Squatters, Question? Its Kinda Gross!

[powerlifterjay]

I am just curious to how many of you experience what i do on squat day or good mornings.

After all the squatting i have done and the weights i use i have a caluss on the center of my back right were the bar lies each and every week. On squat day if my shirt is light blood will coem through every time. I noticed guys liek Ed Coan put duck tape on their back for this reason and funny thing is you can see it when my shirt is off though its not that clear. But when i bleed and take off my shirt to see i cant find were the blood is coming from. Any of ya'll experinece this? Is it just soemthing to live with? Its somethin i am tired of and been wearing dark shirts on these days from now on. Last weeks good mornig open me up and for the first tiem felt a little awkward walkin garound with this after the good morning were done. Should i remove the calluss? With the lotions and pads? Input welcome.

 

[spatts]

Wow, the "Squatter Stigmata."

 

[growin']

Unfortunately my knees give out long before the skin on my back does Bump for you though.

 

[b fold the truth]

I have the same spot on my back...here here...

B True

 

[Mountain Man]

Have you tried a cambered bar? It changes the location somewhat.

 

[IrishPower]

haha..

i used to squirt blood out my head. then i grew up and stopped slamming my head on the bar.

seriously, you could try several things. you could get someone to put a coat of new-skin or some similar such product on there. I have even heard of people using superglue. I am NOT shitting you. I think this was for calluses that kept ripping from deadlifting.

You could wear additional shirts (sweat-shirt, jacket, etc).

i say if you are not in serious physical pain, this is kind of a cool thing to have. relax.. don't worry about it. your body is just adapting.

/irish

 

[aka-tapout]

i have a line across my back as well---when we go to the beach i get sun burned or taned you can really see this white line across my back where the bar sits

 

[growin']

Stevie Ray Vaughn (God rest his soul) played with such thick guitar strings, that they would rip the calluses of the ends of his fingers. His roadies would super glue new finger tips on him in between songs. Maybe there is something to the glue.......

 

[dbolsandall]

does the bar have heavy knurling? or is it worn and fairly smooth? I'd say try the duct tape on squat day. But if there's not an open wound, it's probably a pressure bruise. So much pressure that it actually pushes the blood thru the pores next to the top layer of your skin. But i agree with some of the other guys, that area of skin should toughen up over time and become a callous. You being at the level that you are i would think you would already have a callous in your bar groove. but i would try the tape a couple of weeks and see if that works. KEEP SQUATTIN.

 

[Geno_O]

Jay, I have never heard of this before. So, I put my hand on
the area where the bar sits in the squat. The whole area is
rough. It appears that the skin has adjusted by forming a
callous along the bar groove.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Oh ya the callus is there and tough. Its visible all the time but its not gross until a bar goes on it. It doesn tmatter how the kurling is it bleeds regardless. Its been doing this for a long time just i have never asked about to anyone before. Its not that big of a deal but thought it wouldnt hurt to ask about. Beach weather is back here in sunny florida and didnt knwo if it would frerak out beach people! Kiddin.

I guess i will leave it alone. If i start trying to get rid of it along with shaving and all the other grooming i seem to do, its just gonna add another chore!

 

[Arioch]

I do not get this problem from squatting, but then because my torso is so short, I set the bar a little higher. Good mornings, however, just plain tear up the skin on my upper back. After a few months of comments from my loving wife about looking like luggage, I started using a buffalo bar for good mornings, and the problem is not so bad. Also, there is far less strain on my shoulders and elbows using the buffalo bar.

 

[brianmincher]

I don't have the callus you speak of, but anytime I squat over 500 I get a bruise all the way across my back from shoulder to shoulder where the bar goes. I have a couple of pictures of it laying around. You may want to try some manta ray squats or wrap a towel around the bar sometimes.

I think that it is just a matter of you are using man-sized weights on your squats, and 800 lbs is going to leave a mark.

B.

 

[bigokie]

When I used to do 20 rep squats I would get this across my entire upper back. Blood would trickle out and make my shirt stick to my back. Cool looking Anyways, not much I did about it it finally got built to the point that it stopped hurting. You don't want to wrap a towel around the bar, it will throw the bar out of groove, at least it does for me. I think you'll just have to live with it. Eventually, I don't know how long, your back will adjust to it and build up rough skin that will stop breaking open.

By the way, if it bothers you, the super glue idea works. When I used to do heavy farmers every week I would tear the calluses off every time. I started putting super glue on before the workouts and they stopped somewhat.

 

[b fold the truth]

Super glue works great on your hands...

What kind of shirt are you wearing when you squat?

B True

 

[powerlifterjay]

I just wear t shirts. I always wear t shirts. Never sleeveless, nor do i wear tank tops. I cant wear sweatshirts, too hot. I just think i will wear dark clothes for now on when squatting. But come to think of it in St pete when i was benching i started bleeding too on my back. So benching sometimes does it too. Keep in mind my blood presure get high at times and hell i ahve squirted blood from my face on a tough strain. My eyes have bleed, you name it. After a heavy squat session you can see on my face little red things that go away in a couple of hours but its like blood so close to the surface its dying to bust out. My back just gets most of the pressure therefore bleeding the most.

Its something i will live with. If anything i will try the duck tape. I actually have some in my gym bag. A little extreme, dont you think?

So my point in the first paragraph was its blood pressure along with my caluss. The caluss is there regardless but why it bleeds coudl be pressure. Hell i dont knwo. At least i dont have a caluss on my chest from benching!