High Bar Squat In Powerlifting

Abit of a noob question but I thought this might be the best subforum to ask this question.

Do any Powerlifters high bar squat at meets?

I am currently doing 5/3/1 for the last 18 months and have made good gains. I use to do high bar squat and once I started 5/3/1 I thought I should change to low bar as that seems to be the general consenus for powerlifting type routines. The problem I have is I cant get the hang of it and I also get pain in my wrists and a little in my elbows.

Yesterday I switched to high bar and it just felt so much better maybe not quite as strong but I felt more confident. I think I want to change back to high bar or should I carry on with low bar?

So do any of you guys high bar squat instead of low bar?

Cheers.

There is nothing wrong with doing high bar if you prefer it. Most do low bar simply because you can lift more weight that way.

There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works.

Do what form allows you to move the most weight possible while meeting the rules specifically for your federation and allows you to stay injury free.

[quote]Reed wrote:
Do what form allows you to move the most weight possible while meeting the rules specifically for your federation and allows you to stay injury free. [/quote]

Perfect! I feel like this should automatically be the first reply to every single question thread that is started.

All joking aside, Reed has it totally right. In general people lift more low bar, but that doesn’t have to be true for you. So try both, if you can do more low bar and stay injury free doing so, then you have your answer!

Thanks for the reply guys. I guess that was the answer that I was expecting, which is good.

Cheers

lillebridge squats with a pretty high bar

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
lillebridge squats with a pretty high bar[/quote]

I hear he is pretty good, right?

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
lillebridge squats with a pretty high bar[/quote]

Yeah. And then he switched to low bar and instantly added 100+ lbs to his already super elite squat.

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
lillebridge squats with a pretty high bar[/quote]

Yeah. And then he switched to low bar and instantly added 100+ lbs to his already super elite squat.[/quote]

Not exactly. He dropped the weight back for a while I am pretty sure and practiced with it before getting in the groove with it.

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.[/quote]

did you forget you started this thread?

The prospect of injury/ consistent pain is not something that EVERY lifter wants to entertain. You must have missed the part of Reed’s post where he mentioned using whatever form keeps a lifter from injury. Everyone has different values. Some people value the longevity of their elbows more than the potential to move a few more pounds on the squat. There’s nothing ‘stupid’ about that.

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.[/quote]

did you forget you started this thread?

The prospect of injury/ consistent pain is not something that EVERY lifter wants to entertain. You must have missed the part of Reed’s post where he mentioned using whatever form keeps a lifter from injury. Everyone has different values. Some people value the longevity of their elbows more than the potential to move a few more pounds on the squat. There’s nothing ‘stupid’ about that.
[/quote]

I did not forget my own thread, no! Thanks for pointing that out.

I did have some aches and pains when switching from high bar to low bar. I evaluated my technique, made the correct adjustments, improved mobility and now I’m doing better than ever.

345lb x 1 PR for high bar
365lb x 5 PR for low bar

I think it was worth it no?

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.[/quote]

did you forget you started this thread?

The prospect of injury/ consistent pain is not something that EVERY lifter wants to entertain. You must have missed the part of Reed’s post where he mentioned using whatever form keeps a lifter from injury. Everyone has different values. Some people value the longevity of their elbows more than the potential to move a few more pounds on the squat. There’s nothing ‘stupid’ about that.
[/quote]

I did not forget my own thread, no! Thanks for pointing that out.

I did have some aches and pains when switching from high bar to low bar. I evaluated my technique, made the correct adjustments, improved mobility and now I’m doing better than ever.

345lb x 1 PR for high bar
365lb x 5 PR for low bar

I think it was worth it no?[/quote]

It sounds like it was worth it for you, yes. What was the time span between the 345x1 and the 365x5?

My squat also went up when I switched primarily to low bar, although not to the degree yours did. That being said, I’ve recently been squatting high bar frequently as well. My 1RM is in the low to mid 400’s with both styles. If your ONLY goal is powerlifting, then I can understand why you would just pound away at 1 style, but since I have varied interests, high bar serves a purpose in my training, mainly the way it translates better to oly lifting.

Aside from this, while it’s fortunate for you that your elbow pain went away, this doesn’t happen for everyone. I’m 30, and injury/chronic pain is much more ‘real’ to me than it was in my early 20’s. Just something to think about.

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.[/quote]

did you forget you started this thread?

The prospect of injury/ consistent pain is not something that EVERY lifter wants to entertain. You must have missed the part of Reed’s post where he mentioned using whatever form keeps a lifter from injury. Everyone has different values. Some people value the longevity of their elbows more than the potential to move a few more pounds on the squat. There’s nothing ‘stupid’ about that.
[/quote]

I did not forget my own thread, no! Thanks for pointing that out.

I did have some aches and pains when switching from high bar to low bar. I evaluated my technique, made the correct adjustments, improved mobility and now I’m doing better than ever.

345lb x 1 PR for high bar
365lb x 5 PR for low bar

I think it was worth it no?[/quote]

It sounds like it was worth it for you, yes. What was the time span between the 345x1 and the 365x5?

My squat also went up when I switched primarily to low bar, although not to the degree yours did. That being said, I’ve recently been squatting high bar frequently as well. My 1RM is in the low to mid 400’s with both styles. If your ONLY goal is powerlifting, then I can understand why you would just pound away at 1 style, but since I have varied interests, high bar serves a purpose in my training, mainly the way it translates better to oly lifting.

Aside from this, while it’s fortunate for you that your elbow pain went away, this doesn’t happen for everyone. I’m 30, and injury/chronic pain is much more ‘real’ to me than it was in my early 20’s. Just something to think about.
[/quote]

Time span about 2 months. I would agree with you 100% if this were not the powerlifting forum and the OP did not ask specifically about powerlifting.

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.[/quote]

did you forget you started this thread?

The prospect of injury/ consistent pain is not something that EVERY lifter wants to entertain. You must have missed the part of Reed’s post where he mentioned using whatever form keeps a lifter from injury. Everyone has different values. Some people value the longevity of their elbows more than the potential to move a few more pounds on the squat. There’s nothing ‘stupid’ about that.
[/quote]

I did not forget my own thread, no! Thanks for pointing that out.

I did have some aches and pains when switching from high bar to low bar. I evaluated my technique, made the correct adjustments, improved mobility and now I’m doing better than ever.

345lb x 1 PR for high bar
365lb x 5 PR for low bar

I think it was worth it no?[/quote]

It sounds like it was worth it for you, yes. What was the time span between the 345x1 and the 365x5?

My squat also went up when I switched primarily to low bar, although not to the degree yours did. That being said, I’ve recently been squatting high bar frequently as well. My 1RM is in the low to mid 400’s with both styles. If your ONLY goal is powerlifting, then I can understand why you would just pound away at 1 style, but since I have varied interests, high bar serves a purpose in my training, mainly the way it translates better to oly lifting.

Aside from this, while it’s fortunate for you that your elbow pain went away, this doesn’t happen for everyone. I’m 30, and injury/chronic pain is much more ‘real’ to me than it was in my early 20’s. Just something to think about.
[/quote]

Time span about 2 months. I would agree with you 100% if this were not the powerlifting forum and the OP did not ask specifically about powerlifting. [/quote]

that’s fair. the only thing I would say to that is he also mentioned elbow/wrist pain. If for whatever reason that pain doesn’t go away, high bar may be a solution for the longevity of his powerlifting career. Elbow pain could negatively affect his total if it translates to a worse bench press and/or deadlift.

If he can make the transition pain-free, then you’re almost certainly right that low bar is the best approach.

OP, how does your grip width compare between high bar and low bar? I move my hands in by one hand width when switching to high bar. I normally squat low bar and had wrist pains at one point when I started to move my hands in thinking I could keep my back tighter but found there was no benefit. If you want to continue experimenting with low bar, you can try moving your hands out to the point where you no longer feel pain but still feel comfortable keeping your back and core tight.

I also found it beneficial to occasionally wear wrist wraps when squatting with high frequency and volume, in addition to benching with high frequency and volume. It might be worth it to use wrist wraps or athletic tape now to help your wrists recover while maintaining your normal routine.

[quote]jdub129 wrote:

[quote]osu122975 wrote:
There are Olympic lifters out there doing big high bar raw squats and they don’t even compete in powerlifting. Nothing wrong w/ it. Do what works. [/quote]

Do what “works”, sure. What “works” in powerlifting is what gives you the highest poundage on the platform. Telling OP to do high bar because it makes him feel good and not because he can lift more weight is stupid.[/quote]

Could you see straight to split that hair?