Overhead Squat - What should it feel like?

BossArky

Tonight I was messing around with overhead squats: 3 sets of 8 reps with a 10kg barbell.

1st set - hands out to plates as far as possible, barbell pulling me forwards as I was holding it slightly forward of my head, probably over my forehead.

2nd & 3rd sets - shoulder blades pinched together, barbell pushed back behind my head, over my traps. Barbell pulling me backwards onto my heels.

Which way should I be doing them?

I can feel a good stretch in my chest doing it further behind the head. The tips of my right forefinger and thumb went slightly numb as I was leaving the gym. Was I pinching my shoulder blades together too much?

I would like to try overhead squats more often, as long as I am doing them correctly. i.e. less of the numb fingers.

Hanley

Grip width should roughly be the distance between your elbows if you were to hold your arms parrallel to the floor. This is usually somewhere around the rings for most people. I grip about a finger's width outside them.

O/H's are a tricky beast to master. Once you start to get a feel for where the bar should be it'll start to feel weightless. Your thumb and finger probably went numb because you were doing high reps with them. Sticking with 3-5's are probably a better idea.

fast74

Hi,
If you can, get someone to correct you if the bar is traveling to far either forward or backward. I find that I think the bar is behind my head when in fact its directly above but its difficult to judge because I can't see it. Starting off I found the bar going forward a lot because of lack of flexibility in my shoulders, if you can correct this early on you'll be doing great.

A good squat technique will put you on your heels which is where to drive from when going back to the upright position. If you find yourself rolling onto the balls of your feet the bar is probably traveling forward and you will quickly lose your balance.

As for your forefinger and thumb, I'm not sure, what's your grip like? I was told knuckles facing the ceiling with no bend in the wrist.

Colm_OReilly

OHS are tricky, and expose a lot of flaws in your squat techique (and other areas) that you can get away with while squatting normally, air or back.

How good is your air squat technique? Squats in general you can spend a long time working on, making sure your weight is evenly distributed, spine is in normal alignment, really activating those hammies and driving your hips up.

A good thing to practice is squat therapy before you do your OHS. We did this last night and the guys found it very beneficial.

As humbling as it is, you might need to reduce the load til you get the technique down. You mighn't have the shoulder flexibility/stability yet to do them. Practicing shoulder dislocates will help, better yet, practice them at the bottom of the squat, along with sott's presses. (Probably only using pvc pipe/broomstick)

Now, I find that if the bar is falling forward, you need to concentrate on on pinching your shoulder blades together. Falling backwards, concentrate more on pushing the bar up. This usually corrects the problem. It's important, obviously, that you always start your descent with the bar fully overhead, shoulders pressing that bar up, weight over your scapula and midfront, core tight. As already said, when done right it should feel effortless.

All that said, screw this guy!

cavedave

I know very little so treat everything i say very sceptically.

I do not like doing overhead squats in the gym because i want to be able to get out of the way of the bar if everything goes pearshaped. the fraction of a second you spend worried about looking silly when the bar falls could mean you get dragged with it.
The biggest problem I found was that my heals kept lifting, it took some practice to stop that.

ali.c

cavedave wrote: »

I do not like doing overhead squats in the gym because i want to be able to get out of the way of the bar if everything goes pearshaped. the fraction of a second you spend worried about looking silly when the bar falls could mean you get dragged with it.

If you fail, at least in my experience on failure the bar travels forward so handy enough to dump. Personally i prefer OHS as my squatting technique still needs a lot of work and it s way harder to cheat doing OHS.

Dragan

Thats actually one of the first things i worked on when working OHS into my routine....how to safely dump the bar.....once i was comfortable with form and execution i them slowly started uping the weight.

OHS are tough, but definitely worth the perseverance.

rubadub

They are really hard. I wouldnt try them first with an empty Oly bar, since 20kg is a hell of a lot to start on for most. Maybe a pair of empty dumbell handles, or a light bar.

wasabi

A failed OHS should either go forward or back (forward mostly, due to where people tend to be tight - chest and hip flexors), just move in the opposite direction and you'll be grand, especially since as a beginner you'll be dealing with very light weight. Once you've your arms and shoulders locked they shouldn't buckle and the bar won't come straight down on you - but it is important to lock them out well when you set up.

A good OHS is mainly about flexibility - you need good flexible ankles, hips and shoulders/chest. Once you have it (see Colm's link below), the best way to keep it is to OHS a lot, add it to your warmups with a broomstick or very light bar and progress to say the empty 20kg bar. You need a bit of weight there to get the proper feeling for the exercise.

The proper position for the bar is above a spot just behind your ears - this is the position of maximum shoulder stability (any overhead presses or jerks should also end up there, although the grip on the bar will be narrower obviously). As you squat down and come up you'll be constantly adjusting your shoulders to keep it in the sweet spot - it isn't something you do statically and just hold.

Also, it's important not to try and sit back into an OHS. You squat directly down, with your torso as vertical as possible. Your knees should travel well forward.

OHS isn't really something you can just do once a week or less. I OHS with a light weight every other day. I don't OHS heavy that often (it's hard on the wrists) but when I do go for it I can OHS some reasonable weights - did 80% of my bodyweight on Sunday, and that wasn't a max. But that's with good shoulder stability from a lot of overhead work on a regular basis.

BossArky

Some good advice folks, thanks. I'll try out the various bits and pieces mentinoed above.

I cannot actually go any lighter - 10kg is the lightest barbell there is!

Reyman

wasabi wrote: »

I don't OHS heavy that often (it's hard on the wrists) but when I do go for it I can OHS some reasonable weights - did 80% of my bodyweight on Sunday, and that wasn't a max. But that's with good shoulder stability from a lot of overhead work on a regular basis.

I'm impressed - this is an exercise I approach with caution. Though for me it's produced great results

BossArky

Reyman wrote: »

... for me it's produced great results

What exact results are you seeing?

I would expect greater balance and increased flexibility. However, it must be hard to judge if that is coming from an OHS or the gym in general?

Reyman

BossArky wrote: »

What exact results are you seeing?

I would expect greater balance and increased flexibility. However, it must be hard to judge if that is coming from an OHS or the gym in general?

I have much better flexibility in the shoulder region and it's improved my main squat performance noticeably. I feel much more comfortable with my alignment when squatting and have been able to handle increased poundage.

wasabi

I agree with Reyman, OHSing definitely helped my squatting in general too.

Dan John wrote:

Six months from now, they will pay off with better flexibility, better "support" structure (I know some people don't believe in ‘support muscles’, but I do), and great thigh, hip and lower back strength. If you are doing them for sports, I think you will find an immediate carryover.

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/295/

BossArky

Tonight I tried more overhead squatting - 3 sets of 8 @15kg barbell. My thumb and index finger are still numb and the OHS were almost one hour ago.

A quick google suggested weak forearms (???) as the cause. Any further ideas?

Colm_OReilly

Chances are you are rolling your knuckles back while OHS. Try keeping them facing the ceiling. If you look at the positioning of the knuckles, if they are facing up, the weight is directly over by the wrist/forearm. With the knuckles back the weight is no longer directly over the support structure.

Keep at them. I'd equate OHS to handstand push ups in terms of the investment required to get good at them. Keep doing your shoulder dislocates and other shoulder flexibility exercises. Add a quick set of light OHS (you have a broom somewhere) in everyday. Keep at the pull ups/deadlifts if your grip is lacking - but I doubt that's the case.

Another thing which has sprung to mind. Are you Front Squatting? How do your wrists feel after that? I've noticed that if people have difficult with wrist flexibility in the FS it will show up in the OHS as well.

BossArky

Actually that may be in. I usually hold the bar between thumb and index finger, with the rest of the fingers on each hand spread apart and facing outwards rammed up against the plates.

I will try out the knuckles up next time and report back. Thanks.

BossArky

Tonight, 5 sets of 8 reps at 15kg. Knuckles to the ceiling. Palms, thumbs and index finger now numb :eek:

I think it may be from pumping up one set of muscles (i.e. biceps when doing pull ups... as that is what I did before OHS tonight), then stretching the chest as arms go backwards overhead. Somewhere along the line I think the blood is being cut off for an hour or two until the blood leaves the muscles causing the obstruction.