Where to place barbell for squat?

There two options, the high bar and low bar squat. The high bar squat is better foent. Mix both for best results.

What is your why

Before we start with the details of where to place the barbell for the squat let me ask you a couple of questions.

Why do you want to barbell squat
Why do you exercise
Why do you want to get stronger
Why do you ant to pack on muscle
What happens if you do
What happens if you don’t

You might think that these questions are trivial, but they are essential to your long term success. Injuries, life, your job and even your closest friends and family will get in the way of your goals and ambitions. You better have very good reasons to push on and make it through the mud.

Most people go through their lifes using this thought pattern

What do I want
How do I get it
Why do I want it

With this thought pattern you will mainly focus on your impulses. You will become a slave to your daily moods and surroundings. Most people know what they want. Fewer make a plan how to get it. Almost none think deeply about why they want to achieve their goals. If you reverse your thought patterns to

Why do you want something
How do you get it
What do you need to do

Your actions and thoughts will become a lot more positive and focused. The people around you will notice and be more likely to help you out. All in all you can progress quicker. To understand how this works on a psychological level read Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and slow. If you are not convinced yet look up Simon Sineks TED talk on the golden circle. He makes a very compelling case telling the story of the Wright brothers.

Barbell squat

The barbell squat is a variation of the squat. Any strength program worth its salt will utilize some form of the squat or burpee to make you lean and mean. The barbell squat is a variation when you want to mainly focus on strength and muscle while leaving agility to the side.

Beside the barbell squat there are many variations of squatting. Some of them are

Box squat
Safety bar squat
Paused squat
Pin squat
Hack squat
Air squat
Goblet squat
Front squats
Kettlebell squats
Dumbbell squats
Overhead squats
Platz squats
Zercher squats
Squats with bands
Squats with chains

Only to name a view. The permutations are endless depending on your build and training style. It is therefore good advice to learn form as many people as possible to improve your squat. Some sources can be:

And many other successful squatters in the IPF or from history. To perform a good squat follow these steps:

Set up the j cups at a height that you can unrack the bar by popping your hips forward
Load the bar symmetrically
Use collars for very heavy weights
Place your hands as close together as possible while still being able to get under the bar
Get under the bar aggressively
Wedge yourself under the bar
Pop your hips forward to unrack the bar
Walk three steps out
Breathe out
Breathe in and brace
Pull the bar into your shoulders and try to bend it like a horseshoe
Break from the knees
Descend as quick and controlled as possible
Use the rebound at the bottom of the squat
Drove your legs into the ground
Push against the bar with your shoulders
Pop your hips
Finish the squat

Rinse and repeat for bigger quads, a stronger core and a few more hairs on your chest.

The biggest advantages of the squat are that it has a lot of carry over to other exercises and is the single most effective exercise to build bigger quads.

The biggest disadvantages of the squat are that most people lack the mobility to perform it proper and that the load can crush you.

Low bar squat

The low bar squat is a variation of the barbell back squat in which you place the bar at the lower of two points on your back.

Most people find that they have two shelves on their back to place the barbell securely. One high and one a little lower.

The low bar squat is a favorite amongst powerlifters. It shifts the emphasis of the movement away from the quads and redistributes it more to the lower back. It is often combined with a wide stance and wider grip on the bar.

This technique usually comes at the expense of speed in favor of power. Think about it like the gear box of a Ferrari and a truck. They have the same horsepower and the engine are based on the same principles. Yet the truck has been laid out to move a big load relatively slow while the Ferrari accelerates a smaller weight a lot faster.

The biggest advantage of the low bar squat is that your lower back gets more activated.

The biggest disadvantage of the low bar back squat is that it provides a lot less upward drive and slower descend. Especially for weightlifters who want to transition under the bar and move it up quick this is suboptimal.

High bar squat

The high bar squat is what most people intuitively perform when they get todo the barbell back squat.

In this version the bar is placed on the fury of the two shelves on your back. The higher position usually makes it easier to descend into the lowest position of the squat quicker. As there is less of the back involved the weights moved a re smaller. This goes especially for beginners.

The biggest advantage of the high bar squat is its greater potential to develop explosiveness out of the hole.

The biggest disadvantage of the high bar squat is that you usually have less control if the bar during the movement. This is especially tricky when you train the back squat for maximum loads.

Where to place the barbell for the squat

Where to place the barbell for the squat is depending on your personal goals. It is important to note that this is not a either or question. You can mix your training up and make use of both variations if you wish. Many good squatters recommend this style of training.

If you are a weightlifter, footballer, rugby player or martial artists you probably want to stick a little more to the high bar squat. The higher potential to develop explosiveness will help in other endeavors.

If you are a powerlifter or strongman you can put more focus on the low bar squat. You will be moving big weights slowly.

Most popular Rogue bars in 2020

This is an overview of the most popular Rogue barbells per views and click through rates for Marathon-Crossfit.com in 2020. If you want more details on how the data was collected you can dig deeper in what were the most popular Rogue products in 2020.

This is an overview of the most popular barbells on Marathon-CrossFit.com during 2020. The ranking is as followed:

That the operator bar was so popular on Marathon-CrossFit in 2020 came as a surprise to me. It is one of the cheaper Rogue barbells which still has a cool name rather than being a variation of the Rogue Ohio barbell. If you want to feel a little more camouflaged in your life, go with this one. You can read the full review of the operator bar via this link.

The West side bar is a variation of the Ohio bar specifically for powerlifting. It is very similar to the Rogue Ohio power bar which recently has gotten a little more attention from influencers. This is a solid bar if you do not intend to do the Olympic lifts and stick to the bench press, deadlift, and barbell back squat in your training. You can read the full review of the west side bar via this link.

The Rogue Russian bar is another surprise on the Marathon-CrossFit popularity list. While it is one of the most expensive bars you can get from Rogue I personally find that it is more of a collector's item with nostalgia attached to it. It is a great piece of craftsmanship to recreate a bar from the Soviet era. Unfortunately, the collar system is not used in competition anymore and also tenders the bar useless once you lose one of the collars. Rogue also does not provide an option to buy the custom collars separately in case you do lose them. Based on this I would take the Pyrros bar over the Russian bar any given day for this budget. You can read the full review of the Rogue Russian bar by following this link.

The Rogue Multi-grip bar is a great additional tool to bring your bench press training to the next level. Especially if you are a big fan of the Westside training method as it asks for many grip variations. This bar might not be your first purchase, but fun addition to your gym once all the essentials are covered. You can read the full review of the Rogue Multi-grip bar by following this link.

The Chan bar is my personal favorite if you want to do it all with your barbell. It is reasonably priced, has a cool design, and can be used for Olympic lifts and the big three alike. If you are a CrossFit fan who wants to workout from home, this is a great pick. You can read the full review of the Rogue Chan bar by following this link.

Classic barbell

The classic barbell is what you you will find in most gyms. They vary widely in their quality with the York ones being the most cost efficient and therefore at the lower end of the quality range. You might find barbells with bushing or bearing, still most of them will have bushing in your local gym.

If your local gym is serious about lifting you might find specific olympic weightlifting and powerlifting barbells. These have a more aggressive knurl to ensure more grip for the professionals. You will experience these to be rougher on your skin which has the benefit of being able to lift more and the downside of higher likelihood to get your skin damaged.

In addition the knurl marks are slightly different between olympic and powerlifting bars to show you where to put your hands. Usually the powerlifting bars are built to withhold more psi (basically tells you how mch weight you can put on the bar until it breaks) than olympic bars due to the fact that there is more load moved in the powerlifts than in olympic lifts.

Lifting is not always for beginners. You need proper technique, balance and a bit of strength to do it. Otherwise you might hurt your shins on the deadlift or pulll some muscles when squatting. Improper squatting might also harm your spine. So get proper advise or start deadlifting with other bars.