meantime, continue to work on your shoulder mobility by adding in exercises like overhead banded pull aparts daily to help loosen things up.
Hope this helps some of you guys today!
-Coach Bryk
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