Are the Squat Rack Hooks Too High?
This option is suitable for beginner lifters who squat and close but never feel as stable as experienced lifters in the next stance. While your shape may take some work (and you will probably benefit from squat shoes ), there is one more thing you probably missed: the height of the hooks on the rack.
The hooks, of course, hold the bar in place while you load and prepare to lift. Let’s talk about the squat rack first: you’ll probably place the hooks so that the bar is about shoulder height. Then you lie under the barbell with your knees slightly bent and straighten your legs to stand with the barbell on your back. Then you step back a step or two from the rack and start squatting .
Here’s how you know if the hooks are set incorrectly: If you have to lift your shoulders when you step back, they are too high. If you stand on tiptoes, they are too high. If you occasionally scratch or bump the bar against the edge of the hook as you step back, they are too high. If, during a walk, you devote even one brain cell to thinking about whether any of this can happen, they are too high. Yes, and if you shrug or tiptoe as you return the barbell to the rack, that matters too.
Why is it important
If the hooks are too high, you have to shrug or tiptoe out of the barbell, which is unsafe (and at least annoying) when you have a heavy barbell on your back. This is problem.
If the hooks are too low, you just need to bend your knees a little more to get under the barbell. This is not a problem.
How to find the right height
When you get to the squat rack, take a minute and place the barbell on your back. Get up with it. (Imagine doing your top set, and it is really heavy.) If it even almost touches the hooks, remove the bar and lower the hooks one or two steps down. Remember, hooks that are too low are not a serious disadvantage.
On most racks, you can twist and pull the J-cups to move them. Some types of squat racks may have a rack that moves up and down with a pin or lever; others just have a series of fixed hooks and you insert the bar whichever you see fit. If any of these hooks or holes are numbered, write the number down in your workout log (or make a note on your phone, or whatever) so you can quickly tweak it next time.
If you and your partner work together and have different heights or different preferences, set the lower end of the scale. So if Susie is 5’2 ” and Timmy is 6’0 ” and they are both preparing to squat with the same 300-pound barbell, the hooks should be at Susie’s level and Timmy will just have to bend his knees a little to adjust. … Alternatively, the hooks could be set too high for Susie, which is unsafe for her.
All of this applies to the bench press.
There are a few more sad things than watching a new lifter carefully prepare for the bench press , put his shoulder blades under him and create the right arch, and then destroy everything, rising to a bar too high.
The problem is the same as with squats, and the warning signs are similar: if you straighten your elbows with your hands in your preferred grip, and your shoulders are still squeezed under you and you cannot release the edge of the hook, the bar is too high. Ditto if you need to use a narrower grip than you prefer. As I mentioned earlier , I spent an embarrassing (in hindsight) amount of time on the bench press with too tight a grip, because it never occurred to me as a beginner that I could lower the barbell and put my arms wider.
Again, setting the height too low is not a major drawback, unless you then have trouble getting the bar off the hooks to start the exercise. In this case, ask the nearest friendly lifter to hand you over. (This is like interacting, as if you were asking them to notice you , but if you only want the initial gear and not the location, just say so.)
Some gyms have only a few hooks for each bench or squat rack, which can be annoying but rarely an insurmountable problem. Take time to explore your options: does one of the benches have a smaller set of hooks than the others? Could a hook that looks too low actually be perfect? Experiment and watch.
And if you’re stuck on a particular hook because you don’t know how to adjust the post, get help. It’s good to learn all the details of your equipment, and no one whose opinion is worth anything will judge you for it.