Quote: (06-05-2015 05:28 AM)Laser Wrote:
One question: I found the bar tended to rest in the tops of my palms where the fingers meet the palm. The weight would bend my hands backwards, stressing my risks. Very uncomfortable. Should I be trying to lay the bar more across the base of my palm?
Neither. Your palms do not take any weight. Your upper back does. Before you take the bar out of the rack, flex your upper back as if you're going for a bodybuilding lat spread pose. This makes your upper back bigger and allows the bar to rest on it. You tighten this up again and again at the top after each rep, before going to the next rep.
You should be able to wiggle your fingers around and open your hands a bit with the bar on your back. If you can't and you start to feel the weight rolling down your palms, either your upper back is getting fatigued (meaning the base is getting smaller) or the bar position is too low.
This is where having strong big lats with good endurance training for them helps in the squats. It's also the reason why high bar squat is easier for high reps (8+, widowmaker 20, crazier rep ranges) than low bar squat.
There is always a risk with the low bar squat where your upper back fatigues and the bar rolls slightly down and hurts your wrists or forearms. This is why you see powerlifters wear wrist wraps while squatting as an insurance policy.