Another Squat ?

[Dlove]

So my form has gotten much better, back arched nicer, bar as far back on the traps, goin deep. Heres the deal, the farther I put the back on my traps the more strain on the inside of my arm because the farther back my hands get turned. I just banged out some nice heavy squats but I cant get hands to far out and now inside of arm hurts. My quess is most racks aren't like this nice and wide,

Westside Barbell®"Often Imitated but never duplicated"

I quessing my power rack is to narrow, or do you just let your spotter help you drop the bar down. It really sucks cause the rack feels so narrow that when the bar is back on my traps my hands cant get far out enough and are turned behind me putting pain on the inside of my arm and now my shoulder. But when you look at the pic of the guy squatting from westside his hands are lined up straight towards the j-hooks. Last week mine were like that and I fuckin crushed my pinky with 385 on the bar that way. This hand position has been a problem it's got me real pissed off today and now pain in my arm. Hopefully my shot of NPP today will help, lol.
How you get around this? Im thinkin finding a real fuckin power rack and a real spotter.

 

[DADAWG]

So my form has gotten much better, back arched nicer, bar as far back on the traps, goin deep. Heres the deal, the farther I put the back on my traps the more strain on the inside of my arm because the farther back my hands get turned. I just banged out some nice heavy squats but I cant get hands to far out and now inside of arm hurts. My quess is most racks aren't like this nice and wide,

Westside Barbell®"Often Imitated but never duplicated"

I quessing my power rack is to narrow, or do you just let your spotter help you drop the bar down. It really sucks cause the rack feels so narrow that when the bar is back on my traps my hands cant get far out enough and are turned behind me putting pain on the inside of my arm and now my shoulder. But when you look at the pic of the guy squatting from westside his hands are lined up straight towards the j-hooks. Last week mine were like that and I fuckin crushed my pinky with 385 on the bar that way. This hand position has been a problem it's got me real pissed off today and now pain in my arm. Hopefully my shot of NPP today will help, lol.
How you get around this? Im thinkin finding a real fuckin power rack and a real spotter.

i had to switch to a thumbless grip to save my hands when i racked the bar.

 

[Dlove]

What is thumbless grip? Any pic's up here. Ive been in real racks before like the one in the pic and my brother behind me who knows what hes doing and amazing how much more weight I can put on

 

[Dlove]

You know what I mean though about this bullshit of hands turned backwards instead of being able to go straight out shit hurts especially if using some weight

 

[DADAWG]

What is thumbless grip? Any pic's up here. Ive been in real racks before like the one in the pic and my brother behind me who knows what hes doing and amazing how much more weight I can put on

i dont grip the bar with the thumb , i tuck it behind the bar which allows me to rotate the elbows in a little more and take the strain off my elbows. once you find the groove in the traps/back that the bar will rest in there and not haveing the thumb gripping isnt a problem .
i have heard a lot of people say that the bar will fall off their back but lets face it how many people out ther can hold the weight of the bar up with their arms when you hit 500 pounds or more . hint the answer is none , the bar simply rest on the back . IF you try it use chalk on the bar to prevent slipping and use lighter weight with a lot of reps until you get your groove down.

 

[Dlove]

A little off subject but still on Squats. You probably remember HuskyGuy Dawg? He told me one day if I start plateauing hit a 20 repper on the second set after a warm-up. Ever heard this, it works. Shocks the piss out of the legs. It was the only time I almost puked in the gym. Also another nice tip he had was hit sets of DB pullovers after heavy squats, promotes growth in the ribcage and chest.

 

[tazman03]

finding someone who can spot you right on a squat sucks. Only had one guy I trusted when going heavy. alot of guys dont want to be all up in your shit and by the time you are loosing it, its too late! you ever try that goofy blue thing that places the bar centered and slightly back on your traps? I never used it, but my buddy has to use it cuz he has some of the same problems.

 

[Dlove]

finding someone who can spot you right on a squat sucks. Only had one guy I trusted when going heavy. alot of guys dont want to be all up in your shit and by the time you are loosing it, its too late! you ever try that goofy blue thing that places the bar centered and slightly back on your traps? I never used it, but my buddy has to use it cuz he has some of the same problems.

Not sure what blue thing your talking about Taz? Heres one for ya. So last week when I asked this guy to spot me on my last set he walked to the right of the power rack, lol. Your right people that aren't really into lifting dont like getting behind you squattin After a minute of staring at each other I was like umm you gotta get behind me, didn't sound to good, lol and then I buried out before he helped me up. It is hard to find a good spotter. They have to be familiar with your failure points. Tell you what though I hit two more reps last week just knowing I someone behind me. I need a training partner bad it helps so much. Before the whole plaza my gym was in was bought out for location by wal-mart and turned into Global gym down the street we had the local police force in there. They are all juiced to the gills competitive powerlifters. It was great having them around they didn't stay to the new pussy gym im in now unfortunately.

 

[TheMilkMan]

you ever try that goofy blue thing that places the bar centered and slightly back on your traps? I never used it, but my buddy has to use it cuz he has some of the same problems.

It's called an Manta Ray if I'm not mistaken... Can't say I've ever used it either, but it looks like it could help if you don't have traps to rest the bar on.

 

[TheMilkMan]

It is hard to find a good spotter. They have to be familiar with your failure points.

I find that whenever I'm going solo, I look to go repetition effort days (ie. Squating with 315 and getting as many as a physically can).

When asking some random guy at the gym for a spot, I normally scope out the scene for a while and look for the guy in the gym who looks like he knows what he's doing. in my experience, just cuz they're big doesn't mean they know what they're doing. I normally give the person spotting me a thorough run through on exactly what the plan of attack is for each set.

 

[tazman03]

It's called an Manta Ray if I'm not mistaken... Can't say I've ever used it either, but it looks like it could help if you don't have traps to rest the bar on.

ya I think that is what it is called. kind of spreads the weight evenly over your traps, snaps right on to the bar.



I know what you mean D. My gym is full of bozos that dont know what the fuck is going on and think doing 60# swing curls is helping them. I watched a guy on friday put 405 on the bar..... (a somewhat skiny Asian guy) move the bars on the cage all the way up and did 2 sets of about 3"-5" squats.
I may not be able to put up the most weight, but dammit my reps are done right.
I woulda just told that guy you asked to spot you and went to the right of the cage never mind. He wouldn't of been able to help you if you did need it and probably coulda ended up hurting you.

 

[DADAWG]

I find that whenever I'm going solo, I look to go repetition effort days (ie. Squating with 315 and getting as many as a physically can).

When asking some random guy at the gym for a spot, I normally scope out the scene for a while and look for the guy in the gym who looks like he knows what he's doing. in my experience, just cuz they're big doesn't mean they know what they're doing. I normally give the person spotting me a thorough run through on exactly what the plan of attack is for each set.

"When asking some random guy at the gym for a spot, I normally scope out the scene for a while and look for the guy in the gym who looks like he knows what he's doing. in my experience, just cuz they're big doesn't mean they know what they're doing."


100 % agree
size and even strength are very little help when spotting on a squat. if i hurt myself badly or fall no one on the planet is going to grab 600 pounds moveing fast at arms length and hold it , thats when you dump it off your back . a spotter is there to help you get that last few pounds that you have overshot on a rep and also to steady you.