improving wrist/shoulder flexibility for squatting

[pistachio]

hi all,

well, i seem to have strained my wrist and my guess is it is from squats. holding the bar on my back requires me to have my wrist bent quite awkwardly and putting weight on that just makes things worse. i woke up a few days ago and i couldn't put any weight on it (as in i cannot do a normal pushup, but i could easily do a knuckle pushups). i've had this happen before, but only recently did i realise that it was probably because of the way i am gripping the bar in various exercises, most notably the squat.

so my question is, how can i improve my flexibility so i can hold the bar as shown below? i cannot seem to hold the bar like this in squats as i cannot get my arms far back enough. so i have to bend my wrists to get the weight back there. does that make sense?

A common error is to put the bar high in your hands, close to your fingers. Your wrists then roll back and get stretched by the weight. This causes wrist pain. Wrists wraps & wrists curls won’t help. You need to grip the bar correctly.

 

[Bluey]

My wrists are always bent when I squat I couldnt do it any other way my elbows would be above my head if I had to keep my wrists straight.

Are you stretching your wrists and hands out before lifting? I find, especially when power cleaning or front squatting, I need to spend 5 mins stretching out my hands and wrists so I can catch/hold the bar.

The pictured grip makes sense for presses (bench, overhead) but its not really practical for all the lifts.

 

[Fadi]

Pistachio, I'm a bit confused with your post. Are you back squatting or front squatting?

The shot you've posted is confusing me even more. It looks like someone pressing a bar overhead rather than squatting with it. Sorry about that.

Fadi.

 

[pistachio]

My wrists are always bent when I squat I couldnt do it any other way my elbows would be above my head if I had to keep my wrists straight.

Are you stretching your wrists and hands out before lifting? I find, especially when power cleaning or front squatting, I need to spend 5 mins stretching out my hands and wrists so I can catch/hold the bar.

The pictured grip makes sense for presses (bench, overhead) but its not really practical for all the lifts.

thanks bluey, i stretched them out and warmed them up a bit before squatting on friday and it seemed to be ok.

Pistachio, I'm a bit confused with your post. Are you back squatting or front squatting?

The shot you've posted is confusing me even more. It looks like someone pressing a bar overhead rather than squatting with it. Sorry about that.

Fadi.

hi Fadi, this is back squatting. i find my wrists are bent very awkwardly. basically, i would like to improve my flexibility so that at some point i can look like this when i squat... not just the wrists, (note that they are hardly bent back at all), but his back is very straight, especially for such a deep squat. i want to be able to squat like this! how do i improve my flexibility for this?

 

[Fadi]

Pistachio, I don't see this as a wrist flexibility issue but a shoulder one instead. The wrist comes in when front squatting.

One way to remedy this problem would be for you to place your hands right against the inside of the bar, (all the way out to the side), in addition to doing some shoulder dislocation with a broom or a towel and also streching of your chest muscles...

Fadi.

 

[Josh_GTiR]

I bought a broom stick from Woolies just to do Shoulder Dislocations. I do them every night, I want to overhead squat damn it!

 

[katie]

Meg might like you to sweep the floors with it too

 

[Josh_GTiR]

I bought one without a broom head. I am smarter than that!

 

[pistachio]

Pistachio, I don't see this as a wrist flexibility issue but a shoulder one instead. The wrist comes in when front squatting.

One way to remedy this problem would be for you to place your hands right against the inside of the bar, (all the way out to the side), in addition to doing some shoulder dislocation with a broom or a towel and also streching of your chest muscles...

Fadi.

thanks Fadi, i think shoulder flexibiliy is definitely an issue. how do i improve this tho, is there any particular stretches?

i just youtubed shoulder dislocations, and all i can say is whoah! i can NOT do those, nowhere near! my arms have to go out nearly horizontal (let alone vertical) to get my arms behind me. is there a way of building up to these?? i have identified flexibility as a major weakness of mine and it is something i am trying to fix, but i don't know what stretches i need to use

 

[pistachio]

I bought a broom stick from Woolies just to do Shoulder Dislocations. I do them every night, I want to overhead squat damn it!

has your flexibility improved much doing this? and what exactly do you do each night? and i'm with you on the overhead squat, i tried that the other day (without a bar obviously..), and my arms were like 60 degrees from vertical!!! i really want to improve my flexibility to the point where i can do these

 

[Josh_GTiR]

Pistachio, I can't do the full range of movement in the dislocations yet either. I simply go as far back as I can and hold it for a while a few times a night, with some other assorted Shoulder stretches. It is something you will have to work on.

You can also try a band, concentrate on keeping your elbows locked and work back further and further. As the band will have some give you will be able to get back alot further than with a broom stick. As you get more flexibility, grab the band closer to the centre so it has less give and keep going. You will eventually get there with a broomstick.

 

[Fadi]

A band is fine but an ordinary towel will do fine also.

Also these:

Ok, she's flexible. Have someone pull your shoulders back (after warming up) as far as is comfortable. Gaining flexibility through stretching is a gradual thing and not to be rushed or you'll risk a muscle tear (especially if stretching before warming your muscles up).

Chest flexibility is also paramount. In fact, I can't think of a single muscle that is not important to stretch. Even stretching your ankle is vital if your aim to squat big.


Fadi.

 

[oldcorollas]

Pistachio, how did you go in your quest for shoulder flexibility?
I'm having the same issues.. and already know my shoulders are stuffed.

what worked for you?

 

[sookie]

I will take stab an say pistacio applied the input from what has been mentioned

shoulder dislocations and other shoulder stretches. have you tried doing them old corollas?

 

[oldcorollas]

Yes, I am currently doing them every day. it's a hard slog.
Dislocations with both band and broomstick, pec stretch/massage, roller for back.
also doing scapula retraction exercises from physio.

no, i haven't tried Fadi's last pic. looks hard to do by yourself.

I'd like to try and concentrate on the stretch/exercises that are most effective, so was hoping to draw on experience, and find out how it went for P.

edit: I will keep doing what i'm doing, but if there is a better way, i'd rather do that

 

[sookie]

Sorry for butting in. i experienced the same issue pistacio had few months ago. different muscle but same conclusion though. Which was tons of stretching.

Is the issue from squats?

 

[oldcorollas]

no, the issue is from a f#cked back and shoulders. a long time with poor posture is the cause I believe (and occasional bursitis?), but is preventing good bar position for squats.

I've made headway on getting flexibility for benchpress (still not quite enough), but since starting squats, it's really screwing with my shoulder joint (perhaps the ligaments holding the clavicle and scapula together?)
low bar is not possible, can't get hands back far enough.

I'm basically willing to try any and every stretch recommended, to try and find something that works well
any suggestion is welcome, including SUAS

 

[pistachio]

Should dislocations all the way. These have helped a LOT.

However, curiously, the biggest thing that helped was changing where I gripped the bar when squatting.

Now this is completely counter-intuitive to me (and it still doesn't make sense), but basically, I have my hands as close together as possible now. How do I put my hands CLOSER together when my shoulders aren't flexible enough? Beats me, but it works. I actually have my hands closer together than my training partner who doesn't have any issues at all.

Since doing this, I no longer have any problems at all with my shoulders. So the weight on my shoulders in my original position was obviously causing the joint a lot of grief.

So all I can say is, try to force your grip inwards, as far in as possible, when squatting. This seems to place a lot less stress on your shoulders.

 

[oldcorollas]

thanks mate, i'll give the closer grip a crack, and keep hammering at the dislocations...

are you supposed to be able to have normal grip when doing dislocations (no way can do!), or just hold between thumb and first finger is normal?

 

[pistachio]

thanks mate, i'll give the closer grip a crack, and keep hammering at the dislocations...

are you supposed to be able to have normal grip when doing dislocations (no way can do!), or just hold between thumb and first finger is normal?

I do dislocations with a towel, and just slowly creep my grip in closer as I get more flexible. I don't like doing them with something rigid (like a broom), feels like it doesn't give the joint enough leeway. A towel is a bit more forgiving on a rigid or stiff shoulder.