High bar back squat - Form check

[Tobias Akeblom]

Hi guys!

I just decided to switch from low bar to high bar. Please give me pointers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-BQ7ONBZUI

This is the last set of eight.

[Spencer Mackay]

That looks fine Tobias.

If I were being really picky, your knees may be moving forward maybe more than they need to, but this may be a function of femur length. This may affect the turnover of the movement into pulls from the floor. If you limited ankle flexion by keeping your tib/fib more vertical, this, in the presence of sufficient flexibility will allow your hips to go deeper, and may aid this turnover.

The good thing about the high bar position is that it will force your torso to stay more vertical because of the position of the bar.

[Robert Callahan]

If I was going to say anything I think your knees don't move forward enough nor fast enough. Also Clamp down on your abs, you are hyper-extending your back.

Don't get me wrong, they look pretty reasonable, and light for you, but you still seem to be in the motor pattern of sitting back to initiate the movement. For high bar you want to think about your butt dropping straight down and the knees moving out to accommodate this, similar to the FS.

My 2 cents at least

[Tobias Akeblom]

Is a more flat back to be prefered?

About the sit back pattern. For sure, that is the cue I concentrated the most on when doing LBBS.

[Robert Callahan]

A neutral spine is preferred. aka flat. :-)

Unlearning the sit back for high bar squats takes some serious time.

[Tobias Akeblom]

Great, because I usually squat with neutral spine position. But then I saw the "So you think you can squat" videos over at ElitFTS and they really stressed the importance of an arched back. I am confused!

[Nicholas Wyss]

Neutral Spine isn't really flat, it's lordotic (arched) through the lumbar spine, kyphotic (rounded) through the thoracic spine, and again arched in the cervical spine. If you try to hold your spine in a position that is actually flat, your lumbar spine would be vulnerable to a posterior disc bulge.

[Robert Callahan]

Originally Posted by Nicholas Wyss

Neutral Spine isn't really flat, it's lordotic (arched) through the lumbar spine, kyphotic (rounded) through the thoracic spine, and again arched in the cervical spine. If you try to hold your spine in a position that is actually flat, your lumbar spine would be vulnerable to a posterior disc bulge.

while you are correct, many people hyperextend when they are told to arch their lower back, and when told to keep their back straight they go to a neutral back. It is not anatomically correct as you point out the spine in neutral is curved, but for cuing purposes thinking flat back usually works well.

OP for your purposes, tighten your lower back exactly like you are, but then clamp down on the abs also and you will probably go to the correct lumbar curvature. Lower back tightness is good, but not in the absence of ab contraction also.