 Hey today, we're going to talk about squat grip So there's a lot of confusion about how to grip the bar on a basic barbell squat We want to talk about that today So here's the key in all of the other lifts that aren't the squat the deadlift the bench press the press The hands are holding on to the bar like they're the prime thing that connects us to the bar but on a squat that's not the case in a squat the bars really sitting on our back and The hands are just there to keep the bar from rolling down the back So we have to figure out how to put our hands in the right position For a right relationship with the barbell and the body So the back bears the load of the barbell and the weight and not the hands wrists and elbows Because when we do this wrong we end up squats often will cause Tendonitis around the elbow and specifically the medial epicondyle and we want to try to protect this as much as we can when this Becomes a problem. It's hard to get rid of and a correct squat grip most of the time will allow us to avoid that issue So one of the things that I want to do on a squat grip is I'm going to try to get my grip as close as I can Because I want relatively Vertical forearms now the bigger you are if you're like me my grip is still pretty wide Skinnier people narrow people might have their I mean really will be able to put their hands right on top their shoulders But for everybody it should be a very very tight It's gonna be very tight at the peck-delt tie-in and in order to do that We have a good friend starting strength coach Paul Horn is invented what we call the Paul Horn stretch You can check out that video, but I'm gonna give you a quick taste of it right now So as you're trying to open up your shoulders to prepare for the squat You can do a stretch that looks like this Patrick You're gonna take a grip with thumbs on top the bar and we'll get there here in a second And he's got to try to drive himself underneath and just stretch and then come back out and take a deep breath come in a little bit and Breathe out and come back out again and narrow your grip a little more and Same thing and you could just kind of rock back and forth and the stretch is going to be here on the front of the dealt Because our hands aren't holding the bar on the squat I actually don't need to wrap my thumb around the bar on a squat like I would on all the other lifts Instead, I want to use compression Between the the bones the wrist and the bones of the forearm into the elbow to hold the bar in place Which means the bar needs to push on the bottom Pad of my of my hand to create the compression necessary to hold the bar in place on my back But the weight of the bar primarily is going to sit on your back not in your hands Conversely if we wrap our thumbs around the bar and we get over extension of the wrist We get it can lead to wrist problems It can lead to tendonitis in the forearm or of the elbow or if our grip is too wide and I have a big angle here I end up with too much moment on the forearm and not enough compression Therefore, it's not the compression that's holding the bar in place I have to end up taking this wide grip and I'm gonna have to hold the bar in place with shoulder extension Which can also cause problems and in the end on a squad if I'm gonna shoulder extend Eventually, I'm gonna round my thoracic. I'm gonna dump that bar forward. It's gonna roll up my back I want the bar to stay in place just below the spine of the scapula. So that's what we're gonna do So I want you to take a grip that's as close as you can comfortably take the wider It is there's too much moment the more narrow we get the more compression we get the more vertical forearms We have so take a grip as close as you can stretch into a little bit We're gonna put the bar just below the spine of the scapula here So that's nice as below the top of the traps notice that he really can you lift your elbows up at all a little bit? So leave your hands right where they are come back out Narrow your grip one inch and let's do it again If he can give me some extra Shoulder extension then that grip probably isn't close enough now This is a lot tighter. You can see the nice big shelf of muscle on his back Just below the spine of the scapula when you're ready stand up with the bar Walk back deep breath And give me a couple reps Good keep that chin down One more nice and slow and up fast good walking in touch the uprights and Good so a common error that we'll see with lifters is will actually swing the pendulum too far the other way So most know that over extension is bad But now we're starting to see people Overflex their wrists and that would look like this That's gonna go underneath No, so now he's his hand is on top of the bar Which means that there can't be any compression of the forearm Therefore, I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do here instead. He's gonna get down here bar in hand Neutral wrists and now the bar is against the pad of the lower hand and he can actually have some compression here across the forearm So just as much as extension is bad that flexion is bad as well Now, what's the problem with overextension? Well over extension creates a problem because it causes torsion or twisting here in the forearm The hand is loaded strange The forearm twist and we end up with problems often in the elbow and usually in that medial epicondyle When we grip the bar this way This is a very common grip for for power lifters or they'll often wrap their thumbs around the bar here So same position just like this and now I don't have a lot of compression here Rather, it's the moment force of the over extension in the wrist That's holding the bar in place and of course that can cause problems in the wrist just as much as it can cause problems in the elbow If all else fails and you've got pain in your elbow from your squat grip The primary thing we want to focus on is to make sure that the weight Lies across the back and not in the hands. We want to feel the weight of the bar On our back and not in our hands not on the not at the base of the palm Not back in the fingers as the more weight the hand bears The better chance we have of having some sort of problems in the wrist form or elbow So the key occasionally my way that I just taught you will also cause some elbow problems It's rare and that's why some people will wrap their thumbs or take a different grip in order to get all that weight on their back If the back bears the load of the weight And the hands don't it's going to protect the hands wrist forms and elbows from future potential injury Which is often like a just a tenonitis, right? So that's what we're trying to avoid in the squat When you get that tenonitis, it's hard to get rid of so as soon as you start to feel that coming on You've got to make sure you feel the load of the bar across your back and not in your hands For more how-to tips on this squat click the playlist right up there