Incorporating the SlingShot Into Your Training

When I first read about the SlingShot (or SS, or Slanger, or Egoband, or MagicBenchThing), I was skeptical. I happened to be more than a little burned out on bench at the time, after one AC joint surgery and another in the impending future. I didn’t bench much for a couple years, which was bad news, considering I was already a shitty bencher. I jumped on the “Overhead Press is more manly!!” bandwagon for awhile, but eventually, realized I was only doing that to avoid benching because I sucked at it.

slingshot

I finally manned up, realizing that the only way to get better at things you suck at is to do them, regularly. So I started benching again, and making some progress when I could stay healthy (which wasn’t often). Then, about a year and a half ago, right about the same time Justin started talking about the slanger, I saw a “buy one get one half off” sale on Mark Bell’s site, and I ordered a red (Original) XXL for myself, and a small blue (Reactive) one for my lady friend.

Since then, I’ve done a lot of experimenting with incorporating the SS into both my own lifting, as well as that of other lifters that I coach. Fast forward to today, and…well, it’s no secret that me and the SlingShot get along real, real good-like. I’ve seen personal gains (especially in regards to reduced shoulder pain), and I’ve seen even better gains from my badass lifters. I now feel pretty confident suggesting the SS to other folks, not only because I’ve seen it work, but also because I like the company. Mark Bell is a breath of fresh air in the strength community – a real guy who offers up daily selfie-vids on youtube, answers people’s questions, and seems like a pretty dece guy in general. There are several other devices out there similar to the SS, but I’ll suggest that you go to howmuchyabench.net to get yours. And, in case you’re wondering – I don’t get any financial gains out of this, just the personal satisfaction that I’m helping people set new personal records on a lift that can be very difficult to improve.

If you’re not already familiar with the SS, let me describe it to you. It’s essentially a wide, stout rubber band that wraps around your arms and, once stretched over your ribcage at the bottom of a bench press, allows elastic energy to assist with the upward motion to an overloaded lockout. The greatest help is out of the hole, and the assistance curve approaches zero at the top of the movement. This means you get a lot more work holding and locking out your bench with heavy weight, with a nice help bouncing it out of the hole. This effect is similar to a bench shirt or a reverse-banded-bench, but much, much easier to setup and perform. Since most benchers are limited by tricep strength and confidence with heavy weights, this can be hugely beneficial. Better put: The SS allows you to throw around 10 pounds over your raw 1RM for sets of 5 or 6 like it’s nothing. Sound good? Yeah, I thought so.

So, unless you’re Paul Sousa and foreverslangerless, you probably already have one, or have it on order by now. However, the most oft-asked question after someone gets their SS is “AWESOME!….now what do I do with it?” Interestingly enough, there’s really not much out there on how to formally incorporate it into your training. Here are a few suggestions on how I would include it, based on my experiences the past year and a half.

As a quick note, always use a lift-off, a spotter, a thumbs-around grip, and wrist wraps with your SlingShot. If you don’t, you’ll die. Don’t die. Thanks.

Texas Method (TM): This is the base of most programs I coach. TM for bench typically consists of a Volume Day and an Intensity Day each week, followed by accessory work. Volume Day (typically Monday, aka National Bench Day) will often consist of an Over-Warmup (OWU), followed by 3×5 at an RPE of about 8, followed by tricep and bicep brobuilding work. (Do twice as much tri work as you do bi work, by the way. It is known.) I usually save the SS for Intensity Day (ID), since the OWU adds some heavy work on Monday. On ID (usually Fridays), after the final intensity set, I will have a lifter keep the same weight on the bar, but add the SS, and do their first “warmup” set of about 3-5 easy reps to get used to the SS groove. After that, I’ll add 20-30 pounds and prescribe two sets of max reps. This is usually around 6-10 reps per set, with about 2 minutes of rest between sets. This provides a good amount of extra tricep hypertrophy work and a lot of extra full-ROM volume performed at a very heavy weight for a lifter that might only be used to handling that weight for 1-3 reps. I’ll have a lifter do this for 4-8 weeks to get used to the effect and groove of the Slingshot. Like anything else, there’s a bit of a learning curve, but within a workout or two, you should be pretty efficient. The slanger is really easy to use.

After the lifter has gotten comfortable with the SS, and their structures are used to handling heavy-ass weights, I kick it up a notch. I typically alternate SS work between what I’ve described above (rep work) and what I call “heavy work.” This usually means working up to a 2-5RM PR attempt, with a heavy 1RM attempt every couple months or so just for funsies.

Example:

Intensity Day, Week 1 (reps):

Raw: 275×5 (P-R)

Slingshot: 275×5, 295×8,9

Intensity Day, Week 2 (heavy):

Raw: 280×5 (new P-ARGHHH)

Slingshot: 280×5, 295×5, 305×5, 315×5

I suggest taking several steps up to a new PR set – it usually ends up at around 3 work sets with the slanger. Stay conservative at first, and don’t get greedy – there’s no reason to fail a SS set for quite awhile. Eventually, you can start reaching a little further, and as you do that, your comfort zone will extend, and you’ll make bigger gains. But don’t go for broke right off the bat, or you’ll fuck something up. Like, in a bad way. Don’t do that.

Linear Progression: 90% of you kids doing a linear progression are doing it wrong. If you’re one of them, you’ll figure this out after a couple years, and we’ll have a good laugh. Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world. And neither is adding in some overload every once in awhile. If someone is doing a 3×5/3×5+/4×6+/whatever bench linear progression, I’ll have them add the SS every third session for a couple sets of heavier work after their work sets (as described in the TM example above), but nothing crazy, and preferably with an extra day of rest afterwards.

A novice doesn’t need to perform a 1RM SS effort to make progress, nor should they be attempting one if their goal is long-term strength gains, as opposed to ego-pumping and high-fiving. The SlingShot can be an effective tool to help keep things from getting stagnant, or it can be a distraction that keeps you from making steady progress. It’s up to you to make it the former, not the latter.

Equipped Lifters: The SS is not a substitute for a bench shirt. It’s going to have a vastly different groove and feel than the shirt you’ll wear in a meet. It’s a great way to build tricep strength specific to the bench movement, and it’s going to work well to make you feel more confident in simply holding heavier weights. However, it is NOT going to fix any technical problems you have when benching with your shirt! Don’t substitute one for the other. Use the SS to get stronger and use the shirt to get technically proficient with your shirt. Add in heavy sets regularly, working up to the 2-3RM range (with a pause) towards a meet, using several ascending sets.

Westside: If you don’t have personal access to Louie Simmons, or train under a coach who has trained under Louie for a good amount of time, you simply aren’t “doing Westside.” Sorry, bro. And if you do happen to be training under such a coach, he likely has his own ideas on how to incorporate a SS into your training, so listen to him, not some idiot on the internet. With that being said, If I had a lifter who, for some reason or another, absolutely had to have a conjugate-based “Westside” training style, here’s how I would do it. I’d incorporate the SS into Max Effort rotation (basically taking the place of a reverse-band bench), along with Floor Press, 2-3 Board Press (depending on arm length), and with plain old Bench Press. I’d sometimes throw it in as accessory work for the tris, in the 3-5×6-12 range (think close-grip, maybe to a 1-2 board if that keeps your shoulders happier, sometimes with the Swiss/Football Bar). At least a couple times a year, I’d throw it on for a 3 week DE cycle, at an appropriately heavier than normal weight (about 20-25% over normal straight weight, maybe adding light chains/bands, but probably not).

5/3/1 and most other programs: Rotate the SS in the same as you would other tricep-building exercises, like Close-Grip Bench, Dips, and Skull Crushers. All of these are excellent and should be incorporated regularly – but they’re still considered accessory work, and need to be considered as such. Assuming the goal of your assistance work is tricep hypertrophy, 3 or so sets of 8-12 reps is going to be your money-maker. Throwing in some rest-pause sets every once in awhile will keep you uncomfortably swoll.

Injuries: The SS is great for lifters with AC joint issues. Stan Efferding and KK have famously advocated it for this purpose, and they both bench roughly a hundred times as much as you. The reason for this is simple: It allows you to be better about keeping your elbows tucked closer to your ribs (IE, external rotation of the AC joint). Now, you still have to make a concerted effort to keep from flaring your elbows, but wearing the SS will absolutely help in that regard. For lifters (such as myself) that have had AC injuries, surgeries, or whatever, this is huge. It means you can keep benching (heavy) without experiencing pain. Sweet. Keep the reps pretty, and do a lot of paused work. “Pretty reps” means that if you can hit an ugly 225×12 raw, you can hit a beautiful set of 225×16 with the SS.

An injured lifter can also use the SS on their “volume” days (or RE, or whatever terminology you want to use), but you have to be careful about introducing it slowly and ramping it up over time, so as not to hit a wall at 90mph.

 

For those of you who already haven’t ordered one, you might ask – What color should I get?

Blue: The Reactive. Best for light-weight benchers (<250lbs) and injury-rehab, or for using for things like high-rep push-ups. Will add about 10-15% to your bench, and has a very nice bounce to it without being difficult to control. The material is the nicest “feeling,” if you care about such things, and the blue matches my eyes pretty well.

Red: The Original. This is the most popular slanger, and typically considered the best all-around. Some people prefer the blue for all raw lifters, but I’m not one of them. The red adds about 20-25% to your bench, which is a fucking lot of percents. A 300lb bencher will be able to hit 365 with a red SS and some practice. A 365 bencher will easily hit 4 plates for the first time, and as a result, will feel like a porn star. You’re welcome.

Black: The MadDog. I haven’t used one of these yet, but I’m pining for one real bad. This should easily add 30% to your bench, but will make touching light weights very difficult. It will also have a more difficult learning curve. It will probably inflate your ego twice as much as a red. If you don’t bench 4 plates, this probably isn’t the right SS for you, but it could be a fun toy to play with on occasion. Plus black is the best color – it’s like, all the colors in one. Science.

Sizing: Get a looser one to make it easier to use (less drama), or a smaller one for bigger weights. My XXL takes about .18 seconds to slide on my teeny-tiny 17″ arms. A smaller size would certainly give me more carryover, at the expense of being slightly less convenient to use.

 

If you have any questions, ask away. And if you order one, tell ’em I sent you. Maybe I can get free shipping on that new MadDog I’ve been wanting.

 

 

AC Discusses the Deadlift

Here it is – AC’s final installment on coaching the big lifts (and the press). There’s been a great response so far, so if you enjoyed this series, leave a note and ask for some more. I’m pretty sure it’ll be better than the sequel to Lonesome Dove. 

The Squat, the Bench, and the Press are all out of the way now. The Deadlift is the last to talk about, for now. Hopefully up to this point the posts have been simple and clear enough for you guys to get a good base concept of “How-To.” There are many ways to teach a Deadlift and tons of cues you can use, so this is not meant to be a definitive guide to strictly follow. Take what you find informative and use it. Like the other articles I have written, I aim to make this easy to understand. With that said, we can get started.

Pay attention so you can get big traps.

bane

There are 5 cues we are going to use for the Deadlift. The first one is going to be “Stance.“ If you have been to one of Mark Rippetoe’s seminars, all of this will seem really familiar to you. Walk up to the bar, then place your feet under the bar right where you tie your shoes (mid-foot). Your feet are also hip-width apart (inside of the smooth part of the bar). There should be a bit of distance between your shin and the bar. You aren’t going to touch the bar with your shins at this point, simply because the bar will roll away from your mid-foot when you flex your knees and we don’t want that.

The second cue is “Hands.” From this point, you are going to take a grip on the bar right outside of your legs – just far enough away so as to not interfere on the way up. Now you are awkwardly leaning over showing all the boys your milkshake. Perfect.

The third cue is “Shins.” WITHOUT rolling the bar in any fucking direction (so help me god if I see anyone do this I’ll fucking find you) you are going to bring your shins to the bar. Let’s look at that sentence again “You are going to bring your SHINS to the BAR.” This “shins to bar” movement will set the knee angle for the pull off the floor. Lastly, with this “Shins” cue you are going to apple slight pressure into your elbows by opening your knees. This is just going to help you get your back into a better position.

The Fourth cue is “Squeeze.” At this point, you’re going to put your back into extension by squeezing your chest up. You should feel a wave of extension all the way down your back. You are squeezing as tightly as possible. Remember, you are about to pull a lot of weight off the floor. Your back is going to anchor down your hips so your hamstrings can do some work.

The very last thing you are going to do is actually pull the bar off the floor. This is real simple. Use the cue “Pull.” You are going to smoothly pull the bar off the floor and stand all the way up. The way this works is that you are going to imagine driving your feet through the floor – almost as if you are pushing the floor away from you. As the bar begins to leave the floor, your knees constantly extend until locked at the top. Once you are at the top you are maintaining good extension and your chest is still up.

Now to visually put all that information together. Chris pulls 700+ here. It’s pretty fucking textbook, besides some shaking, it’s pretty god damn spot on.

Here are 2 more close-up pulls for you to watch. I really don’t like linking this video because this was my worst meet and I don’t like linking my own shit, but it’s more for you guys to visually see the set-up and execution. It should be cue’d up to the Deadlift portion. If not, click to 1:31.


Feel free to comment with questions on anything or maybe I left something out. Thanks for reading.

 

PR Friday, 26 April 2013

Quick Recap of the week’s post:

I bragged a bit about my lady friend. Lots of good feedback; we both appreciate it.

AC talked to you about coaching squats. He’s quickly becoming a legend on Reddit.

I discussed my Over-Warm-Up method. Try it and report back with your findings.

Lots of pic submissions this week:

scott

Scott representing the 70sBig face at his bachelor party in front of what appears to be a ’57 Chevy. Bonus points for the beard.

CrossFit Annandale - DC 70s Big

Nick and the CF Annandale crew (host site of three 70sBig seminars) made a nice little group shot. Except for nobodystopstheblob, of course.

kevin

Kevin didn’t tell me if he’s the Pedro-lookin-dude with the sweet stache, or the headband-wearin’ bearded fella tacklin him, but either way, we get the point: Rugby’s rad.

joshua

Did I mention rugby’s rad? Here’s Joshua after a tourney, sporting the 2nd place keg. A little work on the face, some extra jaw-juttin’, and he might be getting that 1st place keg soon.

james James is 47 and squats 440 @ 198lbs bodyweight. Get started, kids. You might beat him in 20 years. Maybe. Or not.

reece

Reece gets it. Grass, weights, aviators, and a nip slip? He’s clearly been paying attention. Good job.

 

Post your PRs and have a great weekend!

 

 

The Over-Warm-Up

This is a technique I use with some of my lifters to increase their confidence on the bench press. It’s not a new idea, and people have been using it since the dawn of time, but it’s something we haven’t discussed on the site, and I get a lot of questions about it. I call it the “Over Warm-Up (OWU).” It’s a very technical and marketable name, I know. What does it mean? What do you think it means? It means you warm up to a heavy single before your work sets. Complicated stuff.

It might not have a sexy name, but it works. I’ve used this with a quite a few lifters to build confidence on heavy benches and to get them past long-term sticking points. In the past few months, RoryT used it to go from a 285 max bench to hitting 300 for the first time, then a couple weeks later, crushing 300×2. Jess used this technique to handle 95lbs dozens of times before her meet last weekend, where she hit two easy Meet Bench PRs. Many guys over on the LHS Forums are using it with success. You could also use it for various other lifts, like presses, push presses, even squats – though I think it’d be a pretty terrible idea on deadlifts. The target audience for this approach will be primarily novices and intermediates. If you’re an advanced lifter, chances are you’re not likely to benefit much from it, as you’ve already had years to master the mental aspects of the main lifts, and you’re quite capable of getting psyched up for a heavy PR single.

However, many lifters will find themselves “nervous” about certain weights, especially in the beginning stages of getting stronger. Typically, these hurdles revolve around a combination of big plates and 25lb plates. The weights I’m talking about here are usually 185, 225, 275, 315, 365, 405, etc., though the OWU can be used for any mental sticking point (the 200 and 300lb benchmarks can be just as intimidating as any other, even though they don’t look that special on a bar), or even just to include some heavy practice.

I can’t stress enough that you have a partner lift/spot your OWU, especially as you first tinker with it. Never pick a weight you can’t handle – if you are EVER missing a rep on your OWU, you’re doing it way, way wrong. You need to pick a weight that is well within reach – it’s not supposed to tire you out, or require a psych-up. It’s not an excuse to get greedy and “max out.” It’s just something to stomp on until it’s dead. Then you move on to the next enemy, and stomp it. Here are a few examples of how I implement it.

Example A: The Novice
Most novices should be on a simple linear progression, and our imaginary example is benching every other workout for 3×5 (or 3×5+, going for max reps on the last set). Let’s say they’ve gotten their LP from 165 for 3×5 to 212.5 for 3×5, and they’re now adding 2.5lb (or less) per workout and trying their damn hardest to continue progressing, with visions of 300+ in their head. This person would normally warm up to 212.5 like so:
45 x Lots, 95×5,5, 135 x 5, 185×2-3, 200×1, Work Sets @ 212.5.
Adding in an OWU at 225 is perfect for this person. Not only will they get used to handling 2 plates, they will KNOW they can hit it any day of the week, helping them feel more confident about getting up to it for their 3×5 work. Their warmup would now look roughly like this:
45 x Lots, 95×5,5, 135 x 5, 185×2-3, 205×1, 225×1 (OWU), Work Sets @ 212.5.
They would use 225 as their OWU for a few weeks until it was laughably easy, or until their work sets have actually caught up to that level (in this case, 225). At that point, they can either ditch the OWU for awhile, or move it up in 5-10lb increments if they enjoy feeling a bit heavier singles before their work sets.
Again, please note that a proper OWU is NOT heavy enough to constitute a large amount of work. It should not be a grinder. It should not impede the lifter’s ability to perform their work sets. Take a few minutes of rest after the OWU before your work sets, just as you would after your final normal warmup.

Example B: The Intermediate
Let’s say we have a typical intermediate lifter using the Texas Method. He got his linear progression from 205 3×5 up to 245 for 3×5 after a couple months of hard work and proper dieting and too many resets. He’s gone from benching around 225 for a single to around 285 or so on a good day, but something about 275+ just makes him a bit nervous. On his Intensity Day, he’s trying for 5RM’s in the 255 range, and his Volume Day is starting at 225 3×5, because he refuses to use less than 2 plates for his Volume Day.
This lifter should utilize the OWU on their Volume Day, but not on their Intensity Day. In this case, I would have them work up to 275 and then backing down to their work sets. It would look something like this:
45 x Lots, 135 x 5,5, 185×5, 225×1-2, 255×1, 275×1 (OWU), 225×5,5,5

The lifter would NOT use the OWU on their Intensity Day, as they should conserve every bit of energy they have for a big PR. The Intensity Day would still look like this:

45 x Lots, 135 x 5,5, 185×5, 225×1-2, 255×5 (PR)

Note: I prefer TM lifters to use as little supportive gear on their Volume Day as possible when they’re a ways out (IE, more than 6-8 weeks) from a meet. This means they would usually use no belt or wrist wraps on VD for bench, even if they use them on ID. The OWU is an exception – it would be acceptable to “gear up” for it, especially when first implementing it. Of course, keep in mind 132lb Jennifer Thompson doesn’t wear a belt for her 300+ raw bench, so…just sayin’. After a few weeks of using wrist wraps and a belt with 275, the lifter could then practice dropping the gear, or slowly increasing the weight of the OWU. Preferably, they’ve decided to enter a meet, which leads us to…

Example C: The Competitor

Another great use for the OWU is to practice some simple raw paused work on the bench, especially near a meet (starting 4-6 weeks out or so would be appropriate). Again assuming a typical TM template with a Vol/Int day each week, I would also have this lifter use the OWU on their Volume Day before their work sets, but in this case, I would have them practice their opening (paused) bench attempt. This is an excellent way to add in some practice getting used to the commands. It’s particularly helpful for USAPL lifters who might experience long “start” and “rack” commands, depending on the judge. As they get closer to a meet, the pause should be slightly longer, and the speed coming off the chest should be noticeably improved. At the meet, they’ll have 100% confidence in their opener.

The OWU is a tool that can be used effectively. It is by no means required in all successful programs, but give it some consideration, and feel free to play with it in your own programming. You might like it, and hopefully, it will lead to lots of new PRs.

 

AC Discusses Squats

Here’s the third installment of “AC teaches you how to do stuff more awesomely.” So far, he has gone over some tips on how to press better and how to bench better. Today, he goes over how to coach the squat.

 

There are two basic variations of the back squat: High Bar and Low Bar. They’re two different squats, but there are semi-similar ways to go about learning/doing/coaching them.

I want to help you teach the squat in general. First and foremost, you are going to to have the athlete stand in front of you like a mirror. Next, you are going to tell them to place their feet shoulder width apart. Just like the grip on the bench, this stance will provide the longest ROM with the most musculature utilized in the lift. It’s similar to the bench in that it’s harder to put your femurs into external rotation the wider you go (shoving your knees out). Next, their toes are going to be slightly pointed out. This will allow the athlete to shove their knees out to perform full ROM and get external rotation more than if their toes were pointed straight. depthIf the toes are straight (most athletes don’t have the mobility to accomplish toes straight and knees out) and the athletes knees are forward instead of out all that muscle and bone and fleshy area of the hip/femur mash into one another making it harder to achieve depth. With that said, have the athlete squat down to depth and stay down there. Note: this is without the bar. Have the athlete take his hands, put his palms together and with his elbows, shove the knees out. All of this is being down while maintaining extension in both lumbar/thoracic spine (WE ARE STILL AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SQUAT).

Now this leads into the low-bar squat. Low bar uses a little more hamstring than a high bar, but if your athletes are doing a lot of cleans (full cleans) then the high bar may be of more use to you because the squat in the clean is similar to a high bar squat.

In case I lost your attention…

bane

From there you are going to walk around behind the athlete and place your hands on their low back/hips and apply slight pressure. The weight should be placed right over the middle of the foot, roughly where you tie your shoe laces. THIS IS WHERE ALL THE WEIGHT IS ON A LOW BAR. You are then going to tell them to “DRIVE” their hips into your hands. This emphasizes “Hip Drive,” which is what low bar squatters use to rebound out of the hole.

Notice my hips driving me out of the bottom. Also notice how I maintain my bar position because my spine is in extension. Have them do this once or twice to get a feel for it. Another thing to note here: Their head position is neutral with their eyes fixed on a reference point a few feet in front of them. They ARE NOT LOOKING UP. Looking up destroys the tension that you attained through eccentric contraction in the hamstrings. The hips and knees move forward losing that stretch reflex. You can demonstrate this by doing a 3rd and 4th rep with the athlete in this demo phase. Have the athlete look at the ground a few feet in front of them and then command them to drive up (hands still on the hips), then have the athlete look up as hard as they can (like most coaches tell them too). Squatting should be significantly harder now. Keep in mind this is for the low-bar. You can get away with that more in the high-bar, but it’s not a good spinal position.

Now you can take them to the barbell. Start with just the bar and then move from there.  For the low bar, the barbell sits along the spine of the scapula. It’s almost like a ridge that your body creates when you place yourself under the bar. When the athlete is under the bar, move so you can be in a position next to them. From there you are going to give them the last little touch up cues. When they unrack the bar it should coincide with a large breath of air and extension of the spine. Reference my video if you need to look again. Also, when they unrack it their elbows should be applying downward pressure on the bar. Do not let their elbows slack down. All the weight of the bar is on their back NOT on their arms. Again, notice in the video how my elbows stay high. They are going to take roughly two steps back and take the same stance they had when you were teaching them before. Now right before they go, you will tell them 2 last things: A: They are going to have to shove their knees out without their elbows, and B: They are going to REBOUND out of the bottom, so basically they aren’t pausing at the bottom.

Notes:

Take a big breath and hold it for each rep. Each rep gets a new breath and it gets held FOR THE WHOLE REP.

At all times their eyes should be fixated on a reference point. It is hard to maintain balance if they are looking around.

Cues for Low Bar Squats:

“Knees out.” The athlete shoves their knees out for external rotation. Easier ROM, more musculature in the lift.

“Mid-Foot.” If you see the athlete shifting their weight, it can change the mechanics of the squat. This cues them to put their weight back on the middle of the foot.

“Drive.” This will remind the athlete to use his/her hips when they rebound out of the hole.

“Bounce.” This is tough for some people to get, but they essentially have to rebound out of the hole off of their hamstrings, using that eccentric contraction we talked about earlier. This is more of an advanced cue – for beginners, think “control down, fast up.”

 

Moving on to High-Bar Squats

The High Bar is similar in a few ways, but the bar placement is placed (higher) on the traps. This bar placement changes a few things. The torso has to maintain a more vertical position throughout the lift. The more vertical the torso, the more acute (closed) the knee angle will be. The “knees out” cue stays the same – it’s crucial for both styles of squats. The cue that changes here is “Mid-Foot.” The weight is emphasized on the heel, NOT the mid-foot. Put emphasis on “heels” on the way down and up. “Knees out” is just as important — common for lifters to bring them in at the bottom and on the way up in the high bar variation.

 

For more discussion on Low Bar and High Bar squats, see Justin’s article on the subject. Remember, neither of these articles is telling you exactly which is better for your situation, or demonizing either variation. If you’re confused, discuss the subject with your fellow lifters, your coach, and contemplate the issue quietly in the godswoods. Or, you know, try ’em both, and shit. If you can’t hit 4 or 5 plates with both variations, you should probably just do more of them. – Jacob