🚨 CREATING UPPER BACK TIGHTNESS WHEN SQUATTING
👇 As we become more experienced in training, details like these become more and more important.
✅ To become good at performing exercises and be able to lift good numbers safely, you need to become a MASTER of the basics.. and this means paying attention to each step of the movement.
[wp_ad_camp_2]
In this post we’re going to see how to create the upper back tightness when squatting, which is basically the on which you rest the barbell on. Asides from keeping your over all upper body in tension & (in a sense), it provides more stability and can increase the qulity of your squats.
[wp_ad_camp_1]
1️⃣ Upper back tightness: as you approach the bar, it’s very important to create a strong shelf for the bar to rest on. You need to pack your muscles together as you approach the bar by squeezing your shoulderblades back together and tucking your elbows.
✅ The grip should be as narrow as possible (but not excessively narrow, to the point where elbows flare out through shoulder extension). You want your posterior delts & traps to be firing as you set underneath the barbell and you want your wrists slightly extended, holding onto the bar.
[wp_ad_camp_4]
❌ A wider grip simply doesn’t allow the stability & does not create the same upper back tightness as you would get with a narrow one. With this width, the elbows can very easily go into extension, with elbows flared out & flelxed wrists, providing zero stability for the barbell to be held during the exercise. Overall very unstable set up, which can increase the chances of thoracic/lumbar flexion during the exercise.
How do you grip your squats?