AB's Happy Smiley Thoughts journal

[anotherbutters]

Keep working on the overhead squats, bud. Even if it is just the bar for a while, get your arms out wide and work on that flexibility.

Well I went out and bought a broom handle just to work my flexibility, but it appears that I'm flexible enough. With a snatch grip, I can raise the broom above my head and keep going all the way over until it's behind me. I can even do it with my hands brought in a bit. That was standing, so I tried it when I'm squatting and it's the same deal - I can easily move the bar in an arc from in front of me, overhead, to touching my arse. As another indication of shoulder flexibility, I can touch beyond my wrists when I try to touch my hands behind my back (one hand reaching down, the other reaching up).

So I just tried OH squats with the bar again and after finding a bit of a groove, I can now stay in the hole without the tightness that I had in the middle of my back before, which is a big improvement. However, I feel a lot of the weight on my thumbs. I thought it was my wrists before, but it's actually my thumbs.

So I have a question. Where do you place the bar in your hand for OH squats? Is it directly over the forearm, as in the bench press, or do you have it further back in the palm of the hand with the wrist back a bit? If I have the bar so that it looks and feels like it's over my forearm, it feels like it's too far forward and there's more pressure on my thumbs, since they're stopping the bar falling forward.

And now that I know I can rotate my arms all the way back, I'm a little scared of the bar going too far back and dislocating my shoulders.

 

[nelmsjer]

Damn, you ask good questions. I'll try it out this week and get back with you.

 

[anotherbutters]

One of the advantages of working out at home is that I can practise whenever I like, so I'm going to throw in a few of these every day. I've done a lot tonight already! Do you take the bar from a rack when you do these? My rack's hooks are right where I want to put my hands.

 

[anotherbutters]

Ahhh... Now I know what my OH squat problem is. My grip's been too wide on the bar, so it hasn't been sitting squarely in my hands. Imagine grabbing the bar and moving your hands wider and wider apart. I've been at the point where my hands are so wide that the bar's out of my palms and only supported by my thumbs.

I tried it with a narrower grip (middle finger on the rings) and there was no wrist or thumb pain - problem solved! Although moving my hands closer has brought the tight upper back problem back, but it's already better than it was before and quite manageable, and I know it'll get better quickly because I can now practise without wrist/thumb pain. I'll be practising a few of these with the bar every night and hopefully I'll integrate them into my normal workouts soon. Thanks for the inspiration for doing these Nelms!

I've also been practising 'popping' under the bar from the hang for doing squat cleans. Did about 50 reps earlier. These oly lifts are fun! Although I'm still scared of the snatch

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

Uh oh, now it sounds like my grip is wrong! Thanks for being the Guinnea pig AB :-D! I've got OH squats in a few hours, i'm going to try your grip with middle finger on the rings, and see how it works for me! Thanks! Keep up the good work.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Although I'm still scared of the snatch

I knew you drove on the other side of the road.

 

[Cynical Simian]

With that flag under his karma bar, I don't think he was trying to hide it.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

What I think he meant was, "bat's for the other team".

 

[Guinness5.0]

"bat's for the other team".

"Putts from the rough"

 

[Cynical Simian]

I never knew AB was such a sportsman.