Squat Questions

[thatwaslight]

1. Bar placement, how much does this affect the mechanics of the squat?

i have one reasonably built muscle and thats traps lol so for me its more comfortable if i sit the bar lower on my back does it really matter?

2. Hand placement, how does this affect the squat? is it just a personal thing?

for me i did some experimenting and it was much more comfortable to grip the bar as wide as possible as i felt more stable this way.

3. Headaches, every time i squat i get a splitting headache. could this be high blood pressure as i heard that can be a symptom of high bp? or do i just need to HTFU.

Chur!

[genetic freek]

BBing squat or powerlifting squat?

Headache could be from not breathing.

[thatwaslight]

bbing squat bro i use narrow stance.

[soundsgood]

High bar squats always make me work my quads harder than lowbar. If my main purpose for that session is to smash my quads I'll squat high bar with a lower weight. If I'm training for strength I'll drop the bar right back, it activates more back, hammies and abs and I can move more weight.

Hand placement is very much a personal thing. I've mucked around with hands all the way out to the ends of the bar all the way to a very narrow grip (even tried no hands) and it just comes down to whatever you feel most comfortable and balanced with. I generally use a grip about a hand space out from my shoulders works for me.

As far as headaches go that could very much be a symptom of high blood pressure. If you know you have it, then keep it monitored, you don't want to faint with 200kg on your shoulders and land the wrong way :oops:

[genetic freek]

What is narrow?

[thatwaslight]

High bar squats always make me work my quads harder than lowbar. If my main purpose for that session is to smash my quads I'll squat high bar with a lower weight. If I'm training for strength I'll drop the bar right back, it activates more back, hammies and abs and I can move more weight.

Hand placement is very much a personal thing. I've mucked around with hands all the way out to the ends of the bar all the way to a very narrow grip (even tried no hands) and it just comes down to whatever you feel most comfortable and balanced with. I generally use a grip about a hand space out from my shoulders works for me.

As far as headaches go that could very much be a symptom of high blood pressure. If you know you have it, then keep it monitored, you don't want to faint with 200kg on your shoulders and land the wrong way :oops:

Ah ok cheers bro,

I will try and stick with high bar then. yeah i'm just a bit worried about the bp i mean its weird i got it checked yesterday and she said it was perfect but i'm wondering if the exertion from squats brings it right up?

GF, narrowish i guess in from shoulder width.

[thatwaslight]

Has anyone else experienced this while squatting?

[train hard]

I dont get headachs but my face goes bright red after heavy sets of squats lol normal for BP to rise slightly during training especially squats the "muscletec" probably don't help. You probably do but watch the breathing and drink plenty of water and avoid pre workout stims hopefully it just a phase and will go away soon or you might have to see the doc

[Riccardo]

I go very red easily lol but don't ever get a headache, sometimes i get bloodshot eyes if I'm training very heavy. Some one said something about breathing I would take a look at your breathing mate: big breath in before descending and expel the air on the way up. sometimes even pausing between reps to suck in a couple of breaths is a good thing.

Edit: also you have well developed traps bro, they could be tight and pulling on your neck in such a way to cause the headaches, I had this problem before but not while I trained. Also are you taking in enough water?

Doing a quick google search and it seems indomethicin is the main treatment for exertion headache, its an anti inflammatory.