THE PROPER PLACEMENT OF THE BAR IN THE SQUAT

I´m going to take you through the proper placement for the bar in the squat, discussing the effects of the position for training, and how the back musculature and forearms support this position during the movement.

In Starting Strength training they do what Mark Rippetoe calls the low-bar squat position. The low-bar squat position is different than where the bar is up high on top of your traps. A high-bar squat has got a much more vertical back angle. A much more vertical back angle tends to unload the back itself. The back is more in compression with a vertical position than it is in moment. And we want to load the back in moment, we want to load the hips in moment, and we want to load everything we can load to put more stress on all these major structures. So, we're going to put the bar lower on the back in order to specifically create a more horizontal back angle.

If you see someone putting the bar in a high-bar position, notice it's on top of the traps. When squatting down, see how much further forward the knees are having to go in order to keep them in balance with a bar high on the traps.

When we´re putting the bar on our back in the low-bar position, we want the bar to go right below the spine of the scapula. Not on top of it, but right below it. There's a nice little notch created on the back when your elbows are in the right position and your grips in the right position. This will allow you to carry the bar in a very secure place while you have to bend over. When you see someone squatting down, you can observe this characteristics:

• The back angle accommodates the balance point of the bar over the middle of the foot. So, if it's lower on your back, when the bar is in balance over the middle of your foot, your back's going to be more horizontal.
• Notice that they've got their thumbs up on top of the bar, not wrapped around, and that the weight of the bar is on the medial side of the palm of their hand. That's where the load is. This should be very tight. Notice that the bar is not on top of his traps. It's sitting right on a shelf formed by the posterior delt and the elbow raised up.
• A lot of people tend to raise their elbows up when they have a lot of weight on the bar. This is not a good idea. It's not a good place to put strain on the system. Elbows should be low and the tightness is accomplished with grip. The grip is close, and that produces the tightness and the security on your back. In this position, without having you raise your elbows, this whole thing is tight. The bar is supported very well, and that's how you take it out of the rack.

It´s very important that you notice the height that you've got the bolts that form the rack of the squat rack. They're low enough so that when you walk back in and touch the upright, you can set the bar down. One of the dumbest errors that you can make in a gym is trying to take a bar out of the rack with the rack set too high, what that means is there's no room for the bar to settle on your back after you take it out of the rack. Then you're going to have to tiptoe to get it back in the rack, and this is a very bad idea. After you've fatigued yourself with a heavy set of 5, you can't walk back in and tiptoe back into the rack, and be sure that you're going to get there. You have to have the bolts set low enough so that when you stand up and walk it out in the event that the thing settles a little bit, you are still able to walk it straight in and set the bar down on top of the bolts without having to fiddle around with it, tiptoe or do any other adjustments. You need to walk in and set it down. It should be just an automatic quick process.

If you take the squat out of the rack correctly, you shouldn't have any problems with your elbows. If your grip is close enough together, then your forearm will be more vertical under the bar and it will be carried in compression under the bar. If you take too wide a grip, the tendency you will have is to have to raise your elbows up in order to carry the bar, and this is a bad idea. What you want is a passive loading of the forearms with the hands kind of close together on the bar. That way, you don't have to micromanage your elbows. Anytime you raise the elbows up with a loaded heavy bar on your back, you're going to be tending to put your wrists in hyperextension, and hyperextended wrists under a heavy bar is an excellent way to hurt yourself pretty bad. The raising the elbows up under the bar is unnecessary if you've got the correct grip width.

Another problem some people have is that they want to carry the bar too low on the back. There's a shelf there that's created by the posterior delt and your grip width. The bar needs to be on top of that, not below it. You're not going to achieve any monumental leverage advantage by carrying the bar too low. If you carry the bar too low, what that also does is force you to move your elbows forward under the bar and, at the same time, put you in excessive wrist extension. Excessive wrist extension with your elbows forward is not a secure place to carry the bar. Your hand has the whole weight of the bar. You're not transferring any of that force onto the forearm. And if you drop the bar in that position, you're in a mess. Think hit you in the low back on the way down. You, that just do, don't even want to think about it. So don't try to carry the bar too low on your back.

So, play with this and experiment with it, and try to see how close you can get your hands together as you're standing under the bar before you take it out of the rack. It may take you two or three times to make the adjustment, but once you settle into a comfortable, useful position with your hands on the bar, all you´ve got to do is memorize the distance between your index finger and the rings on the bar in order to get the correct grip width every single time. You need to start thinking about these things before you take the bar out of the rack to do the set.

* If you don´t know how to do the squat by the Starting Strength methodology, click here. You'll find the information in the section for this lift in that article.

Bibliographic references:

• Starting Strength. (2026). Proper Placement Of Bar in The Squat [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/HgPYyJ56Tiw?si=FANX6UTQygXStedW
• Rippetoe M. (2011). Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 3rd Edition. The Aasgaard Company.