Overhead Squats

[David Reynolds]

Hey guys, Can anyone give me some tips on overhead squats? I guess my core is really weak or my positioning is wrong. Been doing back squats for years, this is alot harder. I have trouble with the bar getting 20 reps without it putting stress on my lower back, what's up?

[Alex Bond]

I think OH squats are just really hard. Sometimes (especially at high weight or reps), I concentrate so much on just keeping the weight up there and stable, I kind of forget about the squat part and start to use bad squat form down in the posterior chain. Maybe you need to focus more on executing perfect squats and not worrying so much about the weight suspended over your head, though that can be tough and lead to bar movement and instability.

I guess that's just why OH squats are super hard - balancing the overhead part and the squat part.

[David Reynolds]

Thanks for advice, I guess ill just keep on strengthening my core and just concentrate on the squating part

[Thomas R. Stegelmann]

Try to keep you core as tight as possible - Just squeeze every single muscle as hard as possible. This helped myself a lot.

[Patrick Haskell]

If you get in the habit of really activating the shoulders, you can concentrate on the squat form. Practice OHS with PVC and spend time in the bottom position. Adrian Bozman has a drill where you do this (a series of OHS and holds at the bottom), starting at your snatch grip and gradually narrowing grip and stance until you can't quite get to parallel on the squat. Narrowing the grip works shoulder flexibility, while narrowing the stance works hip flexibility. Since adopting this warmup, my OHS has improved tremendously. I just visualize touching my knuckles to the ceiling and the active shoulder takes care of itself, while I concentrate on repping out the squats properly.

[Lol Mettam]

Shoulder flexibility is an important part of OHS but at 43 it's not been so easy to improve it. I've been doing a lot of shoulder dislocates over the past month to try to improve my right shoulder impingement problems that I suffer from when doing OHS. I think it's starting to help as I managed 10 OHS with 40kg (88lb) last night. My right index finger and thumb went 'buzzy' for a while afterwards but this morning they are pretty much back to normal; a month ago the 'buzziness' lasted over a week from doing the same thing!

Actively shrugging the shoulders is important in any overhead lift but for a long set of OHS it can be hard to keep it up. I'm still suffering from a stiff neck brought on by all the dislocates and active shrugging but it too is gradually improving.

[Boris Bachmann]

Overhead squats from 2:20 (Squat Rx #9: JV & Overhead Squats - work & family safe): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60RPh2ueEd

[Benjamin Walsh]

Pay attention to your breathing (take a deep breath and hold on each rep) and you will be much more stable. You can also try cat stretch (wfs) (after you workout!) to increase shoulder flexibility.

I think Adrain's progression sounds great and will try it. I have no problem with shoulder flexibility, but I have trouble with squat depth.