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Barbell Low bar or high bar?

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Dorian.Hughes1983

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I started going to gym 3 months ago. I have some troubles with choosing the right technique at barbells. I have a low flexibility of back and a high one in the adductors. What shall I choose? High bar or low bar squats?
 
What shall I choose? High bar or low bar squats?
There is no one right choice. What are your goals for yourself?

Overall, a good high bar squat demands more flexibility, or perhaps we should say flexibility in more places. Overall, the low bar squat lets you move more weight. My own choice, when away from squatting for a while, is to start with front squats, then high bar back squats, then low bar back squats and that's where I stay.

If your gym has kettlebells, the two-kettlebell front squat is also a fine way to build a good squatting pattern and strength. The goblet squat can be done with one kettlebell or one dumbbell or really anything you can hold in your hands, e.g., a medicine ball, even a weight plate.

-S-
 
My advice would be to train both and see which one works best for you.
Have around 1 to 2 months of training on each lift and then decide based on your goals and the overall feel during the lift.
 
Mine is probably the least qualified opinion so far but I'm going to go ahead and put this out there.

Use whichever squat version feels best to you and that you like the most. Squat variations all work more or less the same muscles so as long as you're getting stronger in your chosen exercise you should be fine.
 
If you have tight shoulders, you're going to have difficulty with a low bar position.

If you have a lot of forward lean, you'll want to use a low bar position.

If you squat pretty upright, then you'll probably want to use a high bar position.

If you are squatting deep, you'll probably want to squat more upright (and use a high bar position).
 
The low bar usually allows you to lift more weight, but this is really only an issue if you plan to compete in powerlifting. If you just want to be strong, either is 100% fine, and in fact you don't necessarily even need to back squat if the movement gives you problems.
 
The low bar usually allows you to lift more weight, but this is really only an issue if you plan to compete in powerlifting.
I will respectfully disagree - I think the low-bar squat, because it's so much of a hip hinge, has better carryover to the deadlift (whether or not you wish to compete). Someone squatting low-bar can DL less often and still make progress on their DL, provided their squat weight is enough to matter to their DL.

-S-
 
I think the low-bar squat, because it's so much of a hip hinger, has better carryover to the deadlift (whether or not you wish to compete).

According to Greg Nuckols, the idea that low-bar squats work the hamstrings better is broscience.


For those who are in the TL;DR camp, low-bar squats activate the hamstrings a little more than high-bar, but no squat variation is a good developer of the hamstrings. Why? Biomechanics. Hamstrings are biarticular muscles and antagonists to the quads. If hamstrings were to flex hard in the squat, they would counteract the work of the quads and your legs would lock up. The hamstrings' main contribution happens at the end of the lift to straighten the torso.

But what about the soreness you feel in the back of your legs after a hard squat session? Doesn't that mean the hamstrings got a good workout? No. The soreness you feel is the adductor magnus which happens to cross the back of the legs. Most people think that this muscle group keeps the legs together, which is true, but this group can also assist in hip extension. Unlike the hamstrings the adductor magnus will not conflict with the work of the quads. I've felt soreness in the back of my legs after high-bar squats. According to broscience, high-bar squats aren't even supposed to work the hamstrings. This is also incorrect - the hamstrings are active in high-bar squats but their function is dynamic stabilizers of the knee. This is also their function in low-bar squats and front squats. The hamstrings are active in all forms of squatting but their primary function is to stabilize the knee.
 
But what about the soreness you feel in the back of your legs after a hard squat session? Doesn't that mean the hamstrings got a good workout? No. The soreness you feel is the adductor magnus which happens to cross the back of the legs. Most people think that this muscle group keeps the legs together, which is true, but this group can also assist in hip extension. Unlike the hamstrings the adductor magnus will not conflict with the work of the quads. I've felt soreness in the back of my legs after high-bar squats. According to broscience, high-bar squats aren't even supposed to work the hamstrings. This is also incorrect - the hamstrings are active in high-bar squats but their function is dynamic stabilizers of the knee. This is also their function in low-bar squats and front squats. The hamstrings are active in all forms of squatting but their primary function is to stabilize the knee.
Many many years ago now, I had an online argument w. doofuses that said hamstrings weren't even worked while squatting, Lombard's Paradox doesn't even apply, yada yada yada... I know this isn't your point fwiw, but if there is a broad take away from your post and mine, (for me) it would be this: the squat, while it may not be the best developer of strong hamstrings, certainly does require them and, over time, develops them too.
 
I started going to gym 3 months ago. I have some troubles with choosing the right technique at barbells. I have a low flexibility of back and a high one in the adductors. What shall I choose? High bar or low bar squats?
I was much stronger squatting high-bar. My high-bar max was 165kg and my low-bar was 150kg. I just felt more comfortable with the high-bar position and it worked for me.

Just do what’s comfortable. If people tell you low-bar is the best, but you feel a lot better doing high-bar, then high-bar squat. If low-bar feels better, and you like it, then low-bar squat.
 
I tend to concur with @Steve Freides on many things and this is no different, though maybe for different reasons as I'm not a competitive powerlifter.

I always start new students who barbell squat with the front squat. I do this mainly because it's the easiest squat to bail out from under if/when things go south unexpectedly. Safety is paramount. I also like the vertical torso alignment and wrist mobility that the FS requires. When I was weightlifting with Sean Waxman, I never did low bar BSQ. It was always FS or high bar BSQ to get more weight on the bar. The high bar version is also easier to bail out from under than the low bar which if you're going heavy, I would recommend always using a cage with catches or a spotter.

In the end, like most people said already, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you just want to squat with no particular goal, I would say FS for the reasons listed above. If you want to put on a bit more mass I would go high bar first and then if you feel that's not enough you can go low bar. But I would spend a lot of time with the FS first. IMHO, you can make a lot of improvement with limited risk with the FS.
 
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