Say to yourself while doing this exercise “keep your elbows high”! That’s the key! Great exercise by the way; really hits the tear drop muscle!
[quote]merc63 wrote:
Assuming you have the forearm flexibility to do the clean grip properly.[/quote]
Assuming you don’t take the easy way out, the flexibility will come in time. I doubt anyone takes up front squats without ever running into some flexibility issues and wrist discomfort. I’m also of the opinion that it’s more shoulder and upper back flexibility that’s the problem. The wrists get strained because they are on the tail-end of an inflexible chain.
Nick
[quote]conorh wrote:
Here’s the link:
http://jva.ontariostrongman.ca/FS.htm
[/quote]
good link thanks!
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
Many have overlooked the obvious idea that your legs might simply be a lot stronger than your upper back. It takes a lot of strength endurance to keep your shoulders retracted and in the proper position when holding a heavy barbell on your shoulders.
How many reps are you doing in the exercise? A lot of coaches recommend doing no more than 5 in a set because of the very problem you describe.
To help with the elbows, think of bringing them both up and squeezing them inward a little. Your upper arms should be about parallel to each other, in contrast to your elbows splayed out to the sides.
Remember to fill both the belly and chest with air on this one, too, then brace hard (another reason for the 5 rep maximum recommendation).
Don’t use the Smith machine for learning the form. As has been said, it’s colossaly stupid.
Use the clean grip - it’s safer, more stable, and you can handle more weight once you learn it. If you lack the flexibility for it, short of a genuine structural abnormality, stretch.
-Dan[/quote]
I did 3 sets of five (day 1 of TBT). I was only using 60kgs. I haven’t done any backsquats for a month or so but I’ve just done 4 weeks of Westside for Skinny Bastards and got my deadlift up to 150kgs so I didn’t think 60kgs was too heavy - I warmed up with just the bar and then 40kgs too.
I’ve never used a clean grip before for anything but thats the way most of you think it should be done so I’ll try it next Monday. I’ll work on my elbows and breathing and keep training my upper back as always… there’s a lot more to lifting weights than you’d think at first sight!
Thanks everybody for the help
My shoulders hurt when I hold the bar using the crossed-arm method. It is much more comfortable to hold the bar using the clean grip. I also feel using the clean grip my movement is smoother and I can get into a deeper squat.
Only problem with the clean grip is that if it gets too heavy, I have to focus on NOT using my wrists to help lift the weight up. Then it gets really painful on the wrists.
Anyway, to answer your question, I think if your back is rolling forward your weakness is in your core. Do heavy, weighted core exercises for the abs, obliques, and lower back.
as far as flexibility goes, don’t ever stretch before you squat. you can however incorporate some mobility drills in the warm-up. place the safety bars in the rack at about hip height and squat/slide underneath them. try to lower your butt as far as possible and avoid rounding your back as much as you can. it will warm you up and develop mobility in your hips that will help you go lower without rounding the back. I have found the clean grip to be better and more applicable to sports training because of its carryover to power cleans but if this is not your concern then use whatever is more comfortable. one thing you can do while squatting is to activiley push your elbows up as you go down.
You could always do the Tabata method with front squats. As Dan John said in his article it is a great way to groove your technique (and to make you puke!)because you are doing lots of reps, and this should carry over and help you with heavier weights.
The front squat question has been asked before on these forums, one of the tips given was to slightly “choke” yourself by making sure the bar was pushed back on your shoulders enough, otherwise there is the danger of losing the bar forward. Of course this means that the reps should always be low each set, going over 5 really starts to affect you when doing this! But I have found it to help me a lot. Last night I punched out 3 x 5 with a PR and am starting to feel a lot more comfortable doing them. It probably helps that I am doing a lot more power cleans to help with wrist flexibility as well.
Cheers,
Ben
If you do not have the flexibility in the wrists, the vise grip front squats on the link can also be performed with lifting straps.
I recently bought a sting-ray (similar to the manta-ray) and it makes front squats much more comfortable.