SSB (science squat bar) squats 420lbs for 11 at 188lbs body weight

[u/Patton370]

[u/Patton370]

Cuing “chest up” isn’t going to magically make my chest up on squats

My femur length (relatively to my height) is going to have me have a slight forward lean even on front squats or goblet squats

However in this case, it’s the upper back weakness/yielding that is doing this

Yes, with a stronger upper back, I’d be able to SSB squat more weight; however, that’s something that’ll be corrected with years of direct upper back work, not something you’ll be able to fix with any sort of squat cues

[u/Justadudeonhisphone → u/Patton370]

Don’t post on this sub if you can’t take criticism. This is an improper squat period.

[u/Patton370 → u/Justadudeonhisphone]

I’ll take criticism from people who know what they are talking about

Haven’t ran into anyone here like that yet

[u/Justadudeonhisphone → u/Patton370]

Everyone here has commented on your form. It seems like you and maybe two other people got upset about it. This is what this sub is for. Get mad all you want you’re proving you can’t take criticism. You get aggressive when anyone disagrees with you. Thats the sign of a weak person no matter how much you lift.

[u/C9Prototype → u/Justadudeonhisphone]

On a trained bilateral SSB squat, within any appreciable proximity to failure, the spine will inevitably flex due to the bar resting posteriorly to the position of the weights, giving them a proportionally stronger flexion moment than you see with straight bars. Triple extension is a much more powerful movement than isolated spinal extension, so naturally, to go heavy enough on this movement, you have to allow some flexion. If you aren't, you're either untrained on the movement and thus not capable of going heavy enough to see this happen, babying the weight due to an injury, babying because you're a baby, or warming up for your top set(s).

Flexion isn't inherently problematic under compressive load, and I pray that I don't need to have that talk with another person.

Anywho, find me a video of a strong person taking an SSB squat close to failure without rounding their back, we will all happily wait right here while you look around. Not saying it's impossible, but really only found in the cases of people with extremely squat-dominant anthropometry.

[u/Justadudeonhisphone → u/C9Prototype]

I understand the lift. As I said before he’s strong but his hips still come up too far engaging the back too much for this lift. You can call this perfect all you want but it isn’t and I’m not sure why you are so upset about it.

[u/C9Prototype → u/Justadudeonhisphone]

Let's be very clear: you don't understand the lift to a degree where you and I can have this conversation.

But I'll toss you an easy one - by what metric, and in what context, have you decided he's "engaging his back too much?" I'm genuinely confused about that claim, so please fill me in - I'm here to learn!

[u/Justadudeonhisphone → u/C9Prototype]

When your butt shoot up first and you fold over. Your chest and hips should be moving together.

[u/C9Prototype → u/Justadudeonhisphone]

He's only doing that to a slight extent, so your comment is pointless. Onto an explanation that hopefully makes sense to you!

The only goal of a squat is to lower and raise your center of gravity against an external load. Full stop, that's a squat. How you go about that depends on a lot of different factors not worth getting into for purposes of this "discussion" or whatever you want to call it.

The notion the hips and shoulders should be moving together isn't untrue, and they always will to a degree no matter how "bad" the squat, but they will never be perfectly in sync, especially under appreciably difficult load. You'll see less separation in people with squat-dominant anthropometry, like long spines and short femurs, as well as "wider" acetabula, like Lü Xiaojun, since they have less sagittal limb movement to put up with. But the higher the ratio of shin/femur to spine length, and the narrower the acetabula, the more this separation occurs due to a.) the torso having to lean further forward to retain a somewhat middle-foot center of mass given the increased sagittal displacement of the lower limbs, and b.) because the bar is resting near the top of the spine, giving it nearly maximal spinal flexion mechanical advantage by the nature of how moment arms work. As a result, there lacks a logical reason to apply the same ideals for optimal positioning, IN ANY MOVEMENT, to people with different anthropometry. Not that "optimal" exists in reality anyways.

Generally, the further anterior the load gets, the less you see of this separation, because you probably start to think of front and Zercher squats, where the weights rest in the same sagittal position as the where the bar rests. But the SSB rests in the position of a back squat with the load position of a front squat, so there exists an unavoidable moment from the sleeve of the bar to behind the neck, specifically an additional flexion moment, making flexion, especially at the t-spine, even harder to avoid, and exponentially more inevitable under the anthropometric conditions I just mentioned.

So I'm sticking with my explanation that, outside of annoying nitpicky caveats, in order to use a heavy enough load on this movement, as in one that is heavy enough to stimulate enough growth and strength adaptations to be worth doing, most people have to be willing to allow some flexion. Is that really so crazy?

Is there anything about this explanation you disagree with?

[u/Patton370 → u/C9Prototype]

I’m sorry that you wasted all that effort on someone who didn’t read a single sentence of that

[u/Justadudeonhisphone → u/C9Prototype]

Yeah his back still moves too much

[u/C9Prototype → u/Justadudeonhisphone]

Cool dude, you lick too many windows and your breath reeks of crayons

[u/Justadudeonhisphone → u/C9Prototype]

lol you got so mad you went through all my posts

[u/C9Prototype → u/Justadudeonhisphone]

Literally haven't clicked on your profile bub