Recently I started workouting in my basement. I don’t have a squat rack so I started doing cleans followed by front squats. Holding the bar at my shoulders after the clean kills my wrists. Any suggestions??
you need flexibility in your wrists. the bar is supposed to rest on your shoulders
when holding the bar for front squats, only the first part of the first two or three fingers need to be around the bar-and that is only just to steady it.
another alternative is to wrap wrist straps around the bar-tie a knot in them, and then grap the knotted strap like a handle
in either case, work real hard to keep your elbows up.
Keith
The front squat is a new addition to my workouts. I have the same problem with wrist pain.
I have finally gotten the bar to rest on my shoulders – bringing my elbows together and up in front. However, the angle on the wrists is extreme and I have to lean forward a little to balance at the bottom – so that puts more pressure on the wrists.
I’m finding I need to go very light or simply walk the weight into a rack after my set, because the wrists are too messed up to put the bar down in a controlled manner.
I’m simply hoping that I’ll continue to learn better technique or that I’ll get used to the lift given a bit of time. If not, I might give the overhead squat a try instead.
just keep at it. in two weeks you won’t even notice.
here’s a great stretch:
put your palms totally together . point your fingertips straight to your stomach.
find the same position behind your back. palms totally together and fingertips pointed straight up. crank your elbows back as far as you can.
The flexibility will come after a few weeks, but you need to be holding the bar properly in the first place.
The bar should be resting right up against your neck and on your shoulders - in the depressions where your deltoids meet your collarbones. Keep your chest up and puffed way out to make a big base of support for the bar, this is key in front squats.
I see a lot of guys doing clean type movements where they basically end up in the top of a reverse curl, with their elbows pointing straight down. This just kills the wrists, and it’s not proper technique anyway. You want to hold your elbows as high as possible and your upper arms parallel to the ground. To get an idea of what I mean, try doing the movement (light!) holding your arms straight out in front of you like a zombie, no hands on the bar. That’ll give you an idea of where the bar should be. You shouldn’t need to hold on at all to keep it in position.
Once you have the idea of what the proper position is, try doing it with just your finger tips on the bar, then your index and middle finger, and eventually you’ll be able to keep your hands wrapped around the bar.
Nick
you definately need to work on that wrist flexibility! give it a few weeks and the discomfort will probably go away, if it’s from technique that is. Keep the elbows really high and let all the weight rest on the shoulders. I second the notion to stretch out your wrists when you’re not doing anything though, that will help speed things up.
in the front squat, if you feel like you’re choking, you’re doing it RIGHT.
just don’t choke TOO much.
[quote]wufwugy wrote:
in the front squat, if you feel like you’re choking, you’re doing it RIGHT.
just don’t choke TOO much.[/quote]
I’m fairly new to front squats and was having the same problem until I found this tip a few weeks ago. It worked and I had a lot less pain
I injured my wrist over the summer maxing out in power clean. I fell into a front squat and the weight fell but missed my shoulders as my elbows weren’t up all the way and it was too far in front of me. It was fairly heavy weight, around 310 I think and it just pulled my wrists all the way backwards and felt like it sprained my right wrist and I dropped the weight. I figured it was a sprain and just took it easy on cleans and front squats the next few weeks and iced it and such. This was in early august. It is now almost 6months later and i am still with the same pain. I am thinking it couldn’t be a simple sprain as it hasn’t gotten any better in 5-6months I resumed my power cleans and front squats just trying to ignore the pain but the pain gets too bad at times. The Orthopedic doctor x-rayed it and said he doesnt see anything wrong and gave me anti inflammatories which didn’t do much. He said to go back if it wasn’t better in a month. It’s been a few months now so i should be going back soon. But wondering if anyone has had a similar injury and knows a way around the pain or to treat it as my snatches cleans and front squats are all suffering from not being able to do heavy weight.
Keep your elbows up and forward, the bar should be able to rest in the groove created by your delts and your neck. You only really need part of your first 2 or 3 fingers under the bar for stabilization. Make sure you keep your elbows up and forward throughout the entire movement. If they begin to drop more of the bar weight will be put on your wrists and this will cause discomfort. Once you have your form down its just a matter of continuing to do them until your wrists gain the flexibility needed.
[quote]cokeandtaco wrote:
just keep at it. in two weeks you won’t even notice.
here’s a great stretch:
put your palms totally together . point your fingertips straight to your stomach.
find the same position behind your back. palms totally together and fingertips pointed straight up. crank your elbows back as far as you can. [/quote]
how do you even get to that position? laters pk