| EliteFTS

We get some great questions on our free Q&A, and the diverse answers from our panel of coaches, columnists, and sponsored lifters provide some great insight (for myself included) on training, programming, injuries, nutrition, and more..

Here is another good question from this week from Niko:

I injured my left shoulder about 3 years ago due to poor bench press technique. I now get pain in my left shoulder when squatting. I squat low bar so I think it is from wedging my body in tight to the bar and keeping my hands in fairly close to build a shelf with my lats. I have found that this technique has worked great for my set up and maintaining overall tightness throughout the movement, but I get a sharp pain in my left shoulder and is sore for most of the day. Any advice on how to combat this so it does not carryover into other lifts?

Answers from Team EliteFTS:

Harry Selkow: "Bob Youngs taught me this technique a while ago. Instead of a full fist grab of the bar, grab it with the index, middle, and ring fingers of your hand and place your pinky UNDER the bar.

It allows you to rotate your shoulder a bit more and keeps your elbows ever so closer to your lats.

No B.S.!!!

Let me know if it works for YOU!"

Andy Deck: "Along the lines with what Harry said, you can also try widening your hand placement on the bar as that could help relieve some stress on the shoulder joint. Obviously if that makes it worse then don't do it. Also you might want to add in some specific warmups for your shoulders before squatting if you aren't doing that already. Things like band pull aparts, band face pulls, and internal and external rotation are some good basic ones among many, many others. You definitely need to figure out exactly what's wrong and how to fix it though (and work around it until it gets better) because if you keep causing yourself a whole day of pain every time you squat it is going to continue to get worse."

Joe Schillero: "I agree with the fellas above - Also couple things you can consider are:

Squatting with a Yoke Bar occasionally if you have access to one
Making sure you seperate your heavy squat and bench days by a few days so you have time to recover and aren't putting extra strain on something already aggravated.

Bigger picture wise, it'll also be good to identify if there's a bigger injury issue you need to get resolved.

You got this!"

Brandon Smitley: "On top of what everyone else said, you migth also look to doing some shoulder mobility work before you squat supersetted with some external rotation work. This is what has helped me the most with keeping my shoulders happy when using a straight bar (I'm on a long stretch of using one...the longest in probably about 3-4 years). But with meets coming up, I've got to be as specific as possible.

But like the others said, make the SS Yoke Bar your friend during off seasons and any other time you can use it to save the overall wear and tear you place on the shoulder."

Brian Schwab: "Everyone has provided great advice, but I thought I'd provide from my experience as well. Using the straight bar kills my shoulders so we use the Buffalo Bar until around 5 or 6 weeks out from a meet. The diameter and weight are the same as a squat bar, but the angle greatly decreases shoulder stress. Chris Duffin's Duffalo Bar is your best bet. Placing the bar higher and using a wider grip will both reduce shoulder stress as well. Performing shoulder dislocations with a mini band, and eventually a broomstick, prior to squatting will help loosen your shoulders to reduce the stress. Lastly, my OBB Power Handles (https://www.elitefts.com/obb-power-handles.html) are a great option to incorporate for variety while reducing shoulder stress."

More from Joe Schillero: