Tip might help others: i went for weeks not realising it was my tight chest and cold upper back causing me tendonitus back squatting. 3setsof15 with dead hangs and face pulls before squatting helped me open up the shoulder/pec and activate my rear delts. Might be worth a shot
Raising the bar to a mid bar position with a wider worked wonders for me. I used to get really bad elbow pain from being super narrow with my grip and really low, but it moved really well. Then I moved my hands out and moved bar higher and my squat moved even better consistently with no pain.
With a tear in the labrum of my shoulder, I found shoulder dislocations with a band and rolling my upper back / chest with a lacrosse ball has done wonders for helping get rid of shoulder pain when squatting. I can't get into position unless I do those stretches a couple times while warming up.
I’ve found that implementing active ROM drills has helped my shoulder pain from low-bar immensely. I simply lie face-down on a bench with a broom stick overhead and pull the broom stick behind my head simulating a pulldown motion. I’ll perform the stretch you mentioned and then go directly into this like a superset.
Very good video Bryce! At Provincials, because of a shoulder injury a week prior, I made a switch to a wider and talon grip like Josh Greenfield. Bar placement was the main factor I noticed because of this, but despite still battling and recovering from the injury, I have had absolutely zero elbow pain during any squats (previous grip was a false grip, pointer finger on the rings).
Great video. This channel really is taking off. ...this much better info than Rippetoe, who is adamant about the spine of the scapula and other specifics during squatting. Rippetoe's 'my way or the highway attitude' sucks and has caused me severe elbow/shoulder pain, because i truly believed he knew it all. I was mistaken. Hes a saleman, trying to sell his own product, and make the squat 'HIS' lift. His advice may work for the majority of the people out there, but its not a 1 size fits all squat grip and bar placement.
In addition to the stretch you showed, I like to warm up with some shoulder dislocations, behind the back presses (w. broomstick, get scapulae moving) and sometimes mace work. Maybe 2 sets of 20 total. Chin hangs also help my biceps and shoulders quite a bit if I'm really tight.
I have got this pain before after squatting “heavy”. It’s like a “stiff” pain going from my shoulder and down to my elbow, I have always thought it was some form of impingement. Rest and some ibuprofen have always “fixed” it, but I would like to find a more long term solution
Several IPF referees have told me that the pinky under grip is illegal because the fingers must be gripping the bar and the pinky can't grip while it is under the bar. This was obviously missed during Josh's squats at Worlds.
I think for some people it could help if they kink their Wrist putting the arms in a more vertical position. Not advisable though if you have problems with your wrist while kinking it
Usually, when I go over 225 lbs my right arm hurts like hell. To the point where my right arm if out of commission for lifting for three or four days. My right shoulder, right elbow and right wrist hurt so much after that that I'm not even able to drive my car comfortably and have to let my arm rest to be able to go back to the gym.
last squat max out i used the kabuki transformer bar 1d setting to do most of my squat warmup sets then went to the str8 bar did 1 rep per plate and did my last warmup set and went for it. got less irratation of the shoulders
I had a shoulder injury and had surgery on my left shoulder. It's really hard for me to keep my shoulder from popping and hurting really bad near the bottom of the squat.I also don't have full range of movement so I can't pull my shoulder back that far to even do a close grip squat, I have to do really really really wide, like hands on top of weights wide. Very frustrating
Very good content. I would like to add two things, maybe it will help somebody. About half a year ago, I had serious shoulder-elbow-biceps pain from squatting. I already squatted thumbless, so I was clueless about what would be the solution. Then I watched carefully how You squat. By placing your elbows close to your body, you're 'rotating your hand outside' (sorry if it doesn't make much sense). This will result in a 'reverse' bulldog grip. By copying this, my shoulder and elbow pain has gone, and I could place the bar lower on my back (which is way more comfortable with my build). So guys, there are different ways to do thumbless! About the biceps pain, it was different. My arms were shaking after sets because the pain was so intense. Getting a massage, I realized that the pain was coming from my upper back. That time, I did smolov squat, smolov jr bench, so I didn't have any more time and energy for doing upper back exercises. This was a huge mistake. All my upper back muscles became super tight. So I started rowing before every squat session+rolling my upper back, and the pain was gone in 2 weeks.
Your issue with pain sounds EXACTLY like mine (it's the back of my shoulder area, but it radiates down through my bicep/tricep and into my elbow) so I'm gonna try this out this week. This literally came out of nowhere for me a few months ago and has gotten so bad I can't even get me left arm into position under an empty bar to set up. Thanks for sharing this -- fingers crossed it helps me because I hate safety bar squats. :p
After almost a month of no lifting I went back last night and felt like someone jabbed my back shoulder on the lower left side. I just shrugged it off and repositioned but now the day after it flared up and I'm pissed. Like come on, injury free for 3 months and something as annoying as this happens on an exercise I was dominating pr's in previously.
My shoulders have pain like not like hurting like internal pain and no matter where I put the bar it pains me I can’t squat at all and the bar is light with no weight
Hey Bryce! I know u used to be in a metal band before you started lifting. My question is do u still listen to metal and if so, what bands do u recommend while lifting?
MrFailGuy93 Harms way (Bryce mentioned it in a previous video), Cursed Earth, Nasty, Malevolence, Suburban Scum, Xibalba, No Zodiac, Vein... Hardcore punk and metalcore are great for lifting.
I spend a decent amount of time with a resistance band before being able to get into my low bar position. Good video, will try your suggestion too. Thanks man
Thank you. This is the best video i've seen that describes my issue. I'm 99% sure its due to a lack of shoulder mobility (my wrists were massively bent during my squats). Doing that stretch everyday now.
Hi, you mentioned that you were cutting with emerging strategies, being in a surplus during developmental block and in a deficit during wash outs. Could you give us your calories during both type of block to have an idea of the way to set things up if we want to try this approach. Thanks.
Younger lifter here, the weight of the bar just hurts on my shoulders without any pads or other things like that(we have little blue things that fit on top of your shoulders and clip on to the bar at school). It's not from an injury or anything, just what I can assume is bad bar position? Is there a special place to put the bar?
This isn't related to lifting, but are you still involved in music? I know you used to be a vocalist in a metal band time ago, and was wondering whether you still do anything music related.
Great video. Been pretty bent out of shape about this. Was really having some great leg days and all of a sudden my shoulders said nah bitch. But will give this a try and see how it works!
Hi Bryce, let me ask you if you have had any experience with finger pain. I'm not kidding. I'm very serious about this and am suffering from a more or less constant ache in my left thumb, at the joint near the end/top of the finger (IP joint). This all started when I -- and I slap myself for it -- tried hook gripping my deadlifts. Went sort of okay at first for some weeks working up slowly, then I used athletic tape one time just to feel even more serious, and there was no sudden pain or something, but from then on my experience with this messed-up pain started. At first it was a sort of inflammation that flared up and died down, but it got back after deadlifting quite a few times. I switched to double overhand and did this for months, getting increasingly annoyed with the flare-ups. There was never pain during lifting, only a brief stiff feeling after prolonged gripping the bar. I wish I could turn back the clock and never tried that hook grip. Visited three specialists. They all say it's nothing serious, even though the pain is now a constant throughout the day :( The diagnosis varies from mild discomfort something about that joint to an irritated tendon that may take a long time to heal. I'm wearing a sort of cap over my thumb during lifting (no more deadlift) so I can't use the thumb to bend. I asked about cartillage damage, but they all say no worries, can't be that. My thumb moves fine otherwise and I can't produce the pain with a movement and pass all the tests that test for serious stuff, but this pain, arghhh. It's a dull ache. I guess I'm just unlucky. You seem to love hook grip and so do many, but did you ever have any finger-joint issues? It had never even occurred to me fingers can also get hurt... I loved training grip, but now I am worried this is here to stay. Warning to others: Please mind your fingers. Of course, the hook grip came along with warnings from reputable trainers, such as Alan Thrall, so I did educate myself first how to do this hook gripping. If you have any experiences to share about what this could be, I'd love to hear it. Or anyone else...
White Wolf i think you might catastrophize your situation which isnt the best if you want to get better. I would so the same thing as after every injury keep moving and focus on movements that dont aggravate the pain. And remember stay calm dont worry If it feels worse on some days as long as it gets better over the long term (there are a lot of psychological aspects when it comes to the perception of pain) Dont worry you will be fine Just keep going and focus on what you can do! :)
Yeah, I know. I tend to have a bleak outlook on matters. Not sure how pain works, but this Austin Baraki guy has some good information on the psychological aspects of it. However, it's kind of hard to believe the pain would be less or gone if only I thought there was nothing to worry about. I do focus on it, though, which isn't helping. It's hard not to notice and focus on this pain. Not that it's a 10 out of 10, but a 3 or so is bad enough if it keeps up for a whole day. Well, heavy grip work tended to provoke a reaction of my thumb seeming like to be on fire. So I haven't deadlifted for months. I had been deadlifting for close to 4 years, and never had such issues before. The inconvenient thing about a finger injury is that I use my hands during most exercises if not all (I don't do leg curls and leg press, hahah) and there's usually this grip/squeeze aspect to it and that always produced a short-lasting stiff feeling in my thumb joint, but not like a trigger finger; it doesn't lock. So I started using a sort of pliable cap around my thumb, but no improvement, so then I switched to a cap that makes sure I can't bend that joint. No heavy rows, hardly any dumbbell work, but to do something I do chin-ups in rings and don't even have to use my thumbs on those. I do the press and squat and bench press to keep in somewhat of a training mood. Anyway, apparently there are no muscles in the fingers. I thought this grip work is going to work little muscles there and they better adapt, I thought, but it's all tendons. How ingenious. The tendons are controlled remotely in the forearms.
This didn't help much, and I have no idea what you're talking about. All of the different positions of the bar on your back look the same to me. I was hoping to fix my elbow pain by myself, but it looks like I'll actually have to meet up with a personal trainer in-person. This isn't your fault, but it seems like a UA-cam video can't fix everything.
Tip might help others: i went for weeks not realising it was my tight chest and cold upper back causing me tendonitus back squatting. 3setsof15 with dead hangs and face pulls before squatting helped me open up the shoulder/pec and activate my rear delts. Might be worth a shot
I'll give it a try! thanks!
Mate you've just helped me fixed a shoulder pain problem I had for months while squatting👍🏾. Wish I could give you more than one like
thumbless grip has done wonders on my shoulder pain in the back squat great tip
Raising the bar to a mid bar position with a wider worked wonders for me. I used to get really bad elbow pain from being super narrow with my grip and really low, but it moved really well. Then I moved my hands out and moved bar higher and my squat moved even better consistently with no pain.
With a tear in the labrum of my shoulder, I found shoulder dislocations with a band and rolling my upper back / chest with a lacrosse ball has done wonders for helping get rid of shoulder pain when squatting. I can't get into position unless I do those stretches a couple times while warming up.
I’ve found that implementing active ROM drills has helped my shoulder pain from low-bar immensely. I simply lie face-down on a bench with a broom stick overhead and pull the broom stick behind my head simulating a pulldown motion. I’ll perform the stretch you mentioned and then go directly into this like a superset.
For me personally the talon Grip has helped tremendously for elbows and shoulders. Shoutout Ben Pollack
That eyebrow wiggle though. Great content as always. I see that ring Bryce, congrats again!
This helps immensely!
Yo the wide grip and how you grip the bar helped me tf out!!!!! Maaad thanks!!!!!!!!
Very good video Bryce! At Provincials, because of a shoulder injury a week prior, I made a switch to a wider and talon grip like Josh Greenfield. Bar placement was the main factor I noticed because of this, but despite still battling and recovering from the injury, I have had absolutely zero elbow pain during any squats (previous grip was a false grip, pointer finger on the rings).
Bryce you are always appreciated
Talon grip got rid of my shoulder pain squatting right away. Game changer thank you 🙏
Great video. This channel really is taking off.
...this much better info than Rippetoe, who is adamant about the spine of the scapula and other specifics during squatting.
Rippetoe's 'my way or the highway attitude' sucks and has caused me severe elbow/shoulder pain, because i truly believed he knew it all. I was mistaken.
Hes a saleman, trying to sell his own product, and make the squat 'HIS' lift. His advice may work for the majority of the people out there, but its not a 1 size fits all squat grip and bar placement.
I do the wider grip and pinkies under grip and it was amazing the difference it made on my elbow and shoulder discomfort.
Keep the great content flowing...
In addition to the stretch you showed, I like to warm up with some shoulder dislocations, behind the back presses (w. broomstick, get scapulae moving) and sometimes mace work. Maybe 2 sets of 20 total. Chin hangs also help my biceps and shoulders quite a bit if I'm really tight.
Thanks for this video Bryce!
Using that False grip has helped me with shoulder and specifically elbow pain in the back squat
The timing of this is incredible. I just got elbow/shoulder-pain when increasing training volume and weights of top sets.
I have got this pain before after squatting “heavy”. It’s like a “stiff” pain going from my shoulder and down to my elbow, I have always thought it was some form of impingement. Rest and some ibuprofen have always “fixed” it, but I would like to find a more long term solution
@@Tobram83 this is exactly what I have, did you fix it?
4:43
10 minutes into lifting & chill and he gives you this look.
That shot with the safety bar earned my like.
Can confirm. Claw grip is a no, no in IPF. I'm not a ref, just a guy who had to learn a new grip on the platform during his opener. Cautionary tale.
I tried talon grip and im able to feel tight in the squat without shoulder and elbow pain! Amazing how that works
Useful tips, thank you!
Several IPF referees have told me that the pinky under grip is illegal because the fingers must be gripping the bar and the pinky can't grip while it is under the bar. This was obviously missed during Josh's squats at Worlds.
Yeah USAPL follows the same rules and that fucked a bunch of us up at the last meet. Actually lead to an injury for me
The sexy safety bar was phenomenal!
Technical video and very useful as always, great Bryce :)
I think for some people it could help if they kink their Wrist putting the arms in a more vertical position. Not advisable though if you have problems with your wrist while kinking it
Usually, when I go over 225 lbs my right arm hurts like hell. To the point where my right arm if out of commission for lifting for three or four days. My right shoulder, right elbow and right wrist hurt so much after that that I'm not even able to drive my car comfortably and have to let my arm rest to be able to go back to the gym.
Get some medical help lol. That shouldnt happen. And if that doesnt help you shouldnt squat really. There are good alternatives
I, for one, would love to see the analytics chart to see how many checked out at 4:43.
It’s likely a lot more people tuned in just for 4:43
last squat max out i used the kabuki transformer bar 1d setting to do most of my squat warmup sets
then went to the str8 bar did 1 rep per plate and did my last warmup set and went for it. got less irratation of the shoulders
Bruh this helped me so much thanks
I had a shoulder injury and had surgery on my left shoulder. It's really hard for me to keep my shoulder from popping and hurting really bad near the bottom of the squat.I also don't have full range of movement so I can't pull my shoulder back that far to even do a close grip squat, I have to do really really really wide, like hands on top of weights wide. Very frustrating
Very good content. I would like to add two things, maybe it will help somebody.
About half a year ago, I had serious shoulder-elbow-biceps pain from squatting. I already squatted thumbless, so I was clueless about what would be the solution. Then I watched carefully how You squat.
By placing your elbows close to your body, you're 'rotating your hand outside' (sorry if it doesn't make much sense). This will result in a 'reverse' bulldog grip. By copying this, my shoulder and elbow pain has gone, and I could place the bar lower on my back (which is way more comfortable with my build). So guys, there are different ways to do thumbless!
About the biceps pain, it was different. My arms were shaking after sets because the pain was so intense. Getting a massage, I realized that the pain was coming from my upper back. That time, I did smolov squat, smolov jr bench, so I didn't have any more time and energy for doing upper back exercises. This was a huge mistake. All my upper back muscles became super tight. So I started rowing before every squat session+rolling my upper back, and the pain was gone in 2 weeks.
Your issue with pain sounds EXACTLY like mine (it's the back of my shoulder area, but it radiates down through my bicep/tricep and into my elbow) so I'm gonna try this out this week.
This literally came out of nowhere for me a few months ago and has gotten so bad I can't even get me left arm into position under an empty bar to set up.
Thanks for sharing this -- fingers crossed it helps me because I hate safety bar squats. :p
Thank you shoulder pain is nearly gone. Now I feel like I can increase my weight
For me it works when i tried to push my shoulder down..similarly having impingement in benchpress
After almost a month of no lifting I went back last night and felt like someone jabbed my back shoulder on the lower left side. I just shrugged it off and repositioned but now the day after it flared up and I'm pissed. Like come on, injury free for 3 months and something as annoying as this happens on an exercise I was dominating pr's in previously.
My shoulders have pain like not like hurting like internal pain and no matter where I put the bar it pains me I can’t squat at all and the bar is light with no weight
Being to upright in lowbar is hell on the elbows.
Hey Bryce! I know u used to be in a metal band before you started lifting. My question is do u still listen to metal and if so, what bands do u recommend while lifting?
MrFailGuy93 veil of maya i know he likes lol
MrFailGuy93 Harms way (Bryce mentioned it in a previous video), Cursed Earth, Nasty, Malevolence, Suburban Scum, Xibalba, No Zodiac, Vein... Hardcore punk and metalcore are great for lifting.
MrFailGuy93 open.spotify.com/user/1228645388/playlist/6KveEImRx6e8gWkbT2JA6s
That’s his Spotify playlist as shared by Bryce Lewis
great video
I spend a decent amount of time with a resistance band before being able to get into my low bar position. Good video, will try your suggestion too. Thanks man
Wow, I'm a ref in CPU and had no idea talon grip was - sometimes - allowed. Very interesting.
My web content writing job has fucked up my right shoulder and wrist so bad that I recently had to stop doing certain exercises, like squats.
Thank you. This is the best video i've seen that describes my issue. I'm 99% sure its due to a lack of shoulder mobility (my wrists were massively bent during my squats). Doing that stretch everyday now.
Hi, you mentioned that you were cutting with emerging strategies, being in a surplus during developmental block and in a deficit during wash outs. Could you give us your calories during both type of block to have an idea of the way to set things up if we want to try this approach.
Thanks.
Talon grip legality, any further clarification if it's legal in the CPU/IPF?
Younger lifter here, the weight of the bar just hurts on my shoulders without any pads or other things like that(we have little blue things that fit on top of your shoulders and clip on to the bar at school). It's not from an injury or anything, just what I can assume is bad bar position? Is there a special place to put the bar?
I sprained both my wrists a few months ago putting thumb under bar.
My wrist pain is out of control. What can I do to stop that?
#CALGARYSQUAD’s here! 🔥💪
we're always here!! 🔥💪
Ever since I dislocated my shoulder last year my right shoulder doesn't have the mobility no more. I still have full rom tho
4:30 lololol
My shoulders & wrists hurt more when I retract my scapula lol lack of shoulder & wrist mobility, I think
MrDubjay123 do you squat with wirst wraps ?
This isn't related to lifting, but are you still involved in music? I know you used to be a vocalist in a metal band time ago, and was wondering whether you still do anything music related.
My favourite part 4:48
Dylan should do some work with Cole Bennett
Great video. Been pretty bent out of shape about this. Was really having some great leg days and all of a sudden my shoulders said nah bitch. But will give this a try and see how it works!
Hey baby
Hi Bryce, let me ask you if you have had any experience with finger pain. I'm not kidding. I'm very serious about this and am suffering from a more or less constant ache in my left thumb, at the joint near the end/top of the finger (IP joint). This all started when I -- and I slap myself for it -- tried hook gripping my deadlifts. Went sort of okay at first for some weeks working up slowly, then I used athletic tape one time just to feel even more serious, and there was no sudden pain or something, but from then on my experience with this messed-up pain started. At first it was a sort of inflammation that flared up and died down, but it got back after deadlifting quite a few times. I switched to double overhand and did this for months, getting increasingly annoyed with the flare-ups. There was never pain during lifting, only a brief stiff feeling after prolonged gripping the bar. I wish I could turn back the clock and never tried that hook grip.
Visited three specialists. They all say it's nothing serious, even though the pain is now a constant throughout the day :( The diagnosis varies from mild discomfort something about that joint to an irritated tendon that may take a long time to heal. I'm wearing a sort of cap over my thumb during lifting (no more deadlift) so I can't use the thumb to bend. I asked about cartillage damage, but they all say no worries, can't be that. My thumb moves fine otherwise and I can't produce the pain with a movement and pass all the tests that test for serious stuff, but this pain, arghhh. It's a dull ache.
I guess I'm just unlucky.
You seem to love hook grip and so do many, but did you ever have any finger-joint issues? It had never even occurred to me fingers can also get hurt... I loved training grip, but now I am worried this is here to stay. Warning to others: Please mind your fingers. Of course, the hook grip came along with warnings from reputable trainers, such as Alan Thrall, so I did educate myself first how to do this hook gripping. If you have any experiences to share about what this could be, I'd love to hear it. Or anyone else...
White Wolf i think you might catastrophize your situation which isnt the best if you want to get better. I would so the same thing as after every injury keep moving and focus on movements that dont aggravate the pain. And remember stay calm dont worry If it feels worse on some days as long as it gets better over the long term (there are a lot of psychological aspects when it comes to the perception of pain) Dont worry you will be fine Just keep going and focus on what you can do! :)
Yeah, I know. I tend to have a bleak outlook on matters. Not sure how pain works, but this Austin Baraki guy has some good information on the psychological aspects of it. However, it's kind of hard to believe the pain would be less or gone if only I thought there was nothing to worry about. I do focus on it, though, which isn't helping. It's hard not to notice and focus on this pain. Not that it's a 10 out of 10, but a 3 or so is bad enough if it keeps up for a whole day.
Well, heavy grip work tended to provoke a reaction of my thumb seeming like to be on fire. So I haven't deadlifted for months. I had been deadlifting for close to 4 years, and never had such issues before.
The inconvenient thing about a finger injury is that I use my hands during most exercises if not all (I don't do leg curls and leg press, hahah) and there's usually this grip/squeeze aspect to it and that always produced a short-lasting stiff feeling in my thumb joint, but not like a trigger finger; it doesn't lock. So I started using a sort of pliable cap around my thumb, but no improvement, so then I switched to a cap that makes sure I can't bend that joint.
No heavy rows, hardly any dumbbell work, but to do something I do chin-ups in rings and don't even have to use my thumbs on those. I do the press and squat and bench press to keep in somewhat of a training mood.
Anyway, apparently there are no muscles in the fingers. I thought this grip work is going to work little muscles there and they better adapt, I thought, but it's all tendons. How ingenious. The tendons are controlled remotely in the forearms.
@4:43 you had to! XD
I had to screenshot the pose with the SSB for reasons 🤤
shut up
Are those earrings? 💅
He looks like if dantdm hit the gym
"I'm no physiotherapist"
This is better than a physiotherapist
Try highbar
This didn't help much, and I have no idea what you're talking about. All of the different positions of the bar on your back look the same to me. I was hoping to fix my elbow pain by myself, but it looks like I'll actually have to meet up with a personal trainer in-person.
This isn't your fault, but it seems like a UA-cam video can't fix everything.
Ha Ha Ha.......that personal trainer is gonna milk your pockets dry.