Arms in squat

[Toby]

While flicking through the Ironmind catalogue I came across the pic of the cover of the book "Paul Anderson (? I forget his name): The mightiest minister". His squat position is with his arms so wide they're almost touching the plates on each side. When I squat, my arms are just outside my shoulders - that's just how I've always done it. Pros and cons of both ways anyone?

[Ford Prefect]

I think it's just a preference thing and where you feel you have the most comfort and balance for high-bar squats. You need to have your hands far apart for low-bar squats though.

[IronFist]

If you're doing a wide arm squat be careful you don't smash your hands when you re-rack it.

Sometimes when I'm tired in the middle of a set I'll put my arms a little wider. I don't think it makes a difference, tho. I just do it to get the blood flowing in my arms or something. I dunno. You know how sometimes your arms get tingly in the middle of a set? But always bring them back in before you rack the weight.

[Toby]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
You need to have your hands far apart for low-bar squats though. That's what had me wondering. I do low-bar, although it's been creeping up a bit. Since I lost weight it's harder to hold it down low 'cause I'm a bit bonier across the shoulders. Sometimes it would start to slip so instead of having it below my shoulders, I have it just on them. I have my arms about a fist-width on each side wider than my shoulders. Not quite at the smooth ring in the middle of the knurled bit, so skinnier than my bench hand position. Nowhere near as wide as that pic I mentioned.


Originally posted by Ironfist
If you're doing a wide arm squat be careful you don't smash your hands when you re-rack it.That was my first thought looking at that pic.

Originally posted by Ironfist
Sometimes when I'm tired in the middle of a set I'll put my arms a little wider. You know how sometimes your arms get tingly in the middle of a set? But always bring them back in before you rack the weight.Nup. Not familiar with that. My arms take up considerable bar weight with my low bar position. If I let off tension, the bar will slide down my back.

[Ford Prefect]

Dunno how you can low bar with your hands that low. Sounds painful.

[Toby]

Only when the bar slips ;). I have the hands as though at the bottom of the bench position, elbows tucked by my sides, except rotated towards the vertical plane. Maybe like the bottom position of a low behind the head military press except I don't do those so I couldn't be sure. Maybe I'll try a wider grip next cycle, although I probably chose a narrower one because I felt it offered more control. Dunno.

[Toby]

Worked out why I do it :p. I started a squat cycle today. I had (from the outside) plate, collar, chain, hand i.e. I gripped the bar as wide as possible. So wide that my hands were on the bar where it rests on the rack, so I had to unrack first then position my grip. Anyway, turns out that my usual narrower-than-bench grip provides useful holding-up-of-bar strength, because in the last 1 1/2 reps the bar started slipping and my wide grip meant I had no ability to stop it. As usual when this sort of thing happens I didn't stop immediately and finished the set. By that stage the bar had slipped too low for me to rack it on my high squat pegs but luckily I've got a few pegs in the rack so I lowered it onto my bench pegs. No spotter bars because it was a light weight - I only start using them towards the end of a cycle. The extremely low bar on my back and whatever else was happening made me round my lower back considerably while going for the bench rack though. Luckily it was the first set of a new cycle, so only 132.5kg. Plus I'm using chains this set so the lower I went the less weight. I think I'll stick to my narrow grip from now on ;).