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Barbell High bar back squat - making the 'shelf'

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Chrisdavisjr

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Yesterday evening I did my first sets of heavy (for me, at least) back squats since March. While they went well, I still feel like I could use some advice for getting the bar into a better and more comfortable position on my back ('comfortable' being a relative term). Does anyone have any good tips/cues for making the 'shelf' with the traps?

I squat exclusively high bar because weightlifting but if anyone has any solid gold advice pertaining to the low bar position that they really want to share that would be welcome too.
 
I also squat quite often this day, high bar, atg style. I try to pull the bar parallel with the body position at its descendant and try to make the elbows as close to each other as possible. Also I break the squat into several parts. The pulling part is when I use the hips and the arm to pull my body into the lowest position (that is why I suggest the elbows parallel to the body)

And also I spend time to make the bar as close to the body as possible, basically drive my traps into the bar (using the hips to drive whole upper body into the bar) and only unrack it when I feel pretty tight.

Hope this help, but with my broken English I'm not sure.
 
I always associate "making the shelf" with LBBS, with the rear delts. The traps with HBBS seem to take care of themselves, as the bar will sit there with no additional effort if you get tight. I do pull down on the bar just a bit, actively using the lats with HBBS, whereas I don't do this with LBBS.
 
I always associate "making the shelf" with LBBS, with the rear delts. The traps with HBBS seem to take care of themselves, as the bar will sit there with no additional effort if you get tight. I do pull down on the bar just a bit, actively using the lats with HBBS, whereas I don't do this with LBBS.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that there might be some abnormality in my spine as the spinous process of my C7 vertebra (I think) protrudes considerably and the bar will sit directly on the bone if I don't work really hard squeezing my shoulders back.

It might just be something I need to get used to.
 
I read this line on T-nation about different variation of squat: "Use your trap to attack the bar". I find it quite helpful.
 
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