High bar and Low bar squats

[Allen Yeh]

I know this topic has been done to death but the other day I ran across a post by Glenn over on the Crossfit boards and thought some of the things he said were interesting.

http://board.crossfit.com/showpost.p...8&postcount=93

[George Mounce]

Seriously there needs to be a wiki of Glenn Pendlay's posts anywhere. They are some of the most informative on the net.

[Brian DeGennaro]

If you go to the comments section, you can actually find a research paper that has looked into the relationship between hip dominance and knee dominance in both high and low bar squats.

http://www.againfaster.com/articles/...athletics.html

[Derek Weaver]

Thanks to both of you for the links. Nice stuff.

[Kevin Perry]

This is really good information.

[Howard Wilcox]

Yes it is.

In fact it has pushed me over the edge to spend more time learning the HBBS.

Coming from the LBBS, are there any general recommendations or common form problems I should expect?

I'm pretty flexible (relatively speaking) and can sit in the bottom of a squat pretty well, so reaching depth shouldn't be an issue.


Thanks,

howard

[Patrick Yeung]

Well, I tried this last night and heres what I noticed.

It was a lot harder and uncomfortable for me. The LB feels so comfortable and natural for me. It felt a lot heavier as well, ended up doing about 20% less weight in my sets. And, I didnt feel any hamstrings at all when I did it right. Not compared to LB at least.

The hardest thing for me thought was keeping my back upright and sitting straight into it instead of back. Any tips on correcting this?

[Howard Wilcox]

Thanks Patrick,

The discomfort is...discomforting.

I guess it is one of familiarity, at least I hope so.

I expect to move less weight for sure, mainly due to it being a new motion, lack of hamstrings, and a longer ROM. I hope I don't take too big of a hit. But if Glenn's post is any indication, I hope the improvements will then transfer over to heavier LBBS numbers.

I also have clients that have shoulder trouble and the LBBS kills them (and they aren't big powerlifters, just regular people), yet I want them to squat. Besides the front squat, having the HBBS would be nice. But I have to learn it first.

Looking forward to more advice/experience on this conversion.

howard

[Adam Gagliardi]

great posts. thanks

[Garrett Smith]

I personally use a mixture of things.

I use LB position as HB rubs my shoulder (acromion process) such that it swells and is uncomfortable. I also have a long torso that I don't mind shortening.

I work a lot of "B" squats into my program, which allow the torso to stay upright pretty much regardless of bar placement. I do the same weights on my regular stance BS and my "B" BS.

I can definitely see how learning LB first would hamper later HB learning. I learned HB first.