Common Squat Mistake - Elbows Flaring up
 

One of the most common squat flaws I see are "elbows flaring up." I was helping a lifter this morning, so I thought I would share this.

Great bit of help. Wish I could get my FFTK folks to listen to me when I tell them this.

A lot of this depends on 2 things.

1. High bar vs low bar
2. Hand placement.

With a low bar and wide hand grip, if I rotate the elbow down I will get very bad bar roll. Just something to keep in mind.

Elbows up, elbows down? :confused:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=5_UjunJj-dw

My greater point was about rolling the elbows up in the hole, and a lack of focus on tightness in general. I merely posted this so beginners and those still relatively new to the squat could watch for this tendency in their videos.

I'm talking about the elbows rolling up during the squat due to a lack of back tightness.

See in Ripp's teaching video the elbows are not flared up. "Up" is relative. Driving them "up and back" in setup creates tightness. This obviously is individual, but it doesn't mean flaring them up parallel to the ground during a rep, which is the flaw I am talking about.

http://muscleandbrawn.com/forums/att...1&d=1333987991

The flaring I am discussing is from improper setup and a loose back. The elbows are allowed to drift up. Rippetoe doesn't do this. If Rippetoe saw someone with elbows drifting up during the squat he would correct them, because the back and arms aren't tight.

Notice his shoulder to elbow angle stays pretty close to his torso angle. This is not changing during the reps.

Sorry, I didn't explain things as well as I should have.

That helps clarify the first post a lot.

I can see in this video that the lifter is consciously trying to keep his back tight. He makes adjustments, and when the elbows creep up, he locks them, and his back down: